Week 47 - New Zealand

Sunday was another beautiful day. In fact, we seem to have hit a stretch of nice weather. We were going to move back to the big house, but the people who had it for the weekend decided to stay another day, I can't blame them, it's lovely here. We decided not to bother moving back at all, since we were going to be leaving Wednesday anyway, and were planning to be out and about more now that it's less rainy. It was American father's day, so J got lots of treats, starting with bacon and eggs for breakfast. We went for a little walk in Mt. Aspiring park, which was beautiful.

It's only 700 ft higher than the house, but there was still plenty of snow there, so the kids got to do some more sledding.

After we came back I made a nice father's day dinner of chicken Kiev and cookies for dessert. To finish off, it was a wonderful clear night for star gazing.

Monday we went to Queenstown to a bird sanctuary. This was another activity I thought J would like for continued Father's Day fun, plus science for the kids. We did get to see kiwis, but you can't take pictures of them because they're kept in the dark since they're nocturnal and flashes scare them. It was a really nice park, but J and I were cold. It takes so long for the sun to get up over the mountains here, and then it goes down behind them so early, that you really only get a couple hours of warmth. Today felt great when we left late morning, but by 2:00 it was cold again. The kids were really interested and as usual read every word on every placard and listened to every word on the headsets. That's exactly what we want from them and a large part of why we homeschool, to encourage their curiosity and desire to learn. But sometimes, as a parent or teacher, your kids are so great they drive you crazy, and this was one of those times because we just wanted to get back in the warm car.

We're not sure why this giant sequoia was here, but it was neat!

Aside from being frozen, it was a good stop and a neat place. Fortunately, they sell possum fur hats and gloves in the gift shop. Possums are invasive and a threat to the unique native species here. Once we were a bit better dressed we walked to a seafood restaurant (J's choice) for an early supper.

Tuesday morning was spent with school and packing, then after lunch S and I went horseback riding. C wasn't sure if he'd like it in the cold, so he opted to stay home with J and do algebra. He definitely got his love of books at least partly from me, but I can't imagine passing up a horseback ride to do algebra. It was a longer ride than we usually do, and quite beautiful. I was pretty proud of S, he got cold and tired, but not until the very end and he didn't even complain.

Tuesday was the day we were originally scheduled to arrive in New Zealand. We were going to fly into Christchurch, stay at an Airbnb for a week, then continue north over the next four weeks. Instead, we flew into Queenstown and had these wonderful two weeks in the Southern Alps. I'm so glad we got to see this wild, harsh, unspoiled, and beautiful countryside. So, Wednesday morning we headed north to our originally planned starting point. It was a beautiful drive and we stopped a couple times to look at the scenery.

This river is called Roaring Meg!

The other two are of Dunstan lake where we stopped for a chilly picnic lunch. We made it to our house in time for dinner and baths. Travel days are always hard, but car days are a bit easier and less stressful, because we can be on our own time table and the packing is easier since we don't have to think about what has to be checked and what we need access to.

Thursday was spent getting settled and exploring around our new area. We're north and lower in altitude so it's a little warmer, but we have a pellet stove instead of a log burner and it ran out of pellets during the night due to our learning curve, so the house was pretty cold when we woke up. It got better later though. There is a dog and a trampoline, so the kids are happy.

There are kids C's age, but we didn't meet them until Friday.

Friday and Saturday were fun, but I completely spaced on taking pictures. Friday was a new public holiday here called Matariki. It's a Maori New Year's celebration marked by the return of the Pleiades. I tried to find a community celebration, but there weren't any close enough. We'll try to find some Maori cultural experiences as we go up the islands. Apparently, they're easier to find in the north. In general, I have the sense that New Zealand and Australia have both done way more than the US about making reparations for their treatment of the original inhabitants. Making Matariki an official public holiday is great, and Maori are acknowledged on the signage in a lot of the national parks. There is going to be a community celebration near here next weekend, but nothing this weekend. So, we just used Friday as a day off. The host kids were off school too, so our kids and theirs spent most of the day playing outside together. I guess that's as good a way to celebrate as any. 

Saturday was C's birthday and he wanted to find some snow. We drove around awhile trying, but there just wasn't any low enough that we could get to it by the roads. So we picked up Chinese, his choice, and came home. That's when the day got even better. We picked up some desserts while we were out and had a little birthday party/ backyard bonfire with our hosts and some of their kids' friends. The kids ran around and the adults had a good chat. C ended up happy with his birthday.