Aotearoa Adventure

Welcoming in 2012

2012-01-08T22:21:00.002+13:00

We haven't blogged much over the holidays as we have actually not been doing much of anything. We are enjoying the good life sitting out on our porch playing cards, having a cuppa tea, and watching the wildlife around our place.....Oh, and have I mentioned how much lettuce and spinach we have been harvesting? Our garden has completely exploded with beautiful crops this year, so we are really blessed. (But I must confess that I am growing weary of having greens for every meal! haha...)

We have been trying forever to capture this little guy on film, so here is a cool picture of our little Hedge Hog who comes out every day here...
He has a little routine around 5 every night, but usually races under the porch when I come out with my camera.

This past year has been amazing for us. We are settling into our life here in Masterton and loving being out here in the country. Unfortunately this past month has been the wetest in history for this time of year, so we haven't done as much tramping as planned. However, it has proven to be a very restful and enjoyable summer for us.

We are looking forward to all the exciting things that 2012 will bring our way. I start school again in a few weeks. It is so hard to believe that this is my third year at uni. Our time in NZ has been amazing so far, and we expect nothing less in the coming year! We will post all the exciting events ahead, but for now, I'll leave you with the thought that our life at the moment is much like this Hedge Hog's - we are just pottering around, easy going, until then next big adventure comes along.....

Totara Flats Tramp

2011-12-18T19:42:00.004+13:00

I keep forgetting to take pictures of our garden, but it is doing quite well. Here is a mountain of lettuce fresh from our garden!We also have heaps of spinach...
It has been a bit rainy all over NZ the past week. It isn't actually feeling that much like summer yet, and since the weather was meant to be a bit chilly still we decided it might be good tramping weather.

We headed up to Mt Holdsworth this morning with the intent to tramp out to Totara Flats Hut and have our lunch there and then tramp back out. (What we thought might be about a 6 hour trip)...
Turns out that the tramp was a lot harder than expected (Fancy that?)...This is becoming a common thing for us and NZ tramping...I guess you can never really tell by the maps and definitely never go by the name of the tramp - it certainly wasn't FLAT!!
This was a lovely tramp and we really enjoyed it for the most part - although, as you can see from the photo above there were some pretty scary looking areas where slips were just waiting to happen. (It's hard to really see in this photo, but you have to climb up under this overhanging ledge and the gravel is pretty much all giving out.) I really have no interest in dying that way, and tramping under this was kind of one of those moments where you hold your breath and hope nothing gives way...
We didn't end up making it all the way out to Totara Flats Hut (Or to the flat part, for that matter. We met a couple of guys who were tramping back from the hut and they said it was another half hour at least, so we turned around as we had already come 3.5 hours and knew what was awaiting us for our return...It was really steep coming down so we knew we would have to make our way back up all of that again.)

We didn't take many photos this trip as it was mostly all in the trees.

Now, I have a few comments to make about this tramp...

Firstly, we made it up to the first viewing area on the Mt. Holdsworth trail in 49 min. which meant that I was huffing and puffing and drenched with sweat, while Travis was claiming to be taking "munchkin steps"...What he calls "cruisy" is actually my cardiovascular limit...Having said that; secondly, it is never wise to reach your cardiovascular limit 49 min. into an 8 hour tramp! haha....
Thirdly, it is incredibly sad to be passed by an old couple - I have to say, that while they both had white hair, they had legs that any teenager would envy...It's a bit of an insult, really, but I stayed postive and kept tramping on...Travis says that I am soon to graduate to kiwi "grandma" level of tramper - which is actually a huge compliment and achievement!
Coming back up the flats incline took us 2.5 hours and to be perfectly honest I was the tiredest I have been in a long time. I usually hit my wall around the 4th hour, so you can imagine how tired I was coming up the long stretch at this time. We stopped at the top and had a nice cuppa tea and a bit of chocolate and it was amazing how much life that gave back to me. I felt great after that and managed to get a second wind...

Total distance = 18K....Time: 8 hours (Including three small breaks)

We are now beat and ready to vege on the couch for the remainder of the evening fighting off sleep for a few more hours at least.

Putangirua Pinnacles

2011-12-05T07:46:00.005+13:00

We decided to have a change of scenery this Saturday for our tramping, so we headed out of town to check out the Putangirua Pinnacles, which is about an hour away from where we live. Some scenes from the Lord of the Rings were filmed here in this unique area, so it was really cool to see it up close and personal.
Definitely going for a fashion statement in my sexy tramping clothes! Great combo of orange pants and a sun hat, ae? Vote for me for New Zealand's Next Top Model! haha....
You can see the ocean from the trail up top. Unfortunately the loop trail was blocked off (perhaps due to a slip? - It was hard to tell) so we couldn't tramp the whole loop, but had to come back down after reaching the lookout up top. It was still worth it to see the view!
This whole area is just so amazing - nothing like I have ever seen before. I took a whole lot of pictures, but they are all so unique so I am posting quite a few.
Travis kept finding heaps of charcoal where there was an ancient fire. He thought it was pretty cool how it was all imbedded in the rock formations.
Travis leaving his mark with the charcoal he found!...
If you look extremely close right in the middle of this picture you can see Travis. We took this for scale, but you can actually barely see him - It's like "Where's Waldo"
We were planning to continue on down to Cape Palliser (We checked that area out two years ago, but wanted to see it on a fine day...) but just as we were walking out the trail to the carpark Travis got a call that there was a fire out at a local vineyard just outside of Martinborough. We ended up going out there in a hurry to make sure it was all under control. No worries, it was just a small fire, and was all sorted when we got there. Travis just had to do a few things and then we were off and on our way.

Overall a great day out in the sun. While it is quite warm these days, we still try to stay covered to protect our skin from the harsh NZ sun. We love these tramping shirts as they are real light-weight and vented on the sides. They are good for tramping in summer as you can still stay fairly cool; yet covered.

Jumbo/Mt. Holdsworth Loop

2011-11-27T15:47:00.013+13:00

The weather in the Wairarapa was amazing this weekend. We had been planning a two day tramp up Mt. Holdsworth for this weekend and could not have picked a better time. We were able to do an "early vote" as our NZ elections were on Saturday and we didn't want to miss out. Election in NZ is professionally organized and so easy to vote, which made it nice to participate this year!

So, off we went early on Saturday morning and headed up the Atiwhakatu track to the hut there which is a lovely trail. We enjoyed a cruisy morning and sat at the hut for an hour or so before heading up to Jumbo Hut. It was so good to sit and relax for a while before heading up the big trail, because we knew it would be challenging.

Pretty much the moment you leave Atiwhakatu Hut you head straight up the hill for Jumbo. (Anytime something goes by the name "Jumbo" you can pretty much guarantee it's no easy jaunt.) Essentially it's about a 700m climb over 2k! Yeah, basically it's like a crazy climb straight up the mountain without a break. It took us around 2 hours to make it to the top, but that was mostly due to the fact that I was going really slow! I am not used to climbing like that, and I haven't tramped with a pack in two years. But, we made it. I should comment here that Travis has made reference over the past two days, that tramping with me up these big mountains is like "dragging an anchor"...I commented that "every boat needs an anchor" to which he cleverly replied, "not the fast ones!"...He is a funny man. He was very gracious to wait patiently for me to push through the pain and make the climb to the top!
Jumbo hut is quite nice. It's just a small hut up on the top of the hill. We enjoyed a nice cuppa tea and rested for a while. There was only the Hut Warden up there at the time, so I did a bit of yoga and stretched out my legs to recover for the following day. We played cards and hung out and then the hut gradually started to fill. It was pretty much a full house last night. (Fair warning that you always want to go early to get a spot because these huts do fill fast during summer!)
I do confess that I was sorely disappointed when we reached the top and I found out that Travis had failed to bring the chocolate!!...He said, "oh, we didn't need it"....When do you ever NOT need chocolate? Let this be a fair warning to all trampers - after climbing a massive mountain, you NEED chocolate! Don't ever climb without it! haha...
We left the hut (You can see it in the distance) around 7:30 this morning and the weather was amazing. It was a beautiful morning and you could see the ranges all around. We took this picture of as group of teens coming over the ridge. There were seven teen boys that had come up to Jumbo Hut last night and stayed with us there. They were some of the nicest, most generous kids I have met in ages. I was so impressed with how polite and friendly they were. One of the kids offered us lollies and then in the morning offered to share his peaches with us - honestly, what kind of teenage boy offers someone else food?! haha...I just thought it was lovely. They had come up the trail for a "challenge" and were just a bunch of friends hanging out - what better way to enjoy doing something fun with your friends? So cool....Anyway, we also had the pleasure of meeting a young family with three boys who had just tramped over from Powell Hut the day before. The boys were young and carrying packs and tramping so bravely! (The youngest was only 8 years old!) I was incredibly impressed....There were others in the hut as well, but these young people out taking on the ranges just amazed me, so I had to comment - WAY better than sitting in front of video games at home, and so nice to see families/friends out together like that.

Today was a long day, with a lot of up and down, but mostly down. We hit Jumbo summit and then tramped along the ridge to the top of Mt. Holdsworth.
The trail junction of Jumbo and Mt. Holdsworth.
My favorite part of the tramp - resting at summit! haha...We have taken pictures of Powell Hut before as we stayed there about two years ago. It's a lovely big hut and provides a lot of good sleeping space. We stopped there for morning tea, briefly, and then started the massive decent down. By the time we hit Powell Hut it was close to 11am.
We ended up stopping for a quick snack at a small shelter about an hour down from the Hut and then pretty much the last 5K or so are pretty easy going. By then, your legs are pretty beat up, but the trail itself is cruisy. This is probably one of the nicest/well maintained trails in the Tararuas.
There is quite a nice lookout point where you can see how much further you have to go!....The carpark is down by the river in the distance. (I am sure it is meant to be encouraging)
Overall, this was a fantastic tramp. We really enjoyed the beautiful weather and being out and seeing all the lovely views. I broke in my new pair of Lowa tramping boots that Travis got me for my birthday (after our last tramp the soles of my other pair of boots had almost completely torn off!) They were amazing, so I have to put a plug in for them here. I am a BIG fan now of Lowa. This is the first tramp I have done without getting blisters (and that's over a two day tramp with a pack!) I have to say that I am so happy with how they got me through the past two days!

We highly recommend these tracks, and the huts where we stayed. It's a great weekend trip!! Now time to rest and recuperate!

Gardening In New Zealand

2011-11-19T10:30:00.005+13:00

The flowers are blooming, birds, are chirping and I am pretty certain that summer is fast arriving in Masterton!

I thought since it's our first summer gardening that I would do a quick post at the beginning and then talk about any issues we have along the way (or hopefully incredible success! haah). We are brand new to gardening so it's all a bit of an experiment. For starters, we dealt with our first major pest - aphids. I had never seen such a thing before, but these beautiful flowers up top, were completely covered in them before they bloomed. I researched all about it and decided to spray them with Key Pyrethrum. There are mixed reviews on how organic this product is, but since we aren't eating the flowers I thought I would give it a go and see how it went. It completely cured the problem and got rid of the aphids overnight...I have to say that I was incredibly impressed. Two weeks later, all the flowers started blooming!!

Travis built this raised bed garden for us to start planting some yummy vegetables. We are starting small and gradual and see how we go this year. He planted cucumbers, capsicum, lettuce, and spinach....So far it's all coming up (except the capsicum, but I am pretty sure they take ages to sprout)

This is gonna be my yummy lettuce...And Spinach...And cucumber...Or at least that is what it looks like to me...It's still early days so it's hard to tell how well these plants will do, or if the little birds/insects will have their fill and leave us with damaged goods...It's all a bit of an experiment, really.

* A funny side note that I had to update the pictures above because I mistook a weed for our baby spinach! haha....In actual fact, when these things are first growing the weeds look more like the vegetable than the vegetable itself!....Guess we are also good at growing weeds!

Tramping in the Waiohine Gorge

2011-11-12T18:03:00.003+13:00

We decided to do a tramp today in the Waiohine Gorge. We have been out here before, just looking around, but this was our first time actually tramping around some of the trails. We did a loop track - Lets call it Cone Saddle Loop (not actually sure if it has a real name)....It was a big loop, but we didn't realise how much of it was actually up/down hill, so it took a long while.

The first thing you do on this trail is cross one of the tallest swinging bridges in NZ - happy it wasn't a windy day!!...No pictures of this because it was quite rainy.
The track itself is lovely. There are massive trees, lots of pretty waterfall/creeks, big ferns etc.

One thing that I will comment on, is that you need to be prepared for the mud. Definitely wear your boots and gaiters, as it can get a bit messy. Plus there are several little creeks to venture over. The first part of the tramp is straight uphill - no warm up, just "GO"...It's about a 400m incline over about 1.5K so it is non-stop for about 35min. straight up. Then the rest of the tramp is pretty up and down, so at least you get a moment to rest between the next uphill part. Overall this was a pretty decent trail, although the roots and rocks can be a bit treacherous when it's wet and slippery. It was a 12K tramp, but we thought it was gonna be shorter, so we weren't expecting it to take as long as it did.
This is Travis' only time of having to cook - EVER - he is in charge of our food/beverage while tramping...He made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (as per usual) and is making us a nice cuppa tea...
Just love these cool trees...
It might be a bit dark, but you can sort of see how steep it is in parts. We came across this about 4.5 hours into the tramp, so needless to say, it was a bit harder to get up! I haven't done a long tramp like this in a while, so my legs started getting a bit shakey around the 4th hour - too bad the tramp was 6 hours! haha......I made it though, and actually felt pretty good in the end.

We highly recommend this tramp, but definitely be prepared for a long one! It would have been really nice to have had a snack for about halfway through, but we didn't know it would be such a hard track. The map makes it look like the last 3K are pretty cruisy and just follow the river, but in reality it's a continuous up/down path and it's not as easy going as you might imagine.

This was a nice day track, though, and we really enjoyed it.

Our First Weekend in Masterton

2011-10-24T16:11:00.008+13:00

Well, it's been an exciting month for us. Travis took a new job as the Deputy Rural Fire Manager for the Wairarapa and we have moved out to Masterton.

We made the big move this Friday and it was perfect timing as it was my last day of classes.
We are renting a beautiful house about 10k out of Masterton out in the country. It's on a lovely property that has been landscaped so well, and it is definitely like a dream come true for us. Here are some pictures of our place and the pond and olive orchard out our front door....The sun was so bright, that you really can't see the olive trees too well, but they are just in the background.
They have created this amazing walking path that covers about a kilometer around the property. It's all beautifully landscaped and walks by a few ponds and stuff...it's awesome!!
This mound of dirt will become our garden this week so we are excited about getting that started!
This is my lovely herb garden that we have been enjoying fresh mint tea and other great delicacies out of....We planted some new herbs as well and some spinach so curious to see how that goes.
This is our backyard area....We have lots of ducks and Pukeku's around as well, so that's pretty cool.

The move itself was a breeze and we have thoroughly enjoyed settling in and getting everything in order here. Our neighbors are amazing and we have been watching the big rugby games at their place over the weekend - Go The All Blacks!! Well done!!

Our neighbors own the whole property and have developed it. They are a lovely couple with two little kids that seem to be enjoying coming over to visit Travis. It's pretty entertaining....

So, now that we are settled in, we went for a nice tramp today up around Mt. Holdsworth. We have been up there before, but today we decided to just enjoy doing the nice easy tramp by the river area - Atiwhakatu Track

This was a lovely tramp and was very easy to do....Took us about 4 hr 20min all up, but that was sitting by the river for awhile and having a cuppa and a picnic....
There are several swinging bridges on this tramp, so if you aren't into this sort of thing, you have been fairly warned!The weather was amazing today, and it was so nice to be out and enjoy it! I am so happy to be finished with work (and nearly finished with school this semester). It feels like I am getting my life back a little bit more each day!

Overall, our first three days in Masterton has been amazing...Coffee on our porch, gardening, wine with good neighbors - not sure it gets any better than that!

Manawatu Gorge Track

2011-10-03T08:01:00.005+13:00

Saturday was a beautiful day in the Manawatu, so we decided to take a nice tramp up the Manawatu Gorge Track.
We did this tramp over a year ago and loved it, and Travis has run on this trail lots and done some tramping on his own here when I was working. We decided instead of parking on each end and doing the full 10k trail, that we would go out and back and just park at the entrance.

For those aware of the big "slip" in the gorge; you can actually still get through the blocked road to the parking lot for the track. You just tell them what you are planning to do and they will direct you to the parking area.

We thought about walking the entire 20k's, but then remembered how the last 3k's of the tramp are really downhill. Not feeling like having to come back up all of that, we opted to go out 7k's and return for a full trip of 14k's.....This was plenty for my poor out-of-shape knees/hips.....

The Gorge Track is actually a lovely one. It is mostly all through covered trees so you stay protected from the heat of the sun. I will give you a fair warning, however, that while this tramp is lovely, there is a lot of uphill! Essentially the first 6k's is an uphill slope and then the last 4k's head back down (So, you can breathe a sigh of relief when you reach the 6k marker!)....A lot of folks were out running the trail - which incredibly impressed me!!When we reached one of the windmill look-outs, there were heaps of people up there participating in a community planting event. It was really awesome to see so many out working with DOC on their biodiversity project.
This was an event for kids and families to come together and plant trees as part of the "Living Legends" events that tie in with the Rugby World Cup. (It is a way for New Zealand communities to honour the rugby legends by planting trees in their memory - The goal being to plant 85,000 native trees in the process!!) To be honest, I didn't really know about this event until we ran up on it, but it was super cool to see such a great turn out!! The kids seemed to be having a ball and it was just an awesome way to get the community involved in supporting DOC. It wasn't the best weather for photos as most of them turned out too bright, but you can sort of see Mt. Ruapehu in the background.

A great day in the Manawatu, and hopefully all the travelers for Rugby World Cup were out enjoying Palmerston North!! - Go The All Blacks!!

