On The Farm

We arrived on the farm for our second WWOOF experience, which is located 45 minutes outside of Nelson. This time on an organic sheep farm with an adventure business on the side (Wild Tracks - www.wildtracks.co.nz)

There were two other girls here helping out when we arrived, from Seattle believe it or not! The farm is located on a beautiful property with mountains/hills in the near distance. The weather has been hot and the sunsets have been beautiful. Our time on this farm has involved many different tasks; Kevin has been doing some computer tutoring with the older son, helped fix the irrigation system, sheep mustering, and many other odd jobs and I have been doing more domestic tasks such as washing (aka laundry), dishes, ironing, and also feeding the lambs and chickens and collecting the eggs. We can't forget about Arthur! Arthur is the littlest orphaned lamb (3 weeks) who stays in his own pen by the house. He gets fed a bottle 4 times a day and he is darling. He is about the size of a cat, but taller. The night before the other girls departed on their way we had a picnic dinner outside - I love summer! The family is a christian family and the parents are very warm, welcoming, and patient. They are very down-to-earth people and it has been great to how they interact with their 2 boys who are homeschooled and run the business. At times we feel busy here but at the same time we feel relaxed and are enjoying the rural lifestyle.

Ethan loves seeing the animals, especially Arthur, and playing on the grass. He continued to wake up mulitple times in the night because of his sore gums. His tooth cut through though and last night we were only up once - praise the Lord!!! I feel so much better to have had a long stretch of sleep :)

Nelson - Part 1

Well we got a little behind with the blog updates. We have been doing a variety of things since Milford Sound and the next few posts will fill in those gaps.

After our time in Milford Sound we spent the entire day driving to get to the town of Nelson (12 hours north with only a handful of stops-Ethan did amazing!). One of our stops was to see the Foxx Glacier which was very interesting (http://www.foxguides.co.nz/facts.asp). We stood in the valley where the glacier had been in the 1700's and we were able to walk almost right up to where it has since retreated.

We also drove through the small town of Greymouth where a mining accident occurred just a few days before where all 29 men died. It has been a major news story and tragedy accross New Zealand and we saw camaras and reporters set up covering the story.

We finally arrived in Nelson at the hostel (Almond House) where we stayed for 5 consecutive nights. It was SO nice to just be in one place for a bit. I don't think we realized quite how tired we were of staying one night, packing up in the morning, and heading on to another place, like we had for a week. The hostel was small and spacious, located on a residential street, only a short walk to the downtown. We relaxed in the backyard, took turns going for a morning jog along the river, went to the beach (beautiful!!!), and to the small zoo. Poor Ethan's gums were sore and he was waking several times a night. The walls are thin and with other people trying to sleep, I was mortified to see them in the morning. I thought we were going to get out. One night when it seemed to take forever to get Ethan to settle, Kevin took him to the car and they slept out there. As it turns out, I really don't think many people noticed. What seemed like a lot of crying to me, was likly only a few minutes. The lady who managed the hostel with her husband (also mother of small children) kept commenting on how great Ethan was doing. We finally started to relax a bit more and we really enjoyed not doing a whole lot.

Milford Sound!

We left early Monday morning for Milford Sound in Fiordland National Park.  The day before we had some crazy rain - expected as the area gets more than 200 days of rain a year, and some 10 m or something like that.  But by morning, (and still 2 days later!) the sun was out and we were on our way!

At only 119 km from Te Anau, the ride took more then 2 hours.  We were hoping for an early morning cruise (10:30) so set the alarm for 6am.  We barely made it - I guess that's what happens when there's a manchild that needs to be addressed.  And a man, too, I suppose :)  The first half of the ride was standard NZed fair - rolling green hills and sheep.  With the occasional deer farm.  But the second half, was well, amazing.  Steep fiords carved into the mountain scape, with lush valleys that go right to the edge of the mountains, no foothills here…

At Milford, we did the expected - took a 2 hour fairy out as far as the Tasman Sea and back again.  Saw a few seals, dolphins, penguins, and of course, Mitre Peak, named after the popes hat :D  We can't wait to see our pictures!!  

