Reflections On New Zealand

"Never lose the opportunity to see anything that is beautiful"

                          -Ralph Waldo Emmerson 

We have spent the last 7 weeks traveling from the north end of New Zealand to the south. We started in Auckland, picked up a campervan, worked south to Wellington, crossed a ferry, camped in remote locations, took a train, picked up a rental car and bounced around hostels, apartments, resorts and ended at a farm.

We had high hopes for experiencing all New Zealand has to offer and must say that we gave it our best but know full well that we left a lot on the table. We feel we could easily spend a year here just rolling around and taking in the stunning scenery- it is truly unique.

The welcoming locals certainly aid the country's reputation. We have not encountered a single local who did not go out of their way to help us with anything needed whether directions, information, or resources. The Kiwi people are as friendly and accommodating as any we have met and certainly challenge how we would handle certain situations at home when an obvious foreigner appears troubled. Of course they did win the Rugby World Cup while we were here which elevated spirits of the entire country. We watched the semi-final game in a pub and were told prior to the game that if they lost the country would be in a funk for a month. Of course they won and we were able to watch the finals in a movie theater of people at 5AM - completely full - an awesome experience. The All Blacks were the first country to win back to back titles and also the the first country to win The Cup for a third time in history. Needless to say, we are fans and the boys now possess a higher appreciation for the game Dad played in college and loves so much.

The food and wine here were also spectacular. We all lost some weight while in Central and South America but have put that and likely a few extra pounds back on as we have traversed this country. With vineyards at every corner and lamb and venison in all restaurants, we ate quite well when we ate out. But with high costs, we actually cooked ourselves about 3/4th of the time.

We continue to figure out how to do life in this nomadic style and to an extent have come to a conclusion that by the time we get it dialed in, it will be time to return home. It's not easy and certainly not always as great as these posts may sound (at some point we will do a post that discusses mundane everyday stuff as opposed to the fun activities). Either way, we know we are blessed with this opportunity and we seek to grow closer to our Savior and each other each and every day. And so our journey continues. Thanks to all those who have commented, texted, and written us emails - it means more than you can know and helps us feel closer to the familiarity of home.

We leave you with some of New Zealand's unique travel experiences:

One lane bridges

Slippery when FROSTY!

How many times did we do a double take thinking that no one was driving the car ahead of us?

This street marking always made us think twice as it was in our lane but pointing at us ???

Huh?....  Oh yeah, merge like a zipper!

Lastly, the Kiwi's are known for their great sense of humor. Above is the best airplane safety video we have come across yet (and we have been on a plane or two at this point). It's the actual All Black players in the video, which is just another sense of the country's pride in their rugby team. 

Farm Stay

We've been looking forward to this experience WOOFING, the term used for this set-up, as it is a popular way for people to travel around New Zealand.  While technically WOOFING stands for "Work On Organic Farm," the farm we were helping with was not organic, but was unique in that it had the ability to host our size family and they were open to having the children help.  The typical WOOFING experience consists of free accommodation and a meal in exchange for 4-6 hours of work each day. We arrived to the Possum Cottage (what they call their stand alone house for workers) in the evening for our week long farm stay. Our hosts were not around, so we made ourselves at home and were thrilled to have a wood burning fireplace that we quickly got roaring and all sat around and read before retiring for the evening.

Monday morning we woke up and met our hosts who outfitted us in some chore clothing and work boots.  The morning chores were quickly underway. We learned how to bottle feed the lamb that was orphaned and had become their outdoor pet.  We excitedly learned about their 3500 acre farm that we would be working on for the upcoming week.  It is considered a slightly above average sized farm for this area but our hosts are a bit more intense in their endeavors as they have sheep, cattle, deer (they fence them in New Zealand), a few hogs and hens, as well as crops.

Floss, our morning greeter!

Bottle feeding the lamb was so much fun!

Our first task was to take the tails off of the lambs. The kids were thrilled to finally have the opportunity to ride in the back of a pick-up truck - something they've been desiring to do since we started traveling!