Castle Point Getaway

2011-09-26T08:40:00.003+13:00

After such a busy semester, we decided we were in need of a little getaway. We booked a tiny cabin just outside of Castle Point (you may remember our trip out there in June, 2010) in Mataikona.
This is the "Little Bach" that looks out over the ocean. it was an amazing spot and a really great bach. We really enjoyed the peacefulness of being out here. Being that it's only just now spring here, there were no tourist or anyone around at this time. It was really quiet and just a lovely trip. We highly recommend this little bach for a good getaway.
We did not do much while we were out there - just explored the coastline and enjoyed not having any books to read or work do to!
While exploring the rocks for paua shells and other treasures, Travis found this baby shark that had washed up on shore. We thought it was pretty cool. You can also see on the rocks that there are tiny little baby shells growing. We had never seen anything like this before, but in a lot of areas the rocks were completely covered with tiny little shells. It was pretty neat.It was interesting how some spots on the coast were covered in massive rocks, while other spots only a few yards away were soft sand....The seascape is spectacular and ever changing - just so cool to see.
This was a really relaxing night away from home and we enjoyed walking around the castle point lighthouse the following morning. We were the only ones out that morning and had the entire lighthouse area to ourselves. It was really peaceful and relaxing. We won't post pictures of the lighthouse again, but you can go back to our June, 2010 blog if you want to be reminded of the beauty.

Yes, I have met the Prime Minister

2011-09-04T20:11:00.003+12:00

I can now officially say that I have shaken hands with our Prime Minister, John Key. (And this after only being in country for two years...Impressive)

It has been my privilege to have the opportunity to work with a wonderful group of specialist nurses out in the Horowhenua PHO. I was there for three weeks in Levin working in a mostly observational role with my nursing program getting a chance to really see, first hand, the impact of primary health care services in the community. I have to say that I have never been so impressed and inspired. It was the most amazing placement and I thoroughly enjoyed getting to work with such skilled nurses. The services available to people living with long-term conditions is just phenomenal in this country.

While I was working at the Horowhenua PHO we were invited to attend the ceremony for St. John ambulance service Urgent Community Care (UCC) pilot program. It was here that I got to shake hands with the Prime Minister as well as Otaki MP, Nathan Guy. They were there to present to St. John a check for $700,000 to support the UCC program in continuing in order to allow for time to evaluate the progress of the pilot program. Have a look at the above articles as they explain the program in more detail. In my personal opinion I think the UCC is an exceptional idea and I hope for the future it will continue and branch out into other communities. While I was simply there with my preceptor, it was cool to be there for this ceremony as I am also a volunteer with St. John and could recognise the huge impact this funding will have for their service.

Overall, my time in Horowhenua was just a wonderful experience. I stayed with a lovely family down there - with three small children under the age of five -you can imagine how quiet my house seems now that I am home! haha...

As school has pretty much consumed my life of late, and Travis has also been very busy, we haven't done much tramping or anything very exciting really. We hope to get out some time in the next two weeks to do something nice as spring is quickly arriving.

While I don't have any cool pictures to post; it is not every day that you shake the Prime Minister's hand, so I felt that it was "blog worthy".

Coromandel

2011-07-11T06:51:00.005+12:00

We finally had a chance to take a short weekend vacation after a very busy semester. Winter in New Zealand brings unpredictable weather and you really have to be prepared for everything. We had never been to the Coromandel Peninsula so we decided to check this area out.

We headed up to Thames on Thursday and unfortunately both Thursday and Friday were pretty well rained out. We stayed in a nice YHA there and played games and just hung out on Thursday night and had originally planned to do some tramping on Friday, but that was all canceled due to the heavy rain falls. We did however brave the rain and do a short 20 min. tour around the forest to check out the huge Kauri trees. These trees were massive and the ones they pulled out of here long ago were even bigger.

The benefit of rain in NZ is that often times it comes and goes along with the sunshine and it leaves in it's tracks amazing rainbows!!! This is always my favorite part of traveling in NZ, and I confess to being a lot like the crazy "double rainbow" dude on TV.
We came across several full and brilliant rainbows, but this one in particular was picture worthy as it beautifully framed the local farm. This is a typical NZ winter scene.

We finally got a good seascape photo when we arrived at the Hot Water Beaches. Since we were rained out of tramping, we spent Friday driving along the Coromandel checking out all the little towns and ducking in and out of shops in the rain. It was so nice to reach the Hot Water Beaches and see the sun shinning! (Although this was still come/go)
We stayed the night here at a Top 10 Holiday park within walking distance to the beach so that we could enjoy the famous Hot Pools. You can only go there during a window of time around the tides, and you go to this area and dig pools in the sand where the hot water comes up from underground and envelopes you in therapeutic bliss....Let me tell you, this was by far one of the greatest things we have experienced here! It was amazing.We arrived a little after four and found a spot in amongst the others trying to find some warmth. The combination between the cool breezy air and the hot water from the pool was awesome. And the view? - How could it get any better than this? Watching the day fade into the ocean as the waves crash down...yeah, I'm pretty sure there is one of these Hot Beaches in heaven.
Travis dug the first hole before we shed our warm clothes and hopped in. The first hole we dug only lasted about 5 minutes as the water temperature rose so fast that we were "boiled" out and had to dig a hole further out. It was surprising how hot the water got. We laid in our pool for several hours and ran back and forth between the FREEZING ocean water and the hot pool. We stayed just until darkness took over the beach and we headed back to our cabin to cook dinner and play cards. Definitely a sweet success for our otherwise rained-out holiday. This made the whole trip well worth it. The next day we headed to Tauranga and stopped at the towns along the way. One of the spots that we visited while the sun was out, was Whangamata.
There were some massive sand dollars here, and I was determined to bring home the "granddaddy" but unfortunately all the big ones had gotten broken along the way, or were still alive. So, we decided to be happy with the unique shells that we found, and made our way to Tauranga.
Travis had managed to get us an amazing apartment at Mt. Maunganui that was right by the beach and right up against the mountain. He landed this amazing place through the rural fire crew that he volunteers with - they have shares in various holiday homes that folks can utilize. This one is amazing and we highly recommend it. It was awesome at the end of a trip to have a facility that was so nice. We were able to do all of our laundry and cook a really nice dinner and watch a movie and stuff. It was great. Mt. Maunganui was really neat as well. We walked around town in the rain and then it cleared up a bit and we were able to go out and see the ocean and take a few photos.
Not too shabby for winter time!
You can see our apartment tucked back against the mountain.
While most of the areas we visited along the way we were not able to capture on camera (due to the rain) we did see some amazing views and this was truly an awesome trip. We highly recommend the Coromandel Peninsula to anyone visiting New Zealand. We will definitely be heading back up that way as there were just tons of tramps that we really wanted to go on and lots that we did not get a chance to see.

Overall it was wonderful to just have a break from study and work and to just have some time to relax and enjoy some different towns.

9 Years Together

2011-06-03T07:51:00.005+12:00

We have had such an amazing journey together so far...It's been a great life and a wonderful marriage and we wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. We got married at West Point, NY the day after Travis graduated on June 2, 2002.
Unfortunately most of our early pictures are not digital and are actually back home in Kansas awaiting the time when we will ship them over. Therefore, I have no real pictures from our first year where we lived in Kentucky for five months. Travis was then deployed to Iraq for a year.
This is where Travis was on our first anniversary and I spent the day celebrating with his Aunt Lisa in Kansas. Travis was home for our second anniversary as I recall, but we were in Kansas at the time and I have no digital photos of that.
Travis went to S. Korea for 10 months and then came home just before our third anniversary. We did a massive road trip through Utah and then ended in the Grand Canyon - by far the best vacation ever!
I joined Travis for two years in S. Korea where we spent our fourth and fifth anniversary.

Then we were off to Alaska!! Travis fought wild-land fires while I worked at the rural clinic and EMS.
Our sixth anniversary we were apart but in the same state! I was in Tok and Travis was in McGrath.
Then we were off to Valdez, AK where Travis was a cop for a while.
Then back to Tok again....
Our seventh anniversary Travis was out fighting fires and I was in Kennicott, AK...

Last year we went out to Castle Point, NZ...Don't really have any official "anniversary" picture that year either....
And this year we hung out in good ole' Palmy and celebrated with a great Korean dinner at a local restaurant.....It's hard to condense 9 years of your life into a quick photo re-cap, but that's about the best I can come up with! Hopefully after exams are over we will get some good tramping in and post some more interesting photos on the blog - sorry it's been a bit boring lately, but with clinical placements and everything life has been a bit hectic.

Back Track - Katuherawa Valley

2011-05-01T15:08:00.003+12:00

It was another beautiful day in Palmerston North, so today we decided to head out to the Back Track trail over by Sledge Track where we have been several times before. We like this area because it is quite close to town and also the trails are very easy and enjoyable to tramp.
There were several other vehicles in the parking lot so it seemed that others were also out enjoying the day. The parking lot is close by a pasture where there were several lovely horses grazing so I had to take a picture! Travis made fun of me for taking a picture of the sheep, but I figure, "hey, it's New Zealand, people expect to see pictures of sheep!" haha...

The trail was lovely most of the way, although there was quite a bit of brush and leaves that had accumulated on the trail. There were a few small water crossings, but nothing major. This is a very easy track, but the whole first part is a gradual incline. It's about 12K round trip so not too strenuous.
As we neared the top the trees that had fallen were larger and more obtrusive. You could see there had been some serious damage from the latest storms.
Towards the top there were some really large trees that had fallen!
Eventually the path was not safely passable.
That's okay. Scotts road (and where we turn around) was only about 100m further. We could see the sign through the trees. We stopped off and had our lunch around here as there were plenty of big logs to sit on! haha.Just a lovely day for tramping.

Mangaone Walkway

2011-04-22T19:54:00.005+12:00

Today was Good Friday, and to celebrate that both of us had the day off from work/placements, we went on a nice tramp out around Otaki. (About an hour from our house.)
The Mangaone Walkway is a beautiful track that starts off with an easy incline across a well maintained road/path that eventually leads into the Kaitawa scenic reserve. The weather was perfect today and we thoroughly enjoyed the track. Surprisingly the kiwi statement that this is an "easy" track was actually accurate this time.
The track itself, according to the signs that DOC had posted, is 12K round trip and should take around 6 hours...The reality for us was that it took about 3 1/4 hours round trip and we think the tracks.org distance is more accurate putting the tramp at 16K (It definitely seemed that going at such a fast pace we should have been covering more distance than 6K one way...) Unsure of the exact distance, but that was just our experience and the various websites differ on this.
Travis is always happy after we stop for our lunch of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches!
This was a lovely spot to sit and just enjoy a "peaceful moment".
We did see a few mountain bikers having a rest along the way, but other than that we had the whole forest to ourselves. It was really peaceful and quiet and just a really enjoyable afternoon.
Along the way we came across these cool mushrooms.
Overall, this was a fantastic tramp and a great way to enjoy a day off. We hit a nice little cafe in Otaki on our way home.

Cape Kidnappers - Gannet Colony

2011-04-16T19:29:00.008+12:00

A perfect Saturday morning in Napier New Zealand:

We had two different tramping trips planned for this long weekend, and unfortunately both got weathered out (one from snow, one from predicted rain storms). So, Friday afternoon we decided to head up to Napier and check out the gannet colony at Cape Kidnappers. We have been wanting to do this for a while, but it just never worked out. While this is the time of year when nearly all of the birds have migrated to Australia, there were still quite a few to enjoy looking at.

We drove up to Napier on Friday night and stayed at the Napier YHA which was great - enjoyed playing chess (well, Travis enjoyed beating me three times and I was a bit bummed out by the end of that!).
Saturday morning brought an early start on our big track along the coast to the gannet colony. After seeing the sunrise in Napier we were in great spirits and ready to roll...This particular tramp walks along the rocky coast line and you have to time your tramp right and really move along in order not to get caught between the incoming waters and the cliffs. (VERY important to check the tide schedule!!) There were parts where we would have to wait for the water to recede and then hurry around rocks before the next wave came in.
We came across this cool fort someone had made. I will give you a fair warning that I took a ton of pictures on this tramp. The seascapes were just amazing. It was really cloudy, but the rain had not yet hit this area so we had a lovely early morning walk....Little did we know that the walk is actually 18K!!
There were several different sea birds perched along the rocks.
This was our first sighting of the Gannets. They are actually pretty large birds. We were mistaken to think that this was the beginning of the colony. After walking along for about 7K there is a sign that you still have another 2K left and then you look up and realize that the very last bit is straight up hill! While this tramp is very straight forward and basically just walking, the rocky sand and slanted beach actually tire your legs out. You definitely have to be ready for endurance.

Travis was really enjoying all of the geology around this area. The cliffs here are said to be 4.5 million years old and you could see some interesting clay and sandstone formations.

The top of that cliff there is the final destination! You can imagine the sigh when you come around the corner and think you are there and then you see that the TOP is actually the destination point! haha.
Yep, straight up the hill we go...
And another hill...(By the way, that is where the poor DOC ranger has to live and is forced to look out at this view every day...his job must suck!)
I loved this view...During the peak season that grey flat area will be covered with thousands of birds. The four main colonies are home to over 17,000 nesting birds during the nesting season. This is the largest mainland gannet colony in the world.

And at last...The gannets...The grey one is the baby - yeah, more like a pesky teenager. They were pretty noisy and demanding! When they reach about 16 weeks they will begin the migration to Australia. Gannets have a life span of approximately 25-40 years and mate for life returning each year to the same location where they link up with their mate.
You can see that there were not as many birds left, but we were still able to get a feel for what the colony is like. There are also tractor tours that ride along the beach and then you climb up to the colony or safari buses if you cannot manage the walk.
The mature birds are lovely. We also read that they have excellent eye sight and will swoop down into the water from way up on the cliff and can catch fish 4meters deep! Amazing....They also have air sacs under their chest and face that blow up and protect them upon impact! Cool...
The babies do some pretty interesting dances when they are hungry.
Impressive wingspan. This baby still can't fly, though. Their wingspan can reach 3meters.

And what would our blog be without an amazing seascape?
Had to post this one of these cute sheep spying on the gannet colony.

The Cape Kidnappers Lighthouse - I have to confess that it's one of the ugliest I have seen in NZ so far.
Happen to spot this Oyster Catcher just out for a lazy Saturday feed.
Well, that was our Saturday tramp. We managed to make it all the way back without getting blasted by the waves. It did drizzle a bit on our way back, but overall we stayed fairly dry this weekend.

We headed into Napier for a coffee and a look around some of our favorite shops (Chantals, our favorite health food store has now expanded and they have a wholefoods cafe! I would move back to Napier just for that! It looks amazing.)

After hanging out in Napier for a little bit we met up with our dear friends, Richard and Gaynor, for a catch up before heading back to Palmerston North. As predicted the weather back in "good ole" palmy is very wet/rainy/cold!

So, yes, this was a fantastic little get-away trip.

Coppermine Road End Track

2011-04-03T14:54:00.009+12:00

Life doesn't get much better than this.

We officially had a perfect New Zealand weekend...The past month or so our lives have been utterly consumed with work and school and we have had very little energy left over for enjoying the outdoors and tramping. However, this week I have been on study break and this allowed me to catch up on a lot of stuff and take the full weekend off.

Most of the weekend we kicked back and cooked, watched movies, and just hung out together. The weather was fantastic in the Manawatu, and this morning we woke up and decided it was the perfect day for a tramp...So, off we drove to Woodville to explore a different area of the Ruahine mountains.
The Coppermine Road End Track is one that we have not explored yet and it is so close to our home. We were happy to have a beautiful tramping day. It was overcast and that cloud coverage allowed for perfect tramping (sometimes it hinders the view a bit, but it's lovely when you are climbing uphill!)
We tramped the Coppermine Loop Track as we did not have time for the full uphill to the Wharite Peak. This first part of this tramp is all through the forest and a LOT of uphill, but it loops around into farmland and opens out to this amazing view of the Hawke's Bay region.
Travis said that this cool hunting lodge was like his dream home! (Funny thing is that he is NOT kidding! haha...)
This was the perfect Sunday lunch spot and we chilled here for a bit and enjoyed our favorite tramping feast of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
It was a bit odd to find these huge trees at the top of the track. Mostly we saw an abundance of leatherwood which are these smaller bushes higher up the mountains. We heard that this area has the longest stretch of leatherwood around...interesting.
After climbing uphill for what seemed like an eternity I had to have a picture at the summit (or the closest to summit that we could figure. This wasn't really a full on mountain-top tramp! haha) This is my fair warning to all trampers heading out for this track - it's no joke when they say it's intermediate!
We were very sad that the mine area itself was closed off (especially since we had tramped along an uphill path out of the way of the loop to see it! ) We just have the worst luck lately with mines and we never seem to get to see them! oh well.

The track itself actually was so lovely. Usually we find the tracks are straight up and straight down, but this one was a little bit of everything: nice and gentle for the first 20 min. or so, a few creek crossings (nothing major, but just enough for a little adventure), Then it takes a really steep turn and heads straight up for a long while, once the route peaks it comes around through farmland and the rest of the way is a breeze. Coming down is gradual and pretty easy going which made the track one of my favorites because usually the downhill is a killer on the knees!

Overall this was an awesome tramp and we just had a beautiful Sunday.We definitely recommend this tramp and will be exploring further the other areas out here. We finished off the afternoon heading into Woodville for a coffee and a look around the Woodville Mart (antique store).

Rangiwahia Hut and Deadman's Track - Take Two

2011-02-20T14:25:00.005+13:00

Ever since our last adventure up to Rangiwahia and Deadman's track we have been desperate to go back. You may remember our "icy" account of this tramp back in July, well we have been waiting for the chance to go back and see the views from the top that were hidden in fog last time.

We decided this time to do the track in two days so we could really enjoy the sights and take it easy; so after work yesterday we headed up the first part (which is only about two hours) to the Rangiwahia Hut.

There are some challenging parts to this track - thanks to the big slip that turned this "easy" tramp into a more moderate one with a good 40 minute detour that climbs up and around (essentially you are lifting your legs up as high as they will go and pulling yourself up the side of the mountain for a good 40 min! ha...It's a great workout, let me tell you!)
The day was perfect with good cloud coverage to shield us from the sun, and a light breeze flowing through to cool us off while we tramped uphill!

This is a really cool wooden bridge that overlooks a deep gorge - I remember this one well as it was covered completely in ice when we crossed it last time!

Cool view from the bridge!

