Okay, this is the pits, I’m way behind in writing and in posting. That last weekend of our stay in Waitarere, Kevin had hoped to do some fishing, I had hoped to maybe take a nearby bike ride together…...instead he caught a cold, so laid low other than the long lunch, tea at the neighbors, and getting organized for packing up the place. You’d think I could have written and posted then, you say? Well, my goal for those few days became finishing knitting a sock :) and I’m happy to say I did get that accomplished, and the next one is started. Second sock syndrome has reared it’s ugly head though, so it’s been hard for me to get very far on it yet. Anyway, I mentioned we had a farewell tea at the neighbors, Ian & Felicity Clarke’s home next door. She served roasted lamb, with no fewer than NINE veggies, all delicious, and I'm not a fan of lamb. She had the mint jelly too, but she also served what she called mint sauce, which was basically a light sugar syrup boiled with fresh mint Yes, even better than the jelly. I brought some of those brownies, and as we were finishing up Ian’s brother and sister-in-law stopped by with a box full of...sweet corn! So we got to meet them, chat a while, and guess what we took home for dinner the next night? :) The Clarke’s are delightful, salt of the earth people and we have enjoyed getting to know them and their family, including some grandchildren who live nearby, very much. On our last night in the house, they stopped over and gave us some Kiwi remembrances, and we were able to give them one of the Bristol/Maas Iowa Impressions books that we brought to give as gifts.
Kevin worked T/W/Th that last week, so we could travel on Friday, March 18, to the south island. That Tuesday night the surgery held a farewell dinner at a local Indian restaurant. Thursday night I had hoped to make it do the lady’s night out, but of course Kevin got hit hard that day and had such a late night that went by the wayside. I have to say I had mixed emotions a little, about leaving...but, I'm ready to see the south island, and get on back to California, then to Iowa!
Monday, March 28, 2011
We've had company!
Decorah friends Steve & Edie Jacobsen and Peg and Steve Matter arrived all together at our Waitarere Beach home on Saturday evening, March 5. We had all been invited to a BBQ at our neighbors, Karen & Grant, with the other neighbors Ian & Felicity too. Karen & Felicity had done most of the cooking and did we eat well! It’s such a treat to get to LIVE in NZ and get to know some of the people a little. We’ve had awesome neighbors and will miss them. On Sunday we all attended the local (as in W Beach) Anglican church, where they said that the 6 of us doubled their usual attendance :) Later, we all headed to the beach to drag the flounder net, with a catch of 2 flounder :) and many of the small crabs, which made a good dinner.
Monday we got up somewhat early to travel to nearby Kapiti Island, which has been made into a bird sanctuary. Here on the island, the rats, stoats, possums have been eradicated to allow native birds to flourish. The frequent bird songs here reminded us how the introduced rats, stoats, and possums have devastated the ground nesting birds on the “mainland” of NZ. When you walk a track on the mainland, in the bush as they call their woods, it is rare to hear a bird. All of the birds native to New Zealand evolved without the presence of mammals, and are frequent ground nesters, so are easy prey, nor do they show the usual fear of man. Several like the giant moa are already long extinct, and many of the remaining birds survive with the highest populations on isolated predator free islands off the coast of New Zealand. So, while listening to amazing bird calls we had a good hike to the top of this small, steep island, with a lunch at the top lookout, of course! Kevin got great pics with his telephoto, so he can show you those when we get home (and just a few other shots from these 4 months, too…)
Much of the rest of their time here was spent walking on the beach, reading, talking, napping :) and just enjoying Waitarere. We said goodbye to Matters on Wednesday March 9, and Jacobsens on Friday the 11th, and they all headed directly back to Decorah. Part of me is jealous, part of me wants to stay, and part of me wants to head to the south island NOW!
Today, Sunday March 13, we had great food at…….our first long lunch! Students, if you’ll remember, this was one of your vocab words. Basically, it means a BIG potluck, like a church potluck. Here in NZ when they say potluck they are referring to more like having some friends bring food to one house, and if it includes grilling, then it’s a BBQ instead of a potluck. Now is that clear? Anyway, this was more like a block party, with lots of tables and shade umbrellas in the street, and live music, barbecued meats. The purpose was to raise funds for security cameras in Waitarere Beach, so we paid $20 each in addition to me bringing chocolate mint brownies (which I’m told are very American!) It was an opportunity to chat with so many of the people we’ve met and say good bye. Many Thursday eves I’ve been going down to the Sail On Inn, a little restaurant just off the beach where lots of women congregate for food and drinks every Thursday. (Sounds like a good plan to me, Decorah friends!) One woman, Nikki, spent a year in Iowa City when her father-in-law taught at University of Iowa Law School! Small world. She loved Iowa City and was pretty sad to hear about Hancher flooding. She’s a teacher here, with two teenage daughters and is a neighbor to the Hulls.
