A Year in New Zealand

The Story Continues

2007-12-22T04:02:00.000+13:00

For more of the continuing saga of Alexander Atticus Trick (with his parents in supporting roles), see the new blog Growing Up with Alexander, which picks up the story at the airport in Auckland as we return to the US.

Quick update

2007-12-21T07:57:00.000+13:00

Just a quick note that we are working our way back to Pittsburgh. We had a great time in Disneyland, and are now freezing in Winnipeg. Back to Pittsburgh in a couple of days, when I will finish off the blog for the year, and announce an all-new Alexander blog!

Time to go

2007-12-12T18:17:00.000+13:00

It is our last day, and we spent it packing and shipping of course. A few final tasks, including selling our car (to Hannah, our babysitter after Karin), and then a final drive to the ferry (after the ferry, our friend and colleague Andrew Mason very kindly offered to drive us to the airport). At the ferry we were met by a final "goodbye" committee. Shawna was a true highlight of the island. She was nanny to Livvy, Alexander's number 1 girlfriend, and the driver of "Monkey Music" on Monday mornings. She also showed up on the island in various guises through her dancing. Hannah was our babysitter for the final two months. And Karin was wonderful with Alexander for 3 or 4 months of our stay, teaching him a number of bad habits: I fear he will spend years wondering why putting his hands over his head pretending to be a tree does not hide him from others. It was wonderful to see them all before we left.

But then it was time for our final ferry ride to Auckland, ending our year on Waiheke and in New Zealand. I think it will take some time to gain a perspective on our year. At times we loved it here, and at times we couldn't wait to get back home. The sense of community we found on Waiheke in such a short time was unbelievable, and we will miss the people we have met. I think we are surprised at the roots that went down in such a short time, and perhaps we learned a bit about how to strengthen our roots in Pittsburgh, or wherever we may end up. It was wonderful watching Alexander grow from a 2 and half year old to a 3 and a half year old. His resiliency was amazing. I suspect he will never have such spectacular playgrounds again!

At the end, we are grateful to the people we met throughout the year, both on the island and at the university. We felt very much a part of Waiheke and of New Zealand.

Winding down and time for a last swing

2007-12-11T17:36:00.000+13:00

With our time almost over, there are only a few things left to do. First, we need to do some packing. Unlike our move over here, we have decided to ship a fair amount back. Unfortunately, the post office no longer sends things by ship (6-8 weeks, real cheap) so we have to send things by air, which is a bit pricey. But it is much better than trying to drag everything onto an airplane. The key to success in this is to work with the older, less attractive worker at the post office. The "cute one" enforces rules a little ... strictly.

The second thing to do is to give Alexander some swing time. The weather has been pretty bad, so hanging out on the beach and swimming is not very appealing. But the swing always works. I don't think we can count the hours on swings Alexander has spent in New Zealand: it is easily in the hundreds. On the plus side, you will never find more spectacular scenery around playgrounds than in New Zealand.

We also went back to our original home in Onetangi and visited with Don and Gayleen. Although the house did not work out for us, they are a delightful couple and we are very happy to have met them. One thing they put in was a ramp up to the laundry lines. I fell down the hill early in our stay when collecting the laundry, but the ramp will make it easier for others. We'll call it the "Mike Trick Memorial Ramp".

Our final days are also filled with final visits with people we have met on the Island (Ilona and Judith are pictured, with Judith being a member of the Historical Society Committee). I think it is a sign of our sense of community that we put an ad in the Gulf News thanking the Island for our year here.

Busy Final Saturday

2007-12-08T23:10:00.000+13:00

It is our last weekend on the island, and we are trying to make the most of it! The morning started off beautiful, so we did a beach morning. We have found a boogie board for Alexander, which he loves, though he won't play with it "properly". He loves to stand on it, which requires two of us to balance him and to hold the board under his feet. But, by the end of the outing, he was sitting on the board and letting the waves take him to shore, which is a bit closer to the accepted usage.

Next up in the afternoon was the Christmas parade on the island. It is really hard to hear Christmas carols ("Dashing through the snow...") right after baking on the beach, but this is the Christmas people are used to. The parade was the height of island life: bellydancers (including our friend Cat) and schoolkids, and people on motorcycles, and protest signs. The highlight was a group of men in gumboots (rubber boots) with wheelbarrows, doing a choreographed routine involving spinning the wheelbarrows and moving in complicated patterns. Very kiwi! But there was a Santa at the end, sweating in his heavy coat. Alexander thought about this a long time, and the next day declared that the Waiheke Santa is not the real Santa, since the real Santa is in Pittsburgh: I'm really happy that we scheduled our trips so he can see the "real Santa" at the Botanical Gardens in Pittsburgh on December 23. I've put together a quick movie of some of the pictures we took of the parade.

Finally, we invited over a number of island people for our final goodbye drinks at our house. Lots of kids playing around, and Alexander in the middle of it all. We will definitely miss the sense of community we have found on this island.

The day ended with a beautiful rainbow (which never comes out in pictures, which is a shame: the rainbows in this country are glorious).

Dinner at the Mason's

2007-12-07T09:14:00.000+13:00

Now that our time is nearly up, dinner invitations are coming fast and furious! Andrew and Catherine Mason, on whose catamaran we sailed a few weeks ago, invited us to their place for dinner and "messing around with boats". The Masons are really blessed. Andrew's dad bought a spectacular water-side house years and years ago in what was a pretty shady area, but the area has transformed and they now live right on the water (the Masons live in the former boathouse on the property), surrounded by boats. We had an embarrassment of choices: kayaks or rowboats or sailing dinghies. We decided to put a small (2.5 hp) engine on one of the dinghies and putter around the area. For non-boaters like us, that was pretty exciting (Andrew sent us off on our own). Beautiful area, at least at high tide (low tide apparently reveals the discarded trollies and other junk). One boat got in our way, so naturally we rammed it and it sank (actually, it has been sinking for a few months now). Even 2.5 hp is enough when you are right at the water, and it feels like every turn will capsize the boat. After our puttering about, we had a wonderful dinner on their deck, literally right above the water: when one of the kid's toys fell over the edge, Mike had to wade out to get it. We are very glad we got out to see the place (just like Mike and Alexander saw the Ryan's place last weekend): it is good to see how people live in Auckland. It is a lot different than Pittsburgh!

Less than a week to go

2007-12-06T14:36:00.000+13:00

We leave New Zealand on December 12, so there is less than a week to go. Since there is packing and cleaning to be done, naturally Mike went off to a conference (Melbourne, Australia), but he did try to come back quickly. The weather is terrible with lashing rain and high seas. We hope it gets better before we go: we need more beach time!

Despite the weather and the fact we are selling or giving away his toys, Alexander is still in pretty good spirits.

Yard Sale

2007-12-02T14:19:00.000+13:00

Our year is coming to an end, and now we have to get rid of all the stuff we have obtained throughout the year. We decided to hold a "garage sale" (we would call it a yard sale, but that is not the normal phrase here) and we did about $350 worth of business. It is rather heartbreaking to see books that we bought for $30 (or about US$24) sit on the $5 shelf and still not sell, but we did get rid of quite a bit.

Alexander found it hard to see some of his toys get sold off, but we comforted him by saying that we were just making room for new stuff. We also warned him not to let the "Mickey's" near the sales tables, so he had something to concentrate on. It also helped that his favorite nanny Karin came back to stay with us for the final ten days.

Published photographers!

2007-11-29T14:56:00.000+13:00

Today we were delighted when we opened the Gulf News and saw that our dolphin photos had been published in a two page spread. For the record, that means that Ilona and Alexander each appeared on the cover of the weekly, Ilona had a five page article on her, Mike and Ilona got photos published, Mike had a picture of him with a Harry Potter book in another weekly, and there were numerous other times when our names (particularly Ilona) were mentioned in one of the three weeklies. We really do feel part of the Island community!

Through Alexander's eyes

2007-11-26T13:53:00.000+13:00

Pretty well every day, we walk down to the beach so Alexander can have a swing. Today, he took the camera and snapped a picture every few steps. I thought it would make a nice little movie. I took the pictures once he was on the swing, but he took all the rest. A regular Orson Wells in the making!

Night time over Waiheke

2007-11-25T13:44:00.000+13:00

Some of the best scenes are on quiet nights with a moon over the bay, reflecting in the water. Taking a photo of that is more skill than I have (and perhaps a tripod and special lens/filters are needed), but perhaps this gives a bit of a hint.

More dolphins

2007-11-24T18:04:00.000+13:00

The dolphins were back this morning, bouncing and jumping about. At one point, they all disappeared into a frothing mass, when they must have been feeding on something. This time we raced down to the beach to get some closer up photos.

