Unwanted Christmas Present

We arrived safely in Atlanta after a long day of travel on the 26th. Two days later my sore throat had not improved and I was eating slowly. Finally I sought medical diagnosis. After $130, checking my vitals and a brief medical history, I found out I have tonsillitis and pharyngitis. Now it's two days later and the antibiotic is starting to help me feel better! That and other medications set me back another $100.

We have had short visits with Chris' parents and Tom's parents. Next we head north to see Tom's sister and family in Michigan.

Damn light switches are backwards!

And other observations from the first few hours. After 31 hours of travel we arrived at Chris' parents house in Atlanta. it was great to see them at the airport as the phones are not roaming so we were incommunicado. Piles everyone and everything into the vehicle and drove here. It was great to see big cars with big engines driving on the right side of the road. We saw a bunch of familiar brands along the way which brought back memories. More about them in a later post!

We are on our way!!!

Right now we are in the Auckland airport waiting for our plane to depart. The wait will be long, about four hours, but the airline was kind enough to put us in their lounge ... Sweet as! We're excited about the trip, four years is too long!

Almost Christmas

Merry Christmas! We are having a week of just gorgeous fine weather here in Wellington. Here are some views from Khandallah. We can see Wellington Harbour one direction and a quarry another direction.

We leave for our U.S. holiday on December 26. Bags are only half packed.

We will be house sitting next year so we packed up our house last weekend. We were going to be "homeless" for a week until friends offered accommodation. Dennis has really enjoyed wrapping presents while watching Christmas movies. There's a huge pile under the tree.

It still feels surreal to hear songs about white Christmas and snow when it's summer. Nevertheless we are thoroughly enjoying our kiwi Christmases.

Car vs Leg

We are coming back

And you should get ready for our return.  Therefore I recommend that you start by understanding how our accent has changed over the past years.  To that end here is a pronunciation guide from our prime minister.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWv2oY2O9xQ&feature=related

Only in New Zealand

Watch the video ...

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10764914

Rugby World Cup Ended

We thoroughly enjoyed watching the Rugby World Cup matches, quarter-finals, semi-finals and final games with friends. The snacks were pretty tasty too.

It's pretty cool that the New Zealand All Blacks won the Rugby World Cup when it was hosted on home territory. They beat France by one point. That game certainly had us on the edge of our seats. The last time NZ held the Rugby World Cup had been in 1987.

On Wednesday, I took Dennis and a friend to the Victory Parade here in Wellington. The turnout was amazing--100,000 people. (That's about 1/3 of the people in Wellington.) It was challenging finding a place to park the car. We ended up not too far from Parliament. I got to see the backs of the All Blacks from a distance when they were receiving their handshakes from the Prime Minister and others. We were treated to an impromptu haka on Parliament's steps. The All Blacks perform a haka before their games, basically saying to the other team that they're going to "kill" them.

Here's a link to last Wednesday's bonus.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGVp52af36U&feature=related

YouTube has other videos of the parade as well.

The next Rugby World Cup will be in England in 2015. We are now rugby fans so we'll be watching plenty of games between now and 2015.

Today we spent a half hour tossing a rugby ball with Dennis. The rugby leagues will probably have an increase in enrollment due to kids' new interest in the game.

Baking this weekend

Dennis is becoming harder and harder to please.  I do not receive as many thumbs up on my baking as I had in the past   So today I removed all stops and made two of his favorite breads.  Baguettes and Croissants. 

I started the croissant dough on Thursday evening.  (For those who care it is 57% hydration with 50% butter by weight of flour.)  On Friday night around 10:00pm I formed the croissants and put them in the fridge covered for the night.  

Chris and I have an agreement the first person who wakes up after 5:00am for any reason will put the croissants in my proof box and turn on the oven.   I woke up at 6:00am did the same and crawled back to bed.  At 8:00am when I woke up again they were well proofed (actually the box was at too high a temperature.)  So I baked them right away with good results.

Result of this morning's hard work

I actually think Dennis really is excited about the baguettes. I have made croissants every weekend for the past four months so the Baguettes are a rare treat these days.  