Not long after arriving at the hut the sky started to change into the most brilliant colors as evening began to fall. We came to the hut right at dinner time so our plan worked brilliantly. We met three other folks that were tramping together and a hunter and those were the only other ones up there. They were such lovely people (from Palmy), and the hunter from Wellington. It is awesome how you just go into the huts here and make friends with other trampers and just sit around the table chatting way into the evening! It's great....I love NZ, man!
There was a beautiful sunset last night so we were really lucky! We played rummy and sat around talking to the other folks on into the evening. I confess that I did not get a good sleep, but that is because I was not dressed warm enough for the chilly mountain air! Next time I am bringing my long johns!
This morning we woke up nice and early and got a fresh start with the cool morning air. If you really focus you can see Mt. Ruapehu in the distance, but this picture has been downsized to load faster for your computer.
While Travis cannot cook or anything at home, it is so amazing to have him cook for me when we go tramping! I love it! Doesn't matter if it's only minute noodles or porridge - when you are out like this it feels like a five course meal!
This is the Rangiwahia Hut - holds 12, but there were only 6 of us which was nice and comfortable.
This morning we took the Deadman's Track up the ridge line to the summit and then back down and around. It was absolutely a gorgeous morning! We were able to really see all the mountain views that we missed last time, so this was great.
Tramping through the tussock grass is not easy going;however. You really cannot see where you are stepping and it will just drop down into mud holes and such so you really have to be careful. This bit of the tramp was probably the most slow going just trying to keep a good footing.
And yes, that is me at summit - the crazy girl in the stupid orange shorts! ha - People, let me remind you that tramping is NOT a fashion show!
Eventually this trail drops down into a forest path. It is really well maintained and in some places even has old stairs kind of built in...Don't let that fool you; however, because it is still a constant down-hill tramp from there on and it does wear on your joints after a while. I definitely still count this as an easy track, but it's just a fair warning that it can still be hard on your legs after a while.So, that was us! We didn't carry watches but our best judge of time according to the last time we looked at the hut and at the car we think it took roughly 3.5 hours coming down (may have been closer to 4).

This fantastic tramp was only an hour from our house, so definitely doable to anyone around this area. As we proved back in July you can even do it in one day and make it back in time for work that night! (Although not recommended.) This was a wonderful weekend and a great way for us to get away for a little bit on my last weekend before school starts up again. It was a great adventure, and we look forward to going up here again - perhaps next time we will venture down to Triangle Hut and see what that is all about.

Platinum Mines and Sledge Track

2011-01-30T18:28:00.002+13:00

Today was perfect tramping weather - a bit overcast and nice and breezy!

We have wanted to head back out to Sledge Track for some time now as our last attempt at making it to the Platinum Mines were thwarted by very deep mud and a very rainy day. (I remember tramping around in the thick mud for a long time and finally Travis said, "uh, I don't really think it's going to be worth it to go all the way!"....So, we saved it for a better day.)

The better day came today...For those around the Palmerston North region, Sledge Track is a wonderful area to go for a short tramp, swim, picnic by the river, or nice long/challenging climb to the top! It just has something for everyone. This track is really well maintained and marked and you can see where they have done a tone of work since we were last up there. It's only about 20 min. from our front door so we feel really blessed.

We have been up to this area about four/five times now and Travis even took the rural fire crew up in this area for some rural fire training. It is just a really beautiful area to get away to if you just want to get out of the city for a few hours.

Travis by the Kahuterawa Stream.

This area is lovely to sit and relax with a book and enjoy the peacefulness. Of course, if your tramping partner is like Travis he doesn't know how to sit quietly by a stream and read a book - So, onwards and upwards it is...
I was sad to be leaving this beautiful scene for an uphill climb, but it was actually a lovely tramp and we had some nice views from up top as well.
Once you leave the picnic/swimming area you enter what they call the 'elevation'...and yes, it is true, it is pretty much a straight up hill track from there on. The track is really well maintained and in a lot of places there are staircases built which makes the uphill climb pretty mild. Once you hit treeline it evens out quite a bit and is very enjoyable.

Actually, after some of the tramps we have done we found this one to be on the "easy" side of things and we made it up to the top in nearly half the time estimated. Unfortunately after talking about going back here and seeing the mines for almost a year now, we were very sad to find that the mine was only a dark hole filled with water! I had envisioned us roaming around a dark mine with our headlamps exploring the mining shafts of days gone by...Not to be so, for all of our efforts lead us only to a dark hole which we could not enter - It was not even worth taking a picture of - Oh so sad...No matter, it was still a really lovely track and we had a wonderful time.

Altogether the tramp only took us 3hr 20 min (the estimated time being between 5-6 hours) ~ Mind you that this is "Travis tramping time" meaning that no other person in their right mind would be tramping that fast! haha.

So, that was our wonderful tramp this weekend. If you feel the need to get away from it all sometime, hop on down the road just a little way and check out this lovely area. Thank you to the Palmerston North City Council and to the volunteers that make this track both accessible and well maintained!

Museum of New Zealand - Te Papa Tongarewa

2011-01-23T18:07:00.010+13:00

Our big weekend tramp got canceled due to the incredible amount of rain/wind up in the mountains...So, what better to do on a very rainy day then head to a museum!?

Travis has been wanting to visit the Te Papa Museum for the longest time, and we had originally planned to do so with mom on our way back through Wellington after our big road trip. However, we were all so exhausted that we decided to postpone this trip for another time.

Today was the perfect opportunity, so we drove up to Wellington today to spend some time roaming around the fantastic museum.

I did not take my camera, so all photos are borrowed off the public sights - just sharing so everyone knows what it looks like.

If anyone knows me at all they will know that I am not a big fan of museums...However, I make an exception with this one - it was fabulous! There were 6 flours of exhibits and it was really amazing. It took us over 3.5 hours to go through it and there is no way that we saw it all.

One of my favorite exhibits was the Mountains to Sea which showed all the birds, sea creatures, trees etc. that are found in NZ. It tells about their history and living conditions etc. and the display was just really neat. Also in this area was the big exhibit of the Colossal Squid. (Pretty amazing, although quite gnarly, to be honest!)

Loved seeing the different kiwi birds.

One of my other favorite areas was the Maori history area where they had displays of huts, boats, and many of their weapons and cultural dress etc. As part of this exhibit there was a whole section on pounamu (greenstone) and it was really amazing seeing all of the art and tools from history. Also my very favorite part was this Marae that was just breath-taking. The intricate detail and shaded color is just awe inspiring...

It was a wonderful day trip - especially for something fun to do in the rain. I highly recommend this museum to anyone visiting New Zealand. It is definitely worth the time and there were tons of areas specifically designed for the children...just awesome! You can also check out their blog if you want to follow what they are up to.

Grab One - New Zealand

2011-01-19T14:28:00.002+13:00

Any day of the week you will likely hear me mention Grab One...So, for those of you who are not familiar with this awesome program, let me explain...A lot of major cities across New Zealand work together with Grab One to offer discounts and coupons to customers as a way of advertising what is on in their area. These coupons range from food and beverage, to lash tinting, to massages, to rafting trips!...While I know that most of you that read our blog are not here in NZ, there are a few of you who are and I thought you might also benefit from taking advantage of the coupons offered in your area (or in areas that you are traveling to on holiday). Check out this link and sign up to get daily emails about what is on where you are....http://www.grabone.co.nz/refer/113995 It's just a cheap way to get out and enjoy what's going on in your community and find out about new restaurants, activities, and stuff like that.

Mangaweka Camping/Rafting Trip

2011-01-17T07:21:00.006+13:00

This weekend after work on Saturday we packed ourselves into the car with Taryn and Craig and headed to Mangaweka which is about an hour from Palmy. It was a great "escape" to just get away for the weekend and relax and enjoy some really good company.
Me and Travis packed around the cooler! We packed more for that one and a half days than we did for our entire 12 day road trip! haha...But this time we had real food and chairs to relax in.
Hanging out at the campsite. Unfortunately it's still high fire season so no campfire for us - bummer. We will have to go back closer to the end of summer and build a big campfire for marshmellow roasting!

Cheers!!

This campground is awesome. The sights were really clean, there was a full kitchen (Which we did not discover until AFTER our dinner...It was great for cooking breakfast the next morning, though!...There are showers and toilets and it's just a nice quiet area for families. It was only $7 a head, so pretty cheap! Definitely recommend the Mangaweka Campground and we will most certainly be going back.

We had a wonderful rafting trip with Mangaweka Adventure Co. The guides were amazing and so friendly. We loved our guide, Kay; she was so relaxed and down to earth and we had a great time cruising with her down the grade 2 rapids (or supposedly they are grade 2 - they were pretty darn calm yesterday....) This would be a great trip to take kids on because the rapids are really calm and the trip itself is real laid back and relaxing. Taryn and I even hopped out for a swim/float in the calmer area. It was so peaceful and we were the only ones out there so it was like a private tour of the area! We cannot say enough good things about this guiding company, so they are definitely highly recommended by us. Also a special advertisement for Grab One because they are the awesome company that offered the coupons for this rafting trip! If you live in NZ we highly recommend signing up for Grab One as you can find out about all sorts of amazing places around your area and things to do...Awesome.
The gang with Paul, one of the other guides who dropped us off and stuff. He was also great and very professional.
After our rafting we headed out to Gravity Canyon to check that place out and see the view. It's pretty impressive. This is a massive canyon area where they offer extreme entertainment, via bungy jumping, flying fox etc. It was just neat to see where it's at and see the lovely area around there.No summer weekend vacation is complete without ice cream, so we stopped off in Bulls and had a cone on our way home! Great end to a great weekend!

Blenheim/Marlborough/Nelson - Last Days

2011-01-14T15:45:00.008+13:00

Since things didn't go as planned with our Kiakoura trip; we spent three days in the Blenheim/Marlborough area enjoying the beautiful weather, amazing beaches, great shopping (well, the few shops that were opened over the holiday) and, of course, AMAZING wine!

The Marlborough region is known for it's amazing vineyards and we got a chance to experience this first hand. If you weren't a wine drinker before coming to New Zealand, you soon would be! Sauvignon Blanc is one of the specialties of this region. I have always been a bigger red wine fan than white; however, after visiting this area I am completely sold on white wine as well. Our favorite new vineyard was Hunter's and our favorite new white wine is Gewurztraminer (yeah, you try saying that after you have had a few glasses! ha)

We visited several vineyards and walked around a lot of lovely beaches (unfortunately we didn't take our camera there), and it was just a really relaxing time. We stayed at a nice holiday park where we played cards, read books and just took some time to chill. We also got to feed the pet eels that the holiday park hosts and that was interesting...

Marlborough is also a great area for cherries and other fruits so we enjoyed some of the best cherries I have ever eaten.

We decided to do a wine tour on one of the days because this is something we have always wanted to do, but never treated ourselves to. (Essentially it was a half a day of being bused around to try wines from different vineyards....it was amazing!)

Mom and I at the Forest Estate vineyard...Another one of our favorites. This place had an amazing atmosphere where you could sit on big bean bags out in the front lawn and drink your wine! It was like a dream...

After a little relaxing Travis was ready to move on to check out a new area, so off we went to Nelson. Mom and I were a little reluctant to move on because we really just wanted to hang out on the beaches in Marlborough and didn't really want to get back in the car...HOWEVER, had we won that battle and stayed we would have missed out on a really amazing time in Nelson. We owe a lot to Travis and his stubborn desire to always be exploring new territory.

The weather in Nelson was great and the beaches were spectacular. We stayed in a lovely campground a little ways out of town and it was very peaceful and lovely. The town of Nelson itself was a bit too crowded for my taste, but that is mostly because it is a very compact town.
My favorite part about the beaches in Nelson is that some of them were quite remote and not many people were out there. The ones closer to town were busy, but if you drove out a ways you could really get out where it was quiet.

One of the beaches we went to was just miles and miles of shells - I was in heaven! (This was Rabbit Island and probably my favorite spot of the trip!) We walked for the longest time trying to find the most perfect shells. And the highlight of my whole trip - Sand Dollars! - I haven't found a sand dollar in about 15 years and I thought perhaps I would never be at a beach again where they had them. It was a highlight of my childhood and I had some of the best memories walking along the beach looking for sand dollars....Well, we found one and we were so happy! Then, about an hour later we found another....we kept walking and came along an area where there were tons and I thought I was in heaven! Needless to say we came home with a massive collection of sand dollars and shells.

My other special find was a tiny little star fish and that was really exciting as well since I had never seen anything like that.
The next day we went to this beach/tidal flat area where we could walk out since the tide was out and we could see all the sea creatures that were still alive...At this area we saw literally hundreds of starfish and sand dollars. It was seriously one of the coolest things I have ever done.
Mom was also shocked at how many there were - you had to be so careful not to step all over them.
It was definitely cooler than any aquarium. The day was beautiful and it was just a real treat!

Mom with a live oyster.

Unfortunately we found that our shells from the day before were extremely unpleasant after roasting for a day in the car...note to self *sea shells need to air out in the sun before transporting!...After much trial and error, we found a way to transport them home without ruining our car in the process.

While we did not stay up until midnight for New Year's Eve, we did celebrate with some sparkling wine and a game of rummy to bring in the year 2011!

After two days in Nelson it was, unfortunately, time to head back home.

On our way to Picton.

By the time we got to Picton mom was pretty tired from all of our "road trip", so we let her rest while we went for a short walk around town. Picton is a small and quiet little harbor town. There were lots of boats and stuff to look at and some little shops. Later I did a nice run around the area and checked out some of the docks.

Unfortunately our wonderful road trip through the top half of the south island came to an end. We had to catch the ferry the next morning at 4am so that was a bit of a rude awakening. The only benefit to catching a really early ferry is that you get to see the sunrise over the ocean!
Travis and I went up and spent about an hour watching the sun rise over the sounds. Not many of our photos turned out very well, but it was so pretty in real life!
Well, that was the end to a wonderful vacation. By the time we reached Palmerston North we were all pretty beat and ready for a rest. We hung out around here for the next few days just doing a bit of shopping, reading, movies etc. It was a wonderful way to just vege out and prepare for getting back to "real life". Having mom here with us for three weeks was so wonderful. I think she had a great time seeing some of the beauty of this country, and I know that she will miss the great wine, mince pies, and lifestyle that she experienced here.

Bring on 2011!

On To The Mountains

2011-01-10T07:31:00.009+13:00

Christmas day we left the rain-forest climate of the West Coast and headed more inland to view some amazing lakes and mountains.

One of the remote areas that we traveled through was Haast. When I start mentioning the struggle we ran into with holiday store closures you will start to understand what holidays in New Zealand are actually like....Now, in the states you may perhaps run into a few store closures or maybe "early" closures on Christmas, but beginning the 26th of December you would never dream of things still being closed. In NZ, however, the idea of taking time off from work to go vacation and spend time with your children and relatives is something they are not willing to sacrifice for the sake of an extra buck. In NZ most of the stores close from the 24th of December until about the 5th or sometimes 10th of January - NO JOKE. Usually the bigger towns have a few cafes still open, but it's definitely sparse.

You can imagine our surprise when the petrol stations and toilet facilities were also closed! Upon leaving Fox Glacier on Christmas morning we were in a small panic with the thought of no petrol stations and decided to turn back around and just double check and see if they had one "pay at the pump" option since it was the only station in town. Here in NZ they do not usually have "pay at the pump", which is why originally we thought we might be out of luck. We were able to get some petrol and all was fine, but let me tell you that finding a toilet stop along the way from Fox to Wanaka is no easy task! *Note to self, never drink ANYTHING on road trips...dehydration is your best friend!

Mom enjoying the calm of a cloudy morning on Haast Beach.

All long the drive from Haast there are just hundreds of amazing waterfalls and rivers and it is the most amazing drive you could imagine. We had anxiously been awaiting this drive from Haast to Wanaka because of the Blue Pools that everyone had told us we absolutely could not miss. These pools are "glacier fed" and have such a brilliant azure blue coloring and are so clear - they truly are a sight to behold.
It was still a really cloudy/drizzly day, but we were happy to take the walk through the woods to get there. Mom had injured her leg before coming to NZ so she struggled with some of the walking paths, but we were so privileged that a lot of the activities were very accessible. The walk down to the pools is through the woods and a very well maintained gravel path. It is a bit down hill all the way and then back up again to your car, but she managed.
As we got closer to Wanaka we came upon the huge lakes on either side - This is Lake Wanaka and on the other side of us was Lake Hawea.

Travis and I Christmas Day 2010.

Wanaka was a neat place and the lake was amazingly blue as well. We stayed the night at another Top 10 Holiday Park and camped there and just hung out that first night. Again, although Wanaka is very much a tourist town, pretty much the entire town was shut down for the holidays. This was a bit disappointing as mom and I had waited a long time for our big day "shopping" in Wanaka. Yeah, that didn't happen.

There was a really cool tramp that Travis and I thought about doing and mom was ready for a bit of a rest; so the following morning Travis and I got up super early and headed up the mountain and left mom at the campsite to hang out and watch TV/read or whatever to just relax that morning.
While mom was relaxing in the TV room this is what we were doing at 6am! YIKES...It was a really steep tramp.

The Mount Roy Track is considered a very strenuous tramp uphill as you literally never stop going up hill! (They claim there are some flat spots, but what I think they are talking about is the little spot where you turn around for the switch-back! haha) The estimated elevation climb in this tramp is 1,258 meters over 5.5km one way (3.5 miles).

Having said all of that, I will tell you that Travis estimated it taking us 3 hours max to accomplish this feat - Yeah, whatever!...I, on the other hand, believed DOC when they said it would take between 5-6 hours....At the end of the day, yeah, it took us about 5 1/2 hours. - and that was going hard out the whole way. Travis is a bit of a machine when it comes to tramping and he rarely stops for breaks or to breathe or anything! haha. This was definitely a great work out!

Even though the track itself was intensely steep and challenging, the tramp was really amazing. The views the entire way are just breath-taking and tramping around looking at all the sheep and scenery is very peaceful. It was a gorgeous morning for a tramp and we were really happy to have taken the opportunity to do it. It was a real highlight on our vacation.

Looking through the clouds at Lake Wanaka area.

The perfect New Zealand scene...Sheep, Mountains, Blue Lakes...Yep, that is NZ!!

