Christmas Party #2...The Doctors

We attended a Christmas party for all of the doctors in Brad's clinic on Dec. 12th. It was at the home of two of the doctors, Dave & Sanet (pictured below).



They have a beautiful place on Wainui Beach just outside of Gisborne. You can see the great view from their deck in the pictures below.





The evening started out with drinks and finger foods, and then Sanet had all of the kids move down to the beach, where she had marked off an area and buried a bunch of golf balls for the kids to find. When they found a ball, they got a small gift. Brad had to help Jonathan a bit (and Harrison didn't even participate...he was to busy playing with Legos inside).



We had a wonderful meal of ham, salmon and prawns with a variety of side dishes. After the meal we had a gift exchange and enjoyed desert, a Pavlova with fresh berries and a Trifle. Both were delicious.

Pictured below are Allen (the locum from Minnesota) and his wife, Pat. Next to Pat is Nilminy (she's a doctor that works at Brad's clinic), her son, Jeven, and her husband, Kris.



Brad & Jonathan waiting to open gifts (they guy sitting next to them is the son of one of the physicians).



Group photo of all the physicians that work in Brad's clinic.



We had a great time and the boys behaved quite well considering we were there until after 11:00 (once we got home it was a different story!).

Awapuni Preschool Christmas Party

This past week we feel as if the busyness of the Christmas season has caught up with us, even over here in Gisborne. On Wednesday evening, Jonathan's preschool had a Christmas party for the families of all the children. We brought blankets and a picnic supper for our family, and then found a spot near the playground and playing field. We ate our supper and the kids played on the bouncy castle and playground. Neither of the boys were too excited about the bouncy castle. Jonathan was happy to run around with his friends and Harrison either tried tagging along, or was content to play on the playground by himself.



Then the kids got a visit from Santa!!! All of the parents were asked to buy a $2 gift for their own children (siblings, as well) and have them delivered to school by Wednesday morning. Then Santa would bring his bag full of toys for the kids to the party in the evening. As you can see by the picture below, Santa arrived on a bicycle (since the lack of snow here makes landing a sleigh a bit difficult).



As Santa made his way across the field on his bike with a bag full of toys in a hot polyester suit in 80 degree weather, all of the kids ran to greet him and see what he brought them. After the initial mass confusion and excitement of all the kids, they managed to have all of the kids sit down (well, most of them) around Santa and he started handing out the gifts.



Check out all of the rattails in the picture below...quite popular over here!



Harrison waiting patiently for Santa to call his name...



...receiving his gift from Santa...



...and, finally, opening his gift!




And, Jonathan receiving his gift from Santa.





Harrison showing off his new toy, a little blue jeep. How exciting!



Afterwards, the boys played around on the playground and had a great time.





One party down, two to go!

South Island Holiday - We'll Finish It Up, Finally!

We left Hanmer Springs Wednesday morning and took off for Nelson. The drive took us through the mountains. It was a beautiful drive even though it was foggy and drizzling. We stopped and took a family picture at the southern most point we have ever been.



About an hour outside of Nelson near the town of Murchison, we stopped at Buller Gorge. Buller Gorge boasts New Zealand's longest swing bridge, so of course we had to check it out. The bridge was about 100 ft. in the air, above a rocky, shallow river...scary!





Luckily, we made it across without any incidents, and decided to check out some of the trails on the other side. Many of these trails were made by miners back when this area was a gold mining hotspot.



Jonathan & Harrison's favorite part was the abandoned, rusted-out excavator that was left by the side of the trail. We had to pry them away when it was time to move on for the rest of the hike. But for a brief moment they were in little boy heaven.





On our way back across the gorge, we did our mandatory "New Zealand Extreme Adventure"...at least for us! We took the zip cord back to the other side. They buckled us into two seats, with the kids on our laps (we're not sure this was the most responsible moment of our parenting career, but the operators were the ones to suggest it and we figured that if we went down, at least we wouldn't leave our children orphaned and alone in a foreign country). Well, we made it to the other side safe and sound. Jonathan LOVED it and wanted to go again. We're not sure how Harrison felt about the whole experience...He was pretty quiet. But after a bit, he did say he wanted to go back to the other side, so it must not have traumatized him too much. We don't currently have any pictures of this available, but hopefully we'll have them soon, to share with all of you.

After we left Buller Gorge we made our way to Nelson, where we spent the night. The next morning we got up and headed west towards Able Tasman National Park. I made the unfortunate mistake of telling the boys we were going to a national park . Of course, they conjured up in their minds a wonderful playground full of swings, slides, ropes and all sorts of other wonderful contraptions you would find at a park. They were sorely disappointed when we told them it wasn't that kind of park. Luckily, as we were driving along, we came to a beautiful beach and directly across the street was a playground! So our first stop of the day was at a playground...check out the amazing pictures below! (absolutely stunning, isn't it!?)





When we finally convinced the boys to venture away from the playground, we made our way to the beach. It was situated on a beautiful little cove, filled with people kayaking, sailing and tubing.





We decided to do a bit of exploring on a small outcropping of rocks. As we made our way over the treacherous, slippery rocks, I mentioned to Brad that we needed to make sure the tide didn't come up too far while we were out there. Of course, he scoffed at me for worrying about such a thing (But when we got back his shoes and shorts were soaked!).