Excited boys in the back of the pick up truck!

We arrived in the pasture and were amazed as we watched our hosts set up a fencing system, which mom related to our Lincoln Log play days, and the dogs were used to round up all of the sheep in an amazingly expedient procedure. The sheep shuffled through the fencing system and the mammas were set free while the lambs were directed to a fenced pen.  At this point the boys were very grateful for their sheep education experiences at Galewoods Farm back home. Dad, our oldest and youngest sons each gathered up lambs and held them so that the farmer, his wife, and their son could first give them a shot in the groin for "scabies," a common mouth infection, then hole-punched one of their ears, and finally soldered off their tail!  Sounds easy, but most of the little lambs had some spunk and required being held firmly. The reason for hole punching their ear was to mark if it was a male or female (left ear was male, right ear was female), and also to claim the lamb as the "hole" was actually a symbol that neighbors recognized as belonging to our farmer.  The lambs did not enjoy the shot or hole punch, but didn't seem to mind the soldiering of their tails.  After they lost their tails, they would spring across the pasture and reconnect with their mothers - the entire process was very interesting. When all of the lambs were tail-less, we then counted all of the tails on the ground and put them in a bag to be discarded.  Over our week we de-tailed 214 lambs, witnessed mom hoot and holler as she aided the dogs in directing the sheep to towards the fence, heard dad scream when he was electrocuted by the fence unexpectedly (yes, everyone but him laughed - quite a bit actually), and saw our kids overcome their reservations and jump in to help doing some out-of-the-ordinary work!

Everyone doing their part in this process

G prepping the lamb for it's shot

Mom jumping in relief of being set free

Lamb leaping in confusion after what just happened!

SJ was extremely concerned about the condition of the lambs!

Tail counting totaled 214 for the week!

Farmer G is loving it!

This one has the blood & guts to show for his hard work!

A bit of humor as the dog stood supervising on top of the Polaris & the lamb leaped thru the pasture!

In addition to helping de-tail the lambs, we spent our week feeding hens, calves, cattle, hogs, lambs, and dogs, cleaning feeders, making bags of feed, gardening, collecting eggs, rebuilding a greenhouse, shoveling manure, washing vehicles, and chopping logs.  We even managed to hold down the fort one night while our hosts spent the night away and attended a Fleetwood Mac concert of all things!

Cleaning the feeding bins

Mom feeding the cattle

Our cottage set up was very cozy and while our hosts encouraged us to drive to nearby towns which might have more to do, we enjoyed staying on the farm and exploring.  There was a trampoline to jump on, a Polaris Quad and 4-wheeler to ride, as well as bikes for the boys who ventured out to a "nearby" river to fish, only to find out that it was not so nearby!  We did school, read, played games, caught up on some photography, explored the farm, had a picnic in the pasture, enjoyed evenings by the fire, movie nights, and mom and our middle son even improvised and created some Russian Tea to enjoy during the cooler temps.  The guys did their best to maintain their allergies as their eyes swelled and they sneezed a lot.  At night the hen would scuffle by our bedroom windows and mice would scurry along the roof and in the walls while we slept.  Every morning the pet lamb would be peering in our kitchen door baa-ing to remind us she was hungry for her breakfast!

There was always an excuse to drive the Polaris!

Picnic lunch surrounded by poo in the pasture - but an incredible view!

We were looking forward to spending time with our hosts as it had been awhile since we were with the same people on a consistent basis, but their schedules and responsibilities didn't really allow for much of this outside of working together.  They were very pleasant and gracious hosts and we enjoyed the time that we did spend with them as we found it interesting to learn about the area, farm life and their family.  The farmer's wife made us scrumptious banana muffins for tea time and we all enjoyed taking a break from our chores to visit with them.  Over the weekend they took us to the city market and SJ had her face painted, the kids played at the park, we ate venison burgers, and had fun seeing the locals out enjoying themselves.

