Ka Kite Ano (See You Again)

From May08

This is the last blog entry for our year in New Zealand written (sadly) from our dining room table in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania. Our last month in Puhoi was a mixed bag in many ways. The weather was warm, cold, rainy, sunny, windy, quiet and muddy. We saw many glorious rainbows arching across the sky during those last few weeks. We looked forward to reconnecting with family and friends back in the states, but felt very weepy about leaving others behind. We were happy about returning to summer holidays in America, but our hearts ached when we thought about leaving our Kiwi life. Our feelings at departure reflected our feelings at arrival: we were happy, sad, excited and scared. In fact, you can see it in our faces in this picture. It was taken just moments before we got in the car to leave Puhoi.

From July08

Surprisingly, we are all having worse culture shock returning “home” than we did coming to New Zealand. All the stereotypes about American life smacked us in the face: we are often wasteful, competitive, aggressive, materialistic and arrogant. Clearly, not everyone is this way, but it is a little jarring at first. The more attractive elements of American life are often quieter: the mostly successful blending of so many cultures, religions, and languages in one country, the generosity of many Americans with their time and money, the breadth of educational resources and opportunities that enable us to have choices. One on one, Americans are often outgoing and optimistic, but this isn’t always obvious when driving in New Jersey.

We have been home for ten weeks or so and we have been jolted back into the chaos and demands of our lives here. Gerard has been exceedingly busy at work. Beth has been ferrying children from one appointment to another for doctors, dentists, orthodontists, placement exams, music lessons and tutoring as well as keeping the pantry stocked, paying bills and puttering around the house. The children have been working hard to keep up with the demands of school. Actually, they have been working really hard to keep up with the demands of school. That has generated yet other concerns for us.

In the end, we feel so fortunate to have been able to spend an incredibly positive and enriching experience in such a beautiful and easygoing country. We had an awesome landlady with an equally awesome dog and both of them loved us like our own family. Our Puhoi house was charming and comfortable. The children loved school and the friends they met there. We were blessed with gorgeous beaches and bushwalks teeming with birds and foliage just minutes from our home. We remember with special fondness our first walk in Wenderholm. We were up to our knees in mud, but the children had a blast climbing the huge pohutukawa trees, followed by a walk serenaded by all sorts of melodious birds, including the unique tui.

It all seems like ages ago, but our Kiwi life remains a part of us now. Hopefully, the stories recounted in this blog and the hundreds of pictures we took will keep our precious memories alive for years to come.

The A, B, C’s of Schooling in New Zealand

In this blog we have written about some aspects of schooling in New Zealand, but as we are nearing the end of our stay in New Zealand, we thought it would be fun to organize our impressions about school life here and reflect on some of those differences. Here are some thoughts based on our experiences at Warkworth Primary School and Mahurangi College.

Academic tracking: Children are explicitly placed into groups based on academic ability at the college (secondary) level. There are “low banders”, “middle banders” and “high banders”. This is done in a subtler way in the primary (elementary) school. Children are grouped for reading, math (mathS here) and spelling based on their performance on assessment tests. At the primary level, these placements are more fluid as there is frequent assessment. The upside is that the children are working precisely at the level where they are performing. The downside (especially at the college level) is, most obviously, the labeling. It can have a motivating effect. Annick and Isaac moved up every month or so to a new reading level and this pleased them greatly!

Barefoot children: We still get tickled by this one. At the college level, children are required to be barefoot during physical education. However, at the primary level, most children go around school barefoot all day long.

Camps: New Zealand schools love leadership and team-building camps. Almost every year, a given class will go on some sort of two- to three-day overnight adventure experience together, reminiscent of summer camp in the USA.

Donations: Nearly all public schools ask for a family donation to the school at the beginning of the year. It is a set amount which is strongly requested, but never required. In lieu of being bombarded with dozens of products to buy throughout the school year like wrapping paper and pizza mixes, we paid once and that was it. The only other fundraiser for the school was the gala, a fair with loads of games, entertainment and food. This functioned as much as a community builder as a fundraiser. We were thrilled that we didn’t have to act as ravenous consumers just to feel we were supporting our school.

Expectations: Given that New Zealand performs very well worldwide on math and literacy tests (always somewhere in the top five in the world!), we were a little surprised that academic expectations were not particularly high. New Zealand seems very strong in preparing their children to be solidly literate citizens of society, but not so driven to create mentally energetic scholars. At the primary level, we found school to be comparable with our “home school” in the United States. College was less challenging for Xavier than Bala Cynwyd Middle School.

Free time: The school day is slightly shorter here (9 a.m. to 3 p.m. for the primary students, 8:40 a.m. to 3:20 p.m. for the secondary students) and more breaks are built into the day. There is a morning tea time and a long lunch with plenty of time to eat, play and hang out with schoolmates. Consequently, the children seemed more focused and less tired.

