Not sure what is going on, but for the second time in two weeks we have found ourselves down for the count for twenty four hours, using the toilet bowl from the wrong end of our bodies.

We were forced to make the housetruck into a makeshift infirmary with a mattress on the ground to give us equal access to the puke bucket.

After a day in bed and a kind delivery of soda water and saltines from Baywatch Kyle, we are feeling nearly 100%.

The culprit? Raw strawberries from our garden (we think).

Out the mouth, I’m tired of you.

You are not welcome in our house(truck). Please go away.

Happy 2010! It is still unbelievable to me that it actually is 2010. Wasn’t Y2K not that long ago? Oh right, it was a decade ago. Wow.

We rung in the new decade with Jess, Jason, and Sammy who came to visit from Korea (where yes, they do eat dog, but only one variety). Jess and I last spent New Year’s together in 2004ish at Big Boulder Lake singing karaoke with the Gallo fam. She’s our first home friend to see where we live. It was so fun having her here and meeting her beautiful family, but was also kind of like one of those dreams where all these people you know from all different places are suddenly all together in the same place. Someone from Genesee here in NZ? It messed with my head a little.

Mildly disappointing that there was no karaoke to be had this year (Jess does a mean version of Tina Turner’s Proud Mary). But we tried to make up for it with tipis, pizza making, and surfing.

All Native North Americans, except Sammy. She’s a Native Korean.

Holy giant fern leaf!

Venturing down jungle paths with a stroller is exhausting.

Happiest baby ever. Talia Hardie may be her best competition for smiliest baby.

Jess is a momma!

Nelson’s first surf of the year.

Jess’s first surf ever.

Real men wear tights and hold babies.

When I was really little, four maybe, for one of our school holiday pageants my class had to dress up in summer gear and sing a song. I still remember the lyrics, because since then my dad has sung it on a faily regular basis.

“Christmas in July-yyy, There’s no reason why-yyy, We can’t have a pie-yyy in the summer”.

Maybe I’ve been manifesting a summer-time Christmas since the age of four. But, in any case, here was our summery Christmas day (sans pie, but with lots of home-baked goodies).

Gorgeous weather on Christmas day. Mt. Karioi smmiling down at us.

A pile of presents waiting to be opened!

Some of us were very excited… others took a more laid back approach.

A stocking full of home-made strawberry jam with strawberries from our garden.Just a few of mom’s cookies left by Christmas day. Straight from New Jersey to my belly.

Couldn’t resist a mid-day surf at the beach. Seems like all of Raglan was out there. Then back to Solscape for a Brazilian style barbecue and potluck with 40 of our dearest (friends) and nearest (homesick backpackers).

Thiago teaches Kyle the art of the Brazilian barbecue.

Beautiful friends.
Beautiful food.
While the lamb was finishing roasting we did a gift exchange.

It got pretty heated.
Some people brought weapons to prevent gift theft. We fared well, ending up with an incredible home-made chocolate coconut cake (thanks Reiko!) and some gingerbread cookies. Hope you had a great Christmas, whether you are celebrating with surf or snow.

If bad things come in threes then I’m pretty much just waiting for the other shoe to drop.

#1- Got word from Jake, our local bit-too-laid-back computer guru. In fact I got three words from him. First text: “Bad News”. I called him immediately, of course. No answer. Who sends a text like that with no follow up? Second text (24 hours later): “It’s dead”. Jake is a man of few words. Here’s to hoping the more professional crew at the Mac store in Hamilton will have better luck.

#2- For 36 hours Dec. 21-22 I laid in bed teetering between actually throwing up and just being on the verge. Today I feel 90%. Still on the BRAT diet, which I hope to end by Christmas when Thiago will be teaching us the ways of Brazilian barbecue.

#3- ? Who knows. Coal in the stocking?

First off, sorry for the hiatus. It was 80% that my computer is stuffed and 20% lack of motivation. Oh and an addition 10% of not wanting to interrupt Nelson while he’s hard at work becoming a Dee-Ar. That’s 110% of excuses. No wonder I haven’t posted in two weeks.

Well, during that fortnnight Christmas has suddenly appeared. No, I don’t ust mean the box of cookies that arrived from New Jersey yesterday (thanks mom!). While the Christmas craze has not quite made it to NZ in the same way that it manifests itself in the US, there is evidence everywhere that Santa is on his way to the Southern hemisphere. The weird thing is that kiwis decorate for Christmas the same way we do in the north. Sleighs, reindeer, snowflakes… ummm its summer people! Santa wearing board shorts, riding a 4×4, being pulled by possums might be more appropriate.

