Has it been that long???

Hello one and all, and a very Merry Christmas to you all.  I KNOW - less than a week till Christmas!!!  Being on vacation since December 1st in a land where there is no snow to be seen (unless you are looking at the Southern Alps) certainly does not make one feel Christmasy! I occasionally blasted the van with Christmas carols to try to make it more festive, and we did see a Christmas tree or two in suburban windows.

So, let's have an update so everyone is on the same page.  My parents were picked up by my ever sweet hubby on the 19th of November.  Since arriving my father has told anyone who would stand still how brilliant and beautiful New Zealand is.  He has made friends of the regulars at our local pub and has gone fishing several times with Chris (neighbors) and Don.  He's in heaven.  Mom keeps wandering around in a dazed state, taking pictures of the local flora and fauna, stunned at their size and numbers.  Between them they  mastered the local bus service and checked out the sights while Don and I were at work and the boys at school.

On December 1st we loaded up our 6 seater van with a roof storage rack and hit the road, driving the 7 hours down to Wellington, staying overnight and then taking the ferry across to the South Island.  From the 2nd to the 17th we drove all over the South Island seeing amazing sights and having remarkable times.  Below I will give you a taste of what we did and what we saw.  Let me preface this update by saying we had unbelievable weather for virtually all of our travels, sunny skies and warm temperatures - we were so unbelievably lucky!!!

Split Apple Rock

Our first stop was Picton where we fulfilled Lloyd's first bucket list item, kayaking in the Able Tasman Park to a rock formation called the 'Split Apple'.  Lloyd, Don and I participated in this quest.  The kids were also supposed to come but the wind was mighty that day and the white caps were crashing down so they were sufficiently freaked out that they stayed on the beach with Shirley while the adventuresome threesome set out.  Also in Picton we did an afternoon cruise of the Queen Charlotte Sound where we saw dolphins and many different types of birds.  Gorgeous and relaxing.














We were next on to Christchurch where we, on one day, went punting on the Avon river and Shirley and I went the the Ron Mueck sculpture show - it was stunning!!  Then we took and train trip to Arthur's Pass and saw the rare Mountain parrot - the Kea.

A Kea/Mountain Parrot

Punting on the Avon River

Wild Flowers on the way to Arthur's Pass

Off to Queenstown, which might have been everyone's favourite stop.  Certainly Lloyd got to cross more off his 'bucket list' such as going jet boating on the Shotover River (where Connor famously said to me 'stop being so "historical" mommy, you are laughing too much') and we took him zip lining as a late father's day/birthday gift.  Don and I took the kids, on a different day, horseback riding in a place called Paradise, where lots of Lord of the Ring filming was done - breathtaking and so worthwhile.  Don and Lloyd did their own full day Lord of the Rings tour and got some amazing pics too.  And Don and I capped our whole Queenstown adventure by purchasing our own LOTR rings (geeky I know).

Our Next Year Xmas card pic

Lloyd in his glory

Beach across from Bach in Dunedin

Yellow Eyed Penguins

Our final major stop was in Dunedin.  I think that everyone loved this bach/house the best as it was across the road from a mile long white sand beach that we tried to walk on everyday.  Aidan was thrilled to finally be able to visit the Cadbury factory where Shirley, Connor, Aidan and I took a 75 min tour and got oodles of free samples.  The guys took the beer factory tour - losers.  The next day we all drove over the Otago Penninsula to the Albatross and Penguin colonies.  The driving was simply breathtaking, certainly rivalling anything we saw in Scotland.  And the penguin encounter we took was absolutely stunning.  We were all mere centimeters away from baby Yellow Eyed Penguins, some of the rarest penguins in the world, and their parents.  So utterly amazing.

On the way back north to catch the ferry home, we stopped by Shirley's 'must see':  the Moerake boulders, a marvelous bunch of spherical boulders just sitting in the surf, been there for thousands of years.  Marvelous.

Moelaki Boulder

 

It was a lot of driving (nearly 4000 kms worth) and, all things considered, the boys did OK, especially considering that they only had each other for company for all that time.  During most of their long journeys they happily played on their DS's.  I, being the unbelievably cruel mother that I am, made the boys keep a daily journal of their travels and adventures.  My favourite quote comes from Aidan, who, upon hearing his Grandma's lecture about how to communicate in 'proper English' stated that he was going to speak in French from now on.

It is now officially school holidays until February so they are both very happy.  I pulled out a couple of the Christmas decorations that I hauled over from Canada and they were absurdly thrilled to see them.  Warmed my heart!

Tomorrow we hope to go and buy a real Christmas tree (tiny) and will also be celebrating Don's birthday with a bbq with Jacqui and Chris and their kids.  Never mind that it's raining - we are all still in shorts!! 