Garbage in, garbage out: In an effort to reduce waste, children are not allowed to throw anything from their lunchboxes into the rubbish bins. If you pack a yogurt for lunch, you must also provide a way for your child to bring home the empty container. There is a lot less paper floating around Kiwi schools than American schools. For better or for worse, children spend more time copying things off the board into their own notebooks than filling out printed worksheets.

Hats: The primary school requires that children wear brimmed hats in Terms 1 and 4 (the summery terms). There is a high incidence of skin cancer in New Zealand and given how often the children are outside, they strictly enforce this policy.

Instruments: There is some musical instruction in the schools. At the primary level, in addition to doing a lot of singing, the children learn to play the recorder and the ukulele.

Jesus plays a part in Kiwi schools. In the primary school on Friday mornings, the children receive religious education based on Christian teachings. Easter and Christmas stories are shared in the classroom. The younger children even perform a nativity play in December. We found this a bit odd as most people we met in New Zealand are not at all religious.

Kiwiana: As expected, the New Zealand (national) curriculum centers on New Zealand. Our children learned a lot this year about Kiwi history, culture, geography, plants, animals and language. After ten months in New Zealand, we all know a whole lot more about kowhai trees, kiwi birds and the historical significance of Kerikeri.

Lice: Infestations of lice are a common occurrence in New Zealand and Australian schools. No one reacts very much to a case of nits as most children expect to get them at some point, much like catching the common cold. We learned early on that tea tree oil shampoo helps to keep them at bay and we have been lucky to have escaped so far.

Maori: There is no French instruction at Warkworth Primary or Mahurangi College, but our children have learned some Maori this year. It is a challenging language and difficult to pronounce. Most enjoyable is that the children can now chant the “Haka”, a Maori war dance.

New Zealand national anthem: Our children have learned to sing it in both English AND Maori.

Outdoors: Even at school, life in New Zealand revolves around the outdoors. Kiwi classrooms are connected by covered outdoor walkways opening out onto courtyards. Indoor hallways are almost non-existent. There is no cafeteria. Children eat outside on wooden tables. Every day, the children are able to see the sun (or the clouds) and have fresh air for at least 20% of the school day! This was a huge psychological perk for our children.

Puhoi bus: The school bus picks up ALL the schoolchildren (from five- to eighteen-years-old) at 8:15 in the morning in front of the General Store. It is a comfortable, coach-style bus. It takes about 15-20 minutes to travel to Warkworth where the college students are dropped off before the primary students get delivered. At the end of the day, the primary students board just after 3 o’clock and then ride over to pick up the college kids before starting the trip home. It is heartwarming to see how the older kids befriend and look out for the younger ones. All the children of all ages giggle, goof off and chat together on the bus.

Quaint atmosphere: Sometimes the word “quaint” is used in a patronizing way and that is not our intention here. One of the things we love most about the schools here is the cozy, comfortable, old-fashioned ambiance. It is laid back and not at all legalistic. It is true that there is a lack of glitzy, high-tech resources at the schools here. Students don’t give powerpoint presentations nor are they even expected to have access to a computer at home, but there is a lot of personalized care. Especially at the primary school, we felt our children were really embraced. When we needed something, we felt we could ask and it would be delivered in a timely manner without reams of paperwork and meetings.

Reading and writing are taught in a different way than at home in Cynwyd. There is less emphasis on phonemic reading and more time spent on sight words. Children are given lists of the most commonly used English words in reading and writing. Through various means, they are encouraged to learn these. Children are assessed and placed in reading groups with children of a similar level. The school has loads of small, simple books that are color coded to correspond with each reading level. Each child reads a given book at school with adult guidance, brings the book home to read with a parent for homework and then rereads the same book a third time at school the next day. Seeing the same, appropriate-level book three times helped the twins progress rapidly with reading. Like the reading program, the writing program is very structured and systematic. The teachers provide formulas to follow for certain kinds of writing and then guide the children through them. The methodology used here worked very well for our children.

Sports figure prominently in Kiwi society. Kiwi children are involved in all sorts of sporty activities including swimming, cricket, rugby, sailing and surfing. Even the primary school has a small pool and a huge field for playing sports. Quentin benefited the most this year from the sports programs. He participated in several swim competitions and won plenty of recognition. He also discovered that he can throw a mean cricket pitch!

Technology: Xavier was required to take a number of technology courses this year such as food tech (cooking), fabric tech (fashion design and sewing) and metal tech (welding). In case he didn’t already know, Xavier learned that he isn’t fond of gooey lemon bars, he does not have a gift for putting together fabulous outfits and one can get burned while using a soldering iron.

Uniforms: Even public school students wear uniforms in most New Zealand schools. Surprisingly, our kids loved them. There was no worry about what to wear each day and everyone looked the same, eliminating much of the “cool” factor amongst the kids. Once in awhile, the school would host “mufti” days when the kids could wear their own clothes. These were special days where most students would bring in a gold coin (a dollar) in exchange for the privilege of wearing street clothes and the money would go to a charitable cause. On school trips, the uniform is a real plus as it is much easier to identify your school’s students. At the end of the school day, however, it is sometimes hard to find your own children in a sea of similarly dressed kids.