Okay, alright, so he did stop for ONE minute!

Me at summit! Yes, I did actually make it all the way up!

When we finished our little adventure we collected Mom from the camp grounds, showered and packed up. We headed into town for some fish'n'chips and to look around a few of the stores that had decided to open. The wind was really picking up and getting chilly at this time (little did we know a huge storm was rolling in!).

We left Wanaka and decided to forgo the whole Queensland area assuming that it would also be full of cool shops that were locked and we could only peer in the window at and dream of going in! So, we decided to go check out the Mt. Cook area and see what it was all about. Mom wanted to see some of the areas where the Lord of the Rings was filmed and we had planned to do a big valley hike there as well.
The drive to Mt. Cook is a bit odd as you travel through like a high desert area and the landscape changed drastically. It was real drizzly again and the wind was still pretty strong. We, of course, stopped off in Twizel to check things out there because it just has such a funny name! Did you know that in Twizel you can have an official Lord of the Rings tour and wear a cape and everything? Interesting...

We found a coffee shop that was open in Twizel and had a look around before heading to Mt. Cook.
By the time we reached Mt. Cook it was raining and really REALLY windy so Mom was getting more and more anxious about pitching a tent. In some areas of NZ if you have decided to camp out and then get there and change your mind, you honestly don't really have much options. Lucky for us there was a YHA in the area. We had never heard of the YHA before, but I went in and checked it out and it was amazing! Essentially it's a hostel organization that has hostels all over the world. You can become a member and get discounts on stays as well as activities and other things. The place is set up really nice with bunk rooms, showers, lounges, game rooms, TV rooms, Internet, and a FULLY loaded kitchen!!

No one else wanted to get out in the rain and come in and look, so I booked us a four bunk room thinking that with three people we would stand a pretty good chance of not having a roomy....WRONG! ha....The moment we opened the door and saw our roomy sitting there I think Mom may have almost collapsed, but I can't remember because I was kind of just laughing really hard inside! (Now, Travis and I are used to sharing beds with strangers because when you tramp the bunkhouses are just one big slab where you pitch your sleeping bag right next to your neighbor...no big deal, ae?) Our roommate was a man from Finland. He hardly spoke English and he was quiet and nice and no worries. I would definitely stay there many more times and I am sure that we will. This was, however, and entirely new experience for Mom and I couldn't help but laugh at the fact that she said, "find me a place to sleep and I will sleep anywhere as long as it's not in a tent!" and so I did...I found her a place with a stranger to sleep with!! ha.....(Seriously, while it was unintentional, it was pretty funny.)We slept pleasantly inside while the storm raged outside...Lucky for us that we weren't camping out! It rained and rained and rained. We did run through pools of water to check out the amazing visitors center at Mt. Cook, but that was pretty much all we checked out. The mountains were amazing to see the day before, but we didn't take many pictures because we thought we would be there for a few days and take lots later on....When we woke up the clouds had covered everything....so sad.

Since the weather was not really conducive to the activities we had planned, we decided to move on and check out some other areas on the south island that we still wanted to see. We all agreed that a day like that would be the perfect day for the long drive back up towards the top....So, off we went on a grueling days travel.

Our grand plan was to hit Kaikoura and camp out there (where we had called ahead and been told that there were lots of camp spots and no need to book!). We were going to spend about three days in Kaikoura and just lay on the beach and relax and not really do anything in particular, but just have a bit of a rest since we had been traveling so much....Well when we got to Kaikoura it was as if the entire south island was trying to escape the rainy weather and had all headed to the beach there! It was seriously so crowded that you would not have believed that many people even lived in NZ! ha....We spent about an hour trying to find a place to spend the night, but literally every single hostel, backpackers, motel, hotel, camp grounds, holiday park was completely full. We were feeling a bit despirite after driving ALL day, but we opted to keep moving and to travel the remaining 1.5 hours to Blenheim where we were able to reserve a cabin at a holiday park.

More adventures to come...

West Coast Glaciers

2011-01-09T11:41:00.013+13:00

The unique thing about traveling around the West Coast is that in a matter of hours you can go from the rain-forest views of Punakaiki to the beaches of Hokitika and then the mountains and glaciers of Fox and Franz Josef. We definitely fell in love with the West Coast of the south island.

We have dreamed of moving to the West Coast for a while now, and after seeing it for real in all it's beauty and wild landscape I am definitely sold. I have been quite interested in the West Coast DHB and looking into hopefully joining up with their team after I graduate as an RN. They have an amazing post-graduate program that I would love to be a part of, so I stopped off in Greymouth to meet up with some of the nurses there and have a quick look around. It was a fabulous meet and I will be continuing to pursue the possibility of heading down that way for some of my future training.
New Zealand has no shortage of beaches...We found so many amazing spots to just walk around and look at the views. Hokitika was one of our very favorite spots with a beautiful beach and quaint little town full of great shops, galleries, glass studios etc. This area is also known for it's greenstone which provides for a lot of lovely jewelry and art.
This spot on the beach was amazing with the sun beaming down and the breeze still blowing. (One of the nicest moments - weather wise - that we experienced.) We found some nice rocks/shells here and some cool pieces of greenstone as well.

This was a neat chair on the beach built as a memorial to a couple in the town.

Moving on from this area of the West Coast we headed to Franz Josef Glacier where we met up again with the drizzling rain. It was still really lovely, but we opted to forgo the tent for the night and treat ourselves to one of the comfortable new cabins at a Top 10 Holiday Park which we had never seen before. We were definitely sold to this idea quickly (especially mom, who was the happiest person ever to be sleeping in a real bed again! ha.) If you have not heard of this accommodation, let me be the one to highly recommend it. We enjoyed lovely accommodation with access to showers, kitchens, TV rooms etc. It was a dream.

Let me take a moment to explain how amazing camping in NZ is...No matter where we stayed we had access to showers, toilets, kitchens, and almost always we also had access to some sort of TV/Computer room as well. The facilities were always clean and tidy and there was no worry of rubbish, wildlife, theft or anything like that. It was truthfully the most pleasant camping experience you could possibly imagine.

We took with us a freezer full of frozen soups, pastas and the like that I had made prior to the trip. For the first week or so we ate pretty well on our little camper stove and enjoyed lots and LOTS of porridge, and Peanut Butter and Jelly! (Don't think that's on Mom's list of favorite meals at the moment.) However monotonous and unexciting our meals may have been, this was a very reasonable way to accommodate for 12 days of camping! In future we will know that most of the campgrounds have fully decked out kitchens and we can therefore bring some real meals to cook on their stoves (Who would have guessed that you could have a stir-fry when you go camping?) Only in New Zealand...

So, onto Franz Josef...The gentle walk to the glacier was lovely and amazing how something so spectacular was so accessible to people of all capabilities. This truly amazed me with the places we went - I had no idea that some of these sights would be within a 15 min. walk from the car! Most of the spectacular sights of Alaska you have to fly to or hike for days...In New Zealand that is true as well, but there are still a LOT of sights to see up close and personal with very little physical exertion.
In Alaska I had some amazing times tramping along the Kennicott Glacier with my friends while working at the Kennicott Glacier Lodge the summer before we moved to New Zealand. While the Franz Josef Glacier is much steeper and falls between two steep mountains it still gives me the same feeling of being back at Kennicott. I love the mysterious beauty of the glaciers and they are all so unique.
We spent the night at Franz Josef and then moved on the area around Fox Glacier the following day. It was again really rainy, but during one of the breaks between heavy rainfall we got in a really nice walk around Lake Matheson.
This walk was really nice as it was through the rain-forest pathway and kept us sheltered from most of the rain...The birds singing and rain dripping on the ferns was truly peaceful and a really enjoyable experience. (I am pretty sure we wore Mom out on that walk, but I think she felt it was worth it, too!)

The Tui bird is my favorite bird in NZ, and I thought this photo over Lake Matheson was just stunning.

The ferns in NZ are the inspiration behind the Maori symbol of the Koru. It represents strength, peace, new life and a new beginning. It is one of my favorite symbols and all around us on this walk there were just hundreds of these perfectly beautiful ferns - their every leaf completely perfect and unharmed, various shades of green, new and mature...So beautiful.

Travis playing "Tarzan" on the trail. I also gave it a try, but my picture was not cool enough to post! ha.

I thought this NZ pigeon was super cool - Kereru (as they are called)

As the rain continued, we decided to take a day to just rest and hang out in the lovely Mt. Cook View Motel. We did laundry, watched movies, and then enjoyed a nice Italian dinner with a bottle of red wine for our Christmas Eve dinner.

The beauty about rain in NZ is that it is almost always accompanied by a beautiful rainbow. Christmas Eve was no exception and we were graced with this amazing rainbow right outside our window!

The following morning I had a wonderful run watching the sun rise up over the mountains. There were hawks flying, birds singing, sheep out in the fields, and it was just an amazing experience for me. This was definitely a great way to experience a New Zealand Christmas morning.

Merry Christmas - A summer celebration in New Zealand - 2010

West Coast - New Zealand

2011-01-08T21:11:00.004+13:00

As our south island trip continued we headed from St. Arnaurd to the West Coast. We went through a neat town called Murchison where we stopped for a coffee and to look around at some of the cool galleries. In almost every town there are very unique galleries, cafes, and gift stores that we browsed through. The weather was lovely in Murchison and it was nice to see the sun shinning.

Mom and I posing in amongst the ferns on this nature trail in Punakaiki. Later I came back here for a run and it was so invigorating - definitely a highlight for me.

Pretty much as soon as we hit the West Coast so did the showers. (Which we soon discovered would follow us throughout the remainder of the trip.) When we first reached Punakaiki it was only drizzly and overcast so we were still able to get out and enjoy the sights even though photo taking was a bit hindered.The misty weather really gives this a cool and mysterious feeling. We enjoyed watching the huge amount of sea foam collect on the shores.
With the day being a bit stormy our views of the pancake rocks and blow holes were amazing since the tide came in so strong. These rocks were so cool - We didn't get a lot of pictures because the spray was splashed too much, but it was really neat to see in person.
And as if our day wasn't already fantastic, we saw our first penguin. He was the only one out there and seemed either seriously lost or protecting his nest - either way, he was not in any hurry to leave and just hung out there letting us all get a good look. (I confess that I took about 20 pictures of him!) When I went for a run later he was still there, so I think he must be the local attraction.
And the last feat of the day was helping Mom concur her fear of caves. Now, to defend myself a little, I will say that I did NOT know that this was a fear of hers until AFTER I drug her in...(Did I mention that she misplaced her flashlight and we were both using a tiny one that is fit only for one tiny person? Needless to say the cave was really dark!! It was so super cool - although I'm not sure that is how Mom would have described it...I had to take a funny picture just for kicks...

Truthfully this is probably how she felt inside...

So, this was definitely one of our favorite spots on the West Coast. We camped at a sight right by the beach and enjoyed playing rummy until the sun went down. (Wait, the sun never actually came out that day...oops, my bad...um, correction...We played rummy until the rain stopped and we could get to our tents)

Mom Arrives

2011-01-07T08:45:00.008+13:00

First off, Happy Holidays to everyone! We have been absent from blogging for a while in preparation for Mom's big arrival...I had massive amounts of studying to do to finish off my second summer school assignment before her arrival and on top of that I was working a huge amount of hours in hopes to pile up some extra spending money for our big trip. So, after a long break, we are back on the blog...

Mom arrived from Kansas on the morning of December 18th! It was a great day...After several weeks of amazing weather in Palmerston North the clouds rolled in early that morning and greeted Mom with a gloomy and humid welcome. She was all smiles in spite of it and actually looked amazing for the long travel she has just endured. First stop in Palmerston North was our favorite French bakery, Alexandre Patisserie Chocolaterie (Cafe). We introduced Mom to the famous New Zealand latte and an original Alexandre's almond croissant - exquisite! Her first day here was just about relaxing and enjoying catching up.Our vacation with Mom was so wonderful and extensive that I will break it up into several different blogs, for fear that you might experience some major headaches/temporary blindness from stress to your eyes from reading etc....

Sunday and Monday we hung out around Palmerston showing Mom around town, shopping, coffees at the Herb Farm Cafe, cheesecake at Yummy Mummy's, antique and art shopping in Woodville...Monday also saw all of us stuffing bags full of clothes and preparing for our big adventure to the south island.

Tuesday morning we packed the car and headed to Wellington where we were greeted with the world renown "Windy Welly". Seriously, people, this wind is not to be taken lightly - Mom and I could barely stand up as we walked down the sidewalk. It was definitely an experience. We waited and waited as the ferry boat was a bit delayed and the wind and rain kept crashing down on our car as we had nightmarish visions of what awaited us on the sea...

Our Ferry Boat....Ha, Just kidding.

Our REAL ferry boat.

Surprisingly our ferry ride was manageable - I won't go so far as to say it was "smooth", but we all did fine and it was a lot better than we expected given the weather conditions. As we crossed the straight the weather began to clear and by the time we reached the sounds it was absolutely lovely.After arriving at the port in Picton we drove to the first possible picnic sight and made dinner as fast as possible as we were totally starving. Then, we headed off to Saint Arnaud where we spent our first night on the south island. We stayed in a nice DOC campground, although some areas were damaged from recent rain, we still managed to get a decent spot and a good night's sleep.
And so the adventure begins...

Kiwi Thanksgiving

2010-11-26T09:10:00.004+13:00

Keeping with our new Kiwi Thanksgiving tradition, we are not celebrating in "feast" fashion this year. Once again we are foregoing the big celebratory feast and taking the money that we would have spent preparing such a fare and donating it to a local program.

This year our program of choice was the Riding for the Disabled center in Fielding. I volunteered with a similar program, Winslow Therapeutic, in New York many years ago and believe very strongly in the incredible work that these places do. I had no idea that they also use this form of therapy here in NZ, so when I heard about it I was quite excited. I am not sure if I will have time to do any volunteer work with them, but I am looking into it further and will see where it leads.

We also have decided to become monthly sponsors to the Red Cross in NZ and are hopeful that something we give can make a difference in the lives of those in need across the country. It has been a really difficult year for this small country with many things causing great loss like the big earthquake and the recent Pike River Mine explosion. Our hearts go out to all the families who have suffered loss this year.
Personally we have had a most amazing year and have so much to be thankful for. I completed my first year of nursing at Massey, Travis got an amazing job and is quite happy with that. Through all the struggles of emigrating we came full circle and have really settled in and made ourselves a home in this beautiful country. To top off the year we are anticipating Travis' mom visiting us here in a few weeks and will be taking a massive road trip with her down to the south island!! (Many cool blog posts to come on that!)

It is our desire not just to stop once a year and celebrate our lives and thank God for his blessings; but rather, to live in gratitude each and every day - To take time out of our hectic schedules to quiet our hearts and minds and just reflect on the gift that is our life.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

Honeycomb Rock and Walking Track

2010-11-01T18:14:00.011+13:00

Yesterday when we woke up the weather was gorgeous in Palmerston North so on a spur of the moment whim, we jumped in the car and drove about two hours to a walking track way off the beaten path from Masterton. Travis had heard about Honeycomb Rock and knew that it would be a nice easy day walk so we decided this would be a perfect way to just relax a little bit and enjoy the scenery. (Easy, meaning 18K...We took our time though and finished in about 4 hours)
And enjoy it, we did!!! The walking track is set up to follow through pasture-lands and by the water's edge so the entire time you are listening to the waves crashing and watching the birds flying around. It's really amazing. The weather started out really chilly and rainy, but right as we got to the destination of the track the sun came out and we got some amazing pictures. I will warn you that there a LOT here. (Only a tiny portion of the ones we took! ha.)

This is me by a lazy seal - We seem to have a fascination with seals, but they seriously are so cool because you can get real close and they just lazily look at you but can't be bothered to move!
He seemed to be getting bored of the many pictures that I took of him. This one was letting me get really close so this is actually with no zoom or anything!

An amazing view of Honeycomb Rock with some of the ship-wreck in the foreground.
This is what is left of the Tuvalu, a Fijian trader, which ran aground in 1967. Although it wasn't that long ago, the site looks as if it happened hundreds of years ago....pretty cool.

Just a perfectly cool picture of a few seals chillin'!

Honeycomb Rock up close and personal. This is also the area of a fur seal colony. While they say the seals are in greater abundance in the winter, there were still a lot of them to watch.

A cool view of the varied landscape from up on Honeycomb Rock.
I think this is an amazing view looking down from the rock. Below there were tons of seals, but it's hard to view them on the camera because they blend in really easily.
This is a pretty cool view of how the rocks have developed that "honeycomb" look about them.

Another lazy seal enjoying the afternoon.

We had our lunch in this cool cave. I just think this is such a cool thing that the ocean can do this to a rock!!! Travis, of course, enjoys telling me all about his knowledge of geology and what each type of rock is...Travis' favorite part was trying to sneak up on the sheep! It's pretty entertaining.
One of the most amazing sights is how the farmland just backs right up to the ocean. We walked along with cows, sheep, and even a horse for part of our tramp! Awesome!!
Travis found a cool deer head that he insisted on taking a picture of for Dad. (Sorry to all of those who do not want to see a dead carcass...)
This picture is for mom - so cool to see the cows and sheep right on the water, ae!?

And because no true kiwi tramp can end without seeing the beautiful sheep of this country...I post this amazing photo - I absolutely love when the baby lambs are feeding and their tails wag uncontrollably. (I think it is adorable!) The lambs are growing up fast, but they are still so cute!

Metallica Rocks Auckland!!

2010-10-20T09:14:00.006+13:00

For my birthday Travis got us tickets to see Metallica live in Auckland. Travis introduced me to Metallica several years ago and I have been a HUGE fan since then. (I admit that heavy metal isn't really my forte, but these guys are some seriously talented musicians and I totally respect their incredible abilities and style. They are unlike any other metal band I have ever heard, and they are definitely on the top of my list!)

Back several months ago when ticket sales opened Metallica had sold out within only a few minutes. We were both so sad that we had missed out on the chance to see them. Then, two weeks ago when they put the stage up in Auckland to prepare for the big show, they realized that they had room for a few more people in the audience so they put ticket sales back out and Travis somehow managed to land us tickets in the few minutes before they sold out again! We were both pretty stoked, but had no idea how we would even GET to Auckland! ha....