Dad joins the girls at the city market in his farm attire, straight from chores!

Good-bye to Ms. Sonja

Our first full day at the farm happened to be our oldest's 14th birthday!  Being our nature and animal lover who, as a child, wanted to grow up and be a cow-feeder, celebrating on a farm was an ideal way to celebrate!  We weren't sure what our options would be for celebrating at the farm, so we had a nice dinner at a restaurant of his choice while we were in Queenstown. However, because we needed to stock up on groceries that first day as we were providing our own meals, we ate at a restaurant in town and sang Happy Birthday to celebrate him.  It's been a joy to watch him lead and be so disciplined with his time on this trip, and the reality of his age makes us cherish this time even more as we only have a few years left with him at home.

Blessed to be celebrating 14 years with this young man!

One night we drove 40 minutes away to Timaru, a port city on the east side of the South Island.  We walked along the boardwalk and on the beach, skipped rocks, played at an awesome park, and had dinner before returning to the farm.

Beach at Tmaru - someone likes her workboots so much she opts to wear them everywhere!

Fun at the park!

Intrigued by the chocolate injector for the mini donuts!

What a unique experience this week has been!  With both of our extended families having worked for tractor companies and Tricia's grandparents having owned a farm, we both have always respected farmers and felt it's important for our kids to understand this lifestyle. It was endearing to watch the boys wake up, do chores and follow the farmer around with usually-helpful attitudes. The work wasn't anything too hard but our bodies sure felt the ramifications as it was different than our normal routine. Needless to say we slept well at night. Overall, we enjoyed our time on the farm and will always fondly remember our stay here.

Taking a break from his chores!

Our last day in New Zealand, we were told to enjoy and not work, so we headed back towards Mt. Cook and ventured out on one final trek. It was about a 3 hour round trip hike over 3 swing bridges and up to a lake at the base of the mountains. This lake had actual ice bergs still in it (but not polar bears, much to the disappointment of our daughter)! When we finally got there we were greeted with strong winds and small hail. We weren't dressed to stay too long, but like all walks here, it was beautiful.

Following our hike we headed over to the Sir Edmund Hillary Exploratory Center. Sir Edmund Hillary is famous for being the first man to summit Mount Everest. He was as pure of an adventurer as they come and lived a life doing all sorts of amazing things that included treks across Antarctica and many summits. His face now exists on the 5 dollar bill in NZ and he was the first person to be on a bill before he actually died (which he did just a few years ago). The center exists in a hotel called the Hermitage which has a storied history of its own dating back to the mid 1800s.

As we prepared to leave this country which we have called home for the last 7 weeks, there is a bittersweet, yet euphoric feeling. It has been an incredibly easy place to be and we know some of our future destinations will require us to give up some of the comforts we've enjoyed here. We welcome the coming challenges but miss the pristine beauty which exists everywhere in New Zealand.

Lake Tekapo was on our drive to the hike - beautiful!

Stopping where the glacier was just 100 years ago!

Interesting flowers that formed bowls towards the sun and held water.

Dad and kids in front of lake with icebergs still in it!

Next stop Australia for 3 weeks before heading to SE Asia for two months.

Queenstown Ate Our Visa

Queenstown, New Zealand is known as "the adreline junkies capital of the world" and of all the places in NZ, Dad was most excited about coming here. There is every activity imaginable (and some unimaginable) and they all have two things in common: 1) they are awesome and 2) they are expensive. The one saving grace is that the dollar is strong right now which gives us about 1/3 off of any money spent in New Zealand.

The place has more of a resort mountain town feel than any place else we've visited and there are few natives here due to the high cost of living. Real estate has exploded here in the last few years as big money has come in and bought vacation homes. So while the activities are fun, the feel is not as much New Zealand as we hoped or expected. We don't believe we met one native person from Queenstown our entire week here, as almost all employees are here from all over the world.

