Life’s getting colder here, it’s now about 7 degrees at night – aghh – the first winter for us for almost 10 years so were feeling it. I’ve been scouring around the op shops (charity shops) looking for warm clothes, – I’m beginning to look like a vagrant! We’ve all got Ugg boots (sheepskin boots) which are standard issue for Kiwis in the winter. I guess you’re getting the picture – style goes out the window when it comes to warmth around here! The Kiwis may know a thing or two about dressing for cold weather but they don’t seem to know much about building their houses for it. Most houses have no insulation in the walls, roof or floor, no central heating and no double glazing. With three exterior walls our bedroom is almost ambient temperature with the outside. Two duvets, a hot water bottle and bed socks make the bed just about bearable. Enough whinging, at least the days are still bright and sunny which is really great.
During Maya’s autumn break (about a month ago now) we went up to the North Island. We drove to Picton and hopped onto the ferry with the car and Daphne the dog bound for Wellington. Despite the storm warning and a 5m swell, the crossing was quite comfortable. The ferry was an old cross-Channel one “The Pride of Cherbourg” and handled the Cook Strait well. We arrived in Wellington and dropped Maya off with her Mum to spend a week shopping, catching up and doing girlie things! Neil and I planned to spend a week touring around Hawkes Bay and the East Cape, taking in a few wineries here and there.
The tour did not get off to a good start. On Sunday morning we left Wellington to go and have lunch with my Aunt and Uncle in Eketahuna. Within 20km warning lights were flashing, revs were dropping and the car very gradually ground to a halt. As luck would have it we broke down right outside a Subaru dealer which happened to be open (even luckier). The dealer assured us he’d have a mechanic working on the car first thing on Monday morning. Cousin Sal’s husband Pete came to our rescue and before too long we were sitting round the fire with Juliet and Peter, Sally and Pete and a crowd of dogs, sipping a glass of wine laughing at Lauren and Erina (my beautiful nieces) doing the Hukka. The next morning we left Eketahuna and drove back down to Wellington to Pauatahanui and ended up staying with Sal and Pete for a couple more days until the car was fixed.
After all that we left Wellington on Wednesday and spent just two days in Hawkes Bay. We stayed in Napier which is an amazing place, architecturally at least. The town was destroyed by an earthquake in 1931 and the whole of the centre was rebuilt simultaneously coinciding with the Art Deco era. The city is full of beautifully preserved Art Deco buildings and has been nominated for UNESCO World Heritage Site status. We enjoyed a morning wandering around the town, we had a walk along the beach and a look around the marina then spent the rest of the afternoon wine tasting.
The following day we headed through the mountains to Lake Taupo. The drive was very scenic, steep slopes and deep valleys filled with morning cloud turning the hillcrests into wooded islands. The route was a non-stop series of bends with hardly a piece of straight road – great as I’d elected to drive that day! It would have been a lot more fun on a motorbike (with Neil driving!) The town of Taupo was a disappointing string of motels and cheap eateries and we didn’t linger long. We drove down the east side of the lake and Daffy had a walk in a field so riddled with rabbit warrens it was like a Swiss cheese. Despite her terrier instincts and Huntaway heritage she didn’t have a clue what to do when faced with a bunny – it would seem city dogs prefer cats!
In Turangi at the southern end of Lake Taupo we had a dip in the steaming hot springs and then found a great place to stay called Riverstone Backpackers. The area is famous for it’s trout fishing and the guy who ran the place gave us a couple of trout for dinner – very kind and most delicious! The next day we drove through the Tongariro National Park. Promoted as the volcanic heartland of New Zealand we passed the peaks of Mount Ruapehu and Mt. Tongariro, both active volcanoes but all was calm and photogenic that day. We continued southwards through the rolling foothills of the Ruahine Mountains and stopped at Hunterville, the home of the Hunterway and Daphne’s ancestoral roots! We returned for a final night with Sal and Pete before collecting Maya and heading back to Nelson.
Since we’ve been back Neil has started work at Placemakers which is one of those big hardware megastores. For the first couple of weeks it’s full time while he gets to know the ropes then he’s just doing two days a week which is great to bring in a bit of extra cash, Maya thinks the uniform sucks! I’ve just completed training as a volunteer for refugee resettlement. NZ accepts around 1000 refugees each year of which Nelson receives Chin people from Northern Myanmar. A team of 4 volunteers are allocated to support the family for 6 months. Before they arrive we have to find them a house and furnish it for them from donations which we have to organise. Once they are here we settle them in and assist them with registering for power and phone, benefits, work, school, doctors etc. It’s quite a lot of work especially to start with but I think it’ll be very satisfying and fun to make friends in the Burmese community.
So that’s the latest and greatest from us.
Suzy and Neil