Monday we got up somewhat early to travel to nearby Kapiti Island, which has been made into a bird sanctuary. Here on the island, the rats, stoats, possums have been eradicated to allow native birds to flourish. The frequent bird songs here reminded us how the introduced rats, stoats, and possums have devastated the ground nesting birds on the “mainland” of NZ. When you walk a track on the mainland, in the bush as they call their woods, it is rare to hear a bird. All of the birds native to New Zealand evolved without the presence of mammals, and are frequent ground nesters, so are easy prey, nor do they show the usual fear of man. Several like the giant moa are already long extinct, and many of the remaining birds survive with the highest populations on isolated predator free islands off the coast of New Zealand. So, while listening to amazing bird calls we had a good hike to the top of this small, steep island, with a lunch at the top lookout, of course! Kevin got great pics with his telephoto, so he can show you those when we get home (and just a few other shots from these 4 months, too…)
Much of the rest of their time here was spent walking on the beach, reading, talking, napping :) and just enjoying Waitarere. We said goodbye to Matters on Wednesday March 9, and Jacobsens on Friday the 11th, and they all headed directly back to Decorah. Part of me is jealous, part of me wants to stay, and part of me wants to head to the south island NOW!
Today, Sunday March 13, we had great food at…….our first long lunch! Students, if you’ll remember, this was one of your vocab words. Basically, it means a BIG potluck, like a church potluck. Here in NZ when they say potluck they are referring to more like having some friends bring food to one house, and if it includes grilling, then it’s a BBQ instead of a potluck. Now is that clear? Anyway, this was more like a block party, with lots of tables and shade umbrellas in the street, and live music, barbecued meats. The purpose was to raise funds for security cameras in Waitarere Beach, so we paid $20 each in addition to me bringing chocolate mint brownies (which I’m told are very American!) It was an opportunity to chat with so many of the people we’ve met and say good bye. Many Thursday eves I’ve been going down to the Sail On Inn, a little restaurant just off the beach where lots of women congregate for food and drinks every Thursday. (Sounds like a good plan to me, Decorah friends!) One woman, Nikki, spent a year in Iowa City when her father-in-law taught at University of Iowa Law School! Small world. She loved Iowa City and was pretty sad to hear about Hancher flooding. She’s a teacher here, with two teenage daughters and is a neighbor to the Hulls.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
We’re baaack! in our NZ home…
NOTE: I wrote this about a week ago, but will post it as I wrote it. Will write another soon, to catch up!
On Saturday February 26, We flew to Queenstown on the south island, to see Steve and Edie again in a different spot :) They had a timeshare at Wanaka, a smaller town on a similarly beautiful lake as is Queenstown, ringed by mountains. Kevin and I had some time in Queenstown before Steve came by to pick us up….during which, we ran into Steve and Peg Matter! They planned to stay in Queenstown and take a 3 day tramp, before joining us later at our place in Levin. So Kevin and I did some ambling (took a gondola ride and walked through the botanic gardens) while awaiting our ride. After Steve J picked us up we took the Crown Ridge Road over the pass to Wanaka. This road was “sealed” in 2000, which gives you an idea of it’s remoteness; although it is fairly heavily traveled in the summer, I’d say. Would you believe, we later asked a man to take a picture of the four of us, by Lake Wanaka; not only was he a former Iowan, but it turned out he wrestled for Harlan the same time Kevin wrestled for Decorah, they graduated the same year! Wild :)
On Saturday February 26, We flew to Queenstown on the south island, to see Steve and Edie again in a different spot :) They had a timeshare at Wanaka, a smaller town on a similarly beautiful lake as is Queenstown, ringed by mountains. Kevin and I had some time in Queenstown before Steve came by to pick us up….during which, we ran into Steve and Peg Matter! They planned to stay in Queenstown and take a 3 day tramp, before joining us later at our place in Levin. So Kevin and I did some ambling (took a gondola ride and walked through the botanic gardens) while awaiting our ride. After Steve J picked us up we took the Crown Ridge Road over the pass to Wanaka. This road was “sealed” in 2000, which gives you an idea of it’s remoteness; although it is fairly heavily traveled in the summer, I’d say. Would you believe, we later asked a man to take a picture of the four of us, by Lake Wanaka; not only was he a former Iowan, but it turned out he wrestled for Harlan the same time Kevin wrestled for Decorah, they graduated the same year! Wild :)
We took another tramp, the Rob Roy. www.doc.govt.nz/rob-roy-track/ This one was about 4.5 hours, across a swinging bridge over the whitewater :), and up and up to a lunch spot across from some glaciers, feeding many waterfalls...simply awesome! Another day, the guys found fishing spots and Edie and I took a bike ride along the lake edge.
We went to a Lonely Planet recommend, Cinema Paradiso, for a movie (The Kids Are All Right) and dinner. We loved it, someone should bring this concept to Decorah. You order food before the movie starts (pizza, burgers, etc, and it was good food!), then go in to sit in second-hand comfy furniture (including a small car) to watch the movie. They stop it for intermission, you file out to the “foyer” I’ll call it to eat..then back in to finish the show. We don’t think the building was originally a theatre, and in Decorah it could run oldies and independent and second run films. It was great! Any takers??? You'll find my pictures taken during this weekend at picasaweb.google.com/WanakaWeekend
We awoke in the early AM today at home, March 4, to a shaky bed. It lasted about 10 seconds, no rattling or anything...so the result for us is, it’s a little unnerving, but we get back to sleep pretty easily now. This is the fourth one I’ve felt. Upon waking later, I looked it up on NZ’s geonet website. It tells me where the quake was located, intensity and depth. Also has a map showing where people have reported as having felt it, and how intensely they felt it. So this one was in north suburbs of Wellington, about 48 miles from us, had a depth of 30 km (18 miles) and magnitude of 4.7. The online newspaper said that people there were shaken more due to the fact that this is the 2nd one of that size in a week. Wellington, the capital city, is overdue to have a big quake and the building stock is in worse shape than in Christchurch. Scary.
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