New Zealand - Ter land, ter zee, en in de lucht (on land, in the sea,and in the air)

We are quickly making New Zealand our new adopted home. We have a house and a car. I started work a week ago in Tokoroa, and because the NZ health care system is based largely on the UK system,  work is  similar to that back home. Jo and the children have started home schooling in earnest this week; not quite like life back home but very stimulating.

The title of this post is named a famous Dutch amusement programme, because it feels we are creating our own show here for ourselves in NZ.
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Te_land,_ter_zee_en_in_de_lucht


We have been surfing in Raglan.

And jumping off sand dunes

We have climbed volcanoes in Tongariro National Park (and are living on one in Rotorua!)








We jumped into the Wellington Harbour from a scarily high platform.

We are mountain biking daily in the famous Red Wood forests of Rotorua where we are living.

New Zealand is very beautiful and we are very lucky to be able to enjoy the great outdoors so much - we're off camping on the beach this weekend!

Christmas in Thailand

This year we had a Christmas we will never forget. We spent the time on two tropical islands in the Andaman Sea. Christmas Eve and Christmas Day we spent on Ko Rok. We shared the beautiful island with a handful of others and quite a lot more monitor lizards and monkeys.

'our' beautiful island, with 'our' boat in the bay

Benjamin jumping off 'our' boat. Sophia is in the water, Helena is climbing the stairs out of the water.

our neighbour - a one and a half metre long monitor lizard

Father Christmas managed to find us even there.

We spent the days snorkeling around the beautiful reefs. On Christmas eve whilst snorkeling we were very lucky and saw 4 black tipped reef sharks swimming around a lime stone rock (see below) in the middle of the sea.

Happy New Year from New Zealand

Saw this at Bangkok Airport. Happy new year to you all, and I hope you won't have to apply for a VAT refund there in 2013.

We have finally arrived in New Zealand. We are in sunny Raglan, on the beach on new year's day. Excellent surfing.

Goodbye Nana and Grandad

We were really lucky that Jo's parents came out to join us for 3 weeks in Thailand. It was great to have the chance to make and share so many memories together. While Jo and Pete were diving on the live-aboard, the children were having their own great holiday with Nana and Grandad. They played together in the pool, went  beach-combing for beautiful beach souvenirs, and went for adventurous swims and snorkels around the rocks. Great fun was had by all. We all felt sad when they left for England, but are looking forward to seeing them in New Zealand in 2013.

Thanks Mum and Dad for making it a great time together.

Swimming with mantas

We were very lucky to see manta rays on our liveaboard trip off the Thailand Andaman coast.

The photos above and the video linked below were shot by someone who was with us on the dive. They were kindly shared with all of us on the trip (thank you Mathew).

https://www.dropbox.com/s/bh0cjclklixcimx/good%20manta%20video.MOV

A submerged forrest

Kao Sok national park was created in the 60's when a hydroelectric dam was built submerging an area of rain forest. The result is a massive lake surrounded by shear lime stone cliffs, which are covered by rain forest. In the evening and early morning you hear monkeys, birds and the sounds of insects filling the air. It is beautiful, remote and very peaceful.

We stayed in basic bamboo bungalows which float on the lake and again enjoyed tremendous Thai hospitality with delicious food.  The only way to get there is by boat. We were awed by the scale of the limestone cliffs on the ride to the bungalows. By now we are getting to know the typical Thai long tail boat very well. All our stays have involved several boat trips on these traditional boats.The children were cooked pancakes cut into fun shapes, and were even, one happy afternoon, brought a plate of specially made chips. The children were a bit of a novelty we think.

We spent the days swimming and kayaking on the lake, hiking in the jungle and exploring a cave. One evening we enjoyed a spectacular tropical storm that went on for hours.

It was wonderful to see the children have so much freedom to play. They each enjoyed paddling a kayak to a submerged tree in the lake. They would then climb the tree and jump from the top of the trunk into the water below. They had a ball. One of the things that we have loved the most about being away is enjoying the outdoors on a daily basis.

Ban Thalae Nok

After the Koh Surin Islands we spent 3 days in the sea side village of Ban Thalae Nok. This is a Muslim village that was severely affected by the 2004 tsunami. In the recovery period following the disaster the community worked very closely with aid agencies. This cooperation lead to the development of a community based tourism programme with a focus on sustainability in which some villagers open their homes to tourists as home stays and other homes offer activities that enable tourists to participate in the lifestyle of the villagers. We were accompanied by a guide for the whole period who acted as our translator and interpretor.

playing on the beach with the local children

We stayed in two houses and enjoyed the most tremendous hospitality, and ate the most plentiful and delicious food of our trip. We learned how to do batik painting, we learned about the many uses the Nepa palm has for the village, as it provides food, sugar and roof coverings - we made a delicious barbequed coconut snack using nepa palm sugar and palm leaves and we had a go at weaving palm roof tiles - a typical roof will require 2000 of these, someone skilled can make about 80 a day. We went fishing on the beach and ate the fish afterwards. We learned about the importance of the mangrove ecosystem and went on a tour and even spotted monitor lizards and monkeys swimming in the canals and among the mangrove trees. We learned how to make soap with 3 ladies from the village; a small coop-cottage industry that  mainly supplies local hotels.

making the coconut snack

weaving palm leave roof tiles

roof tiles drying on the not so busy road

dressing up in the traditional clothes of the village - our hosts are also in the photograph