Ethan's going to be disappointed though.  The poor guy was so exhausted that he slept pretty much the entire time.  I can see the conversation now… "Dad, I don't remember the Milford cruise, can we go again?", to which I'll have to say - "Sorry son, you were sleeping" … Let's of course, ignore that he's only seven months old ;)

Monday night there was no room at the inn, so we booked a hut on the Routeburne Great Walk, a way better alternative.  There were maybe 8 of us who stayed the night, although it could probably hold 30.  John, the park ranger, was excited to see Ethan, doesn't get a lot of infants backcountry.  Although the Kiwi definition of backcountry and the North American definitions differ greatly!  This was almost luxury: running hot water, a wood stove, gas stoves, bathrooms, padded bunks, the works.  Ethan spent half the night in my sleeping bag, and half in Amy's - but it worked out well - both according to us, and the other guests !

New Zealand has the right idea with their "walks" and huts.  Monday night we were the only foreigners on site, the rest were older, locals.  None wanted to mess with tents or "technical" gear, they just wanted to go tramping.  The system in place here really does a terrific job of making nature accessible to all people, regardless to experience and physical ability.  I love it.

Tuesday morning we hiked past the hut to Earland falls, at 200m high it was pretty sweet.  No empire falls of BC, but one of the larger falls I've seen in some time.  On the way out we took another side journey up Key Summit.  It's a geographically interesting area - a single peak in a fiordland valley that's the head of three rivers, one to the east, south and west..

The evening found us back in the small town of Te Anau, at the same lakefront hostel we stayed at Sunday evening.  We didn't have any agenda, other then to clean up from hiking, enjoy a little lamb on the bbq, and to take it easy for the evening… One of the few nights we were inside by 7 - we watched "The fastest indian", a movie that was based out of Invercargill, New Zealand, a town not to far away.

The Remarkable Queenstown (Food!)

The trip from Makaroa to Queenstown was supposed to be rather quick, but we took the milk run.  I can't say it was intentional, just missed the turn off and ended up on a smaller, less traveled road.  Not that I'm complaining!

When the speed limit says 100 km / h, and there is a sign immediately below it, posted for 25 km / h, you know you're in for a fun trip.  New Zealand is quite possibly the only place where the speed limit isn't actually achievable.  If you're going that fast, you're not going to make it around all of the twists and turns and ups and downs.

After twisting and turning, along with switchbacking up & down at least one pass, we hit fog so think you couldn't actually see the width of the street.   Well, technically, it wasn't fog.  It was just a low lying cloud that we climbed up into.  Same effect though.   

Anyways, I say all this with one purpose - the road to Queenstown was amazing.  And lined with either sheep, or shear cliffs of which we couldn't see the bottom.  Either way, amazing…  :)

Queenstown itself was interesting.  Known as the adrenaline capitol of the world - it's home to bungee jumping - it's a place where defying gravity is the norm.  So we decided to go for a hike, figuring walking uphill was about all the gravity defying we wanted to do.  One bonus though - we hiked to the top of a gondola run and took it back down - no one checks for tickets at the top and we thought it made for a better all-around experience!  

Now, just a moment on lunch.  Of course I like food, but in efforts to keep costs low lunch has typically been a PB & Jam sandwich.  Today however, we splurged.  We had a Fergsburger.   Amy went with the classic, I had a hard time deciding between lamby and bambi.  Went with lamby, and *man*, I was not disappointed!  Fergsburger was perhaps one of the most amazing hamburgers I've ever had.  Yum.  Will cover dessert later...

The town, really is party central.  Ethan fit right in - at 7 months he's a little young, but he fit in well with the girls…and the Japanese tourists who liked to take their photo with him…  While I don't care for the party central aspects, I still have to recommend the place.  It's geographic location, on the edge of a lake, boxed in on one side with the remarkable mountain range, and on the other with other mountains I can't remember, was … well, incredible!  

