Matapihi

Luna is attending the Matapihi Kindergarten while we are in New Zealand - an incredible school for children ages 3 to 5. On the first day, a couple weeks ago, we had our initiation and learned the rules at the new school...   1) Kiwi kids don't wear shoes.

2) Kiwi kids are encouraged to play in the mud. (Here is Luna and her friend Felicity cooling off in a mud pit.)

3) All works of art should be inspired by the great outdoors.

4) Each week a small group spends a day in the "bush" - the wooded area down by the little stream. Here is Luna eating PBJ for lunch on her "bush day".

Bush day often involves fishing in the stream,

taking turns with the high-tech fishing equipment (= bamboo stick, string, sock filled with bits of sausage),

developing the zen patience of an angler,

and feeling the joy of watching a freshwater eel nibble on the sausage sock!! These are longfin eels - native in NZ and actually rare. They live up to 80+ years and get pretty big. They leave the rivers of NZ to traverse a thousand of mile of ocean to breed in Tonga. Luna has caught the local 'big one' that is named Black Beauty. very special to see these on a regular basis!

5) Most days should involve pretending to be dinosaurs. Here is Luna doing her Velociraptor imitation.

Yeah, to say Luna loves it, is the understatement of the year.

Pot o' Gold

View from the porch of the house yesterday morning:

I went hiking with a friend up to the top of Mt. Karioi (a.k.a. the 'Sleeping Lady' or Wahine Moe) - the mountain that dominates the Raglan skyline. It was a 4 hour hike up a ridgeline - very muddy and treacherous, but beautiful views the entire way.

Looking south:

Looking north towards Raglan (on the small peninsula surrounded by water):

The resident cutester doing her standard cute stuff:

Hot tub + beach = awesome

Last weekend we went to the small town of Kawhia (pronounced Kafia - like Mafia) about 1.5 hours south of Raglan on a gravel road. We went there with another American family that is living in Raglan for 5 months. The dad is a professor on sabbatical form the Univ. of Minnesota and an expert in fungal ecology. What is the probability of finding two U.S. microbial ecologists of the same age (with kids of the same age) in a New Zealand town of 2,000 people?.

We went to Kawhia for the annual Maori festival, but we first had to make a stop at the local hot water beach. Just another crowded NZ beach:

The three explorers (Maddie, Fritz, and Luna) go out searching for the spot where the hot water bubbles up out of the sand.

Bingo! We start digging in the sand to build a hot pool and then some other folks join as well. We are all clustered together because that is where the hot water is seeping out of the sand. If you had to design an ideal setting - this would be hard to beat: dig a hole in the sand, sit in the hot water, swim in the ocean, repeat until the tide comes up. Really awesome.

Yep - simply no fun at all.

Soon the tide came up and the pools disappeared under the ocean. We went to the festival in Kawhia to eat some lunch. The mussels were delicious and beautiful - so beautiful that Luna ate quite a few with zero hesitation. Evidently palm-sized mussels cooked in seawater are the new kid-friendly food choice.

The festival was great - super mellow in a beautiful location with some local kids doing Maori haka dances. If you've never seen the haka being performed - check out this video.

There were some people getting tattooed right next to the face painting booth, but Luna decided to settle for the face paint.

Surf-batical!

Well - we finally took the camera to the beach to capture some surf action. We also narrowly avoided dropping the camera in the ocean.

Val - psyched to be in the waves:

Val working her moves in the pounding surf (hey - at least it is bigger than any surf in Colorado).

Noah about to wreck and face a forced sinus flushing with Tasman Sea water.

While mom and dad surf, Luna entertains herself in her 'dinosaur nest' tucked in amidst the sand dunes.

Luna checking the swell and getting ready to rip!

Tidepooling while some random dude shreds it up at Whale Bay (called Whale Bay because orcas show up on occasion to do some surfing).

The view from up high

We have finally moved into the house we'll be renting while we are in Raglan. It is pretty awesome. These are the views from the living room and kitchen. Not bad. A great place to ponder deep thoughts (that is the goal of sabbatical - right?).

We have plenty of room here for visitors so book your tickets to NZ!

Here is what we did yesterday. First, Luna woke up an ate her normal 3-course breakfast: yogurt, toast, and a bowl of muesli - which was followed in about an hour by a huge snack. Someone must be growing....

Our house is about 100 yards from the 'kid beach' (as Luna calls it). We can either walk there (easy), Luna can ride her bike there after dad carries it down the hill (fairly easy), or dad can drag the kayak down so we can paddle over there (not so easy). Yesterday I was feeling masochistic, so we went kayaking.

After all that hard work watching dad paddle against the incoming tide,  Luna took a mini-nap on the beach wrapped in the cuddly warmth of Old Glory.

On the walk back up the hill, Luna wanted to show 'Whitey' (the local goat) her plastic dragon. Immediately after this picture was taken, Whitey decided Luna's hat looked tasty. Whitey is not the most discriminating eater.

Settling in

We are slowly but surely settling in to the swing of things here in Raglan, NZ. We've opened up a bank account, we've found the cheap eats in town, we have all adjusted to the time change, and Luna has started growing dreadlocks to fit in with the local crowd (the maori tattoos will have to wait)

We move into our more permanent house tomorrow - a big relief for Noah's cranium which regularly hits the 6' high ceiling beams in the hobbit cave where we are currently staying.

Most importantly - we have purchased a surfboard (a.k.a. Old Yeller) - she has already proven to be a loyal companion in the surf.

We also got Luna a bike so she can cruise around town (she calls it her 'slash purple slash pink bike').

It has been a 3-day holiday weekend here in NZ, so the beaches in town have been fairly crowded (crowded is a relative term). This beach session was fueled by strawberry ice cream!

Here is a video of Noah jumping off the bridge in the harbor. Can't see Noah? - look for the palest guy on the bridge.

Welcome to NZ!

We thought our trip to New Zealand would be a good opportunity to start using the blog again - so, at long last, here it goes.....

We flew into Auckland early this morning. It was smooth - Luna slept for about 10 hours of the 13 hour flight from Los Angeles to Auckland. She really is an excellent traveler - excited the entire time and not a single bout of fussiness (I can't say the same for myself). Here she is taking an impromptu nap on the floor of Terminal 2 at LAX (a.k.a the Dirtbag Hilton) while we wait for our flight to Auckland to depart.

Snuggling with mom on our Air New Zealand SkyCouch (a.k.a. 'cuddle class'). Well worth the extra $ as both mom and Luna slept well as we traversed the Pacific. Dad was stuck in a basic economy class seat, but managed to survive by going into torpor during the flight.

The Air New Zealand flight was great, but they had some unnerving Lord of the Rings-style safety briefings. Can't say I'm a big fan of receiving my safety info. from Bilbo Baggins and Gollum.

At long last, we arrived in Auckland and drove two hours south to Raglan on the west coast of the North Island. This will be our home base for the next 5 months and, needless to say, we made a good choice. The town is incredibly beautiful - surrounded by water and spectacular views. This is just one of many beaches located close to the town.

It was a bit windy, so we headed to a harbor beach that is about a 2 minute walk from downtown Raglan (with only 2,000 inhabitants, calling it a 'downtown' is a bit of a stretch). The Creature from the Black Lagoon spent some time in her native habitat:

Hmmm, what should we have for dinner? Fish and chips of course! A great meal made with snapper brought into the dock about 15 feet from the table.

It is now almost 7pm here in Raglan and everyone is going to sleep. It has been a great day and everyone is eagerly awaiting new adventures tomorrow!