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Published: November 30th -0001
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Winter Break Banalities
You can't tell from this angle, but she's in pain. Paul is back in Canada enjoying the heat which must be getting sucked directly through the earth from Reefton because there's none to be had, indoors or out, around here. In the first week that Paul was away our car and dishwasher broke, our garage flooded and we had a small but smoky housefire. He is missed.
The kids get two weeks off school between terms. This coincides with the MidChristmas festivities that happen around here. The halfway point to next Christmas is marked with dinners and sales, which is funny given that from all accounts Christmas here is not the familiar commercial spendfest of home. We had chicken to mark the day. You can't get turkey here. We don't know why not. The kids' first week off was devoted to slave labour when they were forced to clean their rooms and feed themselves while I worked. They have an equivalent to Children's Aid here - I keep telling the kids to call it to report the inhumanity to which they are subjected but they don't. Perhaps they're waiting for me to do it for them.
Week the second we packed up and headed through the mountains to Hanmer Springs, a popular tourist destination known for its thermal spa. It looks much like Whistler with snowy mountains in the background and quaint buildings lining the main drag. Thankfully, despite having significant sulphur springs it didn't smell nearly as rank as Rotarua - here we could breathe. We had our fill of sitting in 40C water watching fat snow fall around us and were surprised to see that we'd been in the centre for just over an hour. The water was lovely, crowded, but made more comfortable by the prospect of having to get out and goosestep over the frozen pavement to our towels which we had left in a convenient knot for obliging passers by to drip on. We stewed, getting wrinkly for another hour trying to muster the courage to climb out to enjoy the other activities in town. After mastering the control of a four person bike, we rented horses, going on a trek up a mountain to look down over the town. The trees were frozen and covered with snow so the whole way was magical. Sparkly like in a dream. The horses were well trained but the seating and shock absorbers left much to be desired. The kids aren't bowlegged, but I'm still swaggering like a cowboy and it's been three days. We would have gone skiing but the road to get there was marked "chains only" and we hadn't brought ours and wouldn't know how to glue them on anyway, so that trip is delayed, maybe until the snow melts.
After enjoying the overpriced food and accomodation in Hanmer for three days we once again climbed in the car, heading to Christchurch for number two to get braces on her teeth. She's been happily exing out the days on the calendar in anticipation of this but is now ruing her enthusiasm, complaining that her mouth aches and she can't eat. The procedure hasn't affected her tongue. Her sister swears Adrianne's teeth are already straighter.
In Chch we went to a fantastic science centre that boasts NZ's highest vertical slide. That's exactly what it sounds like - you perch on a lip above a sheer drop then are expected to blithely wiggle off it, presumably remarking to yourself about the wonder that is gravity while plummeting. The attendent warned me to "do your best to cross your arms on the way down." Right. As if. I was too busy flailing around, hoping not to overshoot the end, perhaps gracelessly decapitating the smiling spectators, to even think about my arms or how best to cross them. I went once. The kids did it a dozen times.
Much to the delight of the children, they saw the newest Harry Potter a day before it came out in Canada. The opening here was a quiet affair, only half the theatre was filled and there was nobody in costume and no frenzy for souvenirs like we've seen at home. The movie was good - worth staying the extra day to catch. We made our way back home indirectly. The original plan was to go to Kaikoura, a small beach town in the northeast known for its sea life. Apparently you can see sperm whales and seals and dolphins either by boat or air. Because our driver was tired, our bank card was getting limp, our laundry was piling up and the moon was in Saturn, we decided to call it a holiday and come back to Reefton. Here we were happy to climb into our freezing cold beds in our freezing cold home and listen to the sound of nobody calling us or knocking on the door. It was a nice trip but it's great to be back. Hopefully we're all out of disasters. Maybe I shouldn't have said that.
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