Rakaia impressions

Some Rakaia pictures. We are loving our time in Rakaia, really because everybody is so friendly. Sophia Benjamin and Helena have really enjoyed going to school here. My colleagues at work are great. And in the weekends we go skiing (if there is no antarctic storm).

I was given this teddy bear. It is totally hand made, by a lady who is a local celebrity. She makes them out of birds eggs, of all sizes. When you open the arms, the egg opens and a kiwi bird is revealed. We will treasure this when we get home.

This is the view from the medical centre looking to the mountains - our play ground. This is a view typical of the Canterbury Plains - the mountains are totally covered in snow from top to bottom and stand out beautifully against the sky. 

Bone Carving in Golden Bay

In Golden Bay we were very fortunate to get to know Chris Bone, the bone carver. He has inspired several generations of current carving artists in New Zealand. We too were inspired by his lessons. We all had several sessions. You can see the beautiful pendants we made using bone and paua shell. We are planning to develop this hobby when we are back in Cambridge. The one in close up below was made by Sophia.

All of us in Chris' work shop

and then we went fishing

Just another day in Golden Bay. I had the morning off so took Benjamin and Helena to our local beach at Onekaka. The river mouth was full of schools of small whitebait type fish being chased by big kawahais. The chasing happened at the waters edge, right at our feet.

Within minutes Helena had hooked a big fish. It took Benjamin 20 minutes to land it as they are very strong and dont tire easily. I killed it, Jo cooked it and we all ate it.

This is the beach where we were fishing, looking out to sea, with the old iron works warf posts . It is impossible to think that one hundred or so years ago, this was a very busy warf with big ships off loading iron slacks. Quite different now, and often we were the only ones on the beach.

Christmas in June and Goofy Boarding

During our first weekend in Rakaia we went to Dunedin to meet up with AnneMarie, an old colleague and friend of mine. We stayed with her and her family and we celebrated Christmas in June, complete with dinner, carols and holly! It was lovely to catch up, meet their friends and play articulate. The children had great fun with Rusty the dog.

The next day we walked on the Otago peninsula and saw massive sealions, just lying on the beach, looking big, strong and formidable. Some were play fighting, some were surfing in the waves. We were reminded that the beach really is their playground, not ours. The beach was covered in yellow eyed penguin foot prints - we didnt see any of these penguins on this occasion. On our way back to Rakaia we huddled together outside in the cold and saw 100 little blue penguins come ashore in Oamaru after their day feeding at sea. They come ashore in groups and waddle together up the rocky coast and run the last bit to their nests. Hilarious to watch. The waves are massive, the penguins are very small, and they somehow survive each night and keep going back for more.

This weekend we went skiing at Mount Hutt, just a short drive away. Skiing kiwi style means you have to put on snow chains to be able to drive half an hour up the mountain on a narrow mud road to the ski field. Sophia Benjamin and Helena had lessons both days and on Sunday they went down the green slopes with us. I had snow boarding lessons which was BRILLIANT, the nearest I have got to flying yet. I found out I am a goofy rider, which means I board with my right foot forward (apparently most people ride with their left foot forward). Goofy or not, we are going back for more the coming weekend, and the one after that and the one after that - we are loving Rakaia.

Welcome Rakaia Style

We have arrived in Rakaia - home of the Salmon in New Zealand. We arrived in the dark on a cold rainy day but the log burner in our house had been lit for our arrival and we were warmed by the welcome treats left for us by members of the Rakaia Women's Institute.

We have internet access from home again, so we will be looking back and posting about some of our experiences in New Zealand. We have just said farewell to Golden Bay, a place very special to us.

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.