Walk to Fossil Bay

2007-11-21T17:46:00.000+13:00

Now that the weather is better, we are taking more advantage of the numerous walkways available on the island. These trails are somewhat controversial, since they often skirt some of the multi-million dollar houses on the island, whose owners prefer not to see the smelly trampers. But New Zealand egalitarianism holds strong, and there are some beautiful walks in the area.

Today we went to Fossil bay, the next bay to the west of our house. The fossils found there are perhaps not that exciting (being bivalves: things that look just like the stuff you find on the beach every day) but Ilona's paleontological interests draw her there.

The first part of our walk is through private land (Ilona got permission), leading to a "stairway" down the cliffside. Mike (and Alexander) could not do the stairway down (it was essentially vertical with ropes to hold on to that prevent plummeting to one's death) but Ilona went down and found a fossil or two (the actual site is halfway up the cliff but enough falls down to be collected at the bottom). Ilona notes that these are Paleocene fossils.

We then took a walk through vineyards to a nice outlook over the coast and water. Alexander was a trouper for a while, but eventually his little legs gave out.

Dolphins!

2007-11-19T14:07:00.000+13:00

We have had the worst luck with dolphins during this year. If you talk to anyone else, when you visit New Zealand, you practically have to kick dolphins away if you want to go for a swim. Not for us. Two major areas for dolphins are the Bay of Islands and the area around Kaikoura. We visited both, and saw no dolphins. Up to now, only Mike has seen a dolphin, and that only at a distance.

Today changed all that. A pod of four dolphins entered Oneroa Bay and put on a show right in front of our house. They jumped and danced about for more than an hour. They were perfectly happy when people jumped in the water to play with them. After these pictures were taken, Mike went down to the water and stood with them (not quite side-by-side: they had moved about 30 feet off the beach). Two of them promptly did a "Sea World" style, side-by-side looping jump out of the water.

Between the stingray on the weekend and the dolphins today, we are really checking off the "to do before leaving New Zealand" list.

Sailing around Waiheke

2007-11-18T12:18:00.000+13:00

The Masons stayed overnight on their catamaran so we all went out sailing this morning. Karin (our former nanny who says she went off to Stewart Island but since she never updates her blog, we aren't sure) arrived last night for a one day stay, so she joined us on the outing. One highlight of picking Karin up at the ferry: we saw a four-foot wide stingray in the shallows (read: beach where kids often swim) by the ferry. Ever since Steve Irwin was killed by one, it is hard to look at stingrays as weird, but essentially harmless sea creatures. But they really are.

We began our sailing day with breakfast in Sandy Bay around the corner from us, where Mike and Alexander went for a quick row. It was great to see Oneroa and Waiheke from the water: it does look a lot different. We then sailed back around the island, to end up at Matiatia, where the ferry arrives, to let Karin go back to Auckland and the rest of us take the bus back home. Beautiful day, with enough wind to keep the boat going, but not enough to make it hard to sail. Alexander loved being on the boat, but was a bit disappointed that we all insisted on doing the sailing, when he obviously could have handled everything on his own.

More Waiheke Sailing

Party on Waiheke

2007-11-18T12:00:00.000+13:00

Ever since we moved into our place in April, we have been meaning to have Mike's Auckland colleagues over, but we kept putting it off. With less than a month to go, we could delay no further, so we invited the crowd over for an "Afternoon on Waiheke". It was a glorious day, sunny and warm. Many came over on the 11AM ferry, and most walked from the ferry to the house. We took a long-cut through a "reserve" (a public park) leading up a steep hill to views over the island. Even Alexander put his little legs to good use getting up the hill (wearing a Santa hat: he is back in Christmas mode). One group (the Masons, Andy Philpott, and Hamish Waterer) "sailed" from Auckland, though a lack of wind mainly meant motoring.

Once at the house, we had the grill going for sausages and chicken and veggies and so on. Ilona's potato salad was a huge hit, and Mike's caesar salad also went well.

Most of the people spent the afternoon at the beach. The best part for Mike and Alexander was messing around in the Masons' rowboat. The wind was up a bit, leading to some fun waves. It took Mike some time to get the rhythm, but he eventually made it out to sea, though, truth-be-told, Andrew Mason did most of the rowing with Alexander.

We ended up with about 30 guests for the day.

Rainy day

2007-11-16T19:36:00.000+13:00

Summer can't quite take hold. Today was a rainy, gray day: I even canceled my sailing lesson. But here is a time-lapse video of Alexander playing for about 10 minutes to see if I can can get short clips working.

Olive Festival

2007-11-11T12:17:00.000+13:00

While Whaiheke is known for its wines, it also has a thriving olive industry, with perhaps a dozen groves producing highly sought-after olive oil. The producers got together today for an Olive Festival. This is what the Wine Festival (which we thought was a rip-off) should have been: cheap, fun, family oriented. Alexander had a great time running around with the other kids, and we enjoyed the food and music. We even came back with four bottles of olive oil for our own taste tests.

The festival was held at Rangihoua Estate, which has some amazing sculptures made from swamp kauri. If that bench was for sale, I think we would be figuring out how to ship it back to Pittsburgh.

Summer!

2007-11-10T12:16:00.000+13:00

Definitely felt like summer today. We spent the morning splashing about in the ocean and playing on the beach. No pictures: only videos (that Mike is still figuring out how to put online). A glorious day!

Summer yet?

2007-11-09T11:52:00.000+13:00

Summer keeps trying to arrive. Everytime I think it is here, we get another "Fine with gale force winds" day. Today was beautiful day. Ilona took Alexander over to the "Playground with a Beach" (Little Oneroa, about a 15 minute walk away) to play with one of his girlfriends. We had thought the school ran a play-circle involving pirates, so he dressed as a pirate (as if he needs an excuse!), but the play-circle did not materialize. Oh well, plenty of fun on the beach!

New Zealand Premiere of The Amazing Adrenalini Brothers

2007-11-04T11:39:00.000+13:00

One great thing about having a kid is the interesting people you meet through them. Alexander, being a total babe-magnet, has a lot of girlfriends, one of whom is Poppy. Poppy's parents are on Waiheke for three months as a reward for finishing a long project, producing and directing a new animated series: the Amazing Adrenalini Brothers. By a nice coincidence, the show just debuted on the Cartoon Network here in New Zealand, so we had a "Premiere Brunch" for Claire and David, inviting over some others we know on the island. It was a great brunch: the show is fun for all ages, and the crowd enjoyed getting a bit of the inside scoop.

Mike goes to the Auckland West Coast

2007-11-03T23:12:00.000+13:00

We have only about a month left, and our list of things to do before we go seems to get longer rather than shorter. One "must do" was to visit the rougher, wilder west coast of Auckland (Waiheke is in the sedate, quiet east coast). Fortunately Michael's officemate Hamish lives out there and he offered to take Mike for a tour.

The tour started at "One Tree Hill", famous for not having a tree. It used to have a tall stately tree, but it was regularly attacked by Maori activists (the tree was not a native, and the hill is sacred to many Maori). Eventually, the tree decided enough was enough and it died. Now there is a very tall obelisk in honor of the Maori, which seems kinda out of place. But the views from the top of the hill are wonderful. In typical kiwi fashion, the park surrounding the hill is given over to sheep.

We then headed off to the west coast, beginning by walking up a Mount Donald McLean (more of a hill than a mount) to get an overview of the area, then off on a long walk (Hamish thinks it was a short walk)at the beach at Whatipu. The beach is predominantly a black sand beach. West coast beaches are much rougher and more isolated than east coast (and Waiheke) beaches. We then had lunch (which was a good idea: the day was much hotter than planned and I was getting a little wobbly-legged) before heading down to Karekare for a visit to a waterfall and its beach. We ended the day with a walk along the beach at Piha, well known for its role in the hit TV series "Piha Rescue".

Apparently, many operations research people have been on this sort of day with Hamish, so Mike is now the latest in a long string of exhausted OR faculty who tried to keep up with Hamish's outings. Fortunately, the day ended at a bar with the most amazing views over all of Auckland.

Auckland West Coast

Halloween in Paradise

2007-10-31T11:20:00.000+13:00

Ilona takes her Halloween pretty seriously (see here and here for some examples from Pittsburgh). Halloween is known in New Zealand, but it is not a big holiday (Guy Fawkes Day in early November is much bigger). But we had to do some decorations and invite some of the other kids over. Ilona (helped by Mike) did a great job in making the house look scary, at least as scary as you can make a house full of windows on a bright sunny day look! I fear we went a little overboard since some of the little princesses and butterflies (all of Alexander's friends are girls for some reason) a little nervous. Hands coming out of the snack bowls didn't help.

