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New Zealand: January 2020-February 2020 – 2 very epic months right before COVID lockdown.

As I started to go through pictures for this blog post that was intended to be for half of 2020, I realized a few things: First and foremost we have too many photos to share just for the first 2 months, because we did A LOT of epic things, therefore I needed to shorten the date range. And second, I am now grateful for my procrastination with writing about our time New Zealand. Writing this now, years later, has allowed me to revisit and reflect upon our adventures on a deeper level. Part of what takes me so long to get these up, even though I’m finally motivated and in a good place to write about it, is going through the photos. I love going through all of the photos and videos, so picking which ones to use can be a challenge. The memories they bring back takes me to such good places (mostly). I can now appreciate the time we spent there and the people we spent it with a lot more. I have to admit that for a while I felt like our time in New Zealand was a whirlwind of foggy, windy, cold days, scraping by financially, literally living pay check to pay check. Somehow we managed to do quite a bit of amazing things… I actually see and feel that now.

So here we go: January 2020 started with a lovely summer camping trip just around the corner at our friends farm for his annual birthday party. We set up camp along with other friends, bbq’d, played with the cows, and watched the kids roast marshmallows. What a blast! Thanks Rob Suisted ! He happens to be one of New Zealand’s top photographers! Check out his photography by clicking his name.

After visiting Mt. Holdsworth the past November, we had to make another visit, this time with our good friends Steve, Trudy and the kids.

We love the swing bridges in New Zealand.

Nina often spent part of her summers growing up going to visit Auntie Tara. The tradition continued, even traveling all the way from New Zealand! She loves getting spoiled by her auntie.

Fun times working in Wellington’s NICU!

Taj and our friend’s son, Liam. Originally from Sausalito, came to visit from Australia.

Now for the big adventure: The South Island camper trip. My mom and brother had planned to fly out for a visit, so we planned it to where Ellamae flew back with them. As their tour guide, I thought it best to have them start their visit on the South Island. Since we had the NZMCA discount for the ferry, we ended up taking both the camper and the car over from Wellington to Picton. With both vehicles there we had a place to sleep and a car to drive everyone around in once Mom, Phill and Ellamae arrived. They planned to fly into Nelson, so we planned to arrive a few days early to get a head start on exploring. I am sad to say that Nina was gone for this one too, as she was still having fun in the US visiting Auntie Tara and family.

Christian was really into mountain biking at the time, so we dropped him off to do the Old Ghost Road from South to North. Definitely worth clicking the link to read about the trail. In short “The Old Ghost Road is a Grade 4 (advanced) mountain biking trail”. But there is so much more to it than that. While Christian was grinding away over the hills and through the valleys, Taj and I drove around to the other side to pick him up, making scenic stops along the way. It was a long epic day! We also made other essential stops…camping at Mussel Rocks Hill, Lake Rotoroa, and Marble Hills Resort (campground) near Kaiteriteri’s MTB park, and up near Golden Bay at Takaka. Nelson’s skate park and MTB park was a must as well. For finding places to stay, we were mostly using an App called Rankers looking for Freedom Camp sites.

From there we went to Nelson to reunite with Ellamae. We were so grateful that she flew back accompanied by her grandma ( my mother ) Katie and uncle ( my brother) Phill. We played tour guides and tourists at the same time, starting in Nelson (the north end of the South Island). We first toured the Nelson and Golden Bay Area .

Taj “helping” uncle Phill with his backpack.

Then we drove down to Hanmer Springs, where we stayed over night and went to the spa and resort water park. Then on over to Arthur’s Pass where we stopped by Castle Hill Rocks (another Lord of the Rings and Narnia scene), Devils Punch Bowl Falls and lookouts with overly friendly Kea birds. From there we drove down the West Coast to Franz Josef Glacier, back up the West Coast through Greymouth, and Pancake Rocks and then up and over to Nelson. We even fit in a sailing trip with our friends on their Wharram catamaran out of Elaine Bay in the Marlborough Sounds. From Nelson we drove both car and Sharkie to Picton to hop on the ferry back over to the North Island.

The ferry ride home was a little bumpy, but it sure was beautiful heading out of Picton.

Power Nap on the ferry back to Wellington,

January 2020 was coming to an end, the kids were about to start school, but summer was still in full bloom. Our tour guide experience with Mom and Phill continued in and around the Wellington area. I showed them the Te Papa museum and other sights in town. We hiked the escarpment track, went to a local CrossFit workout , and visited the kid’s schools.

