Hi Everyone,
I feel like I have started the last few blogs with an apology for taking a few months in between posts. Either time is flying by or we are settling in to year two in the S. Pacific…..or both.
Bottom line is Abby’s work remains challenging and rewarding, Will is turning into a (not so) little boy, Lucy is developing a super cute Aussie/Kiwi/Fijian accent, and Daddy is feeling more comfortable wearing tank tops. Life in Fiji.
This year we did Xmas in style. We bought and decorated a tree, Daddy flew home to Colorado to pick up a ton of presents and we had Papa and DeDe in from Maine for the holidays!
The kids set out a table for Santa with beer, a baguette, pineapple and a few cards and big smiles!
Abby wanted to overwhelm the kiddos with presents this year since we more or less skipped Xmas last year. Overwhelmed and exhausted, the kids literally stopped opening presents with about 7 to go…..they had had enough. Job well done adults!
I think my favorite present this year was from Aunty Stacey. Little animal fingernail stickers!
We had an amazing week showing DeDe and Papa around Suva. Here is Will and Lucy taking over a banana stand at the Suva market.
….our favorite place drinks and pizza…yes, the Holiday Inn – Suva!
Followed by a what looks like a terribly stressful trip to Leleuvia…:)
…where the kids discovered Juice Boxes.
Lucy on board and matching the artwork on a historic Fijian catamaran that was parked at Leleuvia.
This place never gets old.
We then celebrated NY Eve in Nadi before heading to New Zealand for 2 weeks! Happy New Years!
On January 1, we met up with the San Jose Boettchers in Nadi and 14 of us all flew to Wellington, NZ. Wellington is the capital of NZ and a mini San Francisco with the hills, food, coffee, cable cars, museums…and yes, the weather. Windy Wellington…..rumor has it that out of all the international airports in the world, Wellington has the shortest runway.
Descending into Wellington amid 50 knot gusts proved too challenging for our Fiji Air pilot and at the last minute, he hit the gas and we headed back to Aukland for a 7 hour wait so that we can try again on New Zealand Air. Apparently, NZ Air pilots are trained to land in those conditions. It is called coming in fast and stickin’ the landing. For those of us who have a few miles under our belt, that was easily the hairiest unsuccessful landing ever…
We began our vacation with a Thank God We Are Still Alive Celebration.
The main attraction in Wellington is the Te Papa museum…..and the much hyped Bug Lab exhibit. Colorful, creepy, interactive…awesome.
Honestly, we spent our two days in Wellington hanging out at our Airbnb in Kelburn and Jesse/Nina’s hotel on Cuba Street drinking latte’s and wine…..and the kids were like, “we traveled halfway across the world for this?”
The sun came out for long enough to take a pic outside on our deck…
…and like that, it started to rain again.
We then hopped on the car ferry for a 3 hour ride to the town of Picton. The skies cleared and the wind stopped as we headed across the Cook Strait which is normally a pretty raucous body of water. It was a breathtaking and an unexpectedly relaxing ride to the South Island.
Upon arrival in sunny and warm Picton, we picked up our rental van and headed to Nelson via the picturesque Marlborough wine country.
Not to be overly dramatic, but Nelson is about as perfect a place as you can find. It felt like Durango…or maybe Boulder 20 years ago when it was still a small town tucked up against the foothills of the Rockies…..surrounded by what feels like Napa Valley as the fertile soil produced an endless supply of orchards and vineyards……set on the turquoise Tasman Bay. If it sounds like I am exaggerating, trust me, I am not. It gets better as Nelson is 45 minutes from Abel Tasman Natl Park.
Downtown Nelson felt like Mayberry from the Andy Griffith show….I said this to Jesse and Nina and they had no clue what I meant. Millennials.
Here we are overlooking on the hills above Nelson with the Tasman Bay at our backs……..
While Jesse, Nina, Donna and Eric visited vineyards in the Nelson region, Abby and I decided to ease back into mountain biking after 15 months and tackle a 50 km ride right out of warm and balmy Nelson which included a 4 hour climb to an old copper mine above the wind swept treeline followed by an amazing but incredibly painful 2 hour decent through every kind of landscape NZ could throw at us and back into town where we collapsed at a bar …..and all I wanted was a donut to sit on.
Again, Wine Tasting?
…..or mountain biking.
To be fair, the ride was awesome. Here we are cheerfully climbing out of Nelson.
4 hours later at the summit for all of about 8 seconds…
Other activities in Nelson included an afternoon at the Jester House Cafe where we had an amazing lunch listening to a Neil Young clone while watching the kids play in what felt like an enchanted forest of slightly unsafe and amazingly creative playland before heading to the stream to feed the NZ long finned eels who make their way up the creek every year for endless amounts of minced chicken and occasionally a wood stick. 🙂
Lunch for 14..
..followed by a Lord of the Rings inspired playground…
..followed by a quick tiger ride.
…followed by a dance off with their new tails.
….followed by a visit to the creek to feed the ‘tame’ long finned eels…this