But once the kids started popping balloons and making ghosts, all was right. Ilona has a wonderful story she does involving ripping apart a monster that had them all captivated. We even had some trick-or-treaters (exclusively the domain of 10 year old girls, here, it seems). Not quite like home: Halloween should be a fall event, and it just doesn't feel right on such a wonderful day. Of course, in Winnipeg, kids end up wearing parkas and flashing their costumes during trick-or-treat, and that isn't right either!

The party ended when we ran out of water, again! The water collection system on our roof obviously doesn't work very well. The water guy was startled the next day when seeing Ilona: she hadn't had the water to wash off her green witch makeup.

A few parents (including us!) were in for a surprise when we found out where food coloring in drinks ends up in little kids. We almost took Alexander to the doctor before we figured out what was going on!

Hey Dads! Octoberfest

2007-10-28T19:07:00.000+13:00

There is a group on the Island called "Hey Dads!", organized by Uwe, a German living on the island who is also out banker. The goal is to get Dads and kids out at various activities. Not surprisingly, the activities have included fishing, paintball, and driving earth-moving machines. Today, Hey Dads put together an Octoberfest party. Note: Ilona and I differ on the logo of the Hey Dads group (a sperm). I think it is tacky; Ilona thinks the shirts with the logo would make the perfect Christmas present for any male.

It was a great day (though it would have been even nicer on a sunny day). There were beer, sausages, and pretzels, of course, but also a lot of activities for kids. The day began with a traditional "Gum boot toss" (gum boot being the local name for "rubber boot"). Alexander got off a pretty good toss, but Mike chickened out when he saw some of the Dad's heave the boot 30 meters or more.

There was a clown with a juggling act that had Alexander completely enraptured. It must have been a good day: he napped for three hours afterwards!

Uwe is the guy with goggles and a pen in his mouth, as part of the juggling act.

Birthday party in Palm Beach

2007-10-27T18:31:00.000+13:00

We have been told that with Alexander, our social lives will start to revolve around the kids he meets, and that is definitely true. Through one of Alexanders many girlfriends, we met Claire and David, a very nice English couple living for three months on the island. They are animators, with "The Amazing Andrenelini Brothers" being perhaps their most famous creation (it is about to debut on the Cartoon Channel here). They moved to the island a month ago, and live in an area called Palm Beach, notable to us by being the only area on the island that we need a map to find.

They live in a wonderful hilltop house. The only drawback of the house is a lack of driveway (they say a four-wheel drive could make it up, but I don't think so). So getting to the house involves 138 steps up a hill. David's parents (who are up there in age) are visiting, and they limit themselves to one round-trip per day. The view is almost worth the effort of getting up to the house. If we had lived there, Mike would have lost a lot of weight, and Ilona would have flown back to Pittsburgh at the first opportunity.

The party had a pirate theme (there is something about the island that causes people to think of pirates). It began in the house, then we went down to the beach to dig for treasure, followed by a vigorous workout at the playground. This is a great age and place: no need for "ChuckECheese"!

Cover of the Gulf News

2007-10-26T13:10:00.000+13:00

The Gulf News is the local weekly (one of three, actually, but the only one you have to pay for). On Thursdays, we read the week's issue from cover to cover. The letters to the editor are especially funny ("Dear Editor: my dog was almost killed at Whakanewha Regional Park when he was caught in a trap drawn by poisoned bait. What kind of sick people are there in this world" Response from the park people: "Maybe if you didn't ignore the twenty "No dogs permitted" and "Endangered bird breeding grounds" signs, you would keep your dog away from the poison we put out to kill stoats and feral cats!").

Mike was the first to appear in the Gulf News with a picture of him buying the new Harry Potter book. Ilona was next with a long article on her and the local Historical Society, including a cover picture. Yesterday, we were delighted to see Alexander on the cover, dressed as a doctor as part of the coverage of a play group he goes to. Now Mike is the only one who has not appeared on the cover.

Whakanewha Regional Park

2007-10-23T22:01:00.000+13:00

Wakanewha Regional Park is a new park set aside on the island. We attended its opening way back in February. Today we visited to walk on some of its trails. In addition, Ilona has joined the local photography club (the island has an amazing number of clubs!) and this months assignment is to provide a photo from Wakanewha. So the photos today are a little more artistic than the norm, though there is still enough Alexander to keep the grandmothers happy.

The hike took us to the location of an old "pa", or Maori fortification. You can see the dikes and other fortifications, though mostly you see pits where they stored sweet potatoes.

The birds in the pictures are either tuis (the blue-black birds) or dotterels (the ones on the beach). Dotterels are endangered, primarily because their mode of defense to to be colored like shell-covered sand and to sit on shell-covered sand. Modern dogs and cats are not fooled by this defense, so we are down to about 1500 of these birds, a good portion of which are in this park.

It is a large park and it appeared that the only person other than us there was a windsurfer.

Click for more Whakanewha pictures

Boats and Fish

2007-10-21T21:50:00.000+13:00

The long weekend attracted a lot of boats (perhaps 30 in the bay). I don't know what the people do, since there are only two restaurants open in the evening in this area!

We had a wonderful fish for dinner, along with asparagus, since asparagus season is in full swing.

Weather today

2007-10-21T09:47:00.000+13:00

The forecast for today is "Fine, with gale winds". New Zealanders seem to have a funny definition of "fine".

It is Labour Weekend, so I hope to get a chance to catch up. Check out below as I enter some back-dated entries (from Coromandel onwards).

Playdate a trois

2007-10-19T21:18:00.000+13:00

It is a beautiful day, and Alexander has invited two of the local lovelies over for painting, picnicking, and pirating.

Since it is the start of the long weekend (Labour Weekend), the bay has started to fill with the "sailboat village" of people who have sailed over from Auckland.

Feeding Seagulls

2007-10-16T20:43:00.000+13:00

There is a seagull who visits us that has only one leg. Despite that, he gets along fine, landing almost normally (a few extra tumbles in the wind) and he certainly appears healthy. Ilona and Alexander feel sorry for it, though, and have been trying to feed it when it comes by. Of course, word has gotten out, so the entire local populace first sends out Ol' One Leg and then arrive en masse. Kinda like sending out the cute girl to hitchhike and then all pop out of the bushes when a ride stops (hitchhiking still is common on the island, keeping with the island motto "Far enough behind to be ahead"). It is fun to watch the mobs fight over the bread, but a few of them have been eying Alexander for size. You might next hear about this on the evening news.

Some backyard splashing

2007-10-13T20:33:00.000+13:00

The weather is highly variable right now: sometimes thrashing rain, often windy, sometimes very nice and sunny. This seems to be pretty normal for spring here.

Alexander has found time to open his swimming pool for the season. Check out his fancy swim gear: much more fashionable than a speedo (or budgie smuggler, as they are called here).

Tairua

2007-10-07T18:40:00.000+13:00

Our destination this weekend was Tairua, a town on the east coast of the Coromandel peninsula, where a colleague of Mike's has a "bach" (summer home/cottage). It is a beautiful, rambling place, halfway up a hillside. We had a wonderful dinner last night, then woke to watch the quarter-finals of the Rugby World Cup. New Zealand was heavily favored to beat France, so naturally they lost. I am not sure there is any country that lives or dies with its sports teams as much as New Zealand does with the All Blacks. Certainly the New Zealanders around us were in shock. I have kinda mixed feelings. This certainly stops the ever-increasing mania around the country. On the other hand, we now have weeks of "what went wrong" as the only topic in the newspaper.

After the game and wandering around Tairua, we went to Hot Water Beach. Here, extremely hot water (created from the volcanic areas around) streams (and steams) out near the ocean. At low tide, you dig a hole in the sand and try to mix ocean water with the hot water to get something that won't scald or freeze you. You can tell where the hot water comes out by the large group of people digging on the beach.

The drive back was uneventful. There is a single-lane bridge on the main route back to Auckland that can have huge backups, but we had no problems. I don't understand why New Zealand peppers their highway system with single-lane bridges (by single-lane, I don't mean one lane each direction: I mean one lane total, either controlled by lights or by complicated right-of-way rules), but there are lot of them about.

Click for more Tairua Pictures

Coromandel: Part 3 The Walk

2007-10-06T11:35:00.000+13:00

Our final major activity for the day was to take a walk in the woods. First we did a short walk down to a waterfall, then we did a longer walk to a kauri tree grove. The kauri tree holds a special role in New Zealand society. The tree is huge (not in height, particularly, though they grow up to 50m high, but in volume) and used to cover most of the north island. Deforestation removed many specimens, but now the tree is protected, with many of the largest specimens having names.

After our walk, we continued along the "unsealed" (dirt) road we were using to cross the peninsula (the "309") when we came across a woman with a rental car she had gotten truly stuck. A true kiwi would have put together a block and tackle from junk in the back of the car; we were able to get a mobile-phone signal to call a tow truck.