Another Kiwi Guardian at the botanical gardens in Wellington.

So windy!!!

While mom had a few days rest, Phill and Christian took a quick drive up to Mt. Ruapehu and Mount Ngauruhoe to climb the “Tongariro crossing” to the top of both. It was Christian’s birthday, so he was excited for this epic hike. Phill, who has climbed a lot of peaks, was also so excited to climb one of the iconic peaks in New Zealand. For those of you who are “Lord of the Rings” fans, you may recognize this peak as “Mount Doom”.. You can see the “Facts Sheet” here.

Phill glissading down “Mount Doom” !

First Day at Te Ra Waldorf School!

From there just Taj and I, Mom and Phill continued the tour on up to Auckland, where they would fly back to the US. Along the way I had to show them Flat Hills Cafe and tourist stop and Lake Taupo. We rented an Airbnb called the “Fat Pigeon” aka Pukeko at a small lake near Rotorua called Tarawera. What a lovely place to swim and go out on the house owner’s boat to see the local birds and take another dip.

Flat Hills smoothie and Kunekune Pig viewing.

Swinging at “The Barn House” airbnb near Piha.

We then went up just past Auckland and stayed at “the Barn” near Piha, a lovely little beach town. Again, we had some great little walks to take in the beautiful country.

A venture up the 60-storey Sky Tower in Auckland!

The last day there before their overnight flight home, we fit in a trip to another museum in Auckland, the Papakura. Definitely worth the time if you’re ever there.

What a way to finish off Mom and Phill’s stay. We just got wind of a possible pandemic starting. Thankfully they had no troubles getting on the plane, but they did need to get their temperatures taken prior to boarding. As much as we would have loved them to be “stuck in New Zealand” we were super glad they made it home before lockdown. Phew, that was close.

On the way back to Wellington Taj and I had one last adventure by making a stop by Lake Taupo to camp at Taupo DeBretts Spa and Resort for some hot springs and waterslides. The natural mineral pools felt amazing. It was a perfect way to wind down and end the summer.

Taj and Ellamae learned how to take the train and shuttle to school. Is was a 20 min drive each way, so we were very grateful they had this option and that the New Zealand is safe enough to let them do that. There were other school kids on the train as well, so the kids had travel buddies to look forward to seeing .

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Taj and Ellamae’s first solo train ride to school!

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Taj started “free running”.

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Ellamae started CrossFit Teens class at WOF Porirua.

Taj’s class camping trip.

The kids loved showing their new friends the “home” scene at Mana Marina.

Then March came, and so did COVID….

New Zealand: July 2019-January 2020

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The second half of 2019 went on and seemed to do so quite quickly. We still went on our adventures, but it started to become just 3 of us, Christian, Taj and myself. Nina found her friends and she was at the age that she wanted to stay home. And Ellamae was back in the USA with her Papa. The term “Windy Welly” started to make its name very apparent in our area. Most days had at least 18kt blows, and if it was calm it was so only until mid morning. We continued to venture about, but the cold wind was already started to wear on us, especially living on the water in the winter and spring. With the camper “Sharkie” however, we still found warmer ways to get out and see New Zealand.

Most of our cold and dreary days between school hours were spent either at the library or at the huge indoor pool/aquatic center. The days when the weather was nice, we went out in nature. Taj loves his animals and his birdwatching from the hides. We also spent many hours at the skatepark.

… and plenty of Taj’s new sport: mountain biking

Our other entertainment: the new dinghy, named “Bunghole” after one of Russel’s (the founder of OCTenders) original videos describing the amazing light weight hard tender. In his video he describes the importance of having a bunghole and having the bung in the bunghole. The kids always referred to the OCtender dinghy as “bunghole” ever since watching that video in 2015. So when we finally got one we named her “Bunghole”.

Our new tender was so much faster and more efficient than our 10ft Montgomery sailing dinghy. With Mana Island about 10km away, we were able to snip out there on a calm day without a hitch. What a beautiful place!

Nina getting all dressed up and pretty. She had her first “Formal” (known in America as “Prom”).

5 more months of Playcentre for Taj before he started into TeRa Waldorf school.

Taj’s “powhiti” (last day) at Playcentre.

A little morning outing just out of Mana Marina and a bit north.

Both “homes” in one picture. (I circled the boat with red.)

