our time in new zealand

A Long-Awaited Update

2007-11-02T12:55:00.000-07:00

All of you have been very patient in waiting for our family update. It has been some time since I posted information about our first 2 months here. Something that may be difficult to understand is that one day in New Zealand seems much like another – especially in the winter. It rains, its cold and until spring arrived not much extraordinary has happened. BUT we have been busy since it has gotten warmer and a little drier. The locals here have said that this is the most rain they have seen in quite a long time.

Another interesting weather fact – and this is strictly anecdotal – is that almost every Kiwi that I’ve spoken with about the weather asking when will it finally “get warm” – has responded that it used to get warm before Christmas but “these days” it doesn’t get warm until the middle of January. So the locals are very aware of the changing weather patterns. Some of that is because they live on an island and pay particular attention to the weather but they are also sensitive to issues such as global warming and such because of these noticeable changes.

In fact, we were at a potluck gathering just last Sunday afternoon and the weather was so nice the entire group sat outside in the sunshine. Although not obvious to the naked eye to see many referred to being cautious of being in the sun because of the hole in the ozone.

So here are the various activities we’re been engaged in:

I completed the portion of my scuba diving class that was held in the swimming pool with gold stars but when we took our roadtrip to do the “field test” the waters were a little bumpier. The waters in Lake Rotoma were very cloudy and green (not to my liking very much) and once we reached the ocean dive site the waters were so rough that no one could dive. So I’m not yet PADI certified but can take the two dives sometime soon and then become certified.

The city of Hamilton is perfectly situated – it is about a 45 minute drive to the west coast and the town of Raglan, about a 90 minute drive to the east coast and about an hour’s drive to the mountains for skiing and snowboarding.

Jimmy went on a school skiing trip near the end of September (before the schools took a 2 week break) with about 20 other students. He took skiing classes over the 3 days and made it to the intermediate slope! When they weren’t skiing they were hanging out in “hot pools” and playing games.

The ski trip was to a resort next door to Mount Ruapehu (http://www.geonet.org.nz/volcano/volcams/ruapehu/) – which erupted just one week after Jimmy got back! It hadn’t erupted in about 5 years and there had been no warnings. About 5 young hikers were staying the night at a hut which was engulfed in the lavare trapping one young man under part of the hut. Luckily everyone made it out alive and the young man – a teacher – was airlifted off the mountain but has subsequently lost both of his legs.

One of John’s colleagues, Allison invited us to visit her and her husband in Tauranga about a 90 minute drive from Hamilton.. We arrived for lunch on a rainy Sunday afternoon and enjoyed their company sightseeing and visiting the PACIFIC OCEAN! There were lots of surfers although it was an extremely cold day for us. It is a port city with lots of activity. They have done such a good job at monitoring the environment around the port that they even have pristine beaches within eyesight of the large shipping vessels and such.

The kids’ two week break started off smoothly and fairly easy until Katy and I were goofing around and she feel and sprained her ankle. We weren’t but about 2 houses from our house when it happened but Jimmy and I were trying to figure out how we were going to get Katy back to the house without doing more harm to her. A number of folks generously stopped to ask if they could help but we did quite know what we were going to do at that point so we told them everything was okay. We had put ice on her ankle and we were shading the sun (can you believe the sun was out on this day?) from her eyes and trying to figure out how she could skootch on her bum back to the house . . . when a group of neighbors walked by. We had seen them many times before but they had never spoken to us – they wear a lot of black and seem to hang as a group. One of them called out to see if we needed help and I said “Yes!” So two men made a seat with their arms and carried Katy as if she were a queen up to the house. The woman carried our bags and I escorted them up the path.

The doctor’s verdict of a sprained ankle brought about 3-4 days of laying on the couch with her leg elevated and walking with her crutches to the loo. After 3 physiotherapist sessions where they used ultrasound on the sprain and a week and a half of wearing a “boot” on her ankle Katy was able to get around perfectly. As these things go I think this was a “good sprain.”

While Katy was laid up, Jimmy and I took the bus out to Raglan (http://www.raglan.org.nz/) for an overnight trip. Raglan is known for 2 things: black sand beaches and the best surf break around. We stayed in a backpacker’s place in a twin room (using the communal facilities) and enjoyed walking around this little beach town eating fish ‘n chips. The fellow who worked the front desk drove us about 15 minutes out of town to the surfers’ beach where he dropped us off. We knew it was about a 90 minute walk back into town and so we headed back along the water’s edge. As you can see Jimmy played a bit in the water although it was MUCH too cold to be in the water. We collected shells and attempted to fly a kite with little luck. As we walked we rounded a corner where about 10 kitesurfers were “flying” and at that point the beach ended as the water hit the embankment of the land. So we headed inland – not knowing where we were – finding some intersecting roads and headed north. Eventually we both felt comfortable that we were heading in the right direction and arrived back at our place about 2 ½ hours later when it had just started to rain! We were certainly lucky that day.

