So long Raglan

We only have 2 more days left in New Zealand before we head home. Although we are excited to see friends back in Colorado, we are sad to be leaving. In particular, we are really going to miss Raglan, the small town where we have been living for the past 5 months. Here are the top 6 things we are going to miss about Raglan

#1: The ocean. (No surprises here). It has been really nice to spend so much time by the ocean - playing in the sand, surfing, watching the waves, and syncing with tidal rhythms (groove-tastic!).

#2: Friends. We have made a number of good friends here in Raglan that we will miss when we leave. In particular, Luna is going to miss her friend Maia. They have already promised to send each other birthday cards every year as they share the same birthday.

#3: Dance parties. Raglan has a local radio station (The Tractor) that is essentially ad-free and plays an eclectic mix - about 60% techno, 10% hip hop, 10% punk, 10% god-knows-what, and 10% Johnny Cash. After dinner, we'll often turn on the radio so Luna can work on her moves.

#4: Whitey: the sweetest goat on the planet.

#5: Cruising 'downtown' to get coffee/hot chocolate, buy bread, or just do some laundry.

#6: The view from our house: it never ceases to amaze.

Tonga

We just got back from 7 days in Tonga. We had a great time - to call it relaxing would be an understatement. We stayed at a beach 'resort' that was pretty basic and not very resort-y but an awesome place - great people, beautiful scenery, and awesome snorkeling. The food was incredible - huge family-style feasts every night complete with yellowtail tuna hauled out of the ocean every morning.

The view from our little cabin.

Yummy breakfasts.

The Tongan family that runs the place had a 3-year old daughter, Hadassah, that spent a lot of time playing with Luna. They both loved watching Frozen when the tide was too low to go swimming in the lagoon. Of course they had to watch it while dressed up as Elsa.

The movie was followed by a dance routine to "Let it Go". Evidently even a trip to a tiny island in the middle of the South Pacific is insufficient to escape that godforsaken song.

We spent a day touring around the island with a guide, Vai, who had an endless supply of hilarious stories (about 50% of which likely had some basis in reality).

The 'blowholes' - not a great place to go swimming. The king of Tonga was right around the corner from this spot doing some shooting but he didn't invite us over to hang out.

Pigs wading in the ocean 'snorkeling' for shellfish. Luna thought it was hilarious that the pigs kept pooping in the ocean. Another reason not to eat shellfish...

A Tongan calendar from the 10th century.

An exhausted girl.

Fisherman with the daily catch. This wahoo was served up 2 hours later with a lemon, butter, and caper sauce. Tasty.

Nothing to see here - just another view from our cabin.

Noah did some surfing there but the waves were very powerful and scary as they broke right onto the reef. We spent a lot of time with a South African family that was also staying at the resort - they had a 3-year old boy that worshipped Luna. Here is the dad showing off his surf skills.

A trip to Mordor

Last weekend we went down to Taupo. We had beautiful weather there - it had that autumn crispness in the air that just makes you want to drink apple cider and eat halloween candy.

While there we visited with one of Noah's collaborators (Matt) - a microbial ecologist who studies hotsprings. So, of course we got the deluxe tour of a hotspring complex near Taupo with his family and members of his lab group.

We crossed the river and took a hike around the geothermal area.

Of course - we had a temperature probe along with us to get some readings (microbial ecologists are embarrassing like that). That is not a fogged lens - there was a lot of steam in the air - life a sulfurous sauna covered in awesome microbes.

Boiling mud pits! A perfect place for a 4-year old.

Alas - we made it out alive without boiling the children.

Matt has 2 kids - and the 3 L's (Luna, Luca, and Lily) got along very well. The highlight of Luna's trip to Taupo was playing with the kids and going to the 4-acre kiddie pool in town that was heated to bath temperature (the advantage of abundant geothermal energy).

The Taupo area is incredibly beautiful - lots of stunning mountains and rivers. The color of NZ waters never ceases to amaze.

We can't believe we only have one month left here. 

Chumming the waters

Yesterday, the owner of the house we are renting took me (Noah) out fishing. It was nice to get out in the Tasman Sea and see the coastline from another angle.

Unfortunately the photos from the fishing expedition are not too impressive given that I spent a good chunk of time hanging over the side of the boat barfing my guts out. Evidently old salty Kiwis find it hilarious to see the guy from Colorado holding back the dry heaves while cutting bait fish in a 5 foot swell.

Fortunately we caught some red snapper and lemon sharks (which we did not keep). Here is Luna enjoying the snapper - it was tasty - almost worth the hours of nausea required to catch it.

Birthday!

Luna is now 4 years old! She had an awesome birthday, made even more awesome because Grandma and Grandpa McKenzie traveled all the way from Ohio to see us here in the middle of the South Pacific.

The weather wasn't the best while they were here, but we still managed to get around to visit the local beaches. When in Rome....

Luna loved having her grandparents here - she played the tour guide and introduced grandma and grandpa to all the local flora, fauna, and geologic wonders. She has already learned the first lesson of academia (when you don't know what you are talking about, just say it loudly and with confidence).

Of course, she also had to show off her sand dune surfing skillz.

Birthday morning!

Gifts included all sorts of magical unicorns and a special greenstone necklace from Grandpa.

Luna has already informed us that she is now a 'big girl' and will 'soon be a teenager because 4 is almost 14'. Dear God.

Luna shared her birthday party at the beach with Maia, her best friend here in NZ (in the red sweater). Maia and Luna have the same birthday and they share the same friends, so it worked out perfectly. The party was interrupted by a brief rainstorm, but that didn't stop the cake-fueled festivities.

Here are Maia and Luna dancing to "Love is in the Air" at school.

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