Virtues and Vices: The Kiwi children we have met are generally very polite and imaginative. They are refreshingly not materialistic and very rarely spoiled. However, they do curse a lot! The primary school actually includes the teaching of virtues like courtesy and helpfulness in the curriculum.

Whanau is the Maori word for family. At Mahurangi College, all the students were assigned to a whanau group that they stayed with throughout their years at Mahu. There is a mix of kids in there from all class years. It is yet another way the school encourages children of different classes to interact with each other.

Xenophiles or xenophobes? New Zealand is just starting to really struggle with a more pluralistic society. Up until recently, there were New Zealanders of European descent (mostly British Isles, but some Dutch) and the Maori people. Closer to Auckland, there are far more immigrants than further north near Puhoi. There is some backlash toward Asians in particular. Mostly, New Zealanders do seem tolerant. At school, there were some Australian students, some British, a few Asian children and a group of children from the Pacific Islands like Samoa and Kiribati. Curiously, about ten percent of the children in Year 3 with Annick and Isaac were from Kiribati.

Year-Round School: Well, not quite, but more than our school district back home. The New Zealand school year begins in early February and ends in late December. It is divided into four terms with two weeks of holiday between each term except after Term 4 when there are six to seven weeks of summer holidays. We liked this pattern. The summer holidays were long enough to feel like a good, long, restful break, but it was awesome to have three two-week breaks elsewhere in the year.

Zenith moments: Warkworth Primary School is excellent at finding ways to recognize and reward the achievements of their students. The children are given certificates every time they progress into a new reading level, for example. There is a school assembly every two weeks to share school news and to give awards. The awards can be very simple. Annick won one for “outstanding effort in all academic areas”, Isaac for "settling quickly to tasks and taking responsibility", and Quentin for "being a most reliable sports shed monitor".

Homekill and Other Rural Realities

Rural living is not for the faint of heart. Most Kiwi families own animals and most often, they serve a purpose. Even the family dog has an important job as fierce guardian of the property and herder of the sheep. A testy or uncooperative dog gets “sent to the farm” where it is euthanized with a gun by the farmer. A dog who dares to chase the neighbor’s sheep or worse yet, attack and eat one of the neighbor’s sheep, is destined to die. The neighbor has the lawful right to shoot the dog or can demand that you do the deed when the dog has transgressed. This happens more than you want to know. Happily, our dog has stayed close to home.

Chooks (hens and roosters) provide eggs and little chooks in order to always ensure a fresh chicken dinner. I have been told that you need to unmercifully pin the bird down and whack the neck cleanly or you will lose the battle. Feeding the chooks inevitably attracts rats. The rodents must be exterminated in order to ensure the health and safety of the flock. Some poison, some trap and some just shoot ‘em dead with a gun.

We don’t have chooks, but we do have rats. We are told that they are common in Puhoi because of the river that runs behind our property. We have heard them climbing in between the walls and up near the flue of the fireplace, but most disturbing for us is to be woken up at 4:30 in the morning to the sound of rats chewing the wood under the floorboards. It sounds as if they are already in the house. Someone reported to Beth that they actually had rats chew holes right through the floor! Our preferred method of raticide is a combination of poison and Victor traps from Pennsylvania. We took pictures of our first few dead rats, but the charm has worn off. We have caught about a dozen and God only knows how many we may have poisoned.

Along with the rats, we have also had some of their smaller cousins, the mice. We had tolerated a lone mouse or two, but Beth reached her limit one night when a mouse ran around the tops of her woolen clogs at least three times in circles. Beth screamed and then we were on the hunt for the mouse who somehow disappeared under our bed. It took two hours, but Gerard finally pinned the poor chap with an old mop. We have since bought traps and subsequently, many of our mice have met their maker.

Many households have paddocks with sheep, cows or horses that need regular maintenance. Sheep need to be shorn twice a year or they risk dying a horrible death by the carnivorous blowfly. Horses need covers here to keep them warm since they aren’t kept in stables. All farm animals need various medications that are routinely advertised on national television. While watching “American Idol”, we are often interrupted with a commercial break toting the benefits of a given de-worming medication for livestock.

Sheep and cows are sometimes kept for wool and milk, but not exclusively. You buy a young animal and let it graze. After it has grown up enough, you call someone who does “homekills”. Essentially, a traveling butcher shows up, kills your animal and chops it up for you. You can freeze the meat and feed many people for many months or better yet, you have a homekill barbie (barbecue) and invite your friends to eat the cow or bull formally known as Elsie or Bob. Thank goodness we have avoided this aspect of rural life.