In our little house truck we don’t have rom for a tree, but I was feeling like we should have some Christmas cheer, and start some Christmas traditions of our own. We are almost grown ups after all. So I made us some stockings to hang by the chimney. I am definitely not half as talented as my big sister in this regard. And hand-sewing is no joke. But, all in all, I think they came out pretty good (besides Nelson’s stocking’s club-foot).

Dani and Nelson walk out of the supermarket in Te Anau. Dani turns left. Nelson says, “Where are you going? We need to go this way.” They look up above where Dani is standing and see this street sign.They laugh way too hard. Nelson says “If your family was here this would be one of those jokes you guys say over and over again for years”. Dani responds, “HELLOOOO, my freezers open”. She is laughing so hard she almost pees her pants.

It’s Thanksgiving. No turkey. No cranberry sauce. No mashed potatos. No pumpin pie. No Ohio cousins. No touch football. No heated games of charades or pong. I think Thanksgiving is my most homesick day.

But I’m done pouting. I am thankful…

that we have a place in NZ that we call home and that we were welcomed back to it yesterday with hugs and kisses… that we are healthy and strong… that we can grow and eat good food… that we are loved…

I miss you all terribly and hope that your Thanksgiving is joyous, whether you are eating tapas, turkey, or vegemite.

US Families

NZ Family

NZ Home

Off the southern coast of New Zealand is a small island called Stewart Island. The only place in the world closer to Antartica than this is Tierra del Fuego. This fact, mixed with weather reports of rain (and possible snow) showers, did not leave us with high hopes for our time there. But, like the rest of our trip so far, we had amazing weather. It only rained one day.

We took the ferry over to Stewart Island and even though it was supposedly the calmest day in weeks, I had to work hard to fend off a reappearance of my breakfast. We then took off with ambitions of getting as far into the backcountry as we could in four days. Our ambitious first day, through bogs of mud left us fellin old and exhausted, so we shifted routes for an easier way back. Even so, my left knee is suffering from a bit of bursitis (ironically known as “house-maid’s knee”).

The ferry ride back was a bit rougher and two days later I am still feeling nauseous. Luckily we have a bit of down time in the cute little town of Riverton where Nelson will be presenting three workshops at the Southland Environment Center.

We’re not sure where we will head from there since we got an email saying that the next track we had reservations to hike, the Kepler Track, is closed due to avalanches. Maybe out to Doubtful Sound, or the Hump Ridge Track, or as far on the Kepler as we can get. So many possibilities!

The problem with buses is that they only go where all the people go. So, if you’re looking to say travel along the Southern Scenic route of New Zealand… total population circa 1,000. You’re out of luck.

I don’t fully endorse hitch-hiking, but as an environmentally friendly way to travel places that don’t have public bus service, it has its perks (If you’re with a strong man who will protect you from getting kidnapped and murdered of course… or if you can just run faster than whoever you’re travelling with).

So thumbs it was. We stuck ours out on the outskirts of Balclutha and got a ride within 15 minutes to Surat Bay, where we camped overnight at this awesome little campground. I was admiring some fine-looking home-made veggie burgers being cooked by a nice Irish lass and we got to talking. Turns out her and her fiance had a campervan and were travelling along the Southern Scenic route as well. They had some spare seats. We had some spare wine. It all worked out.

Travelling with them was like being in a coach bus that stopped at all of the sites we wanted to see anyway. Those stops mostly included beautiful sea-side vistas and short hikes to waterfalls. (Pictures to follow at some point). We all decided to camp at Curio Bay, another gorgeous sea-side campground that we shared with a few aggressive sea lions. So agressive that after dinner we were all trapped in the campervan. (Video to follow). Then this morning they drove us to Invercargill where we are treating ourselves with a night in a hostel. Woo hoo!

Best part is that we convinced them to go down to Stewart Island, so they’ll be dropping us off at the ferry tomorrow morning. Sweet. Can you call it hitch-hiking when you end up getting door to door service to all of the best sights along your route?

So, tomorrow us and the irishmen will take a ferry ride across the tumultuos sound to Halfmoon Bay where we will spend three days tramping through native bush and searching for kiwi birds. So far South Island = Fabulous.