So, again, happy holidays to you all.  I hope to be able to skype with a fair few of you during this holiday season.  I'm off until January 10th so I hope that works!!!

Much Love to you all.

Sydney

Well our Sydney trip has come and gone, it is a truly beautiful city...from what we saw of it.  Urban hikers was the style we were going for, I did have on my hiking boots and both grownups were sporting the ever fashionable back packs.  I think next time though we shall give Victoria a smaller, less lethal backpack.  Several times I was on the receiving end of the "rapid turn smash" as I like to call it.  Imagine you are standing next to someone and they turn around rapidly....a bulky back pack containing about 13lbs of books bottles and stuff is propelled rapidly into your unsuspecting body.  Ahhhh memories, and the bruises to prove it.

Our Flight left Auckland at a respectable 12:30pm on Sunday.  This was our return flight back to Canada, that we had to book because we used points coming to NZ, and you can't book one way.  So rather than letting the whole flight go to waste, we decided to go to Sydney for a quick holiday.   We took complete advantage of the first class service and had a very relaxing flight.  When we arrived in Sydney we did not have to pickup any luggage because we only took carry on bags. Clearing Sydney customs was painless, and it was not long before we were on our way to the train station on the lower level.  The transit system is awesome in Sydney, and for a relatively cheap fee we got an unlimited pass for 3 days for the whole family.  The pass included all ferry's trains and almost all bus service, the only one that we used was the Sydney Explorer which has guided tour playing over the speakers and much more comfortable seats than your standard city bus.  The Train ride to the Hotel did not take more than 25 minutes and soon we were walking out of the station.  I thought I had figured out which way we were facing when we finally arrived on the street, but It was Aidan who spotted the hotel.  I had started walking the wrong way on the street, when our Intrepid little traveler piped up and told me he could see the hotel.  So my 8 year old can spot a Westin sign through throngs of people in the middle of a busy street in a city he's never been to. 

So we were only about 150m from the hotel and off we went.  The hotel is in the old post office building smack dab in the middle of the Central Business district.  We were in walking distance to almost everything we wanted to see.  Once we put our stuff in the room we headed off to Hyde park, a lovely green space with a great little cafe at the far end to sit and enjoy a coffee.

On our way back to the hotel we spotted a display in a department store window, and let me tell you that it is strange to be standing in shorts looking at a Christmas display and hearing carols.

It sure doesn't feel like Christmas is approaching here.  But the stores are all decked out, as we saw on our one shopping trip to a mall.

On Monday we went to the zoo and took our behind the scenes tour of the Australian animals.  It was 2 hours of very detailed entertainment and the boys loved the fact that they could add their little bits of knowledge to the conversation.  And Aidan was even asked to share his knowledge of the platypus, once he informed the keeper that he had recently done a study project on them.  He also wowed the keeper by letting her know that a certain marsupial pukes and then eats it again....though he didn't elaborate on why.  Her sole comment was "wow, I'm surprised you know that!"  He is our discovery channel kid. The Koala's were great, we couldn't touch them but we could get as close as we wanted.

The keeper also got a Wallaby over to visit us, very friendly and we were able to pet her.

The view from the zoo was spectacular, but in this picture you can see the clouds coming in from the right...this system lead to one of the worst storms Sydney has seen for a while.  In fact at the end of the day we were trying to take the tram back down the hill to the ferry and they canceled it due to the weather.  So we had to walk down to the ferry terminal.  When we go to the other side and off the ferry the skies opened up and we had to take shelter under the train overpass.  Fortunately that didn't last long and we were able to scurry home in a mild drizzle.  Later that evening though the wind and rain was apparently quite horrendous and it made the news all the way back in NZ.....we slept through the whole thing....didn't even know until the next day when the news was on.

We spent the next day touring around the opera house, and the botanical gardens which have an infestation of bats that are killing the trees.  Which is why there is a plan underway to remove them by sound bombardment.

We took this train around the botanical gardens and then wandered for a bit before hopping on the Explorer bus for out dim sum china town lunch.

After lunch we went to the shopping mall and then back on the Explorer to Darling Harbour for patio drinks, where we met people from Scotland, Wales, NZ and had a good old 4 table conversation between the colonies.  Very interesting people and a great afternoon in the shade by the water.


The next day was our last day and we headed to the PowerHouse museum.  Where we spend almost 3 hours touring the exhibits and enjoying the sights and sounds they had to offer.  I think we spent the most time in the 80's exhibit marvelling at how we used to dress, and what music we listened to.  The also had heaps of table top video games and some old computer games on the Commodore64...time warp!!

After the museum it was time to head back to the hotel and pickup the luggage they were holding for us, onto the train and whoosh! back to the airport.  This brings me to the reason for only bringing carry on luggage on the flight to Sydney...our flight back to NZ was on the lower end of the scale, a budget airline called JetStar.