For the Baguettes I choose the Baguette Traditional recipe by Fromartz.   I love the flavor that the sourdough and the whole wheat impart to the dough.  Plus I need help with my high hydration dough skills, for us mere mortals a 72% hydration dough is quite a challenge.  They do taste great even if they look less than appealing.  :)

I made the dough Friday night between croissants folding and shaping.  It is a fairly easy dough to make just dump everything in the bowl, mix it up, give it 10 minutes or so to rest, slap and fold for five minutes, and then fold it a few time before putting it in the fridge for the night.  The hard part is shaping in the morning.  

The results were good.  Everything tastes great and we will enjoy them through out the weekend.  However the the best part is that I made Dennis' morning!

It got Dennis' approval!

Crossing the Straight!

The owner of the boat is behind the wheel.  This picture was taken just as we came into the channel to Port Nicholson after crossing the straight.

Everyone is happy after another safe crossing of Cook Straight.

Sailing!

I'm off to the Marlboro Sounds via Mana island on a sailboat called Am Meer. Me and six others will be crossing the straights today in the first off-shore race of the season.  We will then spend the night on the boat and sail back at 4am (gulp.)

I am very excited, and a wee bit scared as I am prone to sea sickness!  Oh well wish me luck!

Rugby World Cup

I bought the tickets in July and finally the day arrived for us to go to a Rugby World Cup game.

In the photo we are wearing official RWC hats, beautifully embroidered with the stars and stripes.

On Friday 23 September, we saw the USA Eagles versus the Australia Wallabies. We wore some cool USA caps and chanted USA with many other fans. Unfortunately, our USA team lost to Australia. Australia 67 points and USA 5 points. You can see highlights on the Rugby World Cup website http://www.rugbyworldcup.com/.

The weather was just beautiful for the game: cool and clear. We rode the train to and from Wellington Regional Stadium and all was good.

The games are being played in cities all over New Zealand. We see flags of the participating countries on banners at various places. Even the bank has a scoreboard and flag banners. Most cars have some kind of flag hanging from the window; usually New Zealand or All Blacks. Dennis and I even saw a truck that was painted like a Samoan flag.

On Thursday our museum Te Papa had a USA day. They handed out some cool freebies: mini rugby balls and visors with the stars and stripes on them. We heard a choir, percussionist and jazz music. We also watched country line dancing and cheerleading.

I thoroughly enjoyed hearing the "Star Spangled Banner" sung two days in a row; once at Te Papa and at the match.

The fans wore some interesting costumes. I noticed one Wonder Woman. We saw about six President Obama masks. One person had a sign saying, "Don't tell Michelle I'm here." Five young men showed up in USA wrestling uniforms. Many fans of both teams draped flags around their shoulders. Of course some painted their faces, wore multi-colored wigs or top hats.

Dennis made three "TRY" signs for us to hold up which we got to do one time when the USA scored. He also made a US flag and taped it to a stick so he had something to wave at the game.

I'm not keen to give DHL business soon. They gave out noisemakers that the kids were making lots of noise with--or maybe it was the pitch that was bothering me.

We've been watching some games on television at friends' homes. Slowly we are learning and understanding more about the game. Kiwis grew up with this but I grew up with American football. I like how rugby keeps moving whereas football stops and starts. Football clocks count down but rugby clocks count up. Half a game is 40 minutes and then starts up again after the break (20 minutes). The commentators refer to what happened in which minute of the game. Hey, Tom just found a comparison of the two games on Wikipedia which I'm going to read! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_American_football_and_rugby_union

Music from the 70s was played at the games. We recognized Neil Diamond singing, "Sweet Caroline" and John Denver "Country Road Take Me Home." When I was in high school I never would have imagined hearing those songs 30 years later in New Zealand or at a rugby game!

You can't make this stuff up

Now here is a headline!

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10751900

More Snow

We have snow in Wellington and not just on the hills. Dennis and I are spending the day in the lounge near the woodburner. I will drive once it warms up and the roads aren't icy. The amount of snow is nothing compared to Chicago; however, salt and plows are scarce here and are for the mountain roads.

Last night, Monday, it was snowing and we also had thunder and lightning. Pretty cool and pretty unusual. This is a once in decades event here.

Photos are of our street, car and bushes.

