Hikes, Cricket and Squids

After over a week of being sick and not really leaving the house, I started to feel much better by Thursday. We were a bit stir crazy by this point, so after the morning spent babysitting the kids, we took off for an afternoon adventure. We drove about 45 minutes south to a town called Otaki, because Adrian said there were some good outlet stores. After wearing the same blue fleece everyday I've been here (as you probably noticed in the pictures) I was able to find a cheap fleece at Katmandu (an outdoors store) that should hopefully last me through the trip. After the shopping we drove to a neighboring town, Levin, and finally got a hike in after a week out of commission. We hiked about an hour up the mountain and got some beautiful views of the valley below.

View from the top of our hike to the town of Levin.

Many people recommended we do the Manawatu Gorge hike here, so we set out early Friday morning for yet another hike. It was about a two hour round trip hike with some excellent views of the gorge below and a collection of wind turbines on the neighboring hills. The landscapes here are so varied, going from alpine to jungle in one hike. We couldn't resist a few Tarzan moments on the jungle vines.

The Gorge with the windmills on the hill.

 

Blake snacking at the top.

I can never be Tarzan.

We spent Saturday morning babysitting the kids while Sara was busy sewing at her shop. Minnie (the 9 mo old) is even starting to like me and not scream bloody murder when Blake is around her. Progress! At this point we have watched Mr. Peabody and Sherman at least ten times with Giacomo and have it completely memorized. We have set up a few more workaways on the south island starting mid November, but we have about two weeks before that we will be on our own. We decided we needed to get a tent, so we could spend a good portion of those two weeks camping around the northern part of the south island. It sucks to buy one, because Blake has a perfectly good one at home and a good tent here is going to cost way more than a comparable one back home. We decided to buy a pretty good quality tent that will last us this trip and we can either sell it before we come home, or bring it back with us and use it for years to come. Pictures of the tent to follow!

We stopped at a park for a picnic lunch and watched cricket. We don't understand the game at all...

Saturday night was Adrian's sister, Rebecca's birthday. The whole family lives close by, so we drove out to Foxton beach to celebrate at the grandparent's beach house with 18 other friends and family members. We had by far the best meal since we've been here. Calamari green salad, grilled pork belly and grilled veggies with halloum cheese, and a collection of mini desserts. We had a blast talking with the family on the porch and singing to Earth, Wind, and Fire songs through the night.

I was really excited to see an elephant cloud on the way to the beach.

The river in Foxton leading to the ocean.
 

Beach house party!

We are off tomorrow to spend the next two weeks doing a work exchange at a hostel in Rotorua. I've made a map below so you can see roughly where we have been so far on the north island.


Sorry, really small! We are currently at #4 (Palmerston North) and are heading to #5 tomorrow or Tuesday.