For the October school break we took a shorter jaunt to the Wairarapa coast. Nina stayed back with friends as we searched for waves with friends .

From the south coast of the Wairarapa, we wandered up to Castle Point. A long trek in ol’ Sharkie with strong winds and windy roads, but worth it!

Just a few boat life pictures: Taj sewed his own tooth fairy pillow. He also learned to make is own eggs. And as always, just being goofy with dad.

Halloween in New Zealand is trying to become a thing. There were only a few houses that participated. Was fun nonetheless.

In September and November of 2019, I had to fly to the United States for work related things like keeping up my nursing license and continuing education hours. I was very fortunate to see my parents, my “sister from another mister” Rachael, and few other friends.

There were a few weekends in November that I had off, but Christian had to work. So I took Taj on some adventures! This one was just up the coast from Wellington to hit up some mountain bike trails and some hiking trails. This trip we just took the car and car camped. We kept in minimal and had a blast. We stumbled upon the Atene Skyline Track in the Whanganui National Park. What a gem! At the top, we discover the Kiwi Guardian program, which encourages kids to get out in nature by planting these posts along the trail with a password on them. Once you have the password you go online, input the password and a cool wooden medallion is sent to you! Taj was hooked! We also met this group of women along the path that were in a hiking group out of Wellington. They just loved how into the hike Taj was, so they asked to take a photo with them. On the way back we stopped by a sushi place. Done a little differently in New Zealand, they pre-make the sushi and have them displayed to pick and choose. We also stopped by the historic windmill in Foxton.

On our next little November Mom and son adventure, we went to Putangirua Pinnacles (above) and (below) the southern most tip of the North Island called Matakitakiakupe (aka Cape Palliser).

And the same adventure continued to a MTB park, a hike up to an awesome viewpoint and quiet camping near Mt. Holdsworth . This was the Tararua Forest Park of the Wairarapa side. Loving this #camperlife !

Taj at Riven Rock MTB park.

4 way video call for Ellamae’s 12th birthday. We were all in different places; Nina at her friend’s, Christian and Taj at the boat, I was actually in California for work and Ellamae was in Florida with her Papa.

Ellamae (Stateside) and her cousins from her Papa’s side of the family.

Nina’s 17th birthday! We kept it pretty simple with a mermaid birthday cupcake breakfast and dinner at Mama Brown’s with her friend Zoe.

Mama Brown’s Birthday dinner with friend Zoe.

Christmas time in New Zealand, means warmer weather and summer holidays off of school. Although school doesn’t end until closer to Christmas Day itself, we enjoyed plenty of warm weather activities. That being said, we found it hard to get into the Christmas Spirit with it being summer, because we had been accustomed to cold weather Christmas… winter, white, fireplaces, hot cocoa, etc.

Santa comes around on a Kayak here apparently.

Nina signed up for the Coast to Coast endurance race with her school! She was the biker of the girls team. The other two members kayaked or ran. She trained a bit with some longer rides, but nothing that would be like the actual ride. The race is a yearly event that starts with a bike course on the West Coast of the South Island, transitions to a running section up the steep and rugged terrain over Arthur’s Pass, and finishes with a down river race kayak section. Both girl and boy teams did great! The girl’s won first in their devision.

We volunteered driving our 7 seater wagon with Nina’s bike on top. The drive consisted of our first ferry ride over to the South Island, a drive down near the base of Arthur’s Pass, a drive over the Pass and back for the event and lastly down to Christchurch.

While we were in Christchurch we made a special stop to see fellow kid boat cruising friends that we met sailing in Mexico. SV Sangvind had sailed to New Zealand as well and were living on their boat in Christchurch. It had been about 3 years since we had last seen them in Mexico. (Sadly I did not get a photo of Sylvia and myself.)

The bathroom was through a “secret bookshelf door”… Nina was thrilled!

Can I “get fixed” please? Taj waiting for his morning cuppa at Get Fixed Bicycle Cafe.

Glimpse into Christmas morning 2019.

The Pōhutukawa (Christmas Tree) in full bloom.

That’s a wrap for 2019 in New Zealand for “A Family Afloat”. I’m sure I’m missing so much, but this gives a good insight to what we were up to. The next post we’ll be covering the first half of 2020. You’ll get to see more on the South Island when Mom Katie and Brother Phill come to visit, bringing Ellamae back with them. Also expect more adventures in Sharkie, and what it was like during the start of COVID in New Zealand.

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