friday february 26

The last couple of days have just been a whirlwind.  We were met by the district friendship people in auckland and they took us to this place that is an Antarctica museum and display area--- there is a whole section with live penguins and you get in this snow type vehicle and ride it around inside the ice capsules and sort of like a roller coaster up and down-- the penguins are amazing. there was also alot of history of antartica. We then drove straight to Hamilton stopping for lunch in between and we were at our first Rotary presentation.  The 9930 District Governor was there as well as all of the chair people and we did gifts and flags,  etc.  It was a wonderful evening and the people very welcoming.  All of our host families are really going out of their way to make us feel at home and comfortable. 
            Yesterday we started out mid morning and visited the location where the world rowing competition is to be held--these kids that do this are amazing and strong. Then some local touring, lunch at an old church converted to a cafe and gallery.  The afternoon was spent at one of the worlds largest horse stud farms-- it was quite interesting and the grounds were stunning-- we had quite a few laughs about the stud process. We had a visit to a working dairy farm and Jim's wife Dawn had the honor of placing the milking tube things on a cow- -and the cow wasn't that happy.-- In the evening we each had dinner with our hosts.
           Today is a bit busier but I have been up now for a couple of hours and will try and go back to sleep and see if that works for a while.