Lastly, there was dessert.  In the town harbour, on a lake that's crystal clear, we enjoyed a little chocolate and ice cream from Patagonia, a local dessert place . I kid you not - they probably have the best ice cream I've ever had (marzcapone and fruit of the forest & Argentinean caramel flavours- yum).   It helps that the sun was setting behind a crazy beautiful mountain range, behind a crazy beautiful lake, and I had my amazingly beautiful wife next to me ;)

Little Fishy in the brook…

Just a quick note this morning.  Went fishing after "work" yesterday afternoon, had a great time.  The weather wasn't cooperating - was rather windy, so we had to relocate to the head of Lake Wanaka, where the river meets the lake.  Considering it's a braided river, the headwaters are more than a kilometer across…

We landed 7 or 8 salmon (landlocked species), each were maybe 30 cm long and about a half kilo or so in weight.  I caught but lost, a rainbow trout - lost it in fighting when it was airborne.  Ah well.  But the real catch was a 49 cm brown trout, that weighed nearly 2 kilo.  A bit of a fatty he was ;)  

Of course, dinner was *amazing*.  We were back at the house, with fish cleaned an in the pan within an hour.  Yum!

Birds Part II

Today was our last day of work and Kevin has gone fishing this afternoon with Raymond (the farmer). I stayed behind with Ethan to have a quiet time to type this and do some reading. It took a while to get Ethan to go down for his nap. He finally started to fall asleep in my arms and DONG a bird flies into the window that I was sitting by. The bird struggled and my heart sank. Great, I finally have a sleeping baby, but now there is a near-dead bird out the window to look at. I decided not to look. After 25 minutes I just noticed the bird flutter on it's way. He's quite lucky that Calvin (the kitten) didn't notice. Calvin has a habit of taking birds out of the sky, this would have been a very easy target… But I think the little guy is going to make it : )

One of the days on the farm we worked 8 hours and took the next off to do a hike. Since we are in Mt. Aspiring National Park, we did not have to go too far. We got all organized and ready to hit the trail and 20 meters into our hike there was a river we had to cross. It was raining a little and we were a little discouraged to see the continuation of the trail on the other side. I wasn't feeling that desperate to venture on and thankfully there was another hike a short drive away. With a clearer sky and dry feet we hiked up Mt. Shrimpton. Ignore the name, it was a beefy mountain! Ethan napped in the back carrier and when he was awake, he enjoyed reaching out to grab branches. After a couple of hours we reached the bushline (treelike) and were able to see a lot more of the valley. Some of the mountains have snow on them - while on an adjacent mountain there was a very narrow gully, resulting in a long, narrow, continuous water fall.

We've enjoyed the one store here in town - multiple ice cream's: hokey pokey, coffee walnut, banana chip, kiwi fruit, rum & raisin; also had a little fruit & nut loaf, and a honey chocolate nut square. All goodness...

Birds and the Bees

The remainder of our week on the farm involved laying a stone walk way. With large rocks and fairly solid ground, it seemed like Kevin was doing all the work; and what a fine job he did! I tried my best to contribute and did find myself quite useful with the shovel, wheel barrel, cro-bar, and rake, as well as feeding Ethan, entertaining him, and putting him down for naps.

We're in a valley with mountains all around, it is quite pretty and the weather seems to change every few hours: sunny, cloudy, sun showers, hot, cool. It does smell wonderful after it rains! The ozone layer in this part of the world is thin and we have to be very careful about the UV rays. The sunscreen we have seems to go on like a paste and even after rubbing it in we look a little on the albino side.

While on the farm we noticed an anomaly of nature. The bumble bees here are bigger then birds back in Canada. They'd put any humming bird up to a challenge - rather scary, unless giant bees don't bother you. Then it's par the course, standard fair. In fact, they look like fuzzy little "bumble bears".

Farming Mt. Aspire National Park

Today we've begun our woof experience a fruit tree / berry / nut farm.  Actually the farm is somewhat general purpose - with a little something for everyone it would seem.  It's amazing how quickie 4 hours of manual labour passes, it's really little more than enough time to pass between snacks.  

What makes today so great though, is that I feel good again.  Two days ago I did a 2km trail run, and yesterday I did roughly the same only in a windstorm.  But by mid morning I was feeling horrible and my cough had returned.  It seems that a post-chest infection / chronic cough isn't to be mixed with running, according to the family medical professional.  After several naps yesterday, and a long sleep last night, I work feeling nearly recharged.  So I did the natural thing - manual labour.  Just not the kind that gets the heart rate up or lungs burning.

