South Island - part 2

Our days were pretty mellow (befitting a vacation in the middle of a sabbatical) but we still managed to fit in lots of fun stuff.

We went to Abel Tasman National Park to explore some beautiful beaches.

The hiking wasn't too shabby either

One beach even came with a dinosaur cave:

complete with a velociraptor

Time to get back on the boat and head to our campsite -

where Luna hosted a feeding frenzy party

Other days were spent checking out the wildlife (seals just north of Kaikoura)

There was even a rogue panda spotted in a grassland

Panda snuggling with her mom while waiting for the sun to set:

Of course, lots of time was spent exploring various other beaches around NZ:

After all that exploration - it is time for some yoga in the middle of the road

South Island - part 1

We just got back from a 10-day trip to the South Island. We flew to Christchurch and then did a circumnavigation of the northern part of the island. It was spectacular - every time we got in the campervan to drive to another campsite, we were treated to incredible views.

This was our campervan - essentially a converted minivan. Noah crammed himself into the pop top - like a mermaid in a clam shell. Val and Luna snuggled below.

According to Luna - her two favorite cars are "Our campervan and a Dodge Viper". She told us we should check the campervan in with the luggage and send it back to Colorado with us on the airplane.

We stayed in some pretty nice campsites. Here is one in the Marlborough Sounds

... and one south of Blenheim on the Pacific Coast.

Some of the campsites came complete with a trampoline - which Luna calls a 'jumpoline' and Dad calls a 'hyper-active child containment facility'.

Of course no campsite was complete without every camper's best friend - a bottle of local sauvignon blanc.

The views weren't too shabby either - here is the scene from one of our campsites in the Marlborough Sounds (and, no, the rainbow wasn't photoshopped in).

The weather was generally pretty good, but a cyclone did roll through NZ while we were there so we spent a day and a half holed up in Nelson. We still managed to do a rainy tour of a local Japanese garden.

Another weekend at the beach

This weekend we went to Ruapuke Beach about 20 km south of Raglan. Just another in a long line of stunning and deserted beaches. It had a beautiful stream winding through the beach sand - a perfect place for Luna to spend hours pretending that she is a T-rex hunting a turtle.

Also a good place for Luna to practice her surfing technique. 

Back in Raglan to watch Noah working on his newest obsession (standup paddleboarding) from the porch of our house.

Microbes and Mowgli in the Big City

We are about to head out for 10 days of camping on the south island of NZ so I thought it would be a good time to clear out the backlog and post up some misc. photos from our past few weeks.

We went to Auckland about 2 weeks ago to attend a microbial ecology meeting (a.k.a. nerd-fest). The organizers put us up in a very nice hotel suite. Can't complain about the view from our hotel room...

... nor did Luna complain about the bed/trampoline in her room.

Toddlers and scientific meetings are usually a bad combination, but Luna was awesome (and was probably better behaved than her father). She even attended some of the talks and managed to stay awake (with help from the Jungle Book).

Then it was time to visit a city park so Luna could pretend she was Mowgli escaping the tiger .

Auckland is really a beautiful city. Great food and scenery with fountains for baptizing a beloved blankie.