Pizza

I made Pizza for 17 people this weekend. It was at a student hostel for Victoria University that is run by our friends Graeme and Rosemary. I brought over 3 Kilos of dough and made the equivalent of 4 Lou's 14" Deep Dish Pizzas.

Here I am with a 16-inch-er Sausage and Pepperoni Pizza.

I had plenty of help from the students with making the pizza. And all of them came out well (with the exception of a slight burn of one of them.)

Next time I will pay more attention to the sauce and spice it a day or two ahead of time. While it was good it was not what I remembered from my days at Lou's.

Football/Soccer Season

Dennis' team, Zoom, won today 4-0. They have had a great season and have won all but two games. Next week is their last game. Here are a couple of great shots a teammate's father took and sent to us.

Dream House?

I was in New Plymouth a few weeks ago for a Taekwondo Tournament. While walking along the seaside walking path, I snapped a photo of this mansion. To the right is a little white triangle. That's Mt. Taranaki. The house overlooks the sea. What the photo doesn't show is the conservatory on the left of the house which looks like maybe a spa pool is in there.

Big beautiful house with mountain and sea views in a town with some good cafes--sounds dreamy to me.

Snow on the Hills

That bit of white on top the hills is snow. It's pretty uncommon for Wellington to have even that little bit of snow.

Last week I went for a jog along the shore at Island Bay which is the southern part of Wellington. It was a clear day and I could see snow on the mountains on the South Island.

I've been keeping the wood burner going and it does a good job of warming our lounge and kitchen. Central heating and double glazing are uncommon here. On the coldest days I do miss having a thermostat to turn up a couple degrees.

Croissants - without a picture

They continue. I baked a dozen or so today. They were pretty good, a bit of butter leakage but all in all I am pleased with them. The big changed has been the instant yeast instead of the Active Dry Yeast. I don't know why but it gives the Croissants a much better rise. I will keep with it for a long time to come.

The croissants had a good oven spring and browned nicely. I ate them warm with some jam on them, man were they good! Now that butter is coming down in price I will bake a few more batches. :)

In addition to the Croissants I baked Ciabatta today. Will let you know how they taste soon!

Winter has arrived

The past two days have been quite the Wellington winter. I am impressed by the cold, the wind and the rain. It reminds me of a bitter November storm back up in Chicago. Of course here it is as bad as it gets.

I have started to wear my overcoat. A big old riding coat with a hood. The coat comes down to my calves (actually has straps to go around my calf but they are too small) and has two series of snaps on the front. It does a good job of keeping the rain off of me but is too warm for most the year. Now it is kind of nice to have another layer.

Today I had a great view of the cloud out of our living room window. It normally over looks a valley towards the south east. Today I was not able to see the houses on the other side of the valley, nice and cloudy.

This house is pretty warm. It is tight without any serious drafts, but only one glass pane for each window. So it gets cold quickly and is hard to keep really warm. Actually we are almost out of firewood for the year. About 1/2 a face cord is left and at the current burn rate that will take only a couple of weeks to burn up.

Changes

Life goes on here. After 39 months there have been a few changes here in Wellington. Recently the Black Harp closed down. (It was the pub where my father-in-law met the bartender who use to live in Stone Mountain.) I think of Wellington as being timeless. I just get to the point where it becomes familiar and then I notice a change. Now of course there are changes occurring all the time just that I don't notice them for one reason or another.

And my life goes on as well. I too have changed (fortunately nothing has closed down!) But like Wellington that which is familiar in me has been changing. Just that I don't realize the change anymore. Sure some things stand out, small cars, smaller portions, walking everywhere, and much of it up hills. I am no longer sure how my vocabulary has changed, but still hear Dennis' accent. :)

Alas life goes on, things change. And as I walk by the shell that was the Black Harp and watch the transformation of the city, I wonder wonder how Wellington has transformed me.

US Breakfast for dinner ...

We had Biscuits and Gravy for dinner tonight. It is a US recipe which we had to work hard to reproduce. Breakfast Sausage, as one can get it in the states, does not exist here in New Zealand. So I took some Pork Mince (that would be hamburger made with pork as opposed to beef) and added some sage, rosemary, thyme, salt, pepper, and a few other things. Mixed it up and left it overnight.

