Week 50 - New Zealand
Sunday was pretty cold and rainy, so we went to a local history museum, called Tawhiti Museum. It had many different scenes depicted from lifesize to miniatures, plus lots of antique tractors and farm equipment.
Naturally, we spent the bulk of our time with the tractors.
Monday was another rainy museum day. This one was in a bigger town and more tech-oriented, with exhibits on local history, Maori culture, local nature, and art. The kids really enjoyed all the interactive opportunities.
Monday evening we went to a potluck at the local farm hall, invited by our host. Apparently, the farms all change staff this time of year so it's a tradition to hold a potluck to welcome all the newcomers. That was a fun (and tasty) experience. The kids got to run around with some other kids and J and I enjoyed chatting with adults. I put my foot in my mouth by professing my admiration for Jacinda Ardern. Apparently, she's not so popular with the farmer crowd, but folks were still congenial.
Tuesday it rained some more and we spent the day cleaning and packing.
Wednesday was a long drive up to the very northern part of the north island. It rained off and on. Picnic areas beside the road are plentiful here, but every time we passed one it happened to be raining so we ended up using the covered outdoor tables at a strip mall near Auckland, buying treats to add to our lunch since we were using their space. All this rain is unusual and we saw many flooded rivers and fields as we drove up. Our new house is fine, still no WiFi, but we do get a mobile signal so we can take care of important stuff, like the entry forms for Fiji where we head next week. It's small but comfy and it's warmer up here so J is more comfortable and I am done lugging firewood, as we have a small electric heater.
It rained pretty steadily all day Thursday, and we used it as our settling-in day. I went to the grocery and did laundry, the kids did extra school work, we organized our new space, etc. We're now in an olive grove and near the sea, so if it ever stops raining it will be a good place for walking. It did stop briefly late afternoon and S and I went outside for a little bit while J and C did algebra.
Friday morning the sun was shining. We had already booked an Airbnb experience about Maori flax weaving. The flax here is huge and different from the kind that's used to make linen. Sometimes the fibers are extracted to make cloth, but we learned to use wider strips of the leaves to make various things. Traditionally they made mats, baskets, fish traps, and things like that. We made bracelets, fish, snakes, people, and cat toys.
I imagine they did let the kids use small pieces to make toys and things like we did since it's a good way to learn the skills on a small project.
Afterward, we stopped for a picnic lunch and found a woman selling freshly baked bread out of the trunk of her car at the picnic spot. That was a pretty lucky addition to what I'd packed. All full of bread, we continued on to rainbow falls.
Unfortunately, the sun went behind the clouds and we only got a glimpse of the rainbow in the mist and no pictures of it. We've seen lots of rainbows in New Zealand though, so we didn't mind too much. We got home in time for the kids to play outside, which they desperately needed after so many rainy days. Our hosts gifted us with some treats from their farm; the cottage was already stocked with their olive oils and fresh herbs. They gave us olives, black garlic, and homemade Chelsea buns. I had already made cookies and was working on a pasta dinner so the garlic and olives went really well and I gave them some chewy American-style chocolate chip cookies so both households had a choice of desserts. We certainly eat well here!
Saturday we went to the Waitangi Treaty Grounds, where the first treaty between the Maori and the British was signed. I had been feeling bad that we hadn't gotten to experience much Maori culture, but today was really good. Apparently, most of the Maori settlements were in the north, so we're getting to learn more up here. We got to see two museums…
A war canoe…
A Maori welcome and music and dance performance, (which we were asked not to take pictures of but here's the meeting house)…
…and the house of the first British governor.
The grounds themselves are a really nice place to be, especially on such a nice day.
This is the view from the governor's porch where we watched the kids run around. We only got a few sprinkles down there, just enough to see a rainbow on the way home, but I guess it rained hard at the house. Our Airbnb host took our laundry off the line, dried it in their dryer, folded it, and left it on our porch with a loaf of homemade bread. Kiwis are some of the nicest people we've encountered. We'll be sad to leave next week.