We came like princes and left like Paupers footsore and weary.  To top it all off, I drove us back to Tauranga after landing in Auckland at 11:30.  We were all in bed by 3:00am, it was worth the trip.  If you ever get a chance to see Sydney, do it!  I would love to go again.


ttfn

Our October Long weekend

At long, long last, we have made it to another holiday long weekend in NZ. It's been a long time coming folks. Last one was way back in May. But the wait has been worth it as Mother Nature has given us a break from the wind and the rain and the general misery, to show clearly that summer is on the way. Yes, it's 22 degrees, gorgeous blue skies and I am alone in my house, drinking wine. Truly this is the way Labour(less) day should be celebrated! Don has gone out fishing with Chris. I'd be thrilled if I never ate another piece of fish but I do try to support my hunter/gatherer. Connor has gone to a friend's for a sleep over - woke us up at 8:30 to ask if he could head over - we restrained him until 11. And Aidan is next door at Jack's, being electronically stimulated. I have all the doors and windows open, nary a mozzie to be seen!

It's been a glorious weekend. On Saturday I made my troops start preparing for the 'royal visit' of my mom and dad. They get here on November 19th and I have a list of things that have to be brought up to snuff before they get to cross the threshold. So Saturday was a chore day. But yesterday I bribed, begged, and pleaded and managed to get my guys, plus Jack, the next door neighbor, out of the house for a day trip to Raglan. Aidan gets so road sick that he started to cry when he heard what my plan was. But I did not let his tears and sad little face deter me! Nope, instead I gave him good Canadian drugs (Gravol, not available in NZ!), roped Jack into the action (fed him Gravol too) and promised them all ice cream on the other side. So at 12:30 we pulled out of the driveway, over here on the east coast of the island, to drive all the way over to the surfing capitol of NZ, on the west coast of the island. Whole trip, 2 hours, and most of that was going well under 100 km's. Nifty eh? And the Gravol did the trick, no complaints from the back seat from the 2 car sick prone kids, no need for the air spew bags! We spent the afternoon on the amazing black sand beach, had something to eat, then headed home.

Octber overall has been quiet. We are saving up our dollars for the coming 2 months as we depart for 4 days in Sydney on November 7th and my parents roll up on November 19th. The Sydney trip is meant to be very relaxing. We are using up part of the tickets that we booked when we originally flew out here last January. As I used points to purchase all 4 tickets, they had to be round trip tickets. So we have tickets back to Winnipeg that will expire in November. Rather than loose their value totally we will fly over to Sydney, and rather than change planes, we will just stay in the city. We have cheap cheap tickets to fly back to NZ 4 days later. Connor wants to see the Sydney opera house and we have a day planned at the zoo, which is supposed to be an amazing place. I personally want to cuddle a koala.

We did manage to celebrate Thanksgiving here. It was rather spur of the moment. I had committed to Don that I would make pumpkin pie (as I believe I mentioned in our last post) and I did. Don couldn't find me any evap milk, so I found a recipe using melted vanilla ice cream, and there are no such things as pre-made pie shells here so I had to go buy 2 pie plates while Don purchased pre-made bricks of pastry dough that we rolled out. I did bake and puree our own pumpkin and voila, with only a few hurdles to get over, I made 2 very credible pies. Don also felt moved enough by the occassion to buy one of those pre-stuffed rolled turkey breasts. On the Sunday we went for a walk on the beach, and as it was windy enough, we then went blowcarting out on a course for a belated Aidan birthday gift. Sadly, the camera had no batteries so you don't get pictures of that. Blowcarts, for the uninitiated, are like little sailboats on wheels - you use a sail to control your speed and direction. Very fun, you can get up onto 2 wheels even. I've imported a generic picture for your consideration.

Anyways, we got back a little later than planned, 4 pm, found Chris and Jacqui up to their knees in a spur of the moment back yard project, and decided to pitch in. So while Don worked himself up a major blister (such an IT guy!), I scurried around stretching our Thanksgiving meal from 4 to 9. Involved rustling up 3 veggies, lots of tatters for the mashed potatoes, and doing some chicken strips to alleviate the pressure on the turkey breast. It worked out marvelously as we introduced out kiwi friends/neighbors to the bounty of a thanksgiving meal and the adults sat on the front stoop, looking out over the estuary and discussing what we were grateful for. Pumpkin pie is not big over here (our neighbors had never had it) and they were very very taken with it. I believe I have a request to make it for the next birthday even!

