So... we didn't really fall off the planet. Just after Punakaki and Rob and Lise heading home things got a little busy/crazy...
But one of the best things was Marie came to visit!! For those of you who don't know Marie: she is Matt's aunt who lives in the Ottawa area. She often visits, always spends Christmas with us (since we moved to Ottawa) and even takes the kids for weekends!!! How can you not love a person like that??!!
Anyway, I digress (as usual), we decided that since we were on the other side of the planet and it was coming up to Christmas time we would send a ticket to Marie and have her come to us. And she was good with that. But... the winds of fate (and winter storms of Canada) mussed up her trip timing a bit and she ended up with a short layover in Oz after due to flights etc.
but she eventually did make it to Christchurch (at midnight) and home to Ashburton.
Poor Marie, I don't think she was quite ready for life at our family's pace. We took her hiking up to Sharplin falls and damn near killed her. Sorry Marie, all those ups and downs are not good for arthritic knees.
But I think she did like the summertime Santa Parade!!
While she was here we had a week of holiday time and went to Kaiteriteri.
This had turned into a bit of the drama. The owner of the house we had originally rented had become ill and his son called me to say that he and his family were staying there and we were out of luck. Well... this was a huge issue as this was the week before Christmas and nothing was now available in our price range. So after speaking with a lawyer friend (and I did have a signed contract and a paid deposit) we realized he could not do this and so a few emails and phone calls ensued. It all came out fine in the end with the son finding us another holiday home one beach over. But it still seriously was stressing me out until everything was settled.
On the brighter side of things the house he found for us was MUCH larger and nicer.
So we were officially at Little Kaiteriteri not Kaiteriteri, The difference is one rock outcropping and a 300m trail over it. But most people stay on the other beach so it was like having our own private beach for most of the trip. Sweet!
But we did not spend all of our time at the beach (well... most of it) we did one day trip over the mountains (remember those?) and went up to Farewell Spit and Pupu Springs (pupu kaka it's everywhere)
Marie was still a little freaked out by the left side driving (actually it's called right hand drive because the steering wheel is on the right) Here we are coming up to a one lane bridge, this is one of those times it does feel particularly weird as for us the natural instinct is to move right, not left, when one has a vehicle coming towards them.
Pupu Springs is one of the largest fresh water springs in the world. It is a protected area and only the Maori are allowed to swim there and then only for special ceremonies.
Wikipedia has some info regarding them (amount of water etc) , I just thought it was a beautiful peaceful place.
This is looking straight down, the water is so clear.
big fish, no fishing allowed so they get to do some serious growing.
Then over those mountains some more... We did quite a few stops as we had not done much mountain driving recently and the kids tummies were getting a bit queasy. We did stock up on ginger beer and ginger nut biscuits so those helped
Gotta love those switchback turns, yes, we did drive up that road.
Then we were over the hills (ha, hills...) and on our way to
Farewell Spit. Farewell Spit is on the northern tip of the south island and is the largest sandbar I know of... this does not mean it is the biggest, just the biggest I have laid eyes on.
This is a NASA picture from Wikipedia, and it conveys how HUGE this piece of sand is. When you are there you cannot see the end of it, it is that big.
This is my not quite so dramatic photo but as you can see the spit extends on the right out of the frame.
The area regular folk (not researchers) is limited to the black hatchmarks. We just walked around where the little "P" parking lot marks are, no one else wanted to hike to the north side (Tasman Sea) and I am still bitter... (damn kids)
Our other adventure we took was a 3 hour sailing tour (Matt and I kept singing the theme to Gilligan's Island... much to the kid's annoyance) up the coast of the
Abel Tasman Park.
We did this on a very cool catamaran with
Abel Tasman Sailing Adventures. This was AMAZING. If we had more time and money I would have loved to have done the overnight trip. But it was a bit difficult talking everyone onto the boat for the 3 hour trip alone. Next trip.
Luke would have gone, the other kids maybe (well, Jamie not so much) and Marie was glad to hit dry land too.
This is where Marie's camera met its demise. She slipped getting of the boat and went dunk and salt water and digital cameras don't work well. The memory card survived so she did not lose any pictures.
Boat Surfing
Learning how to sail some more.
Split Apple Rock
Dolphins!! There was a pod of feeding dolphins around us for about 10 minutes or so. Too Cool!
Now you see him...
Now you don't...
Fur Seals
The rest of the trip was hanging out and relaxing... We played at the beach, ate a lot, had some local beer and just mellowed. Nice holiday till we headed back to Ashvegas for a Kiwi Christmas.
Pohutukawa Tree, New Zealand Christmas Tree, they were all over the northern part of the island.
Big Kaiteriteri
Little Kaiteriteri
Tui Bird (just like on the beer!)
Blue Penguin in its nest about a 100m climb up the path from the beach.