The biscuits were the standard butter recipe which I have been making for years. The only difference is that I weighed the ingredients as that is how I generally bake these days. It was actually quite enjoyable to make the biscuits as they have no yeast in them. The joys of baking powder!

Gravy can be made in the 12 minutes that the biscuits bake. Cook the meat with onion add some flour to make a roux and then put in boiling milk. Let it thicken and soon you have yum!

For those who are have been kind enough to offer a place to stay while we are on holiday plan on having this for breakfast at least once. We will also make the poached eggs of a slightly earlier recipe.

We've Got Ours

I bought tickets today for the Rugby World Cup. We will be going to the Australia vs. USA game on Friday, September 23. It will be here in Wellington.

We have received fliers in the mail and seen signs at bus stops reminding us to buy our tickets. So now we've got ours.

Visiting the States

After about three weeks of talking to the travel agent, we have paid for tickets to visit the States after Christmas this year. We will spend time in Atlanta, North Carolina, Chicago and Michigan. Our trip will last about 4 weeks. It's a good time to go because businesses close or slow down in January for NZ summer holiday.

We will get to experience cold winter and maybe even some snow. We've only seen snow at the mountains--no snow in Wellington.

I has been over 3 years since we moved to Wellington.

Soap and Lotion Making

Here's a photo of my first two batches of cold process soap. I made the first batch, on the left, early this year. We have already used up that batch. A few bars were given away.

We are now showering with the second batch.

Both soaps used the same recipe but different scents were added. The one on the right was scented with vanilla fragrance oil. The blue/green color was obtained by melting a crayon and I scented it with 'sheer bliss' essential oil mix.

I'm following the excellent instructions and illustrations in the book Smart Soapmaking by Anne Watson.

I have made two more batches, one using all vegetable fats and another using lard. I scented one with lavender and ylang ylang and the other with just lavender.

I purchased a stick blender to make soap so I thought I'd try lotion as well. After choosing recipes and buying some specialized ingredients, I made two lotions. I still have to find the formula I like best. Some research is in order before I make another batch.

Now when I'm out grocery shopping I check out the prices of olive oil and coconut oil. The first soap batches weren't the most economical, but they did make really emollient soap. Essential oils are costly considering you get such a small amount; however, I view fragrance as necessary for soap. I enjoy the aromatherapy!

Poached Eggs for Breakfast

Mom, you may want to skip this entry. I know soft cooked eggs aren't for everyone.

This was my breakfast one day last week. Those are poached eggs on slices of toasted sourdough bread. Tom made the bread, I made the eggs using some silicone cooking cups.

I've heard that serving runny eggs is outlawed in New York City.

NZ doesn't have salmonella, so we can eat these eggs with the toast soaking up all that yolk!

Grapenuts and Dunkin Donuts

Two breakfast foods that I have missed are Post Grapenuts cereal and Dunkin Donuts. I saw a box of Grapenuts at Ontrays, an import shop in Petone. It was a bit pricey at over $8 for the box. However, I have enjoyed eating it with yogurt. I ate it with passion fruit yogurt--not what I would do in the States, but delicious.

The Auckland airport has a Dunkin Donuts. We told a dear kiwi friend about missing some of our favorite donuts. He called Tom one night from Auckland asking what kind of donuts we liked. Then a few hours later when he landed in Wellington, he called and said a special delivery was coming. Next morning, we gobbled up those yummy filled and frosted creations.

Easter Buns and Nutty Kid

Yes, Dennis can be just as nutty as in the photo.

Tom isn't the only one in the family who can bake. I made Easter buns using the hot cross bun recipe but omitting the crosses (which look great but don't add any flavor).

A new thing we did--we attended roller derby on 7 May. A friend from church is training and into roller derby so we thought we'd check it out. Wellington will have three more roller derby events, so we'll see how many we can go to.

Fencing and Other Activities

Another wonderful opportunity for the home-educated kids was fencing. The kids got a 2 hour introductory class on Tuesday, 12 April.

Dennis is the shortest one in this photo with his face towards us.

Back in March we had tae kwon do testing. Dennis aced his poomsae or patterns.