There are several activities that we could have done other places but we had saved to do here. The topography is so spectacular that it allows for just about any crazy idea someone can conceive.  Some of the options include: bungy jumping (actually invented here by A.J. Hackett), rafting, canyoning, giant swings, ziplining, mountain biking, luge, go carts, track driving, star gazing, gondola rides, boating, paddle boarding, wake-boarding, hang gliding, paragliding, a submarine shark that jumps 18 feet into the air and pulls a few Gs, exotic car driving, and skydiving just to name a few... all easy to book and fairly close to town. Its difficult to decide! Our approach was to release the research mavericks. A week or two prior to arrival we told the kids to start doing their own research on what they wanted to do, comparing prices and options. Many activities have size and/or age limitations so it took a bit of work. Then they had to dust off their presentation skills and present to the rest of the family. Our rough plan was to do half-day activities with school taking up the other half. For the most part this worked fairly well and we had good wi-fi at our place which also allowed us to use our school time well.

We rented another Airbnb place for our time here which sits on a crazy hill that makes parking a bit unnerving but overall worked great. The size and location were perfect and it actually housed 6 comfortably, unlike some we have stayed in that claim they are for 6 but only have 4 plates or limited towels, etc. We could walk into town in under ten minutes, had an amazing view of the lake, a grill and are close to a Frisbee golf course. Our first order of business was to get groceries as we planned to eat in as much as possible to save some dough here. 

View from our patio upon arrival

On our first day we set out to canyon, as it was a rainy, dreary day, and we figured being cold and wet under the canopy of trees would be a good use of time. This was a thrilling "boy-only" adventure as 10 was the minimum age. We slid down rocks, jumped from 6 meters, zip lined, and belly flopped into pools of rushing water. The go-pro was our only photo taking but here are a few shots:

Middle son jumping

Guys canyon-ing

As the weather cleared up a bit, later that afternoon we took a family ride on the Shotover Jet Boat. This is a jet boat that works like a large jet ski with two V8 engine and about 750HP powering it. The company has been in business over 50 years and driven over 3 million customers, establishing itself as one of the "must-dos" in Queenstown. Only needing 10cm of water to work, it powers over rocks and through canyons at blazing speeds doing 360 spins and lightening acceleration. A thrill for sure!

Shotover Jet Boat thrill

Upon our arrival back to town, we walked around the main area and along the lake and beach back towards our place.  The kids played at a park, we collected some more rocks, and then hiked up the crazy steep hill back to our accommodations.

Beautiful setting for a park - right on the lake!

The next day we opted for a family version of white water rafting, which was really more like raft strolling as the true rafting required kids to be over age 15. But we timed this well on a beautiful day and thoroughly enjoyed the activity as a family. We were able to stop and jump off some rocks and swim in the cool water.  We learned about the mineral mica that is in the rocks here and make them shimmer, it also causes the rocks to be brittle and is used in women's makeup for sheen. Our drive down into the river alone was amazing as it traversed a windy mountain road right on the edge. We learned it is one of only two roads in NZ that rental car companies will not insure. We also learned lots about the gold rush that occurred here in the mid 1800's on the Shotover river, which was one of the richest gold rivers in the world. Prospectors concocted all sorts of shenanigans to get at the gold such as: damming the river or actually diverting it through the mountain by blasting a new tunnel. But ultimately, mother nature always got the best of them as the river can rise and fall by about 12 meters in short periods of time. As a result there is a lot of debris from these exploits left in the river and it's considered "historic" by the government. Interestingly, even today there are a few prospectors who dive and pan for gold daily.

This is the actual place where the River Horses mowed down orcs in the LOTR movie

Mom & Dad jumping off the cliff holding hands - aren't we cute!

G flipping off of the cliff

One tired boy!

We woke up Tuesday morning hoping to hang-glide, but as we loaded into the van to drive up the mountain, the wind changed directions and we were told it wasn't going to work out.  Bummed, we agreed that a great activity to do together was frisbee golf, so we went and bought some disks.  we also happened to bump into the fun couple we'd done a wine tasting with in Lake Wanaka, so it was fun to visit with them again.  Then the boys headed to the beautiful frisbee golf course just across from the place we are staying, and had fun playing that for a couple of hours.