Coromandel Walk

Coromandel: Part 2 The Waterworks

2007-10-06T11:11:00.000+13:00

Our next stop was the Waiau Waterworks, another in a series of places obviously started when someone said "You know, we have a lot of stuff about: why don't we charge people to look at it?" In this case, the "stuff" is all about water. Water fountains, water clocks, water cannons, water pools, water sculptures, and much more. The waterpark is set in a lovely surrounding full of flowers and trees, and the "artifacts" are really quite captivating. Alexander had a great time running from place to place. Mike's favorite was the water guns, where he and Alexander were soaked by some teenager with deadly aim. I think Alexander most enjoyed the rotating tunnel, where he got to see his parents flop around like fishes trying to keep their feet.

"Whimsical" is the most used adjective for the Waterworks, and I think that pretty well sums it up. Best of all, it is for sale, so if anyone is looking for a lifestyle change and has NZ$1.4 million ...

Click for more Coromandel Waiau Waterworks

Coromandel: Part 1 The Train

2007-10-06T00:08:00.000+13:00

I think today was the busiest we have had in the New Zealand.

First, we went off to the Driving Creek Potteries and Railway, which is about the most Kiwi place you'll find. The owner, Barry, began back in the 1970s when he bought the land. Barry is a potter, and he needed to move clay down the mountain to his studio. Naturally, being a Kiwi, he built a narrow-gauge railroad (apparently using only a swiss army knife, duct tape, and some aluminum foil). Over time, his railway expanded, and was very popular with his friends and visitors. Eventually, he opened it up to the public, where it is now a major tourist attraction. It is a beautiful railway, but there are times where we yearn for US-style safety protections. It looks like a labor of love, which it is, but a labor of engineering might be a bit sturdier!

The railway goes back and forth up the side of the mountain, ending at an observation platform high above the ocean. Alexander, of course, was completely captivated. We began in the last car, but at one point the engineer moved to our end. Alexander immediately concentrated on close observation on how to drive the train. When the engineer changed ends again, Alexander was ready to take over driving.

Surrounding the railway is the pottery shop, short wilderness walks, and numerous other things to do. All done, it appears, on weekends and evenings by people with enthusiasm and a New Zealand "forget the lawyers, let's just do it" attitude.

Coromandel Train

Off to Coromandel

2007-10-05T11:56:00.000+13:00

We are off on a short trip this weekend. The Coromandel peninsula is the land mass that we view from our balcony. It is about a two hour drive from Auckland and is a popular weekend/vacation retreat. A colleague has a "bach" (cottage) there, and we will visit them. First, we take the ferry over to the mainland to drive to Coromandel Town, which fortunately has a playground (our motel even has a trampoline).

Special on Goop

2007-10-02T11:50:00.000+13:00

One of the local stores got a shipment of goop. Alexander had a great time playing with it.

Great Waiheke Scavenger Hunt

2007-09-30T23:25:00.000+13:00

Today was a big day for Ilona. For weeks (months!), she has been putting together a "scavenger hunt" on behalf of the Historical Society. The goal was really to raise the profile of the Society: while they have a "historical village" with a few buildings and many artifacts from the the Island's history, many on the Island have never visited, and many have never heard of the society or village.

The scavenger hunt was a new idea for the society, and Ilona put in a huge amount of work on it. She found about 20 sponsors who provided prizes, support, food for the "sausage sizzle", and other goods. She solicited questions and put together the questionnaire. She arranged for lots of press coverage (with three weeklies on the island, there is generally pretty good press support for local activities).

The questionnaires went out yesterday. Mike returned from a trip to the US, arriving on a 6AM flight. By 10AM, he was camped outside the supermarket, handing out the questions and selling raffle tickets. Others from the society handed out the questionnaires and all the island top spots: the Saturday market, the library, and the museum.

Sunday (today) rolled around, and the weather didn't cooperate very well: very windy with periodic rain. And would anyone answer the questions?

It was a great relief to have the questionnaires come in, starting shortly after after noon. By the 4PM deadline, 24 questionnaires had been returned, which greatly exceeded most guesses as to the likely response.

The questions were a real mix. Some required current knowledge, while others went well back into history. Some were "collection" type questions ("Get a bus ticket"), some required activity ("Make a sculpture of recycled material"), and one even involved a public performance ("Sing 'Beautiful Waiheke' in front of the minimarket and get the cashier to sign the form). Check out the full questionnaire with answers.

Surprisingly, most of the participants got at least 20 of the 30 questions, and the winner got 29. People on Waiheke know their history! The "sausage sizzle" was a great success, since Ilona arranged for great sausage and buns. More than 70 people went through the museum at some point during the afternoon, with many staying for the awards.

It was a fabulous day.

Springtime and the flowers are out

2007-09-27T11:16:00.000+12:00

The weather is warming up, and the flowers are out.

Meanwhile, Alexander is working at spelling his name with his tools. He is getting there.

Moon over Waiheke

2007-09-26T11:13:00.000+12:00

Send in the clowns and heritage scavenger hunt

2007-09-25T11:06:00.000+12:00

The Island does a good job of bringing in acts and programs, particularly for kids. Today, there were clowns. Alexander was a bit disappointed, though: the previous clown dropped his trousers and we heard about it for weeks. These clowns kept their pants on.

Meanwhile, Ilona is putting together a scavenger hunt on behalf of the Historical Society. The mosaic is the mailbox for the kindergarten. Let's see if the scavenger hunt participants can figure that out!

Water, water everywhere...

2007-09-24T16:47:00.000+12:00

... but not a drop to drink! Early spring has been very rainy (squally really), which should mean full water tanks. Every house on the island carefully collects rain water through its gutter system. We are supposed to also, but today we ran out of water. Given the amount of rain, the only conclusion is that the collection system is plugged someplace. A tanker truck was sent to deliver water, much to Alexander's delight.

One advantage of squalls is the amazing rainbows we have seen. Here is Alexander with one of the babysitters we tried after Karin.

Duck Crossing!

2007-09-23T16:42:00.000+12:00

The island is a pretty relaxed. Ducks definitely have right-of-way (pedestrians do not).

Family Fun Festival

2007-09-22T16:33:00.000+12:00

The Girl Scouts put on a Family Fun Festival today. That is just the kind of island it is. Alexander had a great time riding on the fire truck (all the other kids had to pile in the back), where he helpfully reminded the driver to stay to the left, and pointed out all the stop signs on the route. He also got to ride a horse (complete with bullet proof vest for some reason).

Pirates on the beach

2007-09-18T15:47:00.000+12:00

Mike is away (again!), back to the US for two weeks. Alexander found a (plastic) sword on the beach, and it is his new best toy. The flowers are really starting to come out now, and the water is getting just a bit warmer (Mike did some wading before he left a couple of days ago).

Nice days

2007-09-14T14:54:00.000+12:00

Spring is in force, and the sailboats have reappeared.

Dr. Alexander

2007-09-08T14:04:00.000+12:00

Alexander got a book about the body from the library. Combined with his medical kit, he has gained a (perhaps un-)healthy interest in medical procedures. He begins every activity with a cheerful "This is going to hurt". When it comes to taking bandages off of Mike's arms, he is correct!

Spring!

2007-09-01T14:38:00.000+12:00

It is the first day of spring, by New Zealand reckoning, and it is a gorgeous day. The water is a brilliant blue green and, while not quite shorts weather, no jacket or sweater is needed. Kids are running screaming all around, and all is right with the world.

I'm a little behind in posting here, but I will catch up (so be sure to check "older" posts below this one for stuff I might add later, but I wanted all to know we are doing fine and enjoying things here very much.

Karin's off!

2007-08-27T15:41:00.000+12:00

The past weekend was Karin's last with us. She is off to the South Island with her friend to continue her exploration of New Zealand. It was great having her, and she stayed longer than any of us planned. The island has a way of grabbing you.

Trip to Stony Batter

2007-08-26T12:41:00.000+12:00

Karin has a friend visiting, so it is time to head off to Stony Batter again. These are the old military tunnels from WWII servicing some large guns used to protect sea entrances to Auckland. The tunnels were shut down for a month or two due to some silly spat between the volunteers who run the place and the Department of Conservation that think they do. Anyway, things are back open, it is a beautiful day, and time for a visit. They have opened up a lower level that contains the control center and some other new aspects. Lots and lots of steps to go down!

After the tunnels, we continued our island tour, visiting the Pioneer Cemetery and checking out some of the unusual inhabitants of the island. This being New Zealand, sheep were involved.

Home!

2007-08-20T10:02:00.000+12:00

After two weeks of traveling, we were very, very happy to get back to Waiheke. It was a somewhat adventurous drive, with a car spinning out in front of us, and Mike almost running into a passing police car, but we made it home safe and sound.