The Capital E Children's Theatre had a special two weeks with all sorts of plays at various venues in Wellington. We got a good deal on tickets for two plays and then we got free tickets for another two plays through Dennis' drama class.

Soccer season began on 2 April. Dennis' team is called Zoom. They have been winning their games so they will be paired up with more challenging teams soon.

The school holidays were the week before and after Easter. Dennis did 3 1/2 days of gymnastics over the two weeks. It was good I scheduled him for Tues and Thurs since he needed a day off afterwards.

On Saturday, 23 April, I was introduced to the board game Settlers of Catan. I did okay for a beginner.

Dennis' 11th Birthday

Dennis turned 11 on 27 May.

I ordered a gift for him that we had to pick up at the post shop. Once Dennis saw the box, his jaw dropped. The lady at the counter asked if it was his birthday. So what was in the box? A new Wavestick two wheeled skateboard (aka ripstick). It will take quite a bit of practice to get the hang of it.

This year we had a small party. I took Dennis and two friends go karting and bowling. I joined them for the bowling.

Clay and Dennis zoomed around the course pretty well. Clay was the fastest. Three times he got stuck on the tires. Hannes had some trouble keeping his kart going so the attendant helped him out. I lost count of how many times they went around. They could have gone longer than 10 minutes.

We all did all right with the bowling. We started out without the bumpers. Dennis decided he didn't like gutter balls so he asked for the bumpers to go up. We could still get a gutter ball, but at the very end right before the pins. All of us got better scores the second game.

Here in NZ what we did is called Ten Pin Bowling since outdoor lawn bowling is also popular.

We came to our house for homemade pizza, the movie "Narnia The Dawn Treader," cake and presents. The pizza was delicious. The cake was homemade chocolate. I bought a cake decorating kit. Dennis and I made yellow, green and blue icing. He squeezed it out all over the cake and then topped it off with some sprinkles (hundreds and thousands). It was certainly colorful and festive! At 8:00 p.m. the party was over.

Now Dennis has two new Nerf guns, new Lego sets: airplane and aquashark, four new Lego Bionicle figures, and four new comic books. It's Saturday morning and Dennis is shooting his Bionicles with Lego darts.

Whales Exhibition in Chicago

Dear Chicago friends,

Our Wellington museum Te Papa has a whale exhibition that is being loaned to and displayed in Chicago at Field Museum from 20 May 2011 until 16 January 2012.

We would love to hear about it.

http://whales.fieldmuseum.org/

Horse Riding

On Wednesday, 9 March, Dennis and other home-educated kids got to go horse riding. The stables were in Wainuiomata, a valley about 40 minutes drive from Wellington. The owner/operators got the kids involved in saddling and harnessing the horses as well. It was probably the first time Dennis has ridden in an English saddle. The kids had a positive experience with horses on a warm, sunny day.

Jousting Tournament

On Saturday, 19 February we went to a Jousting Tournament in Upper Hutt. All the participants are enthusiastic medieval reenacters.

We saw fights on horseback and also groups on foot. Dennis liked the foot soldiers.

We talked to Richard and had our photo taken with him. Then we routed for him in the melees.

The weather was fantastic and we enjoyed the late summer day out.

Croissants - without a picture

I will have to get a picture posted soon. But for now let me say that I am making some very very good croissants.

I took them into a local gourmet food shop, one that does not sell any croissants. The owner Steve doesn't sell croissants because he can't find one in Wellington that he is willing to sell. He knows of baker one over the mountain who makes a worthy croissant but no one locally.

My goal is to make croissants that he will sell. Everyone has to have a goal.

Steven gave me a few pointers told me what is lacking from his perspective, and told me that what I have made is as good as any as he has tasted in this little southern hemisphere city.

I will make another batch this weekend.

Southerly

I just went outside. (After sitting in my office for the past two hours on the phone with various airlines trying to arrange our vacation in America for later this year, early next year. That is a topic of another post.) The southerly just kicked in!

What that means is all that cold air from the south pole has worked its way up North to Wellington after having been warmed by the glaciers on the Southern Alps. It is dropping quickly here and will get down to about 40F shortly.