Frisbee anyone?

Frisbee golf - and it is FREE!

Beautiful park to frisbee golf in

The boys had been waiting patiently to mountain bike after the amazing experience they'd had on the north island, so the following afternoon they rented some bikes and took the gondola up to the top of the mountain so that they could ride down it.  This was serious downhill with steep terrain and bermed corners.  With multiple riding tracks to choose from, they never graduated beyond the "green" courses, but were mesmerized watching more experienced riders fly down the hills.

Downhill mountain biking

On the way home from biking the guys picked up some pizzas and the kids had a movie night while mom and dad escaped for a few hours to go out to dinner. It's been really nice to be able to take time for our marriage while here in New Zealand, knowing that the kids are safe and can speak the language so that we can leave them for a couple of hours.

Our last planned day in Queenstown we were scheduled to hang-glide again (our 3rd attempt actually - all previous opportunities cancelled due to weather), but this again was a bust. So with this news, we learned that it was actually the bungy jump company's 20th anniversary and all jumps were half off - done deal! But here we had a weight issue as our two youngest boys were on the low side of the scale. After many tears and complaints we bought 3 tickets (which included the two oldest and dad) and worked our way towards the time of our jump reservation. One kid was drinking and eating for two hours to "make weight" while dad reminisced on his wrestling days. Long story short, we got there and added layers of clothes, and our third son took dad's spot... Mom was a a bit upset at all the shenanigans to get to the jump spot, while dad was proud of his boys. There is a reason God gave children a mother and father.

The oldest went first!

This one jumped feet first!

G snuck in on the craziness

We then set off for our Milford Sound adventure (a separate blog post).

Upon returning to Queenstown, we played some more frisbee golf, walked around town, got caught up on laundry and drove to Glenorchy, where many of movie scenes have been filmed (Lord of the Rings, Prince Caspian, Avengers, Wolverine).  We stopped at a local cafe to get information and ran into the women we kayaked with in Milford Sound (previous post).  Then we ventured off on a rainy day to some beautiful sites and used our imagination as to some of the movie scenes that may have been filmed along the way.

Paradise is a small city outside of Glenorchy

We went off roading a bit and crossed this creek with the cows

Fairly certain this was Isengard in LOTR

Our last day we were finally able to hang-glide on our 4th attempt!  It was a chilly morning and had snowed a bit overnight in the mountains, but this was a fantastic experience!  All 5 of us got to ride gliders with a pilot feeling like Super-man, while SJ para-glided her way down the mountain feeling like she was in a giant swing. The experience of soaring down the mountain on nothing but air will not be soon forgotten.

Incredible!

Dad up high

G's up in the clouds

Enjoying the flight

Flying in the mountains

SJ seeing the sites from her sky swing

We enjoyed one last Ferburger (famous burger place in town) and a few more holes of frisbee golf before we headed to the country to experience farm living and work for our housing.

Delicious Ferburger!

One last frisbee golf time in Queenstown

What an incredible week of once-in-a-lifetime experiences.  We've had many discussions about these opportunities and using our time and resources well.  In some ways the last few weeks have felt more like a long vacation, but that is due in part to being in a country that speaks the same language, moving around so quickly, and not having an opportunity to connect much with the locals (when there are locals around).  We pray to be the hands and feet of Jesus every day and hope we are a light to those that we come in contact with.  In a way it is "easier" to feel like one is accomplishing kingdom work when there is a task to do or community to interact with.  We miss our church family back home and the time zone difference makes watching services online difficult, but we've been learning how to be more like Jesus every day in each of our own walks and to grow as a family.  And we pray that God will take this year of many experiences and use it in unimaginable ways in the lives of our children and what they are being exposed to (experiences and opportunities positive and negative) for His glory as they grow.