Today / tomorrow we'll be putting netting over blueberry bushes, to keep the birds off.  Means digging a handful of fence posts today and running wires and netting tomorrow.  Honestly, for three great meals it's a good trade.  

Oh, and did I mention - we're located in the middle of the Mt. Aspiring national park?  :)

Good Morning Day! I'm awake and ready to play!

A song I made up to sing to Ethan when he wakes up; similar, although opposite to the classic book Good Night Moon and to my own tune and dance of course :) An appropriate song for everyday, especially today. We got up early and headed down to the beach to see if we could see the Yellow-Eyed penguins. We did not see any, but the ocean, sea shells, sound of the waves, and view were spectacular. We came back to the hostel on the hill for breakfast and some relaxation. Then it was time for a little jaunt over the hills just outside the door.

With the wind at my back and sheep scattered throughout I jogged over the grassy slopes overlooking the water with a skip in my jump and taking a moment to toss in a freestyle twirl. With the sheep as my witness, it was glorious! My God is an amazing creator! You don't have to be in NZ to do this; I dare you to just try it where you are. Start with a little skip, add a little spin, stretch out your arms, and shout:

Glorious!

Billy Browns!

We visited Dunedin, for about 10 minutes.  Then we decided we didn't need any more hustle & bustle found in the big city (100,000).  So we headed to Port Chalmers - where you'll find maybe 1000 town folk.  Much easier on the head.

The hostel, Billy Brown's Backpackers, is located on top of a crazy steep hill, surrounded by short green grass and sheep.  Lots of sheep.  The hostel is rustic, but new.  Very well built, with a great living room, kitchen and a simple but very effective wood fireplace.  In short, it was so nice we decided to stay a second night.  That, and we have the place to ourself.  Oh, did I mention - 270 degree views of ocean?  :)

My health is returning nicely - this morning I felt well enough to try a little trail run, maybe 2 km in length.  Out to the two trees and back.  Was light headed for the first .5km, but the wind, sun & fresh air did wonders.  Although weaker than I'd normally care to admit, the run was amazing.  No trail, just green grass cut by sheep.  And views to kill. 

Tomorrow I try 5km.  And I'm really, really looking forward to it.

Empire Hotel, Oamaru

We decided to leave Lake Tekapo (population 342) this morning, to make a run for Oamaru on the pacific coast.  The lack of a grocery store played some role in the decision, but ultimately we figured if we had to pull a double header in a town somewhere it might as well be a place big enough that we could find wi-fi internet.  Lake Tekapo was nice, but it's a bit of a one hit wonder unless you really just want to unplug and do nothing.  That's almost us, but not quite :)

Before leaving we visited the Mt. John astro cafe, where the University of Canterbury has a number of deep space telescopes.  We considered taking the midnight our, but it was rather expensive. So we opted for a chi tea latte and enjoyed the incredible 360 degree views of the alpine environment.  

Empire Hotel

We headed towards Lake Pukaki, then took highway 8 north, towards the Mount Cook visitor center.  Lake Pukaki was perhaps the most teal coloured lake we've ever seen - Lake Louise in Alberta included!  We got treated to vistas of it for a full 50km, until we arrived at the visitor center.  It was hands down the most interesting mountaineering visitor center I've ever seen - educational, historical, modern and relevant - all at the same time.  The new chalet at Mt. Rainer is close, but this one took the cake.  

After lunch (PB & Jam sandwiches) we skirted Twizel and headed on towards Oamaru.  Amy got a few hours of driving in, and only once did I have to tell her to move to the "other" side of the road ;)  With my chest infection I still tire easy, so while she drove I managed both an early morning and mid-afternoon nap.  Did me a world of good!

We picked up a few eggs (more on eggs later!) from a farm on the way, and popped them in the trunk.  Along with a few groceries dinner at the hostel kitchen was terrific - chicken, carrots & rice with an apricot sauce.   Only we cooked so much we'll be eating it for breakfast too, I suspect.

The evening was topped with a walk to the beach, where dusk brings a fun surprise - penguins!  Blue penguins, the worlds smallest, come ashore here in Oamaru each evening.  Sure enough, small flocks (are they called flocks or schools?) started to appear offshore a little after dusk.  The first came ashore right next to us, which was in a very rocky area.  Others came ashore a little further down the beach - it was somewhat comical to see them get past the surf, and then march single file up the beach!

