Blogs from West Coast, South Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 19

Astrid was not on call this weekend, for the fist time in several weeks. We took the opportunity to go out to the Coast. We picked up Avery from netball in Westport. Her team had their first victory of the season. We stopped in at the seal colony at Cape Foul Wind as Astrid and Avery had missed this the last time. The weather was terrific and there were heaps of seals. We had lunch at the Yellow House in Westport. This is the only place in New Zealand that I have seen that brews Illy coffee. Sadly, the eatery is closing for the winter. The owners who are from the U.S. are headed back to New Jersey to enjoy the fine weather back home. After lunch, with a flat white in hand, we headed north ... read more

You wouldn't think that buying milk would be all that much different here in New Zealand. However, the marketing is very different. Each company uses different terms. There is Skool milk (generally flavored milk), Medium - Light, Lite, Mega, X-tra, Trim, SuperTrim, Family, Slim and Skim and more. I suspect that all this different nomenclature keeps consumers largely in the dark. Avery has taken up Netball. I gather that Netball is played in Canada, but I had not heard of it before coming here. It is taken very seriously in New Zealand. I suspect that it is probably the most popular women's team sport. It is similar to basketball, but without the dribbling and much less physical contact. Each player has a more confined playing position and must wear a jersey displaying their position. I just ... read more

Hi All, Hope you are all doing well. It is so weird to think that I have been gone for over 4 months now, while I have definitely had my moments of missing home and often wish that people from home were here to experience this amazing country with, I can’t believe how quickly time is flying by. I have just over a month left until I am home. While “I have done more this semester than anyone my age should” as my family keeps saying, there are still so many things that New Zealand has to offer. This past weekend, for example I went on another trip and saw a part of the country so different from what I have seen. Thursday evening Anna, Ally, Emily (a really fun girl who came through the ... read more

We've settled back into a routine following our Easter trip. The Fall weather has set in. Many of the trees have changed colour and there is definitely an increasing chill in the air. On Monday I headed out to a new track - the Croesus Track: a route through the alpine landscape of the Paparoa Ranges which separates Reefton from the West Coast. As with many trails in this area, the track runs along an historic mining trail passing through several historic locations, including the sites of two hotels which were located high up in the hills catering to the miners. Just off the track there is a hut dating back to the 1930s. The walls were covered in a waterproofed calico (a canvas material), the rest was made up of corrugated iron. One can imagine ... read more

Thursday was our second appearance at quiz night at the local pub. Astrid got called out to an accident and did not show up until late into the game. This was no doubt the explanation for our pathetically poor showing - dropping from first place last month, to last place this month. The upside is that the worst team gets Moro bars to go with their humiliation (Cadbury's best selling Kiwi bar has a whipped nougat and caramel centre and is covered in chocolate). Friday night we were back at the Youth Centa. I spent most of the night with two young girls who had been bullying one of our kids a few weeks ago. I thought about throttling them, but I gather that this would be inconsistent with the role of adult volunteers at the ... read more