One day last week, a friend at the bus stop complained about how long she had procrastinated about getting the butcher over to kill the cow. She finally arranged it, but the night before, they couldn’t find the cow. Early the next morning before the sun rose, she and her husband climbed up the steep hill of their paddock with torches in hand looking for the darn cow while kicking cow pies in the cold and dark. They had no luck. The butcher arrived and surprisingly, the cow willingly reappeared along with a couple friends. One look at the butcher, however, and the cow jumped the fence. She will live another two weeks, I am told. This is not a conversation I would be having at the bus stop in Bala Cynwyd.

As far as we can tell, horses are the only animals in New Zealand that don’t serve a practical purpose. In a country of very little frivolity, it seems that most people who own horses simply enjoy their beauty and companionship. Our next door neighbor is a lovely mare named Rose. When she sees us, she whinnies, runs to the fence and relishes a nice pat on the nose. She is a sweetheart, but you wonder if she knows that she holds a privileged spot as far as animals are concerned in New Zealand.

A Date on the Bird Island

Gerard and Beth decided to spend a day at Tiritiri Matangi while the children were at school. In past visits, we had never been successful at getting a picture of a saddleback, a native bird that hops and flits around in a highly caffeinated manner. Saddlebacks are mostly black but have an orange-brown spot on their back, which, as their name suggests, looks like a saddle. They only live on offshore islands and even though we had seen plenty of them on past trips to Tiritiri, we had never caught a shot of one. We had a pleasant and relaxing day, serenaded by bellbirds and tuis as we walked around the island. With some patience and a little luck, Gerard got a couple of decent saddleback shots.

Later, while eating lunch near the lighthouse, we were approached by one very curious takahe hoping for a handout. We were delightfully surprised to discover, in the last hour of our visit, two kokakos feeding in a tree. Along with the kiwi, they were the only species of bird on Tiritiri that we had never had the pleasure of seeing before. Now if we could only get those red headed parrots to sit still for a moment. Guess that’s our mission on the next visit.

Another Try at Trounson

We drove north to try our luck once again at finding wild kiwi in Trounson Park. We stopped on the way up to climb Tokatoka Peak. The land is low and mildly hilly around Dargaville, yet there are a few rocky pinnacles that jut up sharply in the landscape and they have a Dr. Seuss appeal to them. Tokatoka Peak is the most dramatic of them. We clambered up and enjoyed the 360 degree view from the tippy top which is about 15 feet wide surrounded by steep cliffs. Imagine standing on the tip of a cone. Definitely nerve racking for parents with kids.

After, we went to Trounson Park so that we could enjoy the thick, New Zealand bush and towering kauris in the daylight. On the way, we encountered a huge herd of cattle in the road that were being moved from one paddock to another. We sat and admired them, thinking this was all great fun. However, when they finally passed and we proceeded on, we noticed that they had left plenty of mud and you know what all over the road. When we got out of the car later, we discovered the bottom of our vehicle was plastered with a layer of excrement. Boy, did we stink!

We took our hike as planned. Xavier and Gerard spotted a morepork, a small indigenous owl. He flew across the trail in front of them and perched on a branch, perfectly camouflaged with his surroundings. We admired him for a quite a while and tried repeatedly (and unsuccessfully) to take a photo of him.

We enjoyed a short break at a nearby holiday park where the kids ran and played while Beth and Gerard prepared dinner. Immediately after eating, we hopped in the car and drove back to Trounson. With torches in hand, we entered the dark forest. We heard a couple kiwi in the distance, but sadly didn’t see any. We did see lots of glow worms, wetas, kauri snails, kokopus (a small native nocturnal fish), a monster eel and surprisingly, a sly possum who is a most unwanted guest in a kiwi forest. It is a lot of fun to walk in the woods at night. A few times, we turned off our lights and just stood in the blackness and quiet, spying a few stars in between the treetops. As soon as we got into the car, it started to rain and we drove home, a long but satisfying trip to Trounson.

Woodhill Tree Adventures

We finally made it over to Woodhill Tree Adventures near Helensville where there are eight high-thrill (and high up) obstacle courses set in a thick pine forest. After getting equipped with harnesses, helmets and some carabiners, we got our introductory lesson in how to have fun and stay safe in the treetops. There were wires to cross, nets to climb, obstacles to maneuver and at the end, a good ol’ exhilarating flying fox to take you down to ground-level. It was awesome, dude!

The Road to Whatipu

Whatipu is a large sand spit at the entrance of the Manukau Harbor, southwest of Auckland in the Waitakere Ranges. It is one of the western black sand beaches, like Muriwai, Bethells and Piha. It is also the most remote beach, which is why we had not visited it. But we just couldn't leave New Zealand without visiting Whatipu. To explain why, you need to know how to pronounce Whatipu. In Maori, the "wh" is pronounced with an "f" sound. Next, the "a" sounds like a Boston accent "a", you know, "park" the "car" in "Harvard" "yard". Do you get it?

