Kiwi Khristmas

Khristmas, down under, arrives at the beginning of summer. Konsequently, Khristmas is celebrated a bit differently here. For example, the sun sets only around 9 p.m., so Kiwis don’t bother setting up outdoor lights. It is even hard to enjoy the lights on the Christmas tree. (O.K., we’ll stop with the “K” thing.) Even Santa is in a different mood down under - a local children’s book depicts Santa dressed in shorts drinking a beer and eating (of course) sausages rather than a big red suit, hot chocolate and cookies. And, instead of greeting children at stores before Christmas, Santa arrives at Puhoi one week before Christmas on top of a red fire truck to give out one early gift. Guess we just need to look at things a little differently this season---with our rose-colored sunglasses on.

Gerard’s mother Gabriella and her husband Mike arrived two days before Christmas for a two-week visit. On Christmas Eve, our old neighbors from North Carolina, Anne, Ron, Michael and Katie, came to Puhoi. We spent Christmas Eve hiking in Wenderholm Regional Park on a lovely afternoon. We had a delightful evening together, including a meal of pork tenderloin and pork sausages. Christmas morning was lots of fun with heaps of petite New Zealand souvenirs under the three-foot tall artificial tree. (One of our fun activities in December was making Christmas ornaments from sticks, yarn, pasta, and flax - Quentin made a very nice "angel fish" from flax.) We went to Muriwai in the afternoon to see the gannets with the new babies. Unfortunately, we were there only twenty minutes before the skies opened up. We were drenched by the time we got back to the cars, so we headed back to Puhoi for a quiet rest of the day. That evening we grilled some chicken and tried some chicken sausages, which we all decided are our favorite kind.

Scuba Diving with Xavier and Quentin

Xavier and Quentin took a four-day course to become PADI junior open water divers with Goat Island Dive shop in Leigh. For a month before the course, we started reading and studying the handbook together. (The boys didn’t realize they would have to study to become certified and so, unfortunately, plenty of prodding and cajoling was necessary.) Then, the first weekend, Xavier and Quentin did some classroom work followed by practicing skills in the pool. On the second weekend, there was more classroom work followed by dives in the ocean. They had to do two open water dives from the shore and two from the boat in conditions that were less than ideal. The water was cold and the weather had been stormy. There was strong surf and limited visibility. We were tossed about while doing skills in ten meters of water. Despite being saddled with a big tank, a bulky BCD and about eight kilos of lead tied around their waists, both boys did their skills with aplomb. They are now certified divers. We are guessing that Quentin may be the youngest diver on the planet as he started the course the day after his 10^th birthday, the cut-off for being a junior diver.

Last Few Weeks of School

December is the end of the school year in New Zealand. Like the end of the school year in the States, there was one fun activity followed by another (although, maybe a few more than in the USA). This is island life, right? Each of the four children traveled to a local beach for a picnic and water fun with classmates. What could be more apt? On the last full day of school, we enjoyed a Christmas show put on at Warkworth Primary by the Years 1-3. Seeing baby Jesus on a public school stage reminded us that we are no longer in Cynwyd.

Quentin's 10th Birthday

After three beautiful weeks in November, we thought we had turned the corner into summer. Sadly, the weather in December turned stormy and our plans for Quentin’s birthday had to be rescheduled repeatedly. (In fact, for one ten-day stretch, a low pressure system sat on top of the North Island sandwiched between two high pressure systems, leaving us with nothing but clouds and rain.) In the end, he got to enjoy an afternoon with a few friends (from left, Jesse, Chris and John) at the Waiwera Hot Pools - thermal pools with water slides about five minutes from our house. Just after Christmas, Quentin finally went fishing with his brothers, Papa and Mike (Gerard’s mother’s husband). The highlight of the day was catching a small sandshark. The low point was Papa’s constant “feeding of the fish” off the side of the boat. They returned with two snappers and two kahawai – the former was delicious and the latter should be left for bait (or dolphin and orca food).

House Trucks

New Zealand has many distinctive features, including house trucks. A house truck is a truck that has been custom designed to look and function like a house, including angled roofs, windows, shutters and wood siding. On December 6th, Beth noticed that there was a Gypsy Festival in Orewa that included as many of these house trucks as you can imagine. Apparently so many that they couldn’t all fit in Orewa – about 12 of them were also camped out in the public park in Puhoi, using the public restroom and hanging their laundry out to dry. Definitely something “special” about New Zealand.

Sailing with Andy Philpott

Andy Philpott, a colleague of Gerard’s at the university (hoisting a sail above) graciously offered to take us out on his sailboat – the Catalyst – for the afternoon. For four days leading up to our sailing date, the weather forecast was for full sun and 24C. However, that morning the clouds started to roll in and we even drove through a downpour as we were heading to the marina. Nevertheless, the wind was blowing and the rain stayed away from Auckland. Along with Andy, we were joined by Garrett van Ryzin (a professor from Columbia who was visiting Andy this week) and Pearl, one of Andy’s triplets (the other kids were at home studying for their exams). We headed out of Westhaven marina (which is essentially in downtown Auckland) towards Rangitoto island. Our trip to the island offered wonderful sailing with a nice steady breeze. We anchored at a sheltered bay, had some lunch and the boys even went for a long swim. Pearl rowed Annick and Isaac in the dingy to the island where they collected some sea glass and shells. Unfortunately, by the time we decided to head back, the wind had nearly stopped. We tried to make a sail of it, but Andy decided that arriving home past midnight was not worth it – so we started the engine and motored the rest of the way home. Even though the day was cloudy and cold, and the wind was not cooperating on the way home, we all had a great time and would love to do it again.