Blue Penguins marching to shore!

Onward From Christchurch

We left the city of Christchuch and took the scenic route, the typical Durdle way!. We crossed a few single lane bridges over turquoise rivers and passed by where some of the Lord of the Rings was filmed, so we were told. 

Enjoying the English Gardends

We arrived in a small town of Geraldine where we had lunch at Capernwray Bible School (Hanna, a girl from Germany that stayed at Sue's home with us over the weekend, works there and invited us to stop by). We did not know quite what to expect out of a school of 12 students, but it turned out to be this beautiful former old-english style Bed & Breakfast. We had lunch family style and were introduced by Hanna "This is Amy, Kevin, & Ethan; I met them on the weekend and they are traveling and have come for lunch". It seemed a bit random, but felt somewhat normal :) Quite a few of the students were from Canada, so we felt quite at home. We hung around briefly to enjoy the lush scenery outside the school.

We left Hanna and co for Lake Tekapo, a lake in colour the same as Lake Louise of Alberta, Canada. The town at it's head is very small, although we did spend the night there. At Tekapo, is perhaps the most photographed church in New Zealand, the Church of the Good Shepard. We thought we'd beat the tourist rush and we got up for some sunrise photos; and as we write this we're both rather tired :)

Next stop is Mt. Cook, the highest mountain in NZ!

Lake Tekapo!

Sweet!  Just remembered, that the "Church of the Good Shepard" is located at Lake Tekapo, our destination for tomorrow.  That makes me so very, very happy - we're spending one, if not two, nights here!

The Church of the Good Shepherd,
Courtesy of National Geographic

Akaroa, New Zealand: Rolling hills and turquoise oceans

Ah the French.  Leave it to them to start a settlement surrounded by mountains (or at least, the port hills).  We visited Akaroa yesterday and spent the night, it's a town of maybe 200 or 300 people, nestled between rolling green hills and a turquoise blue ocean. 

Overlooking Akaroa

The drive to Akaroa was 2 or 3 hours long, although only a 100 km or so.  It brought us through some of the most twisted roads - of course, this in a country where guard rails have yet to be discovered.  Sheep were common place, as well as the occasional cow and goat.  Standard Amy & Kevin style, we stopped frequently - including the Hilltop cafe where the above photo was taken.

We spent the night at a Top 10 Motor camp, fun place.  Met a number of travelers, including a family of 4 who were four months into a year long, around the world, journey.  A number of younger folk as well, including infants and toddlers, which is always a nice reminder that we're not crazy ;)

Tomorrow we're off to Lake Tekapo, "one of the most spectacular high skies in the world"

Hats off to Joe Dixon

Captain James Cook in
Victoria Square

Earlier I proposed that Guilver, of Guilver's travels, discovered New Zealand.  Turns out that the Dutch found it before Guilver even.  But their interaction with the natives (Maori) didn't go so well.  Then again, Guilver was tired and attacked as well, but faired a little better.  A hundred years later, Captain James Cook showed up and did an incredible job mapping the area, which we'll venture out and start exploring tomorrow.

Today however, I obeyed the Doctor's orders.  She said to rest, so we did.  Went to church, and then caught a bus downtown.  6 hours later we returned home.  But I promise, we only rested during those six hours!  No running (except to catch the bus at both ends).  No exhausting work (except to ).  No hard thinking... well, I did break that one.

Really though, the focus of the afternoon was on the walking tour of Chirstchurch.  Including Ethan and Virginia, the guide, there were 5 of us, nice and personal.  It was supposed to be 2 hours, but as per the doctor's orders, we took it easy.  Stretched it to 3 hours.  Of course, I also asked as many questions as possible, which might have impacted the duration a little.  Learned quite a bit, and had a great time.  Virginia also said she had a jolly time, which is somewhat relieving ;)  Ethan slept the whole time, he'll have to do the trip again sometime.

The Cressy landing at Lyttelton, illustrating the "First Four"

My hat goes of to Joseph Dixon though.  At 33, he convinced his wife Mary, to take move to Canterbury (Christchurch) and was on the first of the "first four" ships to arrive (25 total came).  I though traveling with a 6 month old was questionable.  The guy left England to start a settlement with Ann (9 years old), Mary (8), James (6), Elizabeth (4), Jane (2), and Joseph Jr, an infant.  Yes, that's right, 6 young children.  Well done, well done indeed.