Halloween is the next 'big thing' on the boys' radar and I'm afraid they may be very let down. Halloween is not at all a major deal here. There are a few costumes in the Walmart like store but I haven't seen any decorations for it, nor little bags of candy. I understand that if kids do come to the door, you may get 8 in total. So the pillow cases full of candy aren't going to be happening over here, which is just was well for me since I eat so many of the kids' treats. But the kids will be very sad. Oh well, grandma and grandpa are coming!

Ah, the washing is done, time to go hang it on the line. Oh the drudgery! Then I'll water the garden (just planted some silver beets, red peppers, lettuce, eggplant and tomatoes in my postage sized garden). Then I'll refill my wine glass :)

Wishing you all much happiness

V

Well, that was September!

Howdy folks! I bet all our faithful readers can tell, just two words in, who's writing the blog. You are all blessed with the female perspective this time around. It's 7:15 pm during school term break so the kids are outside with their friend Jack going over a tiny wee ramp on their scooters and bikes, and Don and neighbor Chris have taken themselves out night fishing. Chris recently had his boat outfitted with lights so now the poor fishies are never safe.

September is my favourite month - I was one of those geeks who enjoyed going back to school - so it was different to be experiencing it in the opposite hemisphere where there was no big going back to school hoopla, no lovely fall weather. No, the only thing that remained constant were the birthdays, mine and Aidan's.

We had made a few plans for September, foremost among them was going skiing on Mt. Ruhapehu, the primary skiing mountain for the North Island. Neither of the boys have ever skied and I had solemnly promised them in Winnipeg that we would take them in NZ. So we duly made a reservation at the tiny little ski town that supports the mountain way back in May when we were in the area checking out our options. We decided to pay our money and take our chances with the weather which is notoriously fickle up on that mountain. Well, wouldn't you know it, the weekend we were due to go down was the weekend that all of New Zealand was smacked down with a fearsome wind/rain/snow storm. My mom said it was even reported on your Weather Network.

Yep, it was a doozy, covered the whole nation and just shut everything down. The cabin fee was non-refundable so we decided that we could sit at home in a storm, or sit in a cabin, on the side of a mountain, using someone else's heat, and suck up the ambiance. So we went for it. The ski hill was shut down for the whole weekend but on the bright side we had a snow ball fight, experiencing snow for the first time since last January. I personally found it really cool to be tucked into a cabin with the heat pumping as the winds howled around us (more than 100 kms at times) and the sleet/snow/rain poured down onto the tin roof. It went on not for hours but for days! Don near lost his mind at nights trying to sleep.

That particular wind and rain storm sat over NZ for 6 days and caused millions of dollars in damage as lots of fruit trees came down, electricity was out all over the place, the snow in the far south has killed thousands of spring lambs, and it collapsed roofs in the region and the rain farther up country flooded lots of communities. So believe me when I tell you, we are feeling and empathizing with your crapacular weather!!

However, after the storm has finally, at long last, come warm spring weather. It was a long time coming but just in time for our birthday weekend, as well as the term break, mother nature has decided to ease up on all the grumpy desperate Kiwi folks. So last weekend we finally saw some lovely sun, blue skies and the temps starting to rise to around 20 during the day. The birthdays themselves were relatively low key. Aidan asked one friend from school over for a sleep over. They watched movies and played x-box while Don and I dozed in the bedroom all night. Exciting stuff. Then we did a birthday bbq with the neighbors, where Jacqui made a big chocolate cake - shown half eaten in the photo (you know it couldn't be a birthday for me without chocolate cake!), and on Sunday we hit the wave pool for 2 hours at Aidan's request. It was at the wave pool, in the afternoon, that we were reminded that the time change has happened! So yes, those of you keeping track, in NZ we are now only 6 hours behind MB, 5 behind AB, and 4 behind BC (never mind that we are also a day ahead). So the light is just now dying and it's 7:45 pm. Lovely.

For any of you wondering about the postal system in NZ, I would like to assure you that it is miles better than Canada Post. As a small comparison, I have sent a couple of small parcels over to Canada and have had them arrive within 3 wks of mailing them. I got a birthday gift from my lovely and sweet friend Sharon that, when I picked it up at the post office here, was labelled with a large 'for your birthday, do not open early!' tag. Righto, didn't know exactly what her warning was for since I picked it up on the 25th of September, 2 days before my birthday. Well, then I checked the postal stamp of when she mailed it to me. July 10th people!!!! July 10th!!!! Holy guacamole! My brother sweetly mailed a birthday gift to Aidan at the end of August. We are hoping to have it here for Halloween. :)

The boys are on their second week of term break and we believe that we may need to hyphenate their last name to McLeod-Downey. They spend hours every day over at our neighbors' house as Jack, their 8 year old, saved up all his pennies and bought an X-box 360. For those of you who know the McLeod boys (all 3 of them), this has proven to be a magnetic draw. And Aidan, who was gifted money for his birthday, bought himself his own personal x-box controlled to use over at their house (only one came with the system). If Aidan is feeling especially magnanimous he very occasionally allows someone else to use 'his' controller, but it's pretty much all his all the time. He's not at all a business man as he won't even consider renting it to the other kids to make money!