Some little tidbits about traveling in New Zealand:

1) Hotels have this thing about milk. Upon checking in, you are faced with a choice of skim or whole milk, and are given a container (sometimes little, sometimes a liter).I am not sure what the milk is for, but no check-in is complete without a transfer of milk.

2) New Zealand highways are not really highways. Highway 1 is the main street of many towns along the way. It is kinda like I imagine the US in pre-interstate days.

3) There is a group that vets motels, and it is clear that they have a checklist. If you want a four-star rating, you must provide "spa baths" (no matter how small), breakfast served to the room (even if it is "unavailable" on the particular days we were there), kitchens, and so on. There was a similarity to the rooms we stayed in that was uncanny. On the plus side, we generally stayed in "motels" which means kitchen facilities, separate bedrooms, and so on. At the best, these are nice apartments. At the worst, they are normal sized rooms, cut into smaller pieces.

4) New Zealand really does playgrounds well. Or maybe we are just noticing them for the first time!

Taupo

2007-08-20T09:52:00.000+12:00

Today was an easy drive to Taupo, through the Desert Road. Although formally part of Highway 1, the stretch south of Taupo is often closed due to snow. While not a desert (in the sense of sand and cacti), it is a pretty forlorn stretch.

Taupo is a town based on the shores of Lake Taupo (the largest lake in New Zealand). Nice town, very activity oriented. But we weren't very activity oriented, so we just relaxed. We visited the Huka Falls which are formed when a reasonably broad river suddenly gets compressed between rocks. What it lacks in height (there is a drop of about 20m), it makes up in velocity and violence.

Taupo

Queen Charlotte Sounds and Return

2007-08-19T09:26:00.000+12:00

Time to head towards home. This morning we drove on the Queen Charlotte Drive along the north part of the south island. It is a windy road, with excellent lookouts over the sounds. A very nice drive!

We arrived in Picton an hour or so before our ferry checkin, and found it was a wonderful town! Lots of cafes and shops, and a large playground, complete with a ride-on train that some enthusiasts run. Wish we had more time there!

Then back on the ferry for the three-hour trip to the North Island. The weather was nicer than the trip down, so we could enjoy the scenery more (except for Alexander who still just wanted to play in the kids area).

A quick drive north got us out of Wellington to a rather plain highway-side motel.

Queen Charlotte Sounds and Return

Nelson

2007-08-18T09:00:00.000+12:00

Nelson is supposed to be one of the nicest towns to live in in New New Zealand. For us, it was all about playgrounds. Alexander spent the morning at a "Chipmonks", an indoor playground for kids. There was a killer slide (in my case, almost literally), a ball pit, ride-on toys, a climbing maze and much, much more. Alexander clearly could have spent two weeks in there!

Nelson has a very good Saturday market, with very good quality crafts and other items for sale. Ilona found the first "real" bratwurst in New Zealand: it tasted just like back at home, right down to the "right" bun.

Afternoon was spent at a very large playground near the beach. Dinner at a seafood restaurant, where the staff was wowed by Alexander's portable DVD player.

The photo system now allows slideshows. If that isn't working, check out the photos below.

Nelson

Punakaiki

2007-08-17T08:17:00.000+12:00

We spent last night at at cabin on the West Coast, just north of Greymouth. The cabin was very nice, and obviously the result of typical Kiwi know-how. Obviously built by the owners, it was very well fit out and comfortable, including a separate large hot tub. The area was beautifully "landscaped", if that is the right word for the natural surroundings, with a stream, paths, and plants. The West Coast, has a much different feel than the east coast: it is much wetter so far more lush. The ocean is also much rougher.

We drove north ten miles or so to Punakaiki, home of the pancake rocks and blowholes. It was pouring rain, but we did the half-hour walk to the coast. We hit the timing about right: it was close to high tide, so the water crashing against the rocks was spectacular. The rocks themselves are layered (hence the "pancake") and quite striking.

We continued driving north along the coast, headed for Nelson. Just before Nelson we visited the birthplace of Ernest Rutherford, Nobel prize winner in Chemistry, and pride of McGill University, where he did much of his Noble work (and where my father got his PhD in chemistry). Nice displays (though it looked like we were the only visitors in a while), along with a life-size stature of Rutherford as a very small boy.

Then off to Nelson!

Click for more Punakaiki

Arthur's Pass

2007-08-16T14:04:00.000+12:00

Today we drove from Christchurch, through the mountains that form the spine to the South Island to the West Coast. We went through Arthur's Pass, one of the world's most spectacular drives. While the pass is sometimes closed in the wintertime, we had a wonderful, sunny day. In New Zealand, snow cover is very much a function of altitude (a weather forecast in the South Island might say "snow today, down to 1500 meters").

Along the way, we stopped at the town of Arthur's Pass, where there is a tourist office with a number of kea birds in the parking lot. Keas are unusual alpine parrots (unusual since most parrots are rain-forest based, not alpine) which, unfortunately, love to eat the rubber seals off of cars. Lots of signs saying "Don't feed the keas" so naturally they are all getting fed. We attracted a few when cleaning out the car, and I think we saw one of them throughout the rest of the day. Lunch was at a bar called the "Wobbly Kea", so I naturally had to buy a shirt.

We did a short hike (estimated at 20-30 minutes, or about an hour between the toddler pace and Ilona trying out her camera) and otherwise enjoyed the drive tremendously.

Arthurs Pass

Christchurch

2007-08-15T12:16:00.000+12:00

We spent four nights in Christchurch, the largest city on the South Island. Christchurch prides itself on being the most English city in New Zealand, to the extent of having a River Avon complete with punters. It kept up the English style by being drizzly throughout.

Mike was giving a number of talks at the University, so the stay was a bit disjointed, but highlights included:

The historical museum, which received Ilona's seal of approval for being both interesting and scientifically legitimate.

The botanical gardens which, even in winter, were interesting. Of course, having an extensive playground didn't hurt!

Dinner at a Korean BBQ place, with a grill in the middle of the table. Not being familiar with how to cook this way, we ended up burning lots of food, and they had to replace the grill three times. Perhaps there was a reason the "grill food" menu was only in Korean!

A tram that did a few kilometer loop around downtown Christchurch. The drivers each had their own schtick about the town, and were lots of fun. And they all let Alexander ring the bell.

Mike's talk, which attracted a pretty large crowd (about 60) of people from business and the university.

Click for more from Christchurch

Kaikoura

2007-08-12T15:39:00.000+12:00

Kaikoura was our favorite stop on the trip. I was berated by Ilona and Karin for only staying one night here. We drove here after the ferry through areas that got more and more spectacular. Kaikoura itself is on the ocean and has mountains and wonderful scenery as a backdrop. It is a medium-sized town, and is known as the headquarters for whale-watching trips. Unfortunately, the storms over the past few days had made the sea very roll-y, so no under-six-year-olds were permitted on the whale watching trips, so we didn't go on one. But there were a lot of other things to do.

The highlight is a sea lion/bird colony just outside of town. We've been disappointed before with our wildlife experiences: we have to be the only people to go to Russell and not see dolphins. So when I got out of the car at the seal colony, I did wonder aloud whether we would see any sea lions. That was about two seconds before I almost tripped over one napping by where we parked. So we definitely saw sea lions and birds, and the area is ridiculously beautiful with mountains in the background and the sea crashing against the rocks.

We then took Alexander to a playground set in one of the most stunning areas you will see. Between the mountains and the sea, with palm trees scattered about, it was wonderful. And of course the Mickey's enjoyed it too.

Dinner that night was one of the best we have had, set in a tavern by the water. Alexander, who had not napped all day, fell asleep in his soup, which gave us a bit more time to enjoy things.

We took lots of pictures, so be sure to check the web album for more.

Kaikoura

Ferry to the South Island

2007-08-11T13:57:00.000+12:00

We took the morning ferry to the South Island. The sea was listed as "moderate" and, given the very strong wind, I was a little worried about the roughness of the passage. I needn't have worried. The ferry is about the size of a cruise ship, and I didn't feel even a little bit of rocking. The three-hour ferry ride went very quickly (even quicker for Karin, who had stayed up a little late last night and snoozed through the trip). Lots of places to sit and relax, or watch kids TV. There was even a playground on the bottom floor that Alexander spent hours running through. We did not go to the small movie theater where "Die Hard 4: Die already!" was playing.

It really is a spectacular ferry ride. Only about an hour is in "open seas". The rest is getting out of the bay around Wellington and then going through the sounds of the South Island. I asked Ilona about the difference between sounds and fjords, and I am still waiting for an explanation.

This is the the fourth different ferry we have taken in New Zealand (passenger and car ferry in Auckland, ferry to Russell, and now this one). I can't recall being on a ferry at all in the US, though I am sure I must have.