If not, here is some more help - you pronounce it like "fart-a-poo". Ironically, we figured the kids would be all over visiting a place called Whatipu, but they didn't find it as funny as their sophomoric parents.

Getting to Whatipu is a journey. It is in the Auckland area, but between navigating through the city and then managing a seemingly endless twisty narrow dirt road, it took us over one and a half hours to get there. We all agreed that Whatipu better be worth it.

By the time we got to Whatipu, the weather had turned overcast and cold. We walked 20 minutes to find a huge cave that narrowed as you proceeded into it. At the end there was a tiny hole that appeared to continue further on, but we had no idea how much further. Just as we were about to turn around, two kids and their father crawled out from the hole. They told us the cave went on for another 100 meters and the first part was the toughest. Xavier, Quentin and Isaac promptly dove down the hole and disappeared. Mind you, the passage was maybe 10 inches high, so it required some rather cramped crawling. Xavier, in particular, loved it. Gerard considered going through and then thought the better of it. Fortunately, the boys returned from their solo spelunking adventure.



After the cave, we explored the beach and the rocks. Quentin started climbing a cliff and got "stuck" half way up. We explained that he had two options - up or down - and he chose to finish the climb up. Fortunately, this Mother's Day didn't involve a trip to the hospital.



In conclusion, Whatipu is beautiful, but not worth the trip. We prefer Muriwai. (However, Xavier loved the cave.)

A Hop to Kangaroo Island

Travelling to Kangaroo Island was long and very tiring - it is Australia's third largest island, located just south of Adelaide - but we were rewarded as soon as we set foot on the island.

To begin, we woke up at 4 a.m. to be at the Auckland airport by 6 a.m. for our 8 a.m. flight. We arrived in Adelaide five hours later and had to wait nearly seven hours for the half-hour flight to Kangaroo Island. We decided to grab two taxis into Adelaide where we visited the Tandanya National Aboriginal Center. We viewed some aboriginal art and attended a brief cultural performance that included the didgeridoo (a 1.5 meter long piece of wood, hollowed out by termites, which sounds like nothing else you have heard before.) We ate a Thai lunch and practiced boomerang throwing at a local playground in the sun. We then headed back to the airport.

The airport is pleasant but we were confused by one of their signs:

The first part makes sense – it is entirely eco-friendly and sensible to reuse water. But why do they need to tell people to not drink the toilet water? Or are we missing something? (They also had signs suggesting that people shouldn’t spit into the trash cans – although we wish that suggestion was not necessary, at least one can imagine the possible need for that warning.)

After landing in Kangaroo Island, we picked up the car and quickly darted over to the grocery store where we had 45 minutes to shop for six days worth of food for six people. We were staying in the remote western end of the island and we didn’t want to drive 90 kms for a liter of milk! We filled two shopping trolleys and had a fright when our credit card did not work. Fortunately, the second one did. At this point, it was 7 p.m. Kangaroo Island time (9:30 p.m. NZ time – weird, a 2.5 hour difference) as we piled into the car starving and exhausted to begin the 75-minute journey to Hanson Bay. But let the fun begin! The drive included MANY animal sightings including over a dozen possums, some wallabies and a few kangaroos out rummaging around in the bright moonlight.

We collapsed after dinner, but everyone was up early and eager to explore. The children went out to look around the property. Soon, they returned with reports of a koala sighting. We joined the kids and ended up seeing about six koalas, a small herd of kangaroos, some wallabies, several different kinds of birds including Cape Barren geese, and an echidna, a porcupine-like mammal who lays eggs like the platypus!



Later in the morning, we drove to the Flinders Chase National Park Visitors’ Center, got our Kangaroo Island Park Pass and took a walk to Remarkable Rocks, one of the few spots open in the park since the devastating wildfires that swept across the island in early December. The rocks are beautifully sculpted granite boulders with bright orange highlights sitting atop a cliff near the sea. The weather was sunny and warm, the setting was gorgeous and the children were thrilled to be able to climb, crawl, slide down and tumble across the rocks.



We ate a picnic lunch by the lighthouse and then walked down to Admiral’s Arch, a cradled cave-like cove with stalactites overlooking a bay loaded with New Zealand fur seals. Enroute, we crossed paths with a heath goanna, a good-sized native lizard who was on an afternoon stroll. Even though we saw many seals on our New Zealand South Island trip, we enjoyed watching them swim playfully in the surf and at times, bicker more than our children. Not bad for our first 24 hours.



In the early evening, we went on a nocturnal walk at Hanson Bay Sanctuary where we were staying in the “homestead”. We were able to see yet more koalas, wallabies, kangaroos and possums. A special treat was being able to hand feed and pet a young female kangaroo named Amy. We even got to see her joey bouncing around in her belly. The stars were out in full force and we even watched a satellite glide over head (our first confirmed satellite sighting).