(Image details: Archives New Zealand)

Off to the Races!

After all the flights to get here, we did not exactly hit the ground running. Jet lag did not seem to be an issue for any of us (which is amazing), but spending what felt like two full days in a big aluminum tube with a couple of hundred people did Kevin in.

With Melissa's help, we decided it wasn't meningitis, that's good. Maybe pneumonia, bronchitis, H1N1, or a chest infection. Next stop, Doctor's office. It seems a chest infection tried to attack Kevin. He trooped along the first couple of days and finally got hold of some antibiotics today. He should be back to himself in no time now. Neat fact: Commonwealth folk get discounts on Doctor's visits and prescription drugs :)

This is what we were hoping for!

We got our car today; it's not as quirky as we were hoping. A purple 1997 Nissan maxima from the Christchurch car market. It's a package deal kinda place, one stop shop for car, inspection, registration, insurance. We also discovered that gas is really, really cheap in the United States and Canada.

We went for an afternoon drive, through Christchurch and south into the foothills and over Dyers pass. Near the pass we stopped at Sign Of The Takahe, and at the pass we stopped again at Sign of the Kiwi. We also went for a hike that gave us amazing views into the extinct volcanic rim that's now part of the pacific ocean.

Sign of the Takahe:
A place of rest for travellers...

We stopped at Lyttelton for dinner, and had fish and wedges, this time we had ketchup too, because we brought our own! Kevin said it was probably the best fish and chips he's ever had. We drove back through Sumner, a very nice drive. Also saw a working time ball; we hope to return to see it actually drop....

Although we got off to a slow start, today it looks like we're off to the races!

Christchurch and Fruitcake

Well, we arrived safely in Christchurch, New Zealand yesterday.  Our three pieces of luggage were a little delayed, but they shoed up tonight, no biggie.

Took it easy today - trying to get over a cold I got in travels.  Went to a local library for a 'story time', a kid's program.  This afternoon's agenda however, was incredible, and finished with a great hike on a local beach.  Before that?  Tea time (& fruit cake).  What time is tea time I asked Sue at one point in the day - why, it's after nap time she responded.  Yup - lunch, snack, nap, tea time & a hike on the beach.  Dinner's in there somewhere...

Here's my favorite part so far:  Christchurch is so british that within 4 hours of arriving we had enjoyed a little tea & fruitcake.  Yum.

LAX & Cream cheese

Seattle was kind to us this morning.  The rain was coming down in sheets; a good reminder as to what we'll be missing over the next few weeks.  It was a little sad to leave, but let's just say once we broke through the clouds (barely did) it was sunny.  A nice, bright sun.

LAX.  What a beautiful place, for the first 15 minutes.  We're 6 hours into a 9 hour layover - the alternative was either a stop in Portland or a 60 minute stop over, which seemed much to short, especially considering the trans-pacific flight we were about to take.  So, LAX it for 9 hours it is.

It's been fun people watching - or more specifically, talking with people.  For instance, discussing the price of a hamburger, which is a little more than $15.  Much to much for those without a paycheck ;)  So I headed to Starbucks with Ethan while Amy slept. 

"Do you sell cream cheese with your bagels? … Excellent.  Would you be able to toast the bagel for me?… Really, no toaster?  Who eats a bagel with cream cheese that's not been toasted?  I'll be back, going to check with Burger King to see if they can toast my bagel"

"Hello, would you mind toasting a bagel if I purchased one from Starbucks?… [strange look, new person] Hi, if I purchased a bagel from SB, would you mind toasting it?… That's ok, an industrial toaster would work just fine.  Just pretend it's one of your buns… OK, than can I purchase a hamburger that never touched the meat?  I just want the bun.  Really, you can't promise that? … Thanks all the same"

Now Ethan shines.  We bounce over to the local pub, and ask if they'd mind toasting a bagel as per the burgers they sell…. "For you, no, sorry.  But for a your little guy?  No problem.  But in the 10 years I've been working here, no one's ever asked me that question before!"