Now 40F in a cold damp climate is not the same as 40F in Chicago. This is cold, and our house is getting colder, which is a slight problem as our wood pile is getting smaller. But we still have some time before we run out of wood so I am not quite worried.

We have been pretty fortunate as the Northerly was in for over a week. That mean quite warm days running around with a t-shirts or, in my case, flinging my suit jacket over my shoulder around the CBD. Alas back to the southerly.

This house is quite well sealed and well built so it is not going to get cold soon. However ... it is a lock wood (think modern log cabin with 2" thick walls.) Which means no insulation but the wood retains the heat well. The trick here will be to keep the wood warm, to run that fire place, to bake more bread ...

So the race is on to keep a warm lounge and kitchen. I have given up hope on the master bedroom and office (both on the south end of the house, they will just get cold.)

Breakfast

I am sitting down at the dining room table eating my breakfast. There are more windows than walls in this house and I can see over to Wadestown through the lounge. It is an overcast misty day. We are basically in the clouds up here at 420 feet or so. I am sure it will be raining in Wellington which will be proven out in 45 minutes when the train drops me off downtown.

Breakfast is a few slices of sourdough bread I baked yesterday and a cup of coffee. A kiwi flat white, which is something you have to experience once, even if it is just my poor rendition of it.

I received a kick in the pants by a friend back in Chicago about the lack of updates on the Blog these days. Im just being lazy. It makes me wonder if my great adventure has turned into the mundane.

Regardless of the motivation, or lack of, to update this blog I will get going again. Communicate with my friends around the world who are following us here.

Thanks for reading!

Camping in February

After our long holiday, I needed to revamp some of our camping gear. We had broken two tent poles, so I had to find some replacements. I did order poles, they arrived and we made them work. The poles are strung together with thin bungee cord. I couldn't find thin cord so I bought elastic at the fabric store (Spotlight).

Our air mattresses had died, so I needed to come up with another option. I purchased three self-inflating mattresses. They have foam in them as well as air. Tom gets to sleep on the longest and thickest one since he's the biggest of us. Dennis and I have shorter, slightly thinner mattresses (also cheaper). Still, we were comfortable and slept well. The mattresses were stacked up during the day, so our tent had a bit more room for Dennis' changes from wet to dry clothes.

So we were prepared and in early February we went camping in Wainuiomata which is about a 30 minute drive. We, along with a number of area home educators, spent 3 days at a boy scout camp. Our group had a section of the camp all to ourselves.

The fire brigade visited and let the kids climb inside and gave them some stickers and activity books. We had an extra special photo op with the fire engine's name being Dennis. I think that's a manufacturer in the UK.

Tom got to try out his hammock that he got for Christmas. Perfect for that nap.

Both Tom and Dennis did some abseiling (repelling). I helped kids get their harnesses on and snugged up. Dennis enjoyed kayaking and hanging out with his friends.

The last night we had a big roaring campfire, sang songs and roasted marshmallows. Much sugar was consumed. Some got the added bonus of smoke in the eyes.

I did not pack the insect repellent because I thought the sand flies were more of a South Island thing. No they are not! So if you're doing any kind of camping in NZ pack some repellent. It's probably good advice for other locations too.

I can't make this stuff up!

Once again we have a bit of news from the local paper ...

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10720783

Blenheim to Picton

We spent our last night in Blenheim. Blenheim is in wine country so we went out wine tasting and buying. You can even rent bicycles equipped with saddle bags perfect for wine bottles. For us the car was adequate.

We also picked cherries to take home. Dennis found a baby bird inside the netted cherry orchard. The baby bird was allowed to stay inside.

For our last night of holiday we stayed in a cabin so we'd have a comfy bed and wouldn't have much packing to do in the morning.

Finally on 3 January 2011 we drove to Picton to board the ferry back to Wellington. Tom already posted a photo of he and Dennis sailing mini boats in the pond.

Hanmer Springs for New Year's

On Friday 31 December we checked into the Top 10 in Hanmer Springs. Once we got the tent up and settled, we headed for the "Spa." We bought a two day pass. The place caters to all ages. Dennis went on the water slides. Tom and I went into the different hot mineral pools. It was relaxing and good for the skin.