Touring Wellington

2007-08-10T13:26:00.000+12:00

While Mike is at the University giving talks and such, the rest are off touring Wellington. Our nanny Karin has a remarkable knack for signing up for tours and activities where she is the only one. It has rubbed off on us (our first tour together was at Hobbiton, when there was one other participant, a rather confused looking Japanese lady who clearly had gotten on the wrong bus). So naturally today, the only people on the tour were Ilona, Karin, and Alexander. The gale-force winds might also have had something to do with the crowd.

Wellington is the capital of New Zealand, of course, but the government has a pretty small footprint. Security is minimal, and it is apparently pretty common to board a plane and sit next to the Prime Minister (in coach: you would think she would have the frequent flier miles to upgrade). It is a nice enough town, in that rather awkward mix of architectures that seems to characterize most larger towns of New Zealand: the 70s were unfortunate for the country. See, for instance, the "Beehive" which is the country's Parliament.

The tour included a visit to a lovely old church that has been adopted by former members of the US military: there was a base nearby and many Americans got married to kiwis (the girls, not the birds) there. There was also a ride on an incline above the city, and a special visit to a playground for Alexander and Mickey.

Wellington

2007-08-09T15:48:00.000+12:00

We are staying at the Museum Hotel in Wellington, also known as the Hotel de Wheels. When they built the Te Papa Museum, they moved the entire hotel over a couple hundred yards by putting it on rails. It is now a arty, comfortable hotel with a great location, since they decided not to move it very far from Te Papa. The picture makes it look a bit dreary, but it comes off as dramatic in real life.

Naturally, we began the day at a playground to try to wear out the little guy a bit. Then off to Te Papa, the national museum of New Zealand. It is kinda tough visiting a museum with Ilona: she is pretty tough on museums, and she is very hard on Te Papa. Far too much entertainment, and a little fast and loose with science. She was particularly annoyed at a display of a modern possum flattened into asphalt illustrating a "modern fossil". It didn't help that the first area we went into was an entertainment area, requiring small amounts of money to work. The museum itself is free and extensive: far more extensive than a three year old can manage.

Napier

2007-08-08T07:22:00.000+12:00

We began the day in Napier. Napier was pretty well destroyed by an earthquake in 1931, and rebuilt itself in the then-popular art-deco style. Since then, while there have been some more modern (i.e. uglier) buildings put in, much of its downtown has an art-deco look.

Napier also has a wonderful ocean-front park with one of the best playgrounds we have seen. We are thinking of renaming the blog "Mickey visits the playgrounds of New Zealand". Here again, though, we had a crisis. Mickey was lost (for the second time this year!). Fortunately, he was picked up by a park cleaner, and he was recovered.

That afternoon, we drove to Wellington, where we had dinner at a Chinese "steamboat" restaurant. This consists of a pot of boiling water (half plain, half with spices) and more food than a family of 20 could eat. You put food in the water, and boil it yourself. We turned out to have a few "cook it yourself: where do you think you are, a restaurant?" type of meals this trip.

Time for a long trip!

2007-08-07T06:57:00.000+12:00

While we have been in New Zealand for more than six months, we haven't really gotten out to see the country. Partially this is due to living on Waiheke (when you live right next to a beach surrounded by vineyards, it is tough to force yourself out to see... a beach with vineyards, which is a lot of what New Zealand has to offer). Partially it is the inertia brought on by traveling with a little guy. But Mike has arranged to give talks in Wellington and Christchurch (he is the Operational Research Society's Visiting Lecturer, so he has to go out to give talks in various places), so it is time to see more of New Zealand.

We start off by ferry (where Alexander met a friend), on a rainy day. It is typical New Zealand rain: a cloudburst, followed by sun, followed by rain, followed by sun. Today, we had a pool on how often it would rain (rain for at least one minute, followed by at least five minutes of sun). The correct guess was ten times.

Our destination today was Napier, with a lunch stop at Taupo. Taupo is a neat little town not far from Matamata (where we visited Hobbiton on the last trip out). Their "schtick" is corrugated sheet metal. It seems that every shop in town has a sign made out of this. The exception is the tourist information office which made entire out of sheet metal, in the form of a sheepdog, with an attached cafe/souvenir shop in the form of a sheep.

I'm sure the drive to Napier (about 420 km) is quite nice, but the weather didn't let us enjoy much of the scenery.

Big Day at the Museum

2007-08-01T16:17:00.000+12:00

Ilona has been increasingly active at the Historical Museum. Most days, the museum is lucky to get four visitors, but today a school group of forty six-year-olds visited (new teacher trying to find reasonable school trips on the island). Ilona was out with two of her colleagues to help. The kids seemed to have a great outing: let's hope they tell their parents and a few more locals come out to the museum.

Meanwhile, Alexander was at the Steiner Kindy, painting with his girlfriend Livvy.

Winter pictures

2007-07-31T16:03:00.000+12:00

Since the end of July corresponds to the end of January "up north", I guess this is the middle of winter. Except for the odd storm, there is not much bad about winter here. It is a little cool, but we can still sit and have a drink on the porch overlooking the bay most days. Sweater weather. The water is too cool to enjoy wading, but it is still pretty pleasant.

Meanwhile, Alexander has gained a hat that makes him look like either a strange French artist or a hallucinogenic mushroom.

Strange going-ons on Waiheke

2007-07-28T15:57:00.000+12:00

I (Mike) am away in Atlanta during this period, so Alexander is in the care of Ilona and Karin. Based on the pictures, there is some pretty strange stuff going on (along with the normal things).

Causeway

2007-07-20T11:34:00.000+12:00

There is an area on the island called the Causeway. It is a shallow, tidal area bisected by the main island road. At high tide, it is lovely, with boats swaying in the breeze. At low tide, it turns into mud flats with the boats laying on their sides. It is where "normal" people dock their boats (rather than the rich folk with deep water moorings). The area also has a wonderful playground, with the highest swings on the island. Mickey as well as the Pooh ship enjoyed our outing a lot.

Busy day for Alexander

2007-07-18T11:14:00.000+12:00

Another busy day for Alexander, who seems to be pretty occupied! He spent the morning walking around the neighborhood, including paying a visit to some local miniature horses.

The afternoon was spent at the Steiner Kindergarten at Play Center, baking bread, playing with the other kids (including getting the girls to drag him around in a wagon) an feeding the various animals around.

During the evening, he (along with Ilona) built a pretty extensive zoo. Note the ice packs the penguins are sitting in.

Mystery in the sand

2007-07-16T10:30:00.000+12:00

Ilona came across these patterns in the sand at the beach while walking with Alexander down to a large carved chair.

Sing Waiheke

2007-07-14T11:53:00.000+12:00

This evening, we (Ilona and Mike) went to the local community hall for Sing Waiheke's performance of "Horrortorio", a mixture of songs from P.D.Q Bach and Tom Lehrer. The choir was primarily Waihekians, while the soloists came all the way from Auckland. Waiheke is very much like a small town in many ways, and the evening was great fun. (photo from Gulf News)

Looking at a church, and Daddy is home!

2007-07-14T10:21:00.000+12:00

While most of the time, Ilona's museum collects old vacuums and typewriters and plows and the like, sometimes larger things are on offer. With the tremendous rise in land prices here (you really can't get on the island now for less than NZ$500,000), some of the older community buildings are being sold, and the owners are only interested in the lot. The Anglican Church is one building that has had its land sold out from underneath, so the museum is looking into whether they would like to acquire it as part of their "village". Unfortunately, the museum works on a shoestring (a too short one at that) and they are already saddled with a couple of buildings they cannot afford to install, so it is not clear this is a good idea.

Meanwhile, Mike is back home. And note how nice the weather has become again.

Biggest storm so far

2007-07-12T09:33:00.000+12:00

The biggest storm of the year went through over the last day or so (note that the picture is from the local paper: that is not ours!). The winds went over 160km/hour. Power was cut on the island for most of the day, and for the first time in about five years, ferry service to the island was canceled, stranding about 1000 people on the mainland (and perhaps 3 tourists on the island). It reminds you how isolated we can get here. Normally medical emergencies are whisked to the mainland in a 15 minute helicopter ride, so there is no hospital on the island. But for about 12 hours overnight, there was no helicopter and no ferry: all emergencies had to be handled on the island. Alexander, Ilona, and Karin were fine, and enjoyed watching the storm from the safety of the house. Mike's building at the university was shut down when glass in the atrium started shattering.

Meanwhile, Mike was in Prague, enjoying a beer or two, and complaining that it was a little drizzly.

Wine caps

2007-07-07T09:29:00.000+12:00

New Zealand is very proud of their wines, and Waiheke is known as a special wine island. One unusual aspect of New Zealand wine is that almost every wine here is a screw-top, even wines costing hundreds of dollars. It is very strange here indeed to have a wine with a cork.