This past weekend was simply awesome in every way. First off, I treated myself royally and I went to Wellington for 3 days with neighbor Jacqui. She had put together a trip for the two of us months ago that involved going to the World of Wearable Arts show and sight seeing around downtown Wellington. We flew down Friday morning (it's a 7 hour drive) and arrived to spectacular weather. It was blue skies, gentle breezes, good temperatures for all 3 days. It was the kind of weather that makes you wonder why everyone doesn't live in Wellington. Well, that would be because it's usually blustery and rainy in the capitol city and weekends like the one we experienced are the exception, not the rule. Our hotel was right downtown, one street back from the waterfront (lots of waterfront in Wellington as it's a peninsula) and our room had harbour views. Friday we walked the water front, Saturday we did a bit of shopping in their funky shopping district and attended the WOW show. That was a spectacular beyond anything I'd ever seen before. It's essentially a fashion show for art that is choreographed and performed by models and dancers. I would imagine it's not unlike a Cirque show. Here's a website if you want to learn more about it http://www.worldofwearableart.com/ . On Sunday we walked for 6 hours, going thru Wellington's historic shopping district, Lambton Quay, riding their trolley up the 400 foot incline, taking a tour of their parliament building, and visiting their awesome national museum - Te Papa (which is free!). Then we flew home for 8 pm. Simply the best time!

Don was holding down the fort at home, obviously, and was having his own brand of fun. He and neighbor Chris, with a couple of 'supporting' buddies had an all night party in the backyard till 3 am. I think the party ran out when the alcohol did. Needless to say, he was a bit of a hurting unit on Saturday and spent a quiet day apologizing to his liver. But on Sunday he was in fine form again, playing laser tag with the boys at this region's only laser tag centre, which happens to be outside. It was only supposed to be for 8 to 10 yr olds but they needed parents to play to make up some numbers. So Don happily played along. He reported to me later that he 'wasted a tonne of kids'. I'm so proud of my honey!

So there you have it friends, fans and family. An update from our recent past. The four McLeod's would like to extend their heartiest congrats and heartfelt best wishes to the latest clan member - Tyson, baby boy born Oct 1st, I do believe (the time line runs me afoul sometimes), to Steph and Mike. Yea for more boys! And Happy turkey day all. How weird to think of that going on. I told Don I would tackle a pumpkin pie - and there is no canned pumpkin in this country, only actual pumpkins - so this might get labour intensive. I'll let you know how this works out!

love to all

Hail to the Emu

Here we are again, it's been a few weeks! I am going to start with my first offshore fishing trip with Chris.  We took his boat out to an offshore reef and anchored at about 8m depth. We stayed in the same spot all day and managed to pull in 16 snapper larger than 30cm, as we felt that the legal limit of 25cm is too small. It was a good day but the weather was a bit rough coming back in.  I managed to get this picture of Mount Maunganui on the way out, it gives a different perspective.

We've been sticking pretty close to home lately, not a lot of desire to go out and about with the rain still falling.  I read in the paper today that we have had %150 more rain this winter than is normal, maybe next year will be a little dryer. 

A job opportunity has arose from all the time spent socializing with Chris next door, he is the managing director of an accounting firm downtown.  It turns out that they are in need of some IT support, and as it so happens I have the necessary skills.  So far I have been with him on a trip to Auckland for the national IT meeting. (there are 6 offices in total spread around the country), and done one day at the office to familiarize myself with their setup.  From the looks of things there is a lot of work to be done.  Fortunately they are very flexible with the work hours, so I can pretty much set my own hours. 

2 weekends ago we had a thunderstorm move through, and I think it was the first time here that we experienced thunder.  To add to the event, a large amount of pea sized hail hit the ground which made a lot of noise on the metal roof.  I was getting concerned for our car as it sounded like it was getting larger, but apparently it was just the intensity that was increasing not the size.
It looked a little like snow but the picture doesn't do it justice.  The neighbour's kids each saved their own bowl of hail in their freezer.

We had heard that the lambs were out on the Mount, so off we went for a walk around.  It was sunny but very windy and it was a good thing we had our sweaters.

The next day we made a break for it to tour an animal farm that is within a 1/2 hours drive, and even though the clouds were thick it didn't rain on us.  They have a wide variety of animals on the farm, from eels to Canadian Elk.