It just happened that the concert was on Thursday night and that is my one day off during the week, so we drove up to Auckland on Thursday morning (about a 7 hour drive) and checked into our hotel. The drive was quite nice and since it was a bit cloudy we saw four rainbows just within the first few hours! It was awesome...The weather turned more sunny as we neared Auckland and by the time we got there it was a full-on gorgeous afternoon!!

We spent the afternoon walking around Auckland and within about two hours we were both like, "yeah, we are NEVER moving here!" haha. It is kind of like walking around a tiny block of New York City....(well, a VERY tiny block!) There were all kinds of cool little shops and restaurants. We ate dinner at this tiny pub, Queen's Ferry, and we had the most amazing fish'n'chips EVER!! (It was my first fish'n'chips experience and I know now why everyone raves about it!!)

Our tickets were so amazing and we could see the stage so well. Vector arena in Auckland is about the size of the basketball stadium at K-State so I was surprised at how small it was. We did not take a camera or anything because we just wanted to focus on the show....So, following are some pretty amazing photos that give you a tiny glimpse into what it was like.

The first song they played was all coordinated with Laser lights - It was pretty sweet.
They also had some awesome pyrotechnics going on and that part was REALLY awesome! (Of course Travis thought that part was the best!)

The sound was also phenomenal. It was really loud, but the quality was so good that you could really hear the music and what they were saying. These guys played hard-out for two hours straight and were just all over the stage and playing faster than you can even imagine! I have no idea how they have the energy to do that, and it was the second show as well.

I guess this was the only time this song was played on the entire tour was at
our concert. They have not played it on stage since 2007 and have only
performed it live in its entirety a handful of times so it seems it was a very
rare big deal. It seems that the setlist they played on our night is considered one of the best
of the entire Death Magnetic tour by a lot of the fans.

We stayed in a really nice hotel, Rendezvous, that Travis had got on a "mystery deal". They have these deals where you can bid on a cheap hotel room (like for $99) and it's a mystery where you stay...We got Rendezvous which is like a really high class place and was the nicest hotel we had ever stayed in!! Our tickets were so perfect because our seats were right by an exit door so we just walked right out onto the street and walked to the hotel without any trouble! (Forget sitting in the car for two hours after a show like in the states!) It was a warm and beautiful evening so it was great to just walk back and get some fresh air.

This is the show finale where they turned on the house lights and had everyone join it - SO COOL!

I do confess that my ears were "ringing" for two days after the show. I was a little concerned that my hearing would never completely return, but I am thankfully all back to normal now!

So, that was our little "Auckland Adventure" and it was definitely worth the spur of the moment excitement because it was a truly amazing show!

Our New Home

2010-10-01T18:48:00.008+13:00

I waited to announce this news until everything was finalized...We moved to a real house! Yeah...

So, yesterday we moved into our new home. It is so amazing, and we love it already. It is brand-new and still has that same smell that all new things bring with them!!
This is my personal study/yoga space so I am quite happy to have this area. Now Travis can watch the History Channel or whatever while I slave away with my human bioscience/chemistry/psychology mumbojumbo....
My favorite part of the entire house, of course, is the fact that we have a bathtub! It's a short, deep one so it is much better utilized by short folks like myself. I did thoroughly enjoy a good bubble bath last night and it was the perfect way to relax after a big move! (Although this was definitely the easiest move we have EVER made - mostly due to the fact that we hardly own anything - We are gradually accumulating furniture and the like, but we are starting with the basics and then will eventually get more pretty/un-necessary items.)
Last night we both had an AMAZING sleep and woke up refreshed and without back pain! This is our new bed that we had made by a local company in town...The most amazing part about our new room is that we have an enormous closet. We each get a whole side and have more space than we know what to do with! Since I own hardly any real clothes I can fit all of my winter and summer clothes on my one side and I still have heaps of room! Looks like I need to go shopping!!!

The kitchen is the nicest I have ever had. I never have seen so much space in my life - the pantry is huge, and I should have taken a quick photo...We are going to start buying in bulk and fill it up! haha...I have already done heaps of cooking in the two days here, so it will definitely be put to good use. I was taking a quick study break when I went around and took pictures, so that is why it's still a bit of a mess...We do have a really nice dishwasher now which is new for us - as you can see, I am still used to hand-washing so it might take me a few days to remember that I don't have to wash everything myself!
This is one of our amazing finds...We got this table used and it is so nice! The wood and build is just really nice. I find it so interesting that our table cloth and blankets and stuff from our little apartment totally match in this house. I never could have planned it better.
This is our STEAL of a deal leather couch set that we got...75% off! yeah, baby!! I was definitely enjoying it last night as we relaxed after the move. It's great being able to watch TV and not worry if it's up too loud for the neighbors.
The back area still needs to be finished, but we have to wait until the weather clears up a bit.
I cannot wait to get some nice outdoor furniture and a grill! Taryn tells me that I absolutely cannot buy the swing that I want because she says it's a "nana" thing to have a swing out back...What do you think? The more people that vote "yes, get it and no, it's not a nana thing" the happier I will be...

I didn't take any pictures of the garage, but I think that's pretty average. It's a nice automatic garage and it has a full outdoor sink unit as well which will come in really handy for cleaning all of our camping/tramping gear.

So, that's the big news here. I am supposed to be studying my Acid/Base/Enzyme science stuff, so I should really focus now...More to come!

Long Overdue

2010-09-24T20:34:00.002+12:00

I apologize for not updating our blog lately, but life has been a bit crazy. The country in general has been through a whirlwind between the earthquakes in Christchurch and the horrible weather all over the entire country. We are all ready for spring to take a prettier turn. Palmerston North has been reminding me an awful lot of Kansas of late (I must have set us on the wrong course with my last post talking about how amazing the weather was this winter! haha...sorry to all of you fellow kiwis.)
This month has been a really busy one for me personally. I have been on placements, working on assignments, working at the cafe and generally trying to stay sane through all the study and pressure of school. This semester has proven to be intense, but really good nonetheless.

Last Friday was our one year anniversary of living in NZ! We celebrated with a beautiful dinner party for the Palmerston North rural fire crew. They were having their awards dinner the same night, so it was a perfect way to celebrate and enjoy a lovely night out. These are some pictures from the group.
I know this update really isn't much of an update, but I thought I would post these pictures and follow it up with a more detailed post soon. Only three more weeks of lectures left so the end is nearing...

Bad Omen?

2010-09-01T09:14:00.002+12:00

So, yesterday we went for a nice walk down by the river and then to get a coffee. We go for walks quite often these days just for a relaxing moment away from the room and study. It was a bit cloudy and looked like rain, and then on our way back the sky lit up with the most beautiful rainbow - full on with all the colors! It was so lovely.....So, that was yesterday......

Today, the story changes. We went out for an early morning walk just because it is such a lovely day. We were heading over to the Esplande park to look at the birds and greenhouse area that we had been told about. We are walking down the path where there is not a person in sight and right as we walked past this tree we just got splashed by what seemed like a bunch of rain - but only for a minute...I'm like, "well that was weird!" and Travis looked down to discover that the "splashes of water" was actually brown...Yep, you guessed it, we got pooped all over!! It was a most unpleasant experience. We turned around and headed home to shower and recover from our unfortunate event.

So, the question is...Is it a bad omen that when nothing else is around a bird comes and just dumps all over two people walking down a path?

Winter in NZ - A joke!

2010-08-27T17:16:00.005+12:00

So, I find myself honestly feeling as if I am lying to people when I say it's winter in NZ - Seriously it feels like a joke! I cannot believe that this is our life and that winter is almost over!! I have been through multiple winters in Virginia, Maryland, Kansas, North Carolina, New York, Kentucky, South Korea, and Alaska...Let me tell you, I KNOW what is winter, and what is NOT! ha...

A little drizzle here, a chilly wind there, a beautiful sunny afternoon - This is winter in Palmerston North. Now, they tell us that this has been an exceptionally mild winter, but still I hardly think that beautiful flowers and birds singing is really meant to be associated with winter months. =) Alas, this is how blessed we are to live in a country where this is possible.

Don't get me wrong, I have worn my winter coat about five times and I did wear my gloves twice this winter (once when we were hiking high in the mountains.) and yes, it does rain a lot more in the winter months than the summer...but still, we really cannot complain!

Not only that, but I am shocked at the fact that we still get beautiful produce all through the winter months! I mean HUGE parsnips and just beautiful vegetables and fruit. Certain herbs seem to be hard to grow in the winter months, but other than that we can get our hands on a really wide variety of vegetables and fruit at our local farmers for really cheap! I LOVE it!!

Now that winter is almost over, we have spring and summer to look forward to. We are planning some great tramping trips and will continue our trips up the hill for coffee. (We regularly walk up Summerset hill to a local coffee shop a few times a week now for a break from studying and to get some fresh air. It's a four mile trip so it's a good little exercise on top of our daily routines.)

Another New Zealand mystery of late has been the silent "biter" bug in our house - No idea what this could be, but it regularly bites me on the cheek (usually the SAME side) and makes a joke out of only biting me!!! I cannot for the life of me pinpoint what it is, but it is making me crazy. About three weeks ago I got my first bite. Like most bites or things of curiosity I always give it a good dose of tea tree oil and it goes away. However, this time the tea tree oil seemed to "preserve" it and the bite stayed with me for the past three weeks (still it has not gone away...It's just this red spot on my face!!) The latest two bites have showed up and then disappeared within a few hours, but the first one remains (of course this is a constant source of amusement for Travis as he is always like..."whoa you got another bite, look!...Just kidding, but it made you look!" or "is that your new 'beauty mark'?" yeah...I don't find this amusing at all!)

I am still finding the language a bit of a tricky topic here. The main words that I struggle with at work are Tomato and Basil. (Forget it if the soup of the day includes both, I'm hopeless!) A similar issue came up when I visited a local preschool this week (For one of our classes we had to visit a preschool for a half day and observe their policies for health and education for the children and get to know how the kids viewed health/wellness - that sort of thing.) So, I'm sitting at the play dough table with a few kids and we are making a pretend meal of spaghetti and meatballs with a side salad. We are adding vegetables to our salad and I suggested that we make some tomatoes. Well, one of the boys was like "no way, we wouldn't want to do that"...then a few minutes later he's like, "tornado's blow you way, we don't put them in food"!! ha....He totally thought that I had suggested to put "tornadoes" in our salad because I did not say toMAtoes! This really cracked me up! I am learning...

A kiwi tradition that I am bound and determined to master is the art of cooking a roast dinner. Each time I get a little better at it, but I still haven't quite gotten the art of roasting the potatoes down yet...it will come with time. (I know you wouldn't think that it's hard, however, there is definitely a technique to making them perfectly crispy on the outside and moist and tender on the inside....I'm getting there.)

Currently I am on study break for two weeks so I have been frantically working on research essays/reports, studying for midterms and trying to make time for the all important "relaxation"...

Update

2010-08-15T15:19:00.005+12:00

The past few weeks have proven to be quite uneventful, but somehow busy!...Finishing up assignments for class, working, training for the race (my half marathon), getting the flu, and then the "grande finale" - missing out on the race altogether due to getting the flu the week before...Oh so sad...

So, yes, we have been busy. Truthfully though, nothing terribly note-worthy has been taking place. It is still winter here, and while we do have some lovely days scattered through now and again, it has been a bit cold and "wintery" in Palmerston these past few weeks. We have, however, managed to get out and enjoy some lovely day drives down to a few different beaches around the area. (Nothing quite like going to the beach in the dead of winter!) While the breeze is quite chilly off the water, it's still a lovely view and nice to just get out for a drive every now and again. - We are scouting out where we want to go this summer for our picnics!

In other news, Travis has gotten another year older this week. We didn't do anything too elaborate, but we did enjoy a nice meal at a local Turkish restaurant to celebrate. People talk about "growing old together" but you don't really even realize it until you are actually there! I suppose it is official now we are "growing old together"!

I only have one more week left of classes before our mid semester study break. We have a few major projects to work through over break, and then back to the grind stone and finishing up the last part of semester. I cannot believe how fast this year has gone by.

We are planning to do some day trips and I am hopeful to have some nice stories and pictures to share soon! Stay tunned...

Rangiwahia Hut and Deadman's Track

2010-07-16T15:18:00.002+12:00

Thursdays are my day's off now, so essentially this is our "weekend" and our chance to do something fun. I work until Midnight on Wednesday night's so depending on the weather and how we feel, we are trying to make this our fun day.

We had heard the weather was meant to be nice yesterday, so we decided that we would get up and head out early for a day tramp. Yesterday morning, as predicted, the weather was beautiful and clear...We packed our bags and headed out to Rangiwahia to tramp around in the Ruahine's.
It was such a gorgeous day! The sky was so clear and the sun was shining. Unfortunately the sun was shinning a bit too much for good photos. While in person you could clearly see Mt. Ruapehu and many hills and mountains beyond, in the photos it is all too bright to really capture....Ah, well.

We tramped along for about 2 hours to get to the Rangiwahia hut. It is quite a nice one, I might add...
We did have our first view of snow in NZ which came with mixed emotions... While it was so cool to feel like winter is actually here, it also complicated our tramp quite a bit. Imagine practicing your tramping skills on an ice skating rink in regular shoes; then increase the intensity by inclining the ice skating rink and see how much fun that is! haha...Yes, this is exactly what it was like. We encountered a lot of ice and a little snow on our way up to the hut and it was not easy to manipulate our way up without falling and breaking our neck! - Somehow we did manage without any bodily harm, although my ankle definitely took a beating from all the extra strain. It was an adventure and this unexpected challenge made Travis quite worried about our time limit and what we would encounter on the rest of the journey...We needed to be back to town by 5 so I could shower before work and we really didn't know how long the loop would take, so he was pushing straight forward at an un-godly speed. (Of course no time for photos in his mind because that would mean stopping for a minute! haha) He was definitely a "slave driver" on this tramp and I was feeling pretty tired after the uphill bit...
After about another hour and a half we reached summit so this is my "summit picture"...Yes, this is all we could see up there, not a great view from the top on this day and it was pretty cold! Unfortunately for us, this turned out to be a "false summit" and after going down hill for a little bit we realized that there was still a mountain to officially summit before our loop would return home!! YIKES....At the top of the ACTUAL summit it looked exactly like this, so we didn't bother taking another picture. haha.
While the lighting was not good enough to take a picture, we did see a full rainbow up on the top of the mountain and it stayed with us for about an hour. It was awesome! Every time my body was aching and I was thinking about how many more HOURS we still had to tramp, I looked up and saw the beautiful rainbow and it encouraged me to press on.
The path going down was pretty much all soft snow which was easy going and nothing like the climb up, but still hard on our legs with the un-steadiness of that type of surface.

By the time we reached bottom we had managed to do the whole loop in the exact estimated time of 6 hours in spite of all the terrain issues. We felt really good that we had made it back in time for work and everything. (Although I confess that work was the last thing that I wanted to do after a day like that!!)

This was our first real "winter" experience tramping in NZ so it was an adventure. Today I admit that I feel about 100 years old as my body is still aching! haha.

It's Friday here in NZ, and my first week of second semester is already finished! I am very excited about my papers this semester and looking forward to all the interesting things that I will be studying. Well, I will keep you posted on any more exciting adventures, but that's all for now...We are off to have a much needed coffee break! =)

Have I mentioned that I love NZ!?

2010-07-02T15:34:00.008+12:00

Oh, how I love thee...Let me count the ways...

1) Winter in New Zealand rocks!! Now, I definitely miss the life-altering beauty of the Alaskan "alpine glow" and the gorgeous northern lights dancing in the midnight sky...while Alaska will always have a special place in my heart and I will never forget the amazing time that we had there; I cannot help but love the fact that I can go for a run on a "cold winter day" here in NZ with a thin shirt on and sunglasses with the sun shining down on my face!! Yep, I just can't help but love that!...Having said that, it doesn't really feel like winter here at all. I do kind of miss the snow and getting all bundled up and hearing Christmas carols playing and stuff - that part of winter will never be the same again...but, no ice storms or big blizzards and definitely no 80 below freezing your butt off cold! - yep, I think I can handle that!

2) Have I mentioned NZ wine before? Oh, I'm sure I have...but I don't think you can quite understand how amazing it is until you come for a visit.

3) How about Yummy Mummy's cheesecakes? Talk about true love...Taryn introduced us to this sinful delicacy this week. Travis and Taryn and I drove out to Woodville (about a half hour away) and induldged in this amazing treat!

4) Friendliness and hospitality. They claim that kiwi's are some of the friendliest people around, and I have to say that I understand this whole-heartedly and agree! There are few people that I meet that aren't just amazing and it usually turns out that if they aren't lovely people I discover that they actually aren't kiwi's in the first place! haha. (Just an interesting observation.)

5) Tramping in New Zealand is everything that we thought it would be. Part of our disappointment in living in Alaska was the restrictions that we felt towards our love for hiking and exploring. We found that with the weather we could rarely hike and when the weather was accomodating that was the time of year when we were both way too busy to consider a short break from work! Also in Alaska you are constantly concerned about bears and moose etc. when out tramping and always have to pack a gun or talk/sing really loudly etc...Just not the most relaxing hiking experience. (While we did manage some amazing tramps in Alaska - mostly around Kennicott - we still didn't get out as much as we wanted.) We were so hopeful that we would have the opportunity to tramp a lot in NZ and so far this has definitely proven to be the case. We don't always go on big extravagant hikes, but even just getting out and walking along a nice trail for a few hours is truly inspirational and just a great chance to enjoy nature and get away from the habit of sitting in front of the TV/computer all day. We go for a decent tramp about once a week these days and also go for walks along the river quite often as well. I would say that we have definitely hiked more in the past 9 months of living in NZ than probably our whole 8 years of marriage combined! It's been amazing!

6) Lifestyle standards are awesome here. There isn't such a need to "keep up with the Joneses" and most people live very simple lives in which material things just aren't the focus. It's quite similar to Alaska in that regard. One of our favorite things about the Alaskan people was this quality of life in which enjoying one's happiness in life was the focus rather than trying to earn a certain place in society. So many people work so hard to make money so they can buy all these things that just aren't a neccessity. We enjoy focusing on the important things in life which make us happy and we appreciate others who hold those same values.