On Thursday, everyone woke up much too early, but we did get to see the sky turn from black to pink to blue. Beth sat outside admiring the birds while drinking her coffee. The boys set out to find more animals just after breakfast. The Cape Barren geese were honking in the distance, the magpies were whistling their circus organ song, the parrots were squawking and lots of tiny, colorful birds we don’t know were tweeting and darting around the shrubs.



Later that morning, we drove to the Snake Lagoon trailhead in the hopes of finding a platypus in the Snake River. The forest suffered badly from the forest fires in December. Most of the trails in Flinders Chase Park were closed, including the platypus waterholes hike. We walked through the black scarred trees to the river where we found a platypus, but unfortunately, it was dead and decomposing. The trail continued down through a gorge with caves and curious rocks which then led to a beautiful ocean bay. The children played for awhile on the rocks and in the river before we started back. On the way back to the carpark, the kids found a tawny dragon lizard under a rock.



After lunch, we drove over to Hanson Bay for a couple hours and relished a pure white sand beach with crystal clear turquoise water. It was dreamy. In the late afternoon, Beth took a walk in the Koala Sanctuary. Isaac and Gerard joined her later. We got to have some close-up encounters with yet more wallabies, koalas and kangaroos.



On Friday, we went to see Australian sea lions at Seal Bay. We did the beach tour with a ranger so we were able to observe them closely. Most of them were sleeping; however, there was a little action. Two bulls had a spat, some young pups whined after their mums, a few surfed the waves. Unlike New Zealand fur seals, they don’t stink and they have a varied coloring.



Also, at Seal Bay, we saw the skeleton of a beached young humpback whale and a very cavalier echidna. He was lumping along, focused on finding his “formicable” feast and very casually trod over Gerard’s shoes. The Kangaroo Island echidna has unique blond spikes and even though he is a spiny creature, his calm and approachable demeanor makes him endearing.



After Seal Bay, we traveled to Parndana Wildlife Park. We ate a picnic lunch, then strolled around the property admiring the vast collection of Australian animals. There were many birds on display, some of them incredibly colorful and others very entertaining. The children particularly enjoyed interacting with a talking and dancing cockatiel while Mom found the “attack ducks” hysterical. There were two ducks in the aviary that snapped and screamed at everyone who passed by. The highlight was the Kangaroo Island kangaroo enclosure where Xavier, Quentin, Annick and Isaac got to feed, pet and even cuddle with kangaroos. We had fun!



On the way home, we stopped by the “Little Sahara” sand dunes to see if we should hire some sandboards. It looked awesome and we made plans to return. Before dinner, Beth and Gerard made a tour of the Koala Sanctuary and found a sleepy koala only about 6 feet up in a young eucalyptus tree. We relished seeing him so closely and resisted the very strong temptation to pick him up and bring him home.



The weather turned rainy on Saturday and so we were slow to decide how we should organize our day. We stopped at the Visitors’ Center and let the kids dig in the fossil pit for awhile. Then, we piled in the car to figure out if we were headed to the Borda Lighthouse and cliff walk or to Paul’s Place, another wildlife sanctuary. We chose Paul’s Place and it turned out to be a good decision.

Paul’s Place is not just a wildlife park, but a two-to three-hour Australian wildlife entertainment production on a simple farm-like property in the middle of nowhere. We bumped along a dirt road for about 40 minutes and found a small crowd of people hanging out at the property gate. Paul ushered us in and led us on an animal odyssey that included the following:

bottle-feeding a kangaroo,

sneaking a peek at a baby joey in the mother’s pouch,

feeding emus, sheep, chooks (hens and roosters) and more kangaroos,

handling emu eggs (quite impressive!) and a marron ( a freshwater lobster),

cuddling koalas, a ringtailed possum and a carpet snake,

posing with birds,

going on a pony ride,

watching a sheep shearing,

feeding termites to echidnas.

Paul had a riotous sense of humour and added some special extra antics like pouring birdfeed on a man’s head and surprising him with an emu that pecked wildly at the poor man’s scalp. We enjoyed it a lot, but it ended up being more than we imagined. It was 3:30 p.m. and we hadn’t even eaten lunch yet!



After finding a place to wash our hands and eat, we drove over to “Little Sahara” to walk on the sand dunes. We had hoped to go sandboarding, but it was getting late and the rain kept coming with heavy, intermittent showers, so the sand was wet and sticky. We walked around on the dunes, soaking in the view and noticing that the air had gotten much more chilly. Suddenly, a large group of young adults with sandboards arrived. The boys saw that the sandboards do work on wet sand, so we made plans to return on Sunday to have a go.

It rained all night Saturday night into Sunday morning with some very heavy downpours. In fact, on Sunday morning, we had a fifteen-minute hailstorm. The big boys left for the sand dunes to try their luck at sandboarding while Beth stayed home with the twins.