Every spring there is a “Fine Homes Tour” in Hamilton for a local charity with is organized by some of the realtors in town. A cap of 1500 tickets are sold at $50 each and folks get to travel around town and see up to 10 different types of houses. I went with my neighbor Brenda and 2 friends of hers and we enjoyed looking at house designs from contemporary to traditional to villa styles. It was quite a day. You aren’t allowed to take any pictures or carry your purse/bag into the house with you and you have to take your shoes off at the front door. I think if 1500 people were traipsing through my house I’d want them barefooted too!

About 15 miles outside of Hamilton is the Sculpture Gardens (http://www.sculpturepark.co.nz/) – a former rock quarry that has been recreated as a multi-acre parklike setting with trails and a pond with lilies where weddings take place. Wood, metal, and glass sculptures line the paths throughout the park. It is quite relaxing and John and I were quite impressed with the concept of taking something like a closed quarry and making it into something so beautiful and useful. This project is not unlike many New Zealand projects – Kiwis have a way of looking at something and realizing its potential as something completely different. And once it is “transformed” it is very valuable to all.

New Zealand's Labor Day was in October and so there was a long weekend -- 3 days! We spent the first day on a horsetrek in Raglan riding for about 3 hours over the hills, the bush and onto the black sand beach. It was a beautiful day as we looked out to the west at the Tasman Sea.

We stopped at Bridal Veil Falls and had lunch.

Then we returned home and did an overnight to Rotorua -- where the hot spas are. Although we didn't take a dip we saw lots of interesting things and learned quite a bit about the geography and the Maori legends of that area. We also hiked in their "Redwood Forest" which was a perfect day to do so.

On our way out of town we stopped at an extreme sports place where people can bungy jump and stuff like that. Jimmy had decided he wanted to do the "freefall" which lasted all of 2 minutes but was a great thrill. Here is is practicing for the "real thing."

On the way back we traveled through a town named Tirau -- a small touristy town that has one of its names to fame in that it creates corrogated steel sculptures! Here are a few for you to enjoy.

In the New Zealand curriculum – for many, many years now – there is a week dedicated to “camp.” I’ve spoken with Kiwis my age and learned of the experiences they had when they were younger. But for Jimmy there were about 20 possible camps that were offered by his school. Every student is required to attend the camp (as it replaces “school” for that week) but the prices of the camps range from $50 to $350 depending on whether your child decides to do a cooking camp offered at the school itself or take a bus camp where they camp and tramp over the 3-4 days.

So Jimmy decided to sign up for the “Animal Camp” and I volunteered to chaperone. We spent the first camp day traveling on a bus to see 2 different animal environments. The first was a kiwi house where we saw many of the native birds as well as a couple of kiwis in their natural habitat. Kiwis are nocturnal so you have to view them in very low light. Our second stop was at Mount Manganui – a 40-acre fenced preserve that only has native plants and animals living inside that were original to the country before the pakena (whites) introduced rats, etc. to the islands.

Our second and third days were spent in Auckland where we visited a butterfly house

and petting zoo, the Darwin exhibit at the Auckland Museum, Kelly Tarleton’s Underwater World (http://www.kellytarltons.co.nz/home/), and the Auckland Zoo. Of all of these stops I found the most interesting to be Kelly Tarleton’s.

I can’t tell if Halloween is a big holiday or not. An editorial in the local paper said that it was “here to stay” and that kiwis should get used to it but when I asked Jimmy if anyone in his class had talked about what they were dressing up as he said ‘no.” So I’m thinking it is still an American holiday. We do have candy though in case any one knocks at the front door.

Katy and I are leaving New Zealand this evening and flying to Rarotonga in the Cook Islands (http://www.cookislandsnews.com/Cooksinfo/information.htm ) – a tropical island about 3 ½ hours away from Auckland where I hope and pray that it will be very warm and will not be raining much. We’re staying at a backpackers place for about 10 days (it is that long because I could only get the “good fare” by selecting a 10 day span on the website). But although we’ll be sharing the loo with others we’ll have our own room for about $40NZ a night. Right next door is the fancy resort where the cheapest room for two was going to be $350NZ a night. So I told Katy we’re walking down the hall to the loo! I’ll let you know how this works out when we return on the 14^th. Here’s the address of the local online paper if you want to check up on what’s going on in Rarotonga: http://www.cinews.co.ck/

our first month

2007-08-06T16:38:00.000-07:00

we left the US on june 29 and arrived in auckland, new zealand on sunday, july 1 around 7am. our flight left greensboro at 2pm and then we spent about 3-4 hours in LA before taking the looong flight across the pacific.

it was an easy flight -- most folks slept and there were some good movies to watch ("becoming jane" and others.)

we left with 8 checked bags and 8 carryons (the limit of 2 per person! and arrived in NZ with 7 so we spent some time at the baggage check filing our "lost luggage" paperwork.