New Year's eve was pretty quiet around the campground. Campers stayed up late to toast the new year and then went to bed. I got up to use the toilet at 2:00 a.m. and the place was totally quiet.

Dennis met kids and had fun playing and running around the holiday park.

Hanmer Springs or Kaikoura Next?

It was a good thing we stopped for petrol and talked about where we were heading. Tom found out that Hanmer Springs would be totally booked because the road was closed at Lewis Pass due to flooding. I got on the phone and indeed found the holiday parks booked. We changed course for Kaikoura.

Kaikoura was pretty booked as well. We wanted to be indoors for the rainy night. After trying four places, we found room at the Dusky Lodge Backpackers. Dennis enjoyed the swimming pool and playing pool with Tom. I appreciated a stove to cook on and being inside.

We spent two more nights in Kaikoura at the Top 10. The proprietors were checking for tent space every day. We were pretty well packed in there.

Kaikoura is known for whale watching. We were too cheap to spend the money for a boat ride, and of course there are no guarantees that you'll see whales.

We went for a picnic one day. Another day we visited an animal farm and a lavender farm. Dennis was thrilled when he caught a chicken. We learned the difference between an alpaca and a llama (one is bigger than the other). They spit when they're mad.

Our tent was pitched by the swimming pool so we cooled off in it a few times.

Amberly Beach

We set out in the rain. First stop was Lake Tekapo for a quick look at the village and some coffees. We continued driving on Highway 72, the far outskirts of Christchurch. For many kilometres we saw farmland dotted with small villages.

I had my camping guide book out figuring out where we would stay. We ended up at a basic campground at Amberly Beach. The amenities were water, toilets and a playground. Our camping neighbors were really helpful. One neighbor brought Tom some coffee in the morning. Dennis made friends with some kids who were at their bach (beach house) adjacent to the park.

On Tuesday morning (28 December) it rained. We were kindly offered refuge with Peter and Sandra and their kids. Dennis played, we chatted. Peter made giant pancakes for lunch. Finally the rain let up and we continued packing up our tent.

Mount Cook

On 26 December, Boxing Day we headed north to Mount Cook. Along with many tourists we went into the visitor center, read about mountaineering, viewed Mount Cook, and got the weather forecast. We were thinking about staying at a DOC campsite but heavy rain and wind were fore casted. We ended up staying at the Glentanner Holiday Park. This park had many guests yet wasn't crowded since the park was so large. We found a sheltered spot and pitched the smaller tent we had brought. If wind was going to be an issue, we thought we'd break our own tent rather than the one we borrowed.

We had barbecue for dinner and ate looking at the mountain. Later Tom spotted some fellow campers seated at a picnic table sipping port. He joined them for a while.

The wind and rain did come. On Monday, 27 December we were taking down our tent in the rain. It's all part of the camping experience!

Kiwi ingenuity at its best ...

http://www.showusyourlongdrop.co.nz/

Queenstown for Christmas

On Christmas eve we headed for Queenstown. I booked a townhouse for us to stay in for 2 nights until Boxing Day. Turner Heights Townhouses had a view of the lake and the mountains. They also had a community spa pool.

We found the New World in town and I bought the fixings for Christmas dinner. We had a premade stuffed chicken roast, potatoes, veggies and a ready to heat pudding. We set up a tiny fake tree with little LED lights. For decorations we added some individually wrapped lollies (candies).

On Christmas day the gondola and luge were open, so we went. We got the family deal for the luge, so Dennis got more trips than the grown ups. The views were stunning, although I didn't like going close to the railing. We did get a few photos.

Cromwell and Central Otago

On Thursday, 23 December we drove from Dunedin to Cromwell. It was hot there in central Otago which is normal summer weather. Once again we stayed at a Top 10 Holiday Park.

Rocky!

One thing I love about Kiwi's is their sense of humor. Here is an example

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Home-living/Outdoor-garden-conservatory/Landscaping-materials/Stones-rocks/auction-357989041.htm#qna

Please click on the link and read it. First just clicking for there are kudo's for the number of views of the Auction. The listing itself, and the comments are quite humorous. And go ahead and bid on it as it does go for a good cause. Christchurch Earthquake Aid.