After lunch, we were scheduled to take a tour of Kelly Caves. Our introduction to the caves was a 40-minute show cave tour. We learned about the history of the cave and what makes it unique. We have been to a few caves before, but this one was the most elegant. The stalactites were often pencil-thin and many of them turned sideways or curved upwards. There were calcified tree roots and many shades of ivory and amber. After the show cave tour, we went adventure caving. With a guide and three other people, we went spelunking. We ventured deeper into the cave, requiring some climbing and crawling. At times, the spaces were so small that we had to drag our flatten bodies along, pulling with our arms and pushing with our feet like beached seals. Beth was glad that this was our final activity. We were dusty dirtballs when we exited the cave. It was an exciting outing and the children wished it had lasted longer. Beth enjoyed it, but prefers being underwater to being underground.

More Kangaroo Island photos:

Kangaroo Island

Otro Fuego de Fiesta

On the Saturday following MERC camp we invited friends over for dinner: Karen, Luke, Isaac and Pearl. Pearl is in Quentin’s class and she was at MERC camp too, along with her mum, Karen. (This dinner was in part a celebration that Karen and Beth survived the fun and chaos of MERC.) Isaac, who we also refer to as Big Isaac (for obvious reasons when you see him) is in Xavier’s class.



Gerard prepared a Mexican menu with quesadillas, black beans, tomato salad and guacamole. After we devoured la comida mexicana, the children collected firewood - our landlady, Kathy, recently introduced the children to firemaking in the driveway and, ever since our first open outside fire, the kids have been begging for another.



And so it was---we gathered around the fire wrapped in sleeping bags because it was a very chilly evening. We enjoyed a moon framed by a halo and huddled around the warmth of the flames.

From April08

Year 6 Trip to MERC Camp

Every year, the Year 6 students from Warkworth Primary go to M.E.R.C. Camp (Marine Education and Recreation Center) at Long Bay Regional Park for four days and three nights where they participate in lots of outdoor adventures and team building. Many parents reported to us that their children loved their experience at M.E.R.C. and talked about it enthusiastically for years afterward. The idea of “sleepover” camp built into the regular curriculum was new to us, but we “gave it a go”.



Beth accompanied Quentin and his class. There were two teachers, eight parent chaperones, five activity leaders and about 60 children. Our first day was held in the indoor hall as we were having a whopper of a storm. There were heavy downpours, gusty winds, huge swells, thunder and lightening. We were worried as the forecast for the rest of the week did not look much more promising. One day of indoor games was enjoyable; however, we all decided that the sky had better dry out---and quick!

The second day was still damp, but we were able to manage some outdoor adventures. Happily, the weather turned nicer for the last two days and we were able to squeeze in most of what we were originally scheduled to do. Activities included rock climbing, slingshot, archery, surfing, sea kayaking, boogy boarding, abseiling (rappelling), and a fun one called “stack ‘em” where you keep stacking crates one on top of the other, getting higher and higher until you finally lose your balance and tumble.



It was a wonderful bonding experience for the children as they played, ate and slept together. There were plenty of silly moments and lots of sugar at dessert. One night, the children feasted on homemade sugar doughnuts topped with chocolate pudding loaded with pink and white marshmallows with a good-sized dollop of ice cream on top of the pudding, then decorated with sprinkles. Some of us discovered that we had gifts that were unknown to us before. Quentin showed some skill at surfing and Beth hit a bull’s eye on her first try at archery!

Warkworth Primary Gala

Every two years, the Warkworth Primary School hosts a fundraising gala. This is a large all-day fair with games, raffles, food and all sorts of fun stuff the children love. Although there are school galas in the U.S., the Kiwis have their own style. For example, Xavier successfully tossed a hoop over one of the bagged bottles set up on the lawn, which isn’t too unusual except for the prize – a bottle of white wine. Yes, at a primary school fair, one of the prizes was booze. However, being a responsible school, he needed to fetch one of his parents as he was not allowed to walk away with it. Next, consider the “Crockery Smash”. For $1 you can hurl 6 balls at a huge stack of cups, saucers and plates. If your aim is reasonable, you get to enjoy the sound of porcelain crashing to the pavement. Xavier described this as “therapeutic”.



Mr. Clip was at the gala, demonstrating sheep shearing and describing the hazards of such an occupation: apparently a feisty ram last week kicked the shears into his finger, lopping off a small portion of the end of his middle finger. Finally, no Kiwi gala would do without a bungy jump. Isaac, Annick and Quentin were strapped to a harness and left to bounce/flip/fly for a full five minutes upwards of 25 feet into the air - a trampoline on steroids.




Of course, there were also the more traditional activities. Isaac had his face painted to look like a tiger. Quentin discovered that he was a good target shooter and ended up winning many large, stuffed animals and about a dozen free ice creams. All of this activity made people hungry. Gerard volunteered for an hour of work at the “Sausage Sizzle” and estimates that over 200 sausages wrapped in white bread and lathered with “sauce” were sold between 10:30-11:30am. He could barely keep up with the demand.