My two favorites were the Clydesdale that kicked the fence in an effort to elicit corn and the parrot named Joey.  They sell bags of corn to feed to the various animals and as soon as that horse saw us approaching with a paper bag, he started kicking the fence and snorting.  Aidan and I had great fun feeding him from our hands, Aidan giggled at how much the horse's hairy lips tickled.  Joey was a very talkative and entertaining feature.  He asked what your name was, how you are doing, what are you doing....and then he would bend his head down near the corner of the cage and say "scratch?"  He would stay in the that position silently soaking up the scratch as long as you were willing to continue.  If you stopped, he would look up and say "Scratch?" again....very cute.
The emu was intimidating, but I allowed him to eat the corn from my hand which only pinched a little. It is freaky to see a bird at eye level or higher come up to you with huge eyes.  They could easily strike your face before you were able to do anything to stop them.  But he was very well behaved.

The kids were able to coax some timid deer over for a corn feast.

And the Golden pheasant thought the camera on my iPhone was another bird, as he closed his eye when I got in for a closeup.

So that is our adventures for the last little while.  Next weekend we are off skiing so hopefully we will have some more pictures and stories to tell.

The run up to Spring!

Yes, that would be Spring with a capitol 'S'. I simply know that we are in the last few weeks of this epically rainy winter and that warm morning temperatures are just around the corner. Daytime temperatures are usually very lovely, around 15 to 19 degrees. It's just that the mornings can still be quite brisk with lows around 5 to 7 degrees and our pile of wood is dwindling quickly. We tend to grin and bear the evenings more these days to save our wood resources.

Last weekend was a complete wash out, quite literally. MORE record amount of rain falling around us causing landslides/slips. We barely left the house though we sucked it up enough to go to our first regional rugby game - our team is known as The Bay of Plenty Steamers. It was pouring outside but fortunately the stands are covered so we only got wet walking into our seats. Then we sat down and watching large muscly men (don't know if the guys necessarily noticed the muscle bit) heave a ball around and tackle each other in an absolute mud bowl. The rain was literally sheeting down. It was a 2:35 start time but they had to turn on the field lights cuz it was so grim. On the plus side (more plus than seeing well muscled men with wet tshirts on) rugby is a timed sport so we only had to sit thru 2 40 minutes halves. Connor and Don actually watched the game but Aidan and I played silly games and just made the time pass. I must say, if you took a Kiwi into any North American sporting event, they would insist that what we watch is not sports so much as entertainment. The rugby match we watched had a score board that only had the score, no time or possession indicators, the loud speakers were used only to let you know when there was less than 5 minutes in the half and to occasionally rally the crowd by screaming 'Go The Bay' (oh yes, it is 'The Bay', not Bay or even Steamers, but The Bay'), there were no mascots running around, no games, no cheerleaders. If there was an injury or a penalty to sort out then the PA system played a song but there was certainly no announcement about the nature of the penalty etc etc. So consequently Aidan and I were often in the dark about what was going on. Oh well the tickets were free!

Today has dawned bright and relatively lovely though. Bit of a cold breeze but it sure does the trick for drying the laundry. Got 2 loads out and dried already. The break in the weather also allowed us to get outside to do some long put off gardening, but given the typical weekend weather conditions around here there's not much we could do about it! Got Don out to mow the grass. Yes the grass does still grow in the winter, just more slowly. Don't think Don had cut it in about 8 wks so there were some pretty out of control tufts out there. And I finally got the chance to weed the flower beds. We inherited the loveliest flower beds and every season is a surprise in terms of what pops it's head out. I must say it's rather challenging to weed when you aren't sure if what's coming up is wanted or not. I have yanked out a few specimens only to see the same plant, more mature, flowering in another part of the flower bed. Our winter garden has even come to fruition. The carrots have grown and the lettuce has been eaten. Even the silver beet is on the go finally.

Last night Don and I were initiated into the Kiwi tradition of the dress up bar crawl. Neighbour Jacqui turned 40 this winter so her husband arranged for a bus to come to their house and ferry us around to 4 different pubs/bars. Jacqui had decided to make it a themed party and we were to come dressed as our partner's fantasy. Lots and lots of fun had by all. Funnily enough there were 2 men there dressed as pirates/Capt Jack Sparrow/Johnny Depp. Hopefully you can all figure out what Don and I were. Our gift to Jacqui was supplying the cake for the party. Jacqui is an amazingly talented lady and she designed a funky invite and wrote a poem for it. So I had the picture on the invite scanned and made into the cake. Looks awesome eh? Possibly a little too awesome as Jacqui decreed that no one was allowed to cut/eat the cake, it was too beautiful. I believe she is finally succumbing to the inevitable this afternoon at afternoon tea. I am actually living in a place where they say 'come over for afternoon tea'. So civilized.