Here is Alexander playing with a few days of wine tops.

Island entertainment

2007-07-06T09:23:00.000+12:00

Well, we finally found "our bar": the Island Queen, just across the street from our house. Friendly people, good bar food, perfect location. So of course, the owner decides to shut it down for three months while he heads off to England. That is so Island!

But we have found other places. Charly Farly's is a tapas place that opened (ironically) right by our old house on the island. They have music and bands: today Alexander regaled the crowd with his rendition of A-B-C.

Winter sets in

2007-07-04T09:11:00.000+12:00

Now that it is July, it is clearly winter here. The temperatures are not bad (in the 50s F) but there is much more rain. Rain here is gusty: it can be a nice, sunny day when a squall quickly passes through, dumping a good part of an inch of rain in a short period. Then nice again. The island has its own attractions now. There are fewer (but still some) tourists, but the island community is a lot more visible. Ilona is even getting people to come to the members evenings at the Island Museum. And the scenery is still stunning.

Mike is off to Prague for a conference. Before the year, he promised not to travel very much. He already took one "unauthorized" trip by going to Miami earlier, but Prague is an authorized trip. It is a lot easier to go with Karin here to help out.

Storm and aftermath

2007-06-30T18:01:00.001+12:00

Last night was very stormy, with the wind and waves coming in from the northeast, which is the most spectacular direction for our beach and view. The waves were high enough to bring out the surfers in front of our house.

The rain stopped, and the sun started peaking out, letting us have some time on the swings by the beach. You can see our house in the last picture here: we are the higher one (we can't see the lower one from our house due to vegetation and the height differences).

Quiet week, followed by storm

2007-06-29T17:48:00.000+12:00

This has been a pretty quiet week. Karin was gone for a few days to visit a fellow backpacker up north. Her friend also nannies (a word I include since Karin hates it), so they compare notes. Unfortunately her friend looks after twin three-year-olds and Karin only has Alexander, so I think Karin comes out the better in this.

A storm came through at the end of the week. On Friday, Mike took the noon ferry back, and it was a bit of an adventure. The ferry company was using one of their medium-sized ferries, where we sit very close to the water. The waves were really running, and the ferry moves at a good clip, so we would leap into the air off the top of the waves. There was a large group on board, and at the first leap, they all went "YEAAAAHHHHH". After about five minutes of leaping, it was down to "Yeaaahhh", then "yeah", then "Yuck!". Definitely a Disneyland-quality ride.

Alexander, meanwhile, hunkered down in an impromptu tent in the living room, complete with entourage.

Medieval Ball

2007-06-23T23:14:00.000+12:00

The local Steiner Kindergarten, where Alexander goes to playcircle every week, had a fundraiser in the form of a medieval ball, held in a barn near the school. The announcements suggested "dress up or come as you are", but in Waiheke, everyone takes a chance to dress up. There were perhaps 200 people jammed into the barn, and maybe 4 were not in costume.

We rented our costume the day before from a woman who had inherited a large collection of costumes from the sets of Hercules and Xena, Warrior Princess, which were filmed in New Zealand. Ilona found a wonderful blue dress from which she made a Princess outfit (the first time in her life that Ilona dressed as a princess!). She definitely had the highest headpiece of anyone there! Mike was dressed as a Lord Mayor, with an enormous key around his neck (explained as "the key to the Princess's chastity belt").

The evening was great fun, with wonderful costumes, great food, perfect music, and dancing. Highlights included a friend of ours (she nanny's Livvy, Alexander's girlfriend) dressed as Fiona, the ogre princess from Shrek, and a man in a full "Black Adder" outfit, including a provocative codpiece (it strikes me that Aunt Janice will have some difficulties explaining some of this to cousins Matthieu and Janelle, but good luck with it!). It was a little strange that there was just one porta-potty for the 200: Kiwis must be a hardy, and strong bladdered, bunch.

Click for more Medieval Ball photos

Beautiful sunrise and ... dress like a pirate!

2007-06-19T13:03:00.000+12:00

The view of the sunrise from our balcony is spectacular. Now that the weather has changed (highs are around 15C, with lows of 8C: about normal for winter here), the sunrises seem even nicer.

Once the sun is up, it seems a nice day to dress like a pirate, again.

Caving, hiking, and returning, all on Father's Day

2007-06-17T09:43:00.000+12:00

It is Father's Day in the US/Canada, but not in New Zealand (they have theirs in September). We get to celebrate both! Alexander got me a book on Lord of the Rings locations, which matched perfectly with our hobbit hole.

Ilona and Karin spent the morning "black water rafting". This involves dressing in wetsuits, sticking your butt in an inner tube, jumping blindly into ice cold water, and floating down underground rivers, hoping your flashlight (on your helmet) doesn't go out. It also involves hiking (with inner tube), waterfall jumping (with inner tube) and marshmallow eating (with inner tube). It was a blast! More glowworms, caverns, and cold water than you can imagine.

Mike and Alexander, on the other hand, took a Father's Day hike. Beautiful walk up a hill, through a field (covered with animal droppings (cow?) like much of New Zealand), to a vista overlooking the region. Alexander talked an awful lot about monsters, but luckily Mickey joined us on the hike to protect us. We then had some slide and swing time before picking up the adventurers.

After all that excitement, it was time to head back. Three hours drive, a 45 minute ferry ride, and a short drive and we were back home in time for a spectacular sunset.

Click for Waitomo photos

Woodlyn Park

2007-06-16T19:03:00.000+12:00

We drove today to Waitomo, staying at Woodlyn Park, a center of "demented ingenuity", as Ilona called it. First the "motel" aspect: their goal seems to be to make a motel out of practically anything. They have rooms in an old train car, they have rooms in an old boat, they have a WWII-era airplane with rooms. Our room was in the "Hobbit Motel", with round doors and a hobbit-y feel to it. Surprisingly, the rooms were very spacious and very well furnished with high quality furnishings.

Woodlyn Park also runs a one-man "Kiwi Culture Show" that was a blast. It was held in an old barn that doubles as the reception/event area. The barn is filled with "antiques" (old junk, but enough to compete with the Waiheke Historical Society museum). There were only six of us in the audience (the four of us and another couple) but he ("Billy Black", though there appear to be more than one of him based on pictures from other shows) gave a great performance. Audience participation was a must, of course, so Mike took a stab at sawing a log (we would have made it through if my partner had worked a bit harder!), Ilona helped him blow up a log (not really, but there was a big bang), and Karin and Ilona helped him shear a sheep by cranking the clippers for him. There were animals (a pig, sheep, dog chasing the sheep, possum, goat, and, for the big finale, a cow). We actually learned a lot during the hour, and had a great time.

After the show, we went to the Waitomo Glow Worm Cave, which was the real reason we came to Waitomo. The area around Waitomo is littered with caves, caverns, and tunnels. Many of these have rivers run through them, and these dark, damp places attract "glow worms", a larval stage of a particular fly (technically, they should be called "glow maggots", but marketing stepped in to change the name). On our tour we first walked through a series of spectacular cathedral-like caves leading down to the underground river. The glow-worms live on the roof of the caves, and hang down filaments of silk to catch other insects to eat. It was kinda creepy to see thousands of these filaments hanging down above us.

We then got in a boat and coasted for about 15 minutes underground. Above us (in the totally dark cavern) were thousands of glow worms. It looked like a particularly starry night (with big green stars). Finally we made it to the entrance, where the stream exits the cavern system. No photos were allowed, but we bought the tourist photo of us in the cave, so I'll add that once I get to a scanner.

Click for Woodlyn Park photos

Hell's Gate

2007-06-15T06:28:00.000+12:00

Today we went to another thermal area, but one that is radically different from yesterday's. "Hell's Gate" was named by George Bernard Shaw, who supposedly said:

Hell's Gate, I think, is the most damnable I have ever visited, and I'd willingly have paid ten pounds not to have seen it.

It's real name is Tikitere, a contraction of "Taku tiki i tere nei" -My youngest daughter has floated away - based on a story of a chief's daughter who jumped into one of the boiling hot pools.

Unlike yesterday, which felt like a walk in the woods with weird water features, today was liking walking on the moon. The area is filled with boiling mud pools, sulpher pools, boiling water pools and so on. There is even a large hot water waterfall ("only" the temperature of a hot shower).

After the walk, we spent some time at the spa there. We all took a mud bath (Alexander loved that!) then hung out in some sulpher pools. Ilona and Karin then got massages while Alexander and Mike did some more wandering around.

Alexander's favorite part: "Sticking my head through the pictures".