Okay....and things I miss:

1) I miss my card buddies!!! Winter is not the same with out those cold winter nights by the fire eating goodies while we played cards for hours!! Ah, I miss you guys!

2) I miss EMS and playing with all the fun "toys" on the ambulance! ha....And I definitely miss those amazing medevac flights in the early morning as the sun was rising up over the mountains...ah, Alaska.

3) I miss Fast Eddy's Fruits of the Forest pie

4) Walter - ah, I miss him so much...I cannot wait to get my own house here in NZ. Travis says I can get a little kitty again when we move!!! But, alas, none will ever be the same as my little Walter.

With every true love, there is a bittersweet sadness for some of the pleasures you give up to enjoy that new relationship...As for me, I am content in that sacrifice and relishing the beauty of my new-found love!

Random thoughts from an American

2010-06-25T08:45:00.004+12:00

Honesty

Is it bad that when I see an American tourist I feel like they are visiting "my" country?! I actually stand behind the counter and give a little chuckle when they can't figure out how to use the EFTPOS machine and they have NO idea what kind of coffee to order. Sometimes I actually think to myself, "crazy American tourists!!" haha...(Don't get me wrong, I'm not ACTUALLY making fun of them, I just remember how it felt to do that myself the first week we got here...And yes, I still refer to myself as the "crazy American", so it's really all fair.) I simply comment on this because I realized last night as this situation occured again, that I truly do feel like New Zealand is my home and those visiting are actually touring around "my" country. We expected to feel this way after about ten years, but really I wasn't planning to feel such a loyalty or attachment to this place so soon.

I find it kind of weird how American's feel foreign to me now and how even hearing the American accent takes me a minute to realize that they are actually from my home country! I guess maybe it's just from being immersed in the New Zealand culture or something. Travis can still pick up on it, but he has always been good at recognizing accents. Me, on the other hand, I said to Travis just the other day, "oh those people are from our home country" only to have him say, "if your home country was the UK!!"...Yeah, see, I can't really differentiate.

So, what makes a tourist stand out when they visit another country?

1) Lack of ability to cope with the technology or currency of that country...i.e. standing at the counter trying to figure out which coin is the $2 and which one is the $1 coin! My advice - figure that out in the car so you don't look like such an idiot when you go to pay!! haha

2) Never knowing what to order or buy - the BIG debate..."OMG, what is IN that!?"...If you are touring, take my advice - "don't ask, just give it a try!!!"...(We also found this in Korea. People would take forever trying to make SURE their meal was made with chicken! haha)...My philosophy is "When in Rome..."

3) Taking pictures by and of random signs will automatically set you apart as a tourist. Now, exceptions to these rules come when you find cool signs like "Brazillions for Blokes"...now that sort of sign is DESERVING of touristy attention!!

4) Stating the obvious..."Oh, sorry, I'm an American and I'm not used to using these machines!" ha...Yep, you just separated yourself out as a tourist in a BIG sort of way.

5) Wearing big Russian winter hats when it's only like 10c outside!! (SERIOUSLY, this happened to me the other day. It was a decent winter's day in PN and this couple came into the cafe all bundled up like they were in Antarctica. She had this super cool fluffy Russian hat on and everything...they were definitely NOT from Palmy.)

Now, I would say that wearing labeled clothing, (i.e. sweatshirts from Texas A&M) would separate you out as a tourist, however, several kiwi's wear NY hats, etc. and not everyone who wears one is actually from that place. They do always seem to draw attention though.

So, what makes the ex-pats blend in as if they were kiwi's themselves? I would say the best way to tell if an ex-pat is a "want-to-be-kiwi" is if they really do embrace the culture and way of life. For example, there is this guy who comes into the cafe and he is from America and the girl he was with the other day asks me, "so where are you from in America?" and he says to her something along the lines of, "You shouldn't ask her that, she's here now" - or something like that. He smiled and I answered the girl, but it was really kind of a way of understanding from him that once you move here you really don't always want to be associated or viewed as an outsider anymore...And as a returned favor, I have never asked him where he was from either. You adapt to the culture, it becomes a part of you, and you eventually stop standing out as a "visitor".

No mater where you immigrate to or live for an extended period of time, there is a certain feeling of oneness with the people of that country when you find in yourself acceptance of their culture and traditions and when you stop looking for the familiar of your own home country. I think when ex-pats move, they tend to spend the first year or so "missing" the things of their home country and dreaming of the comforts and things they loved. When they find contentment in their new place of residence, and let go of the "dreaming of what was", they are able to truly embrace their new home. It is in that moment that they truly become a part of where they are. This happens at different times for different people. It is kind of a "coming home" moment where your new country becomes that "home".

Castle Point

2010-06-21T18:22:00.008+12:00

Today I had the day off from work, so Travis and I decided to drive two hours down to Castle Point - the location of yet another amazing lighthouse and beautiful seascapes.
We were so very blessed to have the most amazing weather for viewing. The sun was out and it was absolutely gorgeous for a winter's day!! I know I must have said at least a dozen times, "It's so amazing! I love New Zealand...I cannot believe this is our life!"
We saw many birds, including seagulls, red-billed gulls and others...so cool! This is a nice view of Castle Rock where we climbed to the top and took some amazing photos.
There are lots of fossilized reefs so that was really cool to see. This is a picture of some of the fossil area.
The "shelf" from this rock is pretty cool and was amazing to see in person. It was quite windy and apparently I wasn't quite standing upright when I took this picture as it is a little lopsided.

I took most of these pictures in honor of my Granny as she is a HUGE lighthouse fan!!
These views were just stunning. There are some ghost stories about this lighthouse, but I couldn't find an accurate detail, so I am not including the story here. ;) I'll leave it to your imagination...
Some nice tourist offered to take our picture, so here we are on an amazing NZ winter day!!! (Yeah, I learned from most of these pictures to wear a hat next time - the wind does me no favors and most of the pictures I would never post! haha.)
This is my favorite picture of the day...This scene really is hard to beat no matter where you are! Just stunning. There are houses up on the hill where this would be your view from your living room - SUCH a life!!
Looking out on the other side from Castle Rock. We were really lucky because we could see the rain coming our way and quickly descended the climb just in time to miss getting wet.
As we were descending down a second path to go walk along the beach, Travis abruptly stopped and kind of slid looking as if he was about to fall and saying, "Whoa!!!" I just then looked up to realize that he had almost run into THIS...
Oh yeah, this definitely made my day!!! We weren't even looking for them, so it was a good thing that Travis saw them as they can get kind of aggressive.
Another of my favorite pictures...
Castle Rock from the beach front view...Just as we got back to the car it started to rain, and with the rain came our fourth rainbow of the day - we had seen them all the way out to the beach and it was so amazing, but this topped it all - This was the first time I had EVER seen a full and complete rainbow. We couldn't get the whole thing in one picture, but it's still pretty awesome! It was actually a double rainbow with another one right above it, but the second one on top was a little more faded so didn't show up in the pictures...
Definitely something to behold and the most FABULOUS conclusion to our day...
I leave you with this picture, as I think anyone would be hard pressed to argue that this has to be at the top of the list of things to do or see!!! If you ever make it to NZ, do not miss out on this fabulous day trip - easy to access, free to view, and totally breath-taking! New Zealand truly is a magical place, and as for me, I am one VERY happy person tonight!!

Manawatu Gorge Track

2010-06-05T07:45:00.005+12:00

Yesterday afternoon we went on the Manawatu Gorge Track with Taryn and Tim. It was a lovely tramp and the day was so perfect. - Yes, another gorgeous WINTER day in Palmerston North!
The first few pictures are in Sepia because my camera got switched on the wrong setting! haha...They turned out pretty cool, though, and the sun was shining so brightly that they probably turned out way better this way!

Manawatu Gorge

You can even see the train tracks on the right side.
Up here is where most of the windmills are in the Palmerston North area. It's so beautiful!
In the far distance you can make out the outline of Mt. Ruapehu
I think this is such a cool tree!!! Very lovely tramping through this area - it is so green and peaceful! The tramp was only about an 8K, but took us over three hours due to the amount of uphill tramping and all the various picture stops we took along the way!!
Taking a bit of a rest.After our tramp we all headed back home and made homemade pizza's for dinner! It was a blast and just an all around perfect Friday afternoon!

Sledge Track

2010-06-03T20:45:00.003+12:00

Just another fabulous day in New Zealand! After work today we decided to do a quick tramp at the Kahuterawa Reserve about 15 min. away from our house. We went for almost 1.5 hours, but you can actually go all day and explore old mines and stuff - definitely planning to do that on another day!! Today was really just about getting out and enjoying the area. This area is really nice and the path was so peaceful. It was another random sunny day in Palmerston North (We tend to get those random beautiful days of late, although they claim that winter is here. - Hard to believe that coming from Alaska!)
How cool is this tree? I thought it was a neat view...I love these fern trees, I just think they are amazing!
Tomorrow we are doing a tramp with Taryn and Tim, so that should be super fun! I will post pictures...The weather is supposed to be gorgeous for the next few days so that will be really nice.

Update

2010-05-31T15:31:00.004+12:00

Well, it has definitely been a while since I updated on here, but I have been avoiding posting in hopes that I would have some big news to share - Even after waiting so long, I still don't have much big news.

As for nursing...I am on my "study week" this week and start finals next week. First semester is essentially over and I only have four finals to complete before our mid-semester break!!! It's amazing how fast the first semester went by. I am still loving it and really looking forward to our next classes. I am obviously in crazy "study freak" mode right now as I anticipate my first EVER finals...

We are hoping to do a bit of tramping over the next few weeks so hopefully I will have some cool pictures to post soon. I totally missed all the beautiful autumn leaves as I was too busy with classes and work to take time for landscape photography....HOWEVER, I will do my best not to miss the next season of pictures for those of you out there wondering what it's like here.

The weather has been on again, off again. A lot of NZ has had some serious rain/flooding lately, but Palmerston North managed to scrape by with only a few days of cold/rainy weather. We were pretty certain that winter had officially arrived; however, it is once again gorgeous out today, so it seems that we may have a few nice days left still this fall.

I promise to update more regularly as school break arrives and we start doing more adventurous things.

NZ Fall

2010-04-29T08:25:00.005+12:00

Palmerston North in the fall is a great mixture of beautiful sun-shining days and chilly, cloudy days of gloom. One moment you are cuddling your soft blanket with the heater running and the next moment you are cracking the windows to let the fresh breeze in....yep, that's our life this fall.

Things are going well here in PN, we managed to get through the huge Erotica Expo last week without much social unrest. (Every year they have this big sex conference and it's coupled with a "Boobs on Bikes" parade where all these people ride around town with essentially nothing on. Anyway, there was this huge controversy because they were scheduling the parade to be held on Anzac day - which is like NZ memorial day/Fourth of July type event - and everyone was really upset by this.....Anyway, apparently the parade did end up getting moved to the middle of the week so the whole Expo went off without too much conflict.) Just encase anyone was wondering, NO I did not attend..haha......Anzac day ended up being a success although the weather really kept a lot of people away. They have a huge military parade at dawn (or 5:45am) and it was rainy so not as many showed up as usually come (usually thousands). I worked at Barista's that morning so I didn't get to go, but we weren't as crazy, as we expected. We were prepared for mass chaos as in the years past, but since the rain kept a lot of people away we were just moderately busy.

School is going really well. I am enjoying working at the nursing home and really enjoying all the research and stuff for my assignments (although it does take SOOOO many hours!!!) Friday we have our first mid-term for science so that's a bit scary, but I think I'm prepared enough that I should pull it off okay....I guess time will tell.

Everything else is pretty smooth sailing. I am still loving PN a lot and have some terrific friends that really keep me happy and keep the loneliness at bay. (Study also helps with that since I rarely have time to think about being lonely! haha...) I'll blog more later, but that's the latest on how things are here~

Life in Kiwiland

2010-04-06T17:16:00.014+12:00

So, as promised, I am writing another quick blog to talk about some of my most recent observations:

For starters let's talk about NZ television ~ One thing that I find so interesting here is the lack of TV censorship. It's really up to parents to be parents here and monitor what their children watch because the TV channels play all movies and shows without censorship to language or nudity. While some people may find this appalling, I find it merely an interesting observation. On that same topic, we don't have movie channels (like Pay Per View) here where you have to pay to watch. Nearly every night you can find a great movie on your regular TV channel (and I only get 4 channels). No payments, no censorship, you can just watch the movie......Great movies like The Bucket List and Raising Helen were on last night as an example.

How about NZ commercials? ~ Let me tell you, they have some graphic and serious commercials against drunk driving - "Good on you, NZ"...I'm sure it has to make a heavy impact. Also they have a lot of really great commercials about depression and child abuse...And how about healthy eating? They have these "food in a minute" snap shots where they give a quick and healthy recipe and then tell you what's on sale at the grocery - Actually I would say that probably during every commercial break you will get at least one that is strictly about sending out a positive message for change....IMPRESSIVE.

Pronunciation of the letter Z ~ In New Zealand the letter Z is pronounced "zed" so everything is N"Zed"...This takes some major getting used to and it's hard for kiwi's to understand me when I actually use the letter Z (my pronunciation being "zzzzz" haha...). This is the moment when I stand out as an American. (Well, I suppose it could be my southern accent too?!)

My most recent observation has been in regards to the Genuineness of Kiwis ~ Growing up, it seemed like so few people actually cared what was going on in other people's lives...They said, "Hey, how are you?" as a common courtesy without really even waiting to hear a reply, much less caring about what the reply was...Here it's just not like that. When someone asks "How are you going?" They actually want to know, and stop and look you in the eye anxiously waiting to hear what you say in response. It's sad that this feels abnormal to me, but it's just not something I'm used to. I catch myself saying, "yeah, good" in response because I am so used to that being the proper answer and then I realize that they wanted more of a response from me - I LOVE this!! I love knowing that even though I might not be best friends with someone, they actually still care about me and really want to know how I am. When someone you meet says, "Let's get together for a coffee" they actually CALL you and set up the date. I can count on one hand how many times someone invited Travis and I over for dinner in the past 8 years of our marriage and two of those times have been here in NZ in the past six months...So, what I have to say to this, "Good on you, kiwi's - keep it up!"

My thoughts on NZ holidays ~ They rock! It's so strange how everything shuts down on a holiday here in NZ. Even the grocery stores close...unheard of in the States...I still haven't quite figured out, though,why Easter Sunday wasn't considered a holiday, but Easter Monday was? That one is lost on me...(Regular pay if you worked on Sunday, but time-and-a-half to work Easter Monday...so strange.)

NZ coffee is amazing! ~ Have I mentioned this before? It seems like I haven't had even one cup of bad coffee since arriving...I am spoiled. Just encase anyone was wondering, this is why I work - so I can afford to drink good coffee!

Another observation of late has been regarding the appreciation of Kiwi's ~ As I mentioned in my most recent blog about Travis' fire experience they paid him a substantial amount of money for his time and effort on the rural fire. This was totally unexpected and so amazing. Nothing like that had ever happened before...During our back-to-school sales at Hannah's I had a customer who took time out of her day to write a really kind letter of appreciation praising my customer service skills and talking about her experience having her daughter fitted for shoes (who does that? I mean, seriously, who takes time out of their life to write a letter to a shoe store thanking them for their customer service?) It was so shocking and really took me by surprise. To top that off the company gave me a $20 gift certificate to say that they really were pleased with the positive feedback...AGAIN, this has never happened to me before. Most places would just pat you on the back and say, "thanks, well done". It still totally amazes me to this day...I have mentioned the genuineness of Kiwi's, but also I have to say that they are incredibly generous and are so willing to "give back" as well. I LOVE this about NZ...Taking the generosity thing a step further, I got my hair cut and colored today and the lady gave me a substantial discount without even making a big deal about it (She cut the price by like $20 essentially giving me my haircut for free!)...This sort of thing seems to be totally common-place...They just aren't out there trying to "make a buck" it's more about giving back, and I just LOVE that attitude.

NZ does have Day Light Saving's Time ~ I wondered about that, and now I know...Our clocks got set back on Sunday.

NZ Crime ~ The biggest news on our TV this past week was about a 16 year old boy who was stabbed to death in a fight. This happened in a small NZ town and caused quite a stir. Now, we are talking about a real tragedy, and this definitely was a horrific thing to happen. In the US, however, this sort of thing happens almost daily in the NICEST cities, and you would probably not even hear about it on the news. (I realize that there are some towns like Garden Plain, KS where this sort of thing wouldn't happen...but they are few and far between. - considering those towns as part of a city like Wichita, this would definitely be a regular occurrence.) This is no shocking story in the States. In comparison here, these folks want to know what they can do for their town and for the young people to keep this from becoming a regular occurrence. (Because in NZ this sort of thing doesn't happen very often.) They are looking at how they can prevent these sorts of tragedies from becoming common-place. While I am not saying that NZ is crime-free, it's definitely nothing like the US as far as this is concerned.

What about NZ weather? ~ In Palmerston North it can change on a dime. One minute it can be really nice out and in less than an hour it's cold, windy and raining...yep, that's Palmerston North! (On the flip side though, it can start out as a cold/rainy/nasty day and in an hour or two it will be totally beautiful and fabulous!) Currently my fingers are frozen to the bone - the sun is all shinny outside, but the wind has made it bitter cold inside. (I'm using my heater for the first time today!)

My observations could go on and on, but I was intending to keep this post short. I'll make more comments later, so for now I'll leave you with this thought...Wouldn't the world just be a better place if all of us, everywhere, were more genuine and more generous people!? Consider that as you go about your life this week, I definitely will keep this in my own mind...

Kaimaumau Road Fire

2010-04-06T16:40:00.007+12:00

Finally, I have an opportunity to upload the amazing pictures from the fire that Travis helped on about a month ago. While Travis was here in Palmerston North, he was able to train and volunteer with the Rural Fire crew here in NZ. Fire is Travis' first love (well, I suppose I might rank somewhere up on the list too) and this is pretty much what a great day in his life looks like....

I just think this photo is stunning.

I'm not sure what they are doing in any of these pictures, really, but it looks like a pretty sophisticated system...

Some parts of NZ really remind me of Kansas.