So I hope I have contributed some smiles to your days all you devoted readers! Oh, one other big excitement, we have our first official booking for real live visitors from home. My mom and day will be arriving in NZ on November 19th and will stay through to the end of January. If you are coming all this way might as well stay for awhile!! The boys are very stoked and we will be thrilled to have loved ones so close for a time.

TTFN V

The female perspective

Samoa was awesome and I feel like Don's blog, entertaining as it was, failed to capture the beauty and serenity of the place. So let me share with you my top moments and memories of the place we left only one short week ago.

Moment 1 - driving around Auckland, killing time the day before the flight, and having Aidan vomit unexpectedly all over himself and the back seat. I didn't foresee that possibility when planning the packing for this trip. Thank the lord the motel had a washer and dryer so that the child had a non-pukey outfit to wear on the plane

Moment 2 - enjoying drinks at 11:15 most mornings with my husband on the balcony of our room, overlooking the beautiful South Pacific waters with nary a kid in sight

Moment 3 - sailing in those same waters with Don who was able to recall his sailing skills from 15 odd years ago to pilot the resort's catamaran. It was surreal to had the wind whipping thru my hair and the warm salt water spraying up and the sun shining down on me while sailing with my sweetie. Simply awesome.

Moment 4 - enjoying a trip to the spa where we were wrapped up and rubbed down in the middle of a grove of trees with the wind blowing gently around us, birds chirruping and not a bug in sight. Never mind that those spa ladies saw bits of us that even our mothers haven't seen for a long time, too relaxed to be embarrassed about it!

Moment 5 - watching the kids literally inhale their McD's burgers back in Auckland after spending a week eating nothing but cheese pizza for lunch and supper (for Connor) and virtually nothing but breakfast (for Aidan). They said nothing had ever tasted so good!

Moment 6 - let's end as I started, with Aidan and his body functions. On the flight home Aidan was looking definitely peakish. He grabbed a barf bag and sat with his face over it for several minutes. Then he dropped it and said to me, with a beatific smile, 'I only needed to fart'. Then the nauseating smell hit. Nearly died laughing.

Hope everyone is well and enjoying their summer!

V

Update from the soggy south.

It's been a bit since the last update, out lack of enthusiasm for posting is likely due to the weather.  This week is looking especially grim, but we have enough sunshine stored up from our trip last week that we should be able to carry through August and on to Spring with it.  But I want to start this post back on the 11th of July, we decided that we needed to get out of the house and the weather cooperated nicely. 

We took a short drive up to Te Puna Quarry Park.  It is an old Quarry that has been converted in to a garden, picnic area.

 It was a great outing with some great trails to walk and flowers to see, not to mention the great views of Tauranga.  We will be going back here to see the changes on the gardens throughout the year.



After a lot more rain, we decided to head back to Ohope to the Condo of a friend for some much needed dryness.  You've heard the complaints about the house before, so I'll skip that part.....for now. 
 

Ohope was a bit of a sanctuary because the building was constructed only about 7 years ago.  It is well insulated and retains heat well.  We were able to walk on the beach a few times, but not into the forest reserve as we had planned. Someone forgot his shoes even though I asked him several times to pack them, I am sure my mother is laughing at this right now.  I will not single the poor lad out, but his first name rhymes with "laden" and he is more forgetful that Forgetty Fogetison. But we had good walks regardless of the footwear, it simply means that we have to take another trip to Ohope, and I am sure there will be more than a few. While walking the beach we came across these birds sleeping on the beach.





The birds tried to ignore us, but eventually they either hopped on one foot away to a safe distance, or if the kids were moving too fast they dropped the other foot and ran for it.






The kids discovered a Zip line at a park located at the end of the town of Ohope.  They had a great time ridding the zip, we pondered the chances of one of these being built in Canada....not likely.  There are too many "do-gooders" out there that would block something like this due to safety issues.  Much like the vocal minority that got a perfectly functional wooden play ground removed from our Charleswood neighbourhood due to safety.  Well they got it replaced, with a playground area surrounded by an 18" concreted curb that tripped little kids and cause far more injuries than the wooden structure.  But I digress...having made my point.  It was a long walk back in the rain to the Condo, but we were warm and dry shortly after getting back.  As were our clothes, thankfully there is an actual dryer in the Condo!  It was a very dry warm relaxing weekend.














One last trip to the hot tub before our trip to Samoa, brought about a new feature of the cat we are looking after.  Her name is Tabatha, and she likes to sit on the edge of the hot tub for a visit while we soak.   She likes to do a few inspection laps around the edge before settling down to soak up the heat.  I have seen her lounging on the cover on cold rainy days as well.