Round the Bays

On Sunday, 20 February I ran a half marathon. It was 21 kilometres along the Wellington waterfront. The course scenery was beautiful.

I began training in December for the event. I started running a bit longer on weekdays and added a longer run on Saturday. I followed a training schedule I got off Shoe Clinic's web site. I followed it even when we were on our South Island holiday, so I got to see some stunning places while I trained. Would it work? Would I be fit enough?

The race went well. My time was 2 hours 12 minutes and 27 seconds. I was 920 of 1226 finishers and 48 of 85 for my age range. I did slow down for the water hand outs.

I am pleased with the results. Two of my toes got bruised so I used that as my excuse to buy new shoes the following week. Not sure what I'll enter next, but I've heard about an event in Wellington in July which could be cool, rainy weather.

I can't make this stuff up!

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10709348

Read it to the very end.

All Good in Welly

New Zealand has been shaken up not only physically by last Tuesday's earthquake, but also emotionally. Most kiwis have some connection to Christchurch--family, friends or memories of visits.

It has been amazing to see kiwi people reach out to the people of Christchurch. Hospitals in Auckland, Wellington and other cities made room for the injured, by cancelling non urgent procedures. Students in Christchurch are picking up shovels and shoveling silt. People in Wellington are making space in their homes for evacuees. Our church emptied out its food pantry to help.

When you pray, do pray for the people of Christchurch. It is a tremendous loss to have so much destruction in the country's second largest city.

HEATH!

Some of you may vaguely remember the deal I struck with you, my dear readers, last June in a post labeled "Doritos." That is the post where I waxed on about food here in NZ, I also promised a Peanut Block to anyone who sent me a Heath bar. And guess what!

Yep I got a heath bar in the mail this last week, well actually five of them! Or was it six? Doesn't matter as I am very grateful for one! But boy were they good!

Hey I know what you are thinking but that is not true! I shared them with my family and I also gave one away to a dear Kiwi friend (she was kind enough to bring over a small Peanut Block after reading the post last June) and here is proof that I have at least one left!

And as for my end of the bargain. That very same Peanut Block that you see above will be in the mail today with my heart felt thanks!

Caitlins and Dunedin

On 22 December we got back on the road again. We drove through the southeastern coast called the Caitlins. It's beautifully rugged with rolling hills.

When we got to Dunedin we found the Top 10 and got a cabin for the night. Tom was tired and under the weather.

While in Dunedin we toured the Cadbury Factory and came out with goodie bags filled with various confectionery bars. The tour guides gave us a few extras since they were closing for the Christmas holiday which meant that the machines were no longer running.

We drove up the world's steepest street, Baldwin Street. Tom drove down in low gear. We even saw a cyclist riding up the street in a zig-zag pattern.

The train station is a landmark you can't miss and we took a few photos of it.

We drove on the Otago Peninsula towards the bird colonies at the end of it. Unfortunately the bird colonies were fenced off and the admission seemed steep to us. We stopped for a coffee and then headed back towards town.

Crossing the Foveaux Straight

Among the roughest waters in the world. Luckily we crossed on a good day ...






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Bluff and Stewart Island

You have to go to Bluff to catch the ferry for Stewart Island. That's just what we did on Tuesday 21 December.

The ride there was fairly smooth. The Foveaux Straight is known for being rough. The weather started out cloudy and drizzly but became sunny by lunch time.

We walked around the island a bit. In the afternoon we had booked a bus tour. We didn't need a bus tour since there aren't many paved roads on Stewart Island. However, the bus driver told us about life on the island--a somewhat isolated small town. Electricity is very expensive, so not many lights are on at night.

The island is a place where people come to go deer hunting or week-long hiking (tramping). It would also be a lovely place to book a holiday house and stay put for a week.

Late in the afternoon we bought some fish and chips. We had to try the famous bluff oysters and got some raw and some deep fried. We preferred the deep fried. We enjoyed our meal on the shore.

After dinner we took the return ferry to Bluff. The Foveaux Straight gave us a bumpy ride going back. We treated it like an amusement park ride. Fortunately the fun only lasted an hour and we were off the boat.

We took a drive up the hill in Bluff for a quick look. It was pretty windy and we're used to wind!