Not that I like to be a pain in the rear end, I just really wanted a toasted bagel.

Pumpkins & Suitcases

Halloween is an odd time of year.  Sugar (or artificial versions of it) can be found anywhere - the bank, department stores, even at the thai restaurant we visited for dinner last night.  Also found all over are artificial, foam and plastic pumpkins.  I can't help but wonder, when is someone going to invent a biodegradable pumpkin?

Ethan at the pumpkin patch...

On pumpkins, we opted to pass on costumes, parties & the likes, deciding it was probably better that we invest in our trip, which begins in roughly 24 hours.  But we couldn't pass on all aspects - for instance, the annual pilgrimage to the pumpkin patch.  I mean, who doesn't love to see fields of pumpkins?  This year, we visited the local pumpkin patch at QFC :)  Took a few photos, let Ethan roll around in the pumpkins and mud, and minutes later we found ourselves picking out ice cream.  It was great.

We've decided on our suitcase and packing strategy for our trip.  Dealing with 4 airlines (Alaska, V Australia, United & Air Canada) and 9 flights, this was no easy task!  Well, it'd be easy if you liked being sucker punched with various baggage fees.  The outcome is 3 checked suitcases (ok, 1 suitcase, 2 backpacks).  2 carry on suitcases, and 2 personal items.  Oh, and we'll check at the gate a stroller and a car seat.  Plus we're mailing a box of winter clothes to Peterborough.

And here's the best part:  We're packed and ready to go!

Lilliput and Blefuscu?

In making final preparations for our New Zealand trip, we thought it'd be prudent to consult The Times Atlas of the World, an atlas given to us by a friend.  It's no regular, coffee table style atlas: this atlas is so large you need a suburban coffee table.  In urban areas we call suburban coffee tables - dining tables.

Lilliput and Blefuscu

I mean, who wants to travel to a country and not consult such a book?  Sure, it's a little late to be doing such planning (we leave in 2 days), but honestly there's only so much google maps can tell you.  For instance, can it give you latitude and longitude, or does it have an index of outdated city names that can tell you a page and quadrant?  No, I think not...

So I did the natural thing.  I hid the book under my pillow (condo term: mattress) for later retrieval.  Turns out, an island in the south pacific with 265,000 sq km and 3.3 M people on it's own continental plate (as per my 1988 atlas), might have been discovered early than people thought.   On further investigation, it seems that Gulliver may have visited NZed earlier than Captain Cook, circa 1702. Only he mis-labeled the two islands Lilliput and Blefuscu.

Anyways, today will be interesting.  We plan on filling an closing 3 checked suitcases as well as 2 carry-on's.  Return a handful of borrow items, pickup a DVD player for $10, and layout out our condo for a renter who requested a TV.  Mop the floors, scrub the walls.  And whatever else the wicket stepsisters wanted Cinderella to do around the house.

Should be an interesting day :)

Work, Recreate & Rest

Eight Hour Day Banner, Melbourne, 1856

The industrial revolution was ended by socialism, suggesting a work day best be defined as eight hours labour, eight hours recreation, eight hours rest.  I'm about to redefine my work day, a work in progress for some time now.

Consider the eight hours of rest.  It would seem that Ethan has decided to begin snacking every three hours; a habit I'm determined to wean him of.  Of course that means persuading him a pacifier is just as interesting as ... well, a light snack from the source.  Rest 4, Work 12, Recreate 8.

Eight hours recreation - Preparing for a 40,000 km trip (think circumnavigation around the globe, only with a more directional approach) would be fun, or at minimal, a form of recreation.  Not so - it's been challenging.  It's required losing at least 50% of my standard recreation time to this make work project, leaving breakfast and dinner as the most leisure time of day.  Rest 4, Work 16, Recreate 4.

Eight hours work.  This is a curious thought, work just ended.  I'm out of office, for the next 10 weeks.  Spreading these "8" hours regained from the office: Work 8, Rest 8, Recreate 8.

Strange, my new work day ended out much the same as my old, 8, 8 & 8.  Only now, as in most of life, the details, and definitions, count more than the numbers.  It'll take a few days, or maybe a week or more, but we'll let you know how our new 8x3 works out.

Cheers!