Not sure who this girl is, but dang, she must be one tough cookie! I would be proud to meet her - I take my hat off to any girl who can hang with these guys and work that hard!

Well, there you have it.....the long awaited photos of Travis' big NZ fire-fighting experience. I'm sure he could give a much better commentary on the actual events, but I thought the pictures were well worth posting all on their own.

Now I do have to say here, that something remarkable did happen after Travis returned from this volunteer trip.....They actually ended up paying him for his volunteer time! SERIOUSLY....Now I cannot help but compare NZ to the US in this instance because that has never happened to us before and we have spent many years of our lives in volunteer services. Most places would just use your service and take advantage of all of your skills and time given with maybe a nice pat on the back or shake of the hand. Never has someone gone out of their way to see that expenses were compensated. Travis never mentioned anything to them about getting paid or having his expenses covered, they just did this for him out of the goodness of their hearts because they felt it was worthy of compensation. This is a whole new thing for us and not something we are used to experiencing. While the purpose of volunteering is to give of yourself asking nothing in return, it is still nice that someone would actually go out of their way to do such a thing......The kindness of Kiwi's just never ceases to amaze us....More to come on that. I will post later this week with my latest thoughts on life in kiwiland.

Residential Nursing Facilities in NZ

2010-03-25T20:15:00.005+13:00

Well, this week was my first placement as a student nurse in NZ. While I have never been in a nursing home in the capacity of nurse/medic/volunteer, I have been in countless nursing homes across the east coast of the US as an entertainer. (We are talking, probably over a hundred.) My sister and I began singing in nursing homes when I was 3 and she was 5. Throughout our lives we would visit nursing homes and sing and visit with the residents. When we began performing semi-professionally in NY we made at least one (sometime upwards of 4) performances a month in nursing homes. After every performance we would go around and visit with each resident and just take a moment to share a friendly "hello"...While this was always quite an emotionally challenging thing for us, it was still really rewarding.

I say all of that to give you a background of my experience in the US system. Again, I have no experience with the actual "nursing" process, however you can still observe some basic skills of the care givers and policies of each facility and get an idea of the care that the patients are receiving and cleanliness etc. of the facility. I definitely had the pleasure of visiting some really nice facilities (A few in particular stand out in NY and also one in NC that was quite nice as well.)

In saying that, I have to commend the nursing facility where I am working because it is definitely one of the nicest that I have ever been in. While no facility will ever be perfect (maybe in a perfect world) the staff and quality of care given are really worthy of positive comment. Nursing care in assisted living facilities in NZ may not be this nice in every facility (in fact, I can probably guarantee that it's not...) However, I just have to say that these care givers and nurses really are pretty darn amazing. They work hard and really do everything they can to help the residents have a great day, every day.

One of the coolest things that I have seen is the use of the Hoist. They have a sling hoist and a standing hoist. ....I added pictures encase you are wondering what they look like! =) They are SUPER cool. The nursing facility has a "No Lift" policy which really saves the backs of the staff who are constantly moving residents all throughout the day. (We could DEFINITELY have used one of these at Tok Clinic. - who knows, maybe they could get some grant money for one....I highly recommend looking into it.)

At first it was a little weird using them, but straight away I took to it and really love using it. I really have enjoyed getting to know the residents and it will be fun to go back out there in a few weeks and see them all again. (We are quickly approaching our Easter Break so we will be off for a little bit.)

The first two days were quite slow moving and I wasn't sure how much I would enjoy the placement since it was mostly just observing, but today we got to put our gloves on jump in so it was great. It felt so good to be back with the patients again and doing stuff - I miss the clinic and EMS - and I was reminded that this is definitely what I was meant to be doing! =) Such a great day......

Also, I never had much work with residential patients in Tok because most of what we dealt with were trauma and acute patients (not having an over-night facility there). This was my first opportunity to really practice feeding/bathing/caring for a patient with their daily needs. It's a whole different experience. More to come on that, but this was just my first overall impression of my first week on placement.

Reflections from Human Development

2010-03-14T08:38:00.004+13:00

So, what do you expect from a uni student, besides a draining bank account and instant noodles in their pantry? Yes, that would be, a constant need to share their new-found knowledge with those poor people around them who really don't care to hear it! haha......Yes, this is me...

I am finding Human Development and my science paper incredibly interesting. For my essay I chose the topic of an old man who is almost 90 and giving up his driver's license. (in NZ it's spelled licence which throws me for a loop every time!!) The scenario is about the emotional struggle he is going through as he faces driving cessation and how this will effect his life. (He was a mechanic his whole life and has an intense love for cars...The case study is quite extensive so it paints a really good picture.).....Anyway, we analysis this guy's story with Brofenbrenner's ecological system model which essentially states that our lives are a direct influence of things around us: environment, culture, and family/friends. These things all directly affect us and we in-turn affect them. This theory is laid out in stages and each stage is directly or indirectly influenced by the other......It's kind of complicated, but really fascinating.....

ANYWAY...why am I even bringing this up? Well, in researching for this essay I had to find out statistics and stuff for NZ and the systems they have in place for driver's license renewal etc....Currently drivers over 75 have to renew their license every 2-5 years (depending on their condition) and they all have to have medical certificates proving their ability to drive safely, and sometimes they have to take an on-road exam.....I don't know what the rules are in the US, but they seem to look at this as more of a safety precaution for the sake of the driver. It's about making sure that the driver will be safe and able to respond to hazards they encounter. (It is not just those 75+ that have to have a medical clearance, it's anyone renewing their license.) It does seem that NZ wants to respect their right to drive and wants to encourage them to continue renewing their license, but also they have a sense of responsibility to the person to ensure that they will do so safely.

NZ also has a lot of support systems in place for the elderly such as Grey Power, Age Concern, and other great websites. If a person does need to cease driving they have a new system in place for free public transport where that person can use their Super Gold card and get free transportation. I think this is a great start towards supporting the elderly once they have ceased to drive.

It's quite an interesting topic, and the reason I thought I would share is for those of you who enjoy learning about things in NZ and comparing them to what you are used to in the US. Again, I don't know what systems are in place for these circumstances in the US, but it seems that NZ has got a good handle on it and is making great strides in achieving more for the future. (Rightfully so, since it is predicted that by 2020 the population of New Zealander's over the age of 65 will have increased from 550,000 to 1 million!)

So, yes, uni is going really well. I am learning a lot, studying a lot, and doing a LOT of research and reading! I am totally loving it though. I start clinical placements next week so that will be interesting as well.

I'll write more later, but that's all for now!

The Art of Balance

2010-03-02T07:21:00.003+13:00

So, I find myself at a crossroads this week....The place where you stand and wonder how you will ever do all that you need to do! Have you ever been down this road before?

It's been pretty insane now that school has started. Uni here is definitely every bit as intense as I anticipated (with a little extra thrown in for good measure.) The classes here are fabulous and I am thoroughly enjoying every minute of it. The study part, I will confess, does cause a bit of neck pain and brain overload. (I could definitely use some craniosacral massage today!) Each class has heaps of expected reading and self-directed study - leading to worksheets, study guide questions, and online quizzes! - but it's all starting to come together. The online aids are fabulous and the classes even have chat-rooms and stuff so you can share in each others pain - er, joy of learning! =)

I should have some cool pictures to post of Travis' recent fire that he went on, but I just don't have them yet.

Fall is coming to NZ shortly, we can definitely tell a change in the weather. There are cooler days mixed in with the warm ones, and the mornings/evenings are getting more chilly each week.

What is Uni like?

2010-02-17T18:37:00.002+13:00

Just for anyone who is interested to know what college (Uni) is like in New Zealand....you should check out my personal blog www.teniahmakesitcount.blogspot.com

I will be posting periodically about my experience as a college student and how my "study" life is going.....I start that off with some thoughts on today's orientation into the Bachelor of Nursing program.

A Few New Zealand Oddities

2010-02-14T08:09:00.012+13:00

I thought it was about time to blog a little more about some differences between our life in America and our life here in New Zealand. (And some of my most recent discoveries)

Some of my favorite new idiosyncrasies:
1) Ta - meaning "thanks"
2) Cheers - also meaning "thanks", "bye" and a whole slew of other things. Basically you can say "Ta" or "cheers" in just about every situation and you are correct!
3) Heaps - I love this one! (So, you would say something like, "ah, yeah, you have heaps of room in that!" or "I want heaps of chocolate!" haha....)

Some idiosyncrasies I will pass on - Sweet As, Hot As, Big As..etc....(It basically means - really awesome, really hot, really big etc..) They use these a LOT, but somehow it always sounds like "Sweet Ass" "Big Ass" etc., you get the idea, and I don't really want people to think that's what I'm saying so I have passed on adding this to my vocabulary.

I learned about Black Pudding (holy gross!) and Tarakihi. My new favorite is the NZ sweet potato - Kumera - I have this at least once a week. It's fabulous in pumpkin soup or roasted with other vege; or made up just like you would a baked sweet potato.

I still am continually amazed at the amount of people who do not wear shoes in this country. They walk around EVERYWHERE in totally bare feet. It grosses me out to even think about walking around in a mall or side walk where there is trash/gum/glass etc with nothing between my feet and the ground. I don't know how they do it, but it's a totally natural thing here, and I see it a LOT!!! (In the states there are all those signs where you have to have on shoes and a shirt to enter...not so here!!)

Do you remember A Bug's Life and that cute little stick bug? Well....

We have stick bugs in NZ!!! This one was in our bathroom (we keep the bathroom window open, so sometimes we do get the unfortunate visitor.)

The fruit here is totally amazing! Summer has been so awesome. My freezer is full of strawberries and blueberries and other yummies. The plums are in season right now; and let me tell you, they are to die for!!

I have also discovered that I cannot afford to be beautiful in NZ. =) Even the cheapest lip gloss at K-Mart is like $25!! I have mentioned this before, but make-up is incredibly expensive here. I have no idea why some things like that are so expensive and others are so comparable?....It's still a mystery to me. I can get my hair cut for cheaper than I can buy a tube of mascara (also between $25-$35) - what's up with that?

Another odd item of expense - underwear - Again, shopping cheap at K-Mart you will still pay at least $12 for one pair!!! (I am not talking about Victoria Secret quality, I'm talking about K-Mart!!) Needless to say, there are some things I am willing to have shipped to me! haha....

Everyone in NZ is crazy about cracked pepper!! I am serious...serving tables at the cafe I served an enormous amount of cracked pepper on EVERYTHING. No one much eats salt here in NZ (unlike the states where I think it's reversed) but they eat pepper like it's going out of style....heaps and heaps of pepper!!

And have I mentioned chips? (They call french fries "chips" here) On a side of every dish goes an order of "chips"...I have had people order "chips" on the side of their hotcakes for breakfast!! Just not something I'm used to....

The list could go on and on, but that's just a little peek into some of the things I find interesting and different here. Oh, and did I even mention fashion!? ha....I LOVE people watching in NZ. The outfits that are "fashionable" here and the hair colors crack me up (especially coming from Alaska!) I just find it interesting, and I HIGHLY doubt that I will pick up on the fashion trends here as easily.

So fun living Internationally.....Every day is a new adventure!

Maharahara Track

2010-02-05T16:21:00.003+13:00

Today was my day off, and since I didn't have any huge plans I asked Travis if he would like to get out of the house for the day and maybe go on a tramp. He jumped all over this idea and within a few minutes he had a day hike mapped out!
We went just outside of town into the Ruahine Mountains to Maharahara Track. It was about 3 hours straight uphill and about two coming down. The track was really nice, although quite challenging. It was more of a "footpath" since it seems that not many actually tramp along this way very often. there was a lot of grass and plant growth which makes it hard to see where you are stepping.
The views from up top were fantastic. The morning started off with a lot of fog, so as we made our way up towards the top all of the grass was covered in dew. It felt nice and refreshing, but we did get quite wet.
This was my first time tramping in shorts in NZ and unfortunately it was also our first experience with these "stickers"!! They were right at ankle/calf level and really sting when they bite into your skin. (They actually stick and you have to pull them out with your fingers.) I pulled my socks way up and that helped a lot, but I still got stung quite a bit...bummer.
Me at the top - yeah, check out my "Home Depot Orange" shorts! haha....Definitely not making a fashion statement here, but they were on sale back in Fairbanks and the price was too good to pass up. (Besides, I match all the orange triangles on the hike!!)

Another cool view from the top.

This gives you a little idea of what the brush looked like. There were a lot of really steep parts where I was grateful for my yoga practice. (At one point I had to put my foot up by my shoulders and haul myself up the rock - crazy....It was kind of treacherous coming down!)

It was a gorgeous, sunny day!! The first part of the tramp you have to hike around through this pasture and up over all these electric fences. Well, when we headed back to the car we were greeted at the last fence by this....
NICE....He was standing RIGHT by where we were to cross over the fence! I convinced Travis that it was not a good idea to climb in there with this guy (didn't take much to convince him! haha.) so we very carefully found another way over into a different pasture and back to our car. (You can see our little blue car in the distance so you can see how he was just trying to keep us trapped! ha...)
Travis found this sheep skull and thought it was pretty cool so I am posting it for the boys back home.

It was a fantastic day and we both just really enjoyed the hike. I had started a pot of chili going in my crock pot before leaving, so it was nice to come home to the smell of chili cooking and dinner was already made! Fabulous!!

Brief Update

2010-02-03T08:45:00.005+13:00

Sorry I haven't blogged much lately, but we haven't done anything very exciting over the past two weeks. I have been working a lot, and just trying to get things organized and in order before school starts.

Last week I completed my Red Cross first aid course in preparation for my nursing program. Unfortunately my training with EMS in Alaska doesn't transfer over here, so I had to start the training at the beginning again. It's all good though. It was a wonderful class, and a great review for me. It's nice when you already know the information and you don't have to stress out over it - it's just a nice review without the fear of failing or anything. There were a few slight differences (like instructing to call 111 instead of 911...and the reference to the injured here is "casualty" instead of "patient"...just little things like that.) The class itself was set up more for hands-on learning and each area that we studied had to be followed by a full practical assessment. (There was no written test.) This included 3 min. of CPR for both adult/child/infant - kind of tiring....I felt that the practical assessment was really beneficial and everyone really did a fantastic job. The Red Cross really makes sure that folks know what they are doing before they certify them! Awesome class, and really well organized program. Kudos to the New Zealand Red Cross and their instructors!

Work has been busy as we have been preparing for the kids going back to school here in NZ. The past two weeks have been so busy with tons of kids coming in to be fitted for school shoes. Hannah's takes this very seriously and we are all thoroughly trained in properly fitting the shoes and knowing which styles are best for which kids...I do have to say that Hannah's is on top of this and does a great job in helping families get what is best for their child. Not only that, but we also offer some fantastic deals - giving free shoe care with each school shoe and $20 off athletic shoes with the purchase of school shoes etc....In NZ all of the schools have uniforms (like the private schools in the states.) because of this, each school has different requirements for what is an appropriate school shoe. Anyway, it's kept us on our toes.

I did meet a nice little family from North Carolina at work on Monday. We were busy so I didn't get to talk to them for very long, but they were in for school sandals and I talked to them as much as I could....They were from Charlotte, so that was pretty awesome. They just moved over about a month ago and she is an ER nurse here in Palmy (very cool....maybe I'll get to work with her on my rotations?!) They are here for 2 1/2 years on a work permit, but they are also hoping to get their permanent residency status. It's always cool to meet people from the states like that - makes you feel not so far from home!

To encourage all of us to sell more shoes during the back to school time, our store did a sales challenge for two weeks. I was on my game and won the challenge which got me a $20 gift voucher and a 1/2 day of pay!! (So, one day this week I get to go home a half day early and still get paid! yes.....) Mostly I think being a poor college student gave me the edge here because I had a lot of motivation! ha....Funny how hard you are willing to work for a $20 gift voucher! haha.....Actually, I am one of those people that will work my butt off just to get a red check mark by my name! haha.....Guess it doesn't take much to motivate me. haha.

Lets see, what else is new here? I have met a few of my fellow nursing students so I'm getting excited about school starting. We have a full class this year and actually Massey has a full waiting list as well (which is a first ever for them!) I guess I was really lucky to get in so early...Our orientation is on the 17th so I'm very excited about that. I'm ready to get started. I have been doing a lot of pre-reading and stuff and I am pretty well prepared. I have some really good classes in the first semester so I think it will be a lot of fun. Travis keeps making me nervous, though, because I'm so excited and optimistic and he just keeps saying, "I'm glad it's you and not me - We will see how you feel in a month!" etc.....So funny.

We are still racing our 7K every Tuesday night at the Super Seven Series. Last night was our fourth race and I made another personal record time of 43:11. Last night I was really feeling it. We have been enjoying this a lot. It is so well organized and just a really fun event. I totally love seeing all the kids out there running with us and it's so motivational to know that parents are out there encouraging their kids like that. I love watching moms and dads running side by side with their kids and encouraging them to keep going! It's just really special and I guess I've not really been exposed to that sort of thing before - so cool.....The weather has been great every time, and we enjoy walking to the race and then home after. It is so refreshing to just go for a stroll after you ran hard like that. It's been really fun, and I will be sad when it's over.

I guess that's the latest updates on us. I know, nothing too exciting...Things will start to get exciting here in a few weeks! I'll try to post some more pictures soon.

Fire on the beach - Part II

2010-01-20T08:07:00.003+13:00

Okay, just so everyone knows - Travis did make it home safely last night. Just about the moment I had hit my "dead sleep" zone, he was knocking at the door! haha....He got home around 11pm and smelled of soot and fire. =) But he was happy and said it was a pretty big fire. Since it was not in the Palmerston North district when it came time to draw straws for the over-night crew they didn't have to stay, so they came on back last night. Oh, and I almost forgot...they fed them all a big "Fish'N'Chips" dinner with beers all around afterwards..NICE

Travis said they aren't sure what started the fire, but it was quite a big one - all things considered - roughly about 30 acres. I thought it was a pretty crazy ordeal, but he was rather nonchalant about it! (that's Travis!)

He showered and had a piece of toast while I groggily tried to listened to all the details.....He was on One News this morning so that was pretty exciting! (Just a brief picture of all the fire fighters and there he was.) Kind of cool to make the NZ news within the first six months of being here. =)

Anyway, that's the end of the story. Today is supposed to be really hot so who knows, there is always the chance of another one. As always, we will keep you posted of any excitement going on here.