We checked out a bunch of little tide pools among the rocks and explored little caves along the edges of the large rocks. The boys had a great time wandering around the area, which was absolutely stunning!







After we made our way back, we had a picnic lunch in a secluded area at the edge of the beach and then played in the sand for a while. By this time the boys were getting tired and cranky, so we headed back to the hotel for naps.



Friday morning we had to get up early and make our way to Picton to catch our ferry back to the North Island. The following two pictures are of the harbor at Picton. It's a beautiful harbor tucked in amongst the green hills surrounding the area.





The first part of the ferry trip was through the Queen Charlotte Sound, which is shown in the following pictures. It was a great chance to see some stunning scenery.






We made it to Wellington around 1:15 in the afternoon and Brad was in the mood to drive the seven hours home to Gisborne, so we took off. Luckily, the boys were exhausted and slept for quite a while, they did a great job traveling and we only had to stop once for supper. We made it home around 9:00 in the evening and everyone was glad to sleep in their own beds.

South Island Holiday - Hanmer Springs

We left Kaikoura on Tuesday morning and made our way inland towards the quaint alpine village of Hanmer Springs, a picturesque hamlet that sits in a valley between snow capped peaks. Its main attraction is the hot springs which it proudly promotes. But before I get into that, let's back up a bit...

The following picture is of the mountain sides we passed by as we traveled to Hanmer Springs. These brilliant yellow bushes covered the mountains, and provided quite a stunning backdrop. (This picture was taken as we were speeding down the road at approximately 100 km/hr, hence the blurred foliage at the bottom).



We arrived in Hanmer Springs around lunchtime, grabbed a bite to eat and then made a beeline for the hot springs. There were a variety of different pools with varying temperatures and mineral components. There was also a freshwater pool with slides, waterfalls, caves and all sorts of other fun activities for the young and young at heart (aka Brad). It was a lot of fun, but really cold. Brad & Jonathan didn't seem to mind, but Harrison and I found some warmer pools after a while.

The following two pictures show a couple of different views of the pools.



There's the waterslide in the background...



Brad & the Boys







We swam for about and hour and a half in the afternoon, went to our hotel and took naps, ate supper, and then headed back to swim again in the evening. Quite a relaxing day!

Hanmer Springs does offer biking trails, hiking, ATV tours and of course bungee jumping off the bridge heading into town, but we didn't partake in any of those adventures...maybe next time!

The next morning we took off for Nelson...

South Island Holiday - First Stop: Kaikoura

Well, we took off on our South Island adventure on Friday the 14th and made our way down to Wellington, where we took the InterIslander Ferry across Cook Straight to the South Island. It was a three hour trip and we got to see a beautiful sunset.

This wasn't actually our ferry (ours was behind this one), but it's the one we took on our return trip.



Harrison checking out the water below.



A beautiful sunset as we entered Marlborough Sound.



We spent the night in the small town of Picton and then took off in the morning on the two hour drive along the East Coast, through beautiful vineyards, to the town of Kaikoura. Kaikoura is considered the whale watching capital of the world (at least, that's what they claim). We spent the afternoon exploring around the coast. Our hope was to hike around the cape and see the fur seal colony, but the boys got sidetracked by all of the tidepools, so we never made it. At least we were able to see a seal swimming around in the water.

A view of the coast with snow-capped mountains in the distance.



The boys enjoying climbing around on the rocks.



Taking a break to soak their feet in the warmer waters of the tidepools (and probably killing off all sorts of endangered sea-life in the process).




On Monday morning we were scheduled to go on the whale watch. We were a bit concerned that we wouldn't be able to go due to the rough water (they sometimes increase the age limit, which is three and above, depending on how choppy the ocean is, and since we were already telling a small white lie by saying that Harrison was three, we were a bit worried). But luckily, we were all able to go.

Brad & the boys sitting in the boat waiting to take off. We were somewhat concerned that being on the rough waters would cause a bout of seasickness, but luckily we were spared. Not so for the two ladies in front of us, I won't go into details, but let's just say it wasn't pretty!



Jonathan and Harrison checking out the sperm whale (at least Jonathan saw it, I don't know whether Harrison did or not, and I'm pretty sure he didn't care one way or the other).



A picture of one of the two sperm whales we saw (unfortunately, I was tending to Harrison, and missed getting a picture of the whales tale as he took off on his deep dive, which was the coolest part). They dive between 500-1000 meters to hunt, but they have been recorded as going as deep as 2500 meters. They hunt the giant squid, sharks, and other large fish. They can grow to be 65 ft. long and weigh between 40-50 tons (that's the males, the females are quite a bit smaller). If you have any other questions regarding the largest toothed whale on earth, just ask Jonathan, he has become quite the whale expert. We also saw a large group of dusky dolphins, albatross and a variety of other sea birds, and there was supposedly a young humpback whale in the area, but we ran out of time and never got to see him.



We had a good time in Kaikoura, especially Jonathan who couldn't stop talking about the whales. Our next stop was Hanmer Springs...stay tuned for more!