Luckily we brought along our own "baghandlers". (just a grammatical change in the southern hemisphere -- the punctuation always goes OUTSIDE the endquote.)

customs was a breeze and after about 90 minutes we easily found our pre-arranged roadcat van that drove us the hour and a half trip south to hamilton.

hamilton is a nice town of about 130,000 and the waikato pronounced WHY-CA-TO with the strong stress on the TO; CA is pronounced like the "ca" in "cat") river runs through it.

we live on a street off River Road -- which runs parallel to the river on the north side of town and the city centre is on the south side of the river. there are at least 5 bridges across the river and it is about a 15-20 minute walk to town from our house.

we live in one of the older houses -- which has not been updated intentionally in order to keep its charm. everyone that i've met in the neighborhood says "oh, you live in that house." there are only a handful of gas heaters in the house and the bedrooms are heated by small electrical heat blowers which are fairly common here. the house sits on a very deep lot which is very natural and to the right of the house is a neighborhood park where small kids play during the day when it is not raining. our house is located in the lower left corner of the photo at right. this open park used to be the fairgrounds before they decided to created a convention center and green area. we live in the area of hamilton called claudelands.

we're cat-sitting two cats -- "jeanjean" and "lucy" -- both very sweet cats. jeanjean comes into the living room (one of the rooms with a gas heater so it stays warm) and is very sociable, laying on our laps and wanting to be petted. he was seems to druel quite a bit when you pet him. lucy is quite the loner and stays pretty much to herself. she will let you come close to her BUT if you get too close -- she runs away.

this is the rainy season in hamilton but i've heard that we're lucky it hasn't been foggy or colder. the daily temperature seems to range from about 35ish to 60is and we're nearing the end of the winter season. apparently spring is very much like winter though -- about the same temperature and lots of rain. for instance, today the sky was north carolina blue with just a few white cloud up until 2:30 and then there was havy downpour for about 20 minutes. there are lots of rainbows here in hamilton -- and sometimes we see a "double rainbow".

both katy and jimmy like their schools. since they've come into the classroom at midyear they were both a little nervous about meeting new friends but after school they talk about their friends and the things they did at school -- like play netball or learn folk dancing or work on a textile project. katy is going to hamilton girls high school (photo right).

we walked and took the transit system as well as lots of taxis in the first month we were here but now we own a new used car! we got it last week and john has driven it to work, to the grocery, to the video store, etc. -- all fairly closeby places. i've not yet been drawn to the car although i have ridden in the car with him once. we really needed to have a car in order to see anything outside of hamilton. it is a 1994 mazda -- which has its own pronunciation here: you pronounce "mazda" like this -- say "maz" like the "daz" in "dazzle" and then add the "da". it is a little difficult to get used to.

john is teaching in the communication management department at university of waikato. it is a very serene campus -- with a lake as a center area where students meet.

on one of the first saturdays -- when it wasn't raining -- we went to "mooloo day" -- a 3 hour event at the waikato stadium where the waikato chiefs (the rugby team) was holding an "open day". all the players were there and they meet the fans and there are LOTS of things to do -- like eat, throw the rugby ball and such. there has been one home game that we got family tickets for but it was pouring down rain. katy and i decided to stay home but jimmy and john went til half time and had a grand time.

here are a few other things about new zealand that are interesting:

prostitution is legal. hamilton is the hometown of riff raff -- the author of "rocky horror picture show" -- and one of the lead characters in the movie. there is a casino (skycinema) in the city centre.

the bus system does not run on sundays.

sundays are not observed in the same way as in the states; when we first arrived i learned that the farmers market ran on sundays from 8-12 on sunday mornings.

there are not very many "stop" signs in NZ -- because "give way" is used much like a "yield" sign so the cars really never stop moving unless other cars have right-of-way or it is a red light.

rugby and netball are fun to play -- according to katy and jimmy.

roundabouts are the most wonderful things in the world -- and, of course, merging traffic doesn't really stop at a roundabout for very long.

much of the cold weather comes up from the mountains just to the south of hamilton.

raglan -- a town about 45 minutes due west of hamilton -- is at the coast and is famous for its black sand beaches.

the "east coast" is about 90 minutes due east from hamilton and many of the countries vineyards are located there and north.

kiwis don't like to be confused with aussies.

after about the 10th time i met a new person and they asked me if i was canadian, i asked what that meant and the fellow said, "we ask if you're canadian first -- before learning that you're american -- because we want to like you".

the maori language is very melodic.

lots of good stuff can be found at the second-hand stores which are run by organizations for causes like the salvation army or churches. private secondhand stores can be found too but are much more expensive. hamilton is the only interior city in NZ.

the maori people's name for NZ is aotearoa.

many things are expensive. for instance: 2 rolls of paper towels were $4+, jeans can run between $65-100, new books (and even used books) are VERY expensive ( i.e., new paperbacks are around $15).

there is a lottery here.

they don't serve "black" coffee -- you can't find any "regular" coffee because all coffees are cafe or boutique coffees.

jimmy has fallen in love with spicy chicken from neco -- a sushi restaurant.

not more than a 15 minute walk from our house -- on the same side of the river -- is 5 cross roads where there is a handful of takeway places -- mcdonald's, noodle canteen, hell pizza and more. there is liquor store and a butcher shop so i find myself there every other day to get meat for dinner.

since we've been here we went to visit hamilton gardens -- a beautifully landscaped public place with designed gardens from a number of historical and geographical locations, and wide open spaces.