Fire on the beach

2010-01-19T20:28:00.005+13:00

This was definitely one of the most insane days so far in NZ....I hold myself entirely responsible for the craziness that was this day; because it was so gorgeous out today, I just couldn't stand sitting inside any longer while the sun was shinning so brightly - SO...I begged Travis to take me to the beach! We were just going to go for a little bit to walk along the shore and just enjoy the beautiful day.
The start of the adventure was just getting there - while we are only roughly 30-45 min. from the beach, getting there was a whole new game - According to the map there are a lot of roads that lead directly to the beach and are clearly marked as access points. However, in reality they are just dirt roads leading nowhere! So....We drove all around trying despiritely to get to the beach. We had just about given up hope, but with it being the perfect beach day, we gave it one last go and drove another 14K or so down the road to another entrance point. This proved to be the key spot! Himatangi Beach - now that we know where it is, I can assure you I will be back!

The beach was not overly crowded so it was great to just walk around and enjoy seeing everyone playing with their kids and stuff. I especially enjoyed watching all the dogs because they were so precious having so much fun out there in the water! One lady was totally cracking us up because she had her little tiny "pooch" out there and was making him paddle around (looked like she was trying to teach him to swim or something...It was hilarious! He was so incredibly unhappy and kept trying to get to shore and get away from the water - and from her!) This was definitely entertaining.

They have all this great gear just ready to go if something goes wrong - for example, just say a big shark comes along and goes "Jaws" on everyone...Just saying, they are prepared!

This is the job I want! haha...

On this beach, you just drive your car right out to a good spot and set up your towels and start "chillaxin".

So, this is the point where our story gets interesting...After a nice stroll along the beach we headed back to Palmy. (Well, we didn't make it far) As we were driving, Travis kept looking over to the left at this smoke coming up. He was so intent on it that I kept having to tell him to just DRIVE! Finally he decided he needed to go back and go to the bathroom (which I totally knew was just an excuse to look at the smoke more closely!) After stopping at the restroom, he parked the car and said we were going to go "check out this fire and see if it's a big one" - Sounds real safe, right!? - So off I go just trying to follow him up this sand dune. Next thing I know there is a four wheeler with fire guys on it coming around the bend saying, "get out, there's a fire!" next thing I see is Travis running around the corner with a big smile on his face - "yup, it's a fire!" - and off we go running back to the car. He ran off really quickly and told them he could help. He grabbed his gear from the car and threw me the keys saying, "well, I guess you get to hang out on the beach for a while!" and off he went with all the fire fighters......

Now what is a good wife to do in such a situation, you might ask? I bought myself an ice cream cone and sat and watched the smoke plume! =) haha.....And of course, documented it on film for my brave hubby who was out there in it!

I laid on the beach for a while and read, but after a time I was really fearful that I would get sunburned (in spite of my layers of sun screen) so I decided I should just head back to the car and hang out there. The sun in NZ is incredibly intense so you really have to be so careful if you are out for any length of time. (And it had been probably almost two hours)It was perfect timing because right as I was heading to the car I heard someone yell out, "Head on back home!" (wait, was that an American accent!?) I was a little disillusioned, but I discovered that it was Travis in his little yellow outfit yelling out from a nearby car that I should go back home without him because he would be there for a long time still. (Apparently the Palmerston North fire crew had just arrived so I assume he will hitch a ride back with them when the fire is out.....That said, I have still not heard a peep from him! ha - gotta love the adventure in that!)

Okay, so at this point I'm like on some beach somewhere and I have no idea even how to get home! Not to mention the fact that I haven't EVER driven outside of the city since arriving in NZ - scary thought - and I am not familiar at ALL with the roads and stuff. So, I get out the little travel book we had with us and luckily I was able to kind of make out what seemed to be the way home!!! - INSANE!!! Off I go leaving my husband in some strange town to fight a fire on the beath! ha...How crazy is that, seriously!? I mean, how often does something like that happen? (It actually hardly even sounds real.)

The end of the story is that I made it home with about 20 min. to spare before I had to head off to my race - which, I totally bombed, but I think I was just so tired and had so much going on that I was spent - It was still a good race, and I was glad I went, but I was just kind of distracted....I guess the story really isn't over though, because as I mentioned, Travis isn't home yet so I don't even know all the cool details of the fire. - The helicopter was dropping water as I left! (There will definitely have to be a Part II)

Now, I know this has been a really long blog, but I have to take a second to brag on Travis while he isn't around...It was so totally cool to see him in action today. His whole spirit just lit up when he realized it was a fire that he could actually help on. As he grabbed his gear it was like he just became so energized and alive - It was really encouraging to me to see that he loves doing this so much, and it just helped me better understand why this is his passion. It makes the sacrifices you make worth it when you know that it is bringing happiness to the one you love. I'm just so proud of him. He really jumped in with both feet (not knowing a single person) and just "went at it" I know they had to be really grateful that he was there to help. I would have been so nervous being in a different country and not knowing how they do things, but he just went for it! So cool.....Okay, I promise I'm done!!! Crazy story though, no!?

Just another reason to love NZ

2010-01-18T14:26:00.002+13:00

Today I had to go to the Dr. to get all my screening done for my nursing program. (So that I am ready for clinical rotations etc...) I thought it would be such a drag and I made the appointment early expecting that it would take FOREVER....Here's how it went down....

Travis and I walked on campus and he headed off to the gym while I went to my appt. I was supposed to be seen at 9:00 and was taken in about 3 minutes early....I was out the door and on my way to the gym, myself, at 9:04!!!!! SERIOUSLY. Didn't cost me a dime and I was done with the whole first half of the screening - no waiting, no fuss - The second half needed to be done at the lab....Met up with Travis at the gym and then we were still able to walk home together! Crazy...

We needed to go get our car serviced so we just went out together this afternoon and Travis dropped me off to get my labwork done - expecting that it would take a while - and he headed off to get the car serviced. My labwork took less than 5 min....and again, was FREE....but I had to wait in the seeting area for 20 min. incase of a reaction to the TB test. (still not a big deal!)

Travis, on the other hand, had the car fully serviced in less than 10 min. while he sipped on a nice cuppa free coffee and was back to pick me up in perfect time! It was all so incredibly painless! I am just not used to going places and it not taking hours of your time waiting in lines, having them tell you to come back another day etc. etc.....This is something that I will DEFINITELY enjoy getting used to!! =)

Yet another thing that I am totally in love with in Palmy, is Steve's Bulk Barn....they just got a new contract with an organic dairy and now have milk, yogurt, cheese etc....So we can get ALL of our groceries here now!! So excited to have this place, because we can get everything we need and it's all local/organic/or all natural like that...Just lovin' it!

It is so hard for me to find something negative to say about New Zealand. I am trying really hard to keep the balance and not make out like everything is perfect here; but seriously, it's hard to find negative points...I would say that not being able to watch American football is a negative point, but then that's a personal problem because if we paid the money to have full access TV we COULD watch American football... so really, that's not a negative either...Housing is terribly expensive in NZ, so that would probably be my only real complaint. However, it is all relative to where you are coming from in the states - we came from Alaska where housing is dirt cheep, so that's why it seems so high here to us - I will keep thinking of a negative just for the sake of keeping things real; but for now, I had to share some positive experiences!!!

No Strangers

2010-01-16T07:46:00.004+13:00

Last night I had the best time working at the cafe. We were a little slower than usual and I started talking to one of my tables...Come to find out they were a couple from San Diego (well, technically they are from Scotland, but have been living in the states for many years). They were here in NZ on a 5 1/2 week vacation. They were just on the tail end of their trip and headed back to the states in a few days.

I can't remember exactly how the conversation started, but we were talking about everything from nutrition, to Alaska, to New Zealand immigration, to health care - you name it!! They were just the most delightful couple and it was so refreshing to meet them....You know when you meet someone and just "click"! They are planning to come back to NZ again for another vacation, so I am definitely hoping to see them in a few years. It was just such an enjoyable evening and I love meeting people like that. She even got up from her table and gave me a hug before I left for the night! (How often does that happen to a waitress!?) Just awesome, I love it....

So, this got me thinking back to my yoga practice - lately the yogic philosophy that I have been learning more and more about really has been "spilling over" into my every day life - Yoga is more than just postures and breathing techniques, it's a way of life and a system of beliefs (all of which are in-line with Christianity encase some of you are skeptical.) One of the main beliefs of yoga is that we are all a "Supreme Universal Spirit" and that each of us is united to one another. That we should see within each other; ourselves. When we see someone hurting we should be able to feel their pain based on the knowledge that they are just like us...When we see a stranger we should be able to see ourselves in them and find love for them in our hearts. If we did this there would be no jealously (because for someone else to experience something good in their life it is as if we too are experiencing that joy!) I think you get the idea...

One of the common things to hear from someone who practices yoga is, "Namaste". This carries that sense of a universal spirit with it. It is a greeting and farewell used to indicated that you acknowledge the spirit within' the other person. Basically the word translates, "I honor the Spirit in you which is also in me."..."That which is of God in me greets that which is of God in you."...."Your spirit and my spirit are ONE."

By carrying this sense of oneness with all people your outlook towards others totally changes and you see people in a different light...As was the case last night, when I felt like I had known this couple all along! When you look at people with the mindfulness of having a universal spirit, there really are no strangers....

~Namaste

Super Seven Series in Palmerston

2010-01-13T10:35:00.003+13:00

Last night Travis and I started our seven week 7K series of races. We had a wonderful time and it was such a great event. To read more about it, check out my other blog!

New Freezing Opportunities!

2010-01-12T08:41:00.003+13:00

We have now branched into the world of frozen foods! Travis decided to go ahead and buy me a freezer (even though our little apt is so small!).
Pictures here are solely posted for mom's benefit since I highly doubt anyone else would care what it looks like! haha...
It is actually quite deep so it will hold a LOT of great food! I am planning to use the next month to do a lot of cooking in preparation for the start of school. I know that I will be really busy once school gets started, and I don't want to compromise our healthy eating habits because of that. I would like to have a lot of good food stored up so I can just come home and pull something out for dinner if I am too busy to cook!

This will also allow me to freeze pre-cooked beans and the like so that I don't have to soak them overnight and cook them for hours and hours!!! It will save me a lot of time!! I am starting my first batch of chick peas today!! (Individual containers of chick peas are just the perfect amount for a good batch of hummus!! yum....see my other blog for recipes!)

I also want to head to the farmer's market and stock up on the fresh fruits/vege that are in season and freeze those so that I will have them this winter! It will take the first year to really get used to what is in season and when the seasons end. (For example asparagus has been REALLY cheap for like a month, but when we went to the store yesterday it was no where to be found! So sad that the season for that must be over now.....Making notes for next year!)

I'll keep you posted on how the freezing projects go!

How much do I love free stuff?!!!

2010-01-08T16:42:00.003+13:00

Okay, so I know that I already blogged today, but I just have to blog again.....It was like "Christmas for poor students" today here in Palmerston North at the Mews Apartment building.....As people are moving out of their apartments they have been putting boxes of FREE stuff down in the common rooms - Today I hit the jack pot!! (Usually it's just like left over sauces or popcorn or something) I got myself a whole slew of stuff for our place all for FREE and I am so excited!!! I even got a set of salt/pepper grinders that I cleaned up and they are like brand new!! (Here in NZ the cheapest ones you can buy are over $20 so this was a huge find!!) I also got a really nice wooden cutting board, some binders for school, and some other great things......I know, it's silly to get excited over something so small, and seemingly insignificant; but when you try to live so frugally and are all about "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle" it's so invigorating to be blessed like this when you are least expecting it!!! I just wanted to share this and say that if you are ever thinking of cleaning out your closets or kitchen or whatever; consider donating your unwanted items to a food bank/second hand store, or drop by your local college dorms and donate to the poor students!! =) Just remember that there are people out there that will find your trash to be quite a treasure!!! You never know when something so small can really bless someone else!!! =)

Beautiful Summer - Not our usual January.

2010-01-08T12:48:00.007+13:00

I have been waiting to post our latest blog because I really wanted to put a big picture of our neighborhood bird that comes and perches on the plants in front of our apartment. It's a Tui and one of the most magnificent birds I've seen. (New Zealand even has a beer named after it - Tui Beer.) The male Tui has the most beautiful coloring and brilliant teal feathers that glisten in the sun. The color of his feathers are complimented by this white, cotton-looking plume on his throat. He also has a very distinct song and I just love when he comes by each day. (We have these large plants outside our window, not sure what they are, but he drinks the nectar from them.) My struggle has been getting the camera out in time for a picture, and the one time I actually did get a picture he wouldn't "pose" correctly for me! ha....I needed Sunny here to get a good photo for me! Anyway, this blog will just have to be "picture-less" for now...

So far 2010 has been an amazing year for us. Summer has finally arrive in Palmerston North in full glory. The weather has been totally gorgeous (even in spite of the few days of crazy winds we had earlier in the week.) We have been enjoying this amazing weather and getting out for a lot of running and afternoon walks.

I am still working quite a bit and doing what I can before school starts. Only about 7 more weeks to go, so I'm getting pretty excited! I am really excited that on Tuesday the Seven Series will start up in Palmerston. There will be seven weeks of 7K races every Tuesday night. This will be a lot of fun and will be nice to get into the racing mode again. Travis might even join me on this once or twice. I'll post more about this on my other blog.

Everything else is pretty normal around here these days, just enjoying life as it is and looking forward to all that this coming year will bring our way. Hope you all had a great holiday and that 2010 is everything you dreamed it would be!

- For those who do not know, any words on our blog that are in a different color or are underlined will be hyper-linked. This means that you can click on that word and it will take you directly to a related website.

Tongariro Alpine Crossing

2009-12-25T17:58:00.013+13:00

I start this blog with my favorite picture of the day.

Nothing quite like spending Christmas walking around a volcano! That's how we celebrated our 2009 Christmas here in New Zealand.

After work on Christmas Eve we drove 3 hours out to Discovery Lodge just outside the Tongariro National Park where we picked a campsite and had a great sleep on Christmas Eve!

Yes, this is me posing by our tent site! ha...Just so excited to be camping - I love it!

The lodge had motel type rooms, cabins, these cool little huts, and camp sites. I thought these were cool and mom would find them interesting so I put a picture up.

We took the shuttle from the campsite this morning at 5:45am and began the trek. This photo was taken around 6:30am so the lighting isn't great, but you can see the volcanic material all around. Travis was in heaven with all the cool rocks to look at!
This trail is really well manicured and you can see why it's one of the top ten day hikes in the world! We loved the change of scenery from forest hiking and it is definitely easier on your feet when you aren't tripping over roots the whole way. =) However, this tramp was 19.4K so our feet were still pretty sore after.

This area around where we hiked today is where they filmed the scenes in Lord of the Rings for Mordor and Mt. Doom...I know this makes me a dork, but I cannot help but state that we did feel a little like Frodo and Sam and kept checking over our shoulders every once in a while in chance that we might catch a glimpse of Smegal.

Mt. Ngauruhoe Volcano

No need for raincoats or gloves on this day, however, because the weather was AMAZING!!! Never could it have been more perfect...We did all the uphill (about 3 hours) before the sun was up and in full force so it was really pleasant the whole way!

Travis having his "Christmas Dinner" on the mountain side! - What a view!Mt. Taranaki

This picture is kind of hard to see since I downsized it, but it's a cool view since this mountain is really far off in the distance. You can tell it was a really clear day or we never would have seen it.

Red Crater

Blue Lake (wonder where they came up with that name?!)

Rock Cairn City - this was really cool.

Me adding my rock to the cairn on Christmas

This was truly one of the coolest areas we have been and just a wonderful way to celebrate the holiday together! Now we are home, tired and preparing for the biggest shopping day of the year tomorrow - Boxing Day - I'm trying my best to get prepared; as I am working both jobs tomorrow and will be on my feet all day. (Should be interesting!)

We wish all of you a very Merry Christmas!

Holiday Hustle and Bustle

2009-12-22T10:48:00.002+13:00

Do you ever wonder how the holidays became such a stressful and crazy time of year? It seems as if the commercializing of Christmas has really gone overboard of late.....So many toys to buy, presents of every shape and size, sales to lure you in, tons of goodies to taste, more and more....

I am refreshed by the comments that I have heard from people this year about wanting to get back to the basics of what Christmas is really about. I think it's wonderful that people are desiring to set aside the stress of shopping/cooking/hostessing parties etc. to really focus on Christ and giving to others during this time of year.

A friend of mine shared with me about how one of her neighbors had been leaving presents on their doorstep each day to remind them that their family was being prayed for and thought about during the season. I thought that was so amazing, and it made me stop and think about how I could give of myself to others during this season of love and peace. I don't know many people here yet, but it has been my focus to be peaceful and caring towards the people that I meet. We may not be able to afford to give presents to those around us like this family did, but we can each give our time and love to one another. We can see the good in those around us and offer them our love and prayers.

This year Christmas is totally different for Travis and me. There is no tree, no snow, no decorations, no special food, no family around celebrating. And yet, this Christmas holds a whole new meaning for us. It's really about the basics of why we celebrate and what we reflect on during this season. I am blessed by this time to calmly approach the holidays without pressure and stress of going to a bunch of parties and being so busy with activities around me. I'm blessed by the quiet solitude and opportunity to really take time out to focus on the gift of salvation that never could have come to us had Christ not been born. I'm awed at the thought of such a miracle and what it means to our lives on a daily basis.......

What are your thoughts this Christmas? If you are feeling really stressed or overwhelmed, I encourage you to just take an hour and allow yourself to sit down with a cup of tea/coffee/hot chocolate and just rest.....Allow yourself a "time out" to just reflect on Christ and the gift of his birth. Then you can get up and go about the rest of your holiday affairs with a renewed since of joy this holiday. Be still and know that He is God and that He sent his Son to earth for you.....

I meant to mention on here as well, that we did find a really wonderful organization to share our Thanksgiving/Christmas holiday money with....It's a home for cancer patients and their families here in Palmerston North. We are reminded of so many friends and family who have been through the struggles of cancer and feel that this organization is really making a difference in the lives of others in similar situations.