More photos:

April08

Busking at the Puhoi Farmers' Market

One of our Puhoi friends asked if our kids might be interested in "busking" at the Farmers' Market. Beth answered, "Sure, probably, but what's 'busking'?" And so we learned a new Kiwi term. Busking is playing musical instruments for free with a basket out front for the coins. Xavier and Quentin happily agreed. They were able to entertain the vendors and the shoppers for a half hour and hopefully, will be invited back. They earned a couple coins while we spent many dollars on bread ($10), scallops ($25), olive oil ($30), sausages ($8), lollies ($1) and ginger cake ($6) - no worries, it's all good.

Some Very Important Kiwis

“Aunt” Kathy is our perfect hostess and landlady. From our very first email exchange, we clearly had excellent karma. Kathy is a fifth generation New Zealander, but her family moved to Hawaii when she was nine-years-old. She eventually returned to New Zealand while her parents and brother moved to Chester County, Pennsylvania, only about thirty minutes from Bala Cynwyd! Like us, Kathy has four children (all adults now) and apparently, Isaac is the spitting image of her son Tim when he was young. Kathy is funny, witty, fair and energetic. She has been very generous with our family. She has shown genuine and unending interest in the children and they sense her deep care. They are often asking when they are going to see Kathy next. We have found a wonderful family friend that we will treasure forever.



George is the incarnation of the ideal school bus driver. He is patient, kind, attentive and, best of all, he has a wicked sense of humor. George is quick to learn the names of the children (although he complained a bit about our choice of names), greet them with a smile each day and drive them safely to school. In the event of a student disruption, he calmly disentangles the situation. We have utmost respect for George and enjoy seeing his cheerful face every day.



The School Bus Stop Social Circle consists of (from left to right in the photo below) Fran, Gay, Pauline, Lance, and Jennifer. They provide oodles of good advice on what to do and where to go for a doctor, a dentist, school shoes, whatever Beth needs. Beth owes immeasurable thanks for all the cultural innuendos she learned from them as well as a few new words. Most importantly, the School Bus Stop Social Circle provides twenty minutes of warm companionship and good hearty laughs to start the day. Fran, Gay, Pauline, Lance, and Jennifer have warmly made Beth feel a part of the Puhoi community.



Mal is Xavier’s AWESOME piano teacher. From the onset, it was obvious that these two were going to have fun making music together. We started with a half-hour lesson that always ended up being much longer. They had trouble stopping. After a couple weeks, we decided that we should just make the lesson longer and let them play. Xavier routinely walks out of his lesson grinning. Mal shows enthusiasm for guiding Xavier. He clearly wants to help Xavier learn and grow with his piano playing. Mal has a willingness to tailor the program to fit Xavier’s ability and interests. All of this, coupled with a gifted blues/jazz pianist, has made Mal a perfect fit for Xavier. He has made so much progress this year!



Ross is Quentin’s AWESOME trumpet teacher. I can’t believe how lucky we have been this year with musical instruction! Quentin decided that he wanted to learn trumpet, so soon after our arrival in New Zealand, we bought him an instrument and started to search for a trumpet teacher. There are not many in New Zealand. Trumpet is not one of the more popular instruments. After researching this carefully, we found a very talented teacher who is both encouraging and effective. Always smiling and soft-spoken, Ross creates a peaceful ambiance in which to learn a rather loud and brassy instrument. Quentin leaves each lesson feeling eager to improve. Thanks to Ross’s artful advice, Quentin is playing the trumpet!



Heather and Roger run Horse Riding Warkworth where Quentin, Annick and Isaac go riding each week. The children have gone horse riding a couple times before coming to New Zealand, but they never had the opportunity to go weekly to a farm full of horses only five minutes from school. Heather and Roger are genuine and caring souls who enjoy sharing their love of horses with others. Theoretically, we show up for a one-hour horse ride/lesson, but it is always much more. The children are included in preparing their horses and then after, getting them ready to go to the paddock. Heather is brilliant at figuring out the right horse for each child and making subtle suggestions that help them improve without creating self-doubt. After several months of horseriding with Heather, the children have become confident riders.



Kerry taught Xavier and Quentin how to scuba dive at Goat Island Dive Center. Kerry is bubbly, warm and playful while being knowledgeable and thorough with the requirements of the course. When the boys showed any shadow of doubt, Kerry was quick to dispel it and show them that they could do it! And they did! Under her thoughtful tutelage, Xavier and Quentin now look as comfortable underwater as they do on land. (Yes, the crayfish on their heads are real - and delicious.)



Teachers and Friends: There are too many to picture here, but we are grateful to the many teachers and “mates” who have befriended us this year. Both Warkworth Primary and Mahurangi College have provided nurturing environments where our children have been able to learn, play, explore, discover and develop. The children have made friends with many kind, imaginative and outdoorsy children.