Well next up, the trip to Samoa.  Our flight left Auckland at 6am, so we went in the night before and stayed at a cheap motel close to the airport.  We arose at 3:45am and started the journey with a groggy, but not unpleasant pair of children. With a quick stop at duty free for supply top up, we were off.  The airline was one owned by Virgin, and as a budget airline we were not provided with even a pack of nuts for our 3 hour flight.  No water, coffee, tea.....nada!  But we knew that going in and brought our own snacks and water.  It was 10am when we arrived over the date line, so we were an hour and a day ahead of NZT.  Which is a pretty easy transition really.  It was already approaching 30 degrees and fortunately the resort was only five minutes away so we could change our of our "winter" clothes.

The Room was nicely decorated with fresh flowers on towels.  It was a large room with an ample balcony overlooking the ocean, in fact all the rooms in the resort face the ocean.  there were about 5 blocks of rooms joined by covered walkways, which surprisingly makes a huge difference while walking throughout the resort. It was quite easy to avoid long walks in the sun.

The kids were taken care of by the "Dolphin club"  which was a little hut on the the landward side of the complex, air conditioned and equipped with free arcade style games, videos, pool table and board games.  They were taken out every morning for an activity such as fish feeding, crab hunting, treasure hunt...etc. While in the afternoon heat they were kept in the club to enjoy the indoor electronic utopia.  While we were free to go snorkeling, sailing, etc on our own.  It was a great system and after the first couple of days we really settled in and began to relax.

 


My favorite activities were snorkeling and sailing. The snorkeling took place a mere 5 minute boat ride from the resort, straight out to the reef.  Which was a natural barrier for the beach, creating a perfect sailing environment for the small catamaran-like boats.  I took Victoria out 2 times with me, and each of the kids out once for short trips.  Then on the last day I went out again by myself.

Interstingly enough the day before while sitting on the balcony we were discussing the possiblity of one of the sailboats flipping over.  I pondered the sequence of events that would make it possible.  Well wouldn't you know I was correct with the sequence of events, and I reproduced them to perfection on my solo sail.  Now, I have been sailing with a competent sailor, one that even built his own sailboats.  However this was about 15 years ago and I was a little rusty at the start of the week, but by Friday...well I was a professional don't you know.  So there I was legs nicely tucked under the straps which allow you to cantlever your weight over the edge of the boat, thus allowing for more speed without...you guessed it....tipping over.  I think I hovered on the brink for approximately 5 seconds once again pondering the situation but with an odd detached sensation.  I recall thinking something like how do I make this thing go down when one of the 2 rudders is 12 feet in the air.  So as i contemplated my choices the boat decided that it had had enough of my shinanigans and uncerimoniously dumped me in to the bright blue sea.  Now as I was falling I recalled that the rudder system (2 rudders, one attached to each pontoon, joined by a handle to synchronize steering them)  had fallen off while the guys were launching my sailboat.  At the time of launching, whilst they were re-attaching it, I thought, "That's not good I'll have to watch that"  So now I had a death grip on the handle knowing that the rudders would pop off and likely sink, or at the very least float way on the waves.  The water was warm and the hardest part of the procedure what keeping a hold on the boat and the rudder while trying to climb onto the pontoon. So my mind was now processing a much faster rate, I hooked the one rudder overmy hip hauled myself onto the pontoon and began to tie the rudder to the boat using the loose end of the sail line.  Having accomplished that I  now turn my attention to righting my trusty vessel.  After a few unsuccessfuly attempts at hauling on the rope that dangled from the bottom of the skyward pontoon, I assume it is there for just such an occaision,  I determined that 2 more things had to happen, first I needed to turn the boat so that the wind would help me flip it, and second  I would have to lower the sail as it was full of water and thus thwarting my attempts.   So having decided this I looked toward shore to see the speed boat bouncing over the waves coming to my rescue.  So by this time I was a little tired and decided to wait and allow the professionals to correct my predicament.

Well the plan I had would have worked, as that is exactly what the young gentleman did, much quicker than I could have admittedly.  So back upright and with a new found respect for the "perfect storm"  of events that I knew I could reproduce in a heartbeat, I carried on for a further half hour of uneventful sailing.  So no harm done, save a few bumps and bruises.   Upon my return to shore I was expecting a round of applause or some comments from anyone that might have seen my adventure.  Yet I was able to land the boat without a sole in sight, actually it would have been nice for some help hauling that sucker up on to the beach, and march anonymously away from my last sail of the trip.

 We did lots of swimming it the pool with the kids, and drinks on the balcony, as they average price for one cocktail was $20 NZD.

The kids learned how to husk coconuts while in the kids club and took us to the husking spot to show off their skills.

It was a great week in beautiful scenery and weather to die for, it already seems long ago for as I sit writing this the rain is pouring down outside and I think I need to get the fire going so I can dry some of the mounds of laundry that we have.   Reality is harshing my tropical buzz!   ciao