HellsGate

Waimangu Valley

2007-06-14T14:13:00.000+12:00

Last night we stayed at the Regal Palms Motel in Rotorua (where we will stay for three nights). Rotorua is a funny town: it is pretty large town (70,000 people) and, due to the amount of thermal (read volcanic) activity, it has a very strong smell. You lose your ability to smell the "rotten eggs" smell after an hour or two, but then sometimes it strengthens and overwhelms you again.

The volcanic activity attracts a lot of tourists, so Rotorua is really a "Town of Motels". For some reason (undoubtedly due to economic competition), every one of the thousands of hotel and motel rooms in Rotorua has an "In Room Spa Bath". Ours was no exception. It was big enough to sit six (not that we had six people to test it out). Our motel also had a mini-golf course, a playground, a pool, a gym, and extremely well equipped rooms. Great place to stay.

Today we went out to Waimangu Volcanic Valley, a few miles away from Rotorua. You walk (or take a shuttle bus) down the valley, ending up a big lake (Lake Rotomahana). The lake was formed during the 1886 explosion that reformed the area. Before the explosion, there were magnificent formations called the Pink and White Terraces that attracted people from around the world (at a time when New Zealand was very hard to get to). The Terraces were instantly obliterated, and the area is now covered by a hundred feet or more of water.

It was a spectacular walk, with the highlight being the Inferno Crater, a brilliant light blue color. The most amazing thing was the amount of natural wildlife (ferns, trees, black swans, and more) right next to areas that are boiling hot (some of the pools are well over 100 degrees Celsius, with the minerals increasing the boiling point of the water.

Ilona also used the new camera for the first time, so you will see a few pictures of her with it.

We went a little crazy on picture taking today, with the three of us taking more than 350 photos. Here are a few, with some more in an album for the really keen.

Click for the Waimangu Valley Album

Time for a Trip: First stop: Hobbiton!

2007-06-13T13:38:00.000+12:00

While we have been in New Zealand for more than four months, we haven't done a very good job of getting out to see the country, having only visited Auckland and Russell so far. Partially this is because we really like Waiheke, partially it is laziness, and partially it is a wish to get really settled before heading out. Well, it is time to see more of the country, so off we go on a five day trip! Just a warning: Ilona began using her new camera so we have three cameras going on this trip (we ended up taking 882 photos during the five days: I won't post all of them!).

Our first stop is something Mike has been looking forward to: Hobbiton! Peter Jackson, for his Lord of the Rings Movies, based Hobbiton at a sheep farm outside the town of Matamata. The key aspect he needed was a lake with a large tree beside it (to be the "party tree" for Bilbo's birthday party). The site he chose is lovely, with no sign of human activity (no power lines or roads or buildings in sight).

After the movie, most of the set was taken down (a lot was made of foam, so it couldn't last long anyway). A few hobbit holes are still in place, and there are boards (and an excellent guide) to show you where things were. It was great playing "Peter Jackson" to see where things would fit. And, except for an unbelievable amount of sheep "droppings", it is a beautiful outing.

Click on the following to see many more photos!

Click for the Hobbiton Album

Kids are funny (how original!)

2007-06-11T22:03:00.000+12:00

While this blog is supposed to be about us and New Zealand, it is also about Alexander growing up. He has made tremendous leaps since we arrived. Part of our "training" is encouraging (or forcing) politeness. Being one of the few kids his age to say "please" and "thank you" consistently causes others to overlook his ... lapses. It is not clear how deep this politeness goes, however, after this exchange after a less-than-successful meal:

Thank you for the nice meal, Mommy. It was too yucky for me.

Blustery day

2007-06-10T21:55:00.000+12:00

It was a rainy, windy day today. Most of the time, the weather comes from the south/west, so it blows over the house and the bay is relatively calm. Once in a while it comes from the north/east and it makes the bay a bit rougher.

We all stayed in today, and Alexander and Karin prepared a circus show for us in the evening.

Farmer Alexander

2007-06-05T09:54:00.000+12:00

Alexander woke up today wanting to be a farmer. Fortunately we had just the gear. We'll get him working on his cousin's farm before long.

He got to continue the theme at the Steiner Kindergarten which has animals for him to feed (and chase).

Dragons in the Tunnels

2007-06-04T09:30:00.000+12:00

The finish to the "Festival of Story" is held at Stoney Batter tunnels and involves dragons, knights, princesses, heroes, and magic. Though the day was organized with typical island efficiency, it was wonderful. The corridors of the tunnels were lined with candles, and the story tellers were very good. They did provide a magician to entertain the kids waiting to go in the tunnels. Alexander, complete with knight's helmet (somewhat the worse for wear due to the rain) had a great day.

A few gale-like storms crossed through but we were lucky enough to get a ride for most of the walk in and most of the day was very nice. The vineyards look wonderful this time of year!

Queens Birthday Weekend Pictures

2007-06-03T09:19:00.000+12:00

It is nice that the Queen arranges to have her birthday celebrated in June just when we could use a long weekend. Lots of boats in the harbor, and Alexander plays in all his various places. We even got the fountain in the fishpond to work.

Story time at the Marae

2007-06-01T20:59:00.000+12:00

This evening was the start of the "Once upon an Island Festival of Story" (the story lady on the island is extremely active). The opening occurred at the Piritahi Marae about a three minute drive away. A Marae is a Maori religious and meeting place which generally has a meeting hall and some other buildings. One cannot simply wander into a marae: there is a special welcome ceremony called a powhiri to go through. The visitors (manuhiri) all sit in an area while a group from the marae challenge their entry. Responses are given by representatives of the manuhiri, songs are sung, and then we are welcomed through hongi (touching of foreheads and noses) with the marae group. It was very touching and a real sign of community. It was not perfunctory (it lasted more than 20 minutes and was described as a short powhiri) and obviously not designed for tourists but was a real reflection of how the Maori feel about their marae.

Alexander was great during the ceremony, and enjoyed the hongi. The only person hesitant about him was the elder (a man certainly in his 70s or more) who visibly flinched around Alexander. I would guess he has been headbutted by too many European kids to feel perfectly comfortable around them. But Alexander was gentle with him.

The storytime was excellent. We only stayed for the first two stories (an extended song about Chicken Little and a story from "Roots" of an African boy and a crocodile) but we were all captivated.

Cooking day

2007-06-01T08:57:00.000+12:00

It is not all beaches and swingsets. Sometimes it is just making "monkey bread" at home.

More Beautiful Days

2007-05-30T08:42:00.000+12:00

It turns out that May is the warmest, driest, May on record. We've gotten about 15mm of rain, when the norm is about 120. And temperatures are averaging about 2 degrees C above normal. C'mon global warming.

Alexander spends an afternoon a week at the "Steiner Kindergarten", not far from our house. They have a very nice setup there, in a hippy, natural manner. US-style safety rules don't seem to apply. Alexander loves playing there, and particularly feeding the ducks with his friend Livvy.

He also loves being out at the beach (and Karin is experimenting with the camera, hence the black and white photos!).

Party Aftermath

2007-05-28T10:39:00.000+12:00

The day after a birthday party is a good day for sleeping in, working on the house, and, of course, dressing as a pirate.

Birthday Party!

2007-05-27T10:15:00.000+12:00

Today is the day for Alexander's birthday party. Friends from Alexander's various activities (story time at the library, singing at ArtWorks, Steiner kindy, and so on) have been invited and about six have show up. The theme of the party is "Pirates", though the main activity is running around wildly and getting hyperactive. Ilona does a magic act (with Michael in the hidden role of a rabbit who refuses to come out of the hat) and everyone enjoyed the day very much.

Getting a New House

2007-05-26T10:00:00.000+12:00

We are putting together a new house for Alexander (particularly for his birthday party). Luckily, we are three doors down from a home appliance store, and they throw away their boxes every day at 5PM. Ilona is a great cardboard house designer, and I think the result would go for $500,000 (easily!) on this island.

Outing with Karin

2007-05-25T09:34:00.000+12:00

It is great having a nanny. Karin took Alexander for a walk, and returned with all sorts of great pictures.

Windy day

2007-05-23T09:30:00.000+12:00

For the most part, we are on the lee side of the island relative to the prevailing winds, which is why we often have lots of sailboats moored in our bay. Today, though, the winds came in strongly from the north, making our bay very rough and bringing out the wind- and kite-surfers.

Graduation to a Big Boys Bed

2007-05-21T09:10:00.000+12:00

Now that Alexander is three, we decided it was time to move him to a real bed. He sleeps with quite an entourage, including a good selection from the library. But it looks like he was ready to upgrade his bed.

Happy Birthday Alexander!

2007-05-20T08:57:00.000+12:00

Finishing off our birthday celebrations, Alexander turned three today. We had a quiet day for him at the house. Next week we will have a bigger party.

It seems that our gifts to him all 1) contain a zillion pieces and/or 2) make lots of noise and/or 3) involve lots of out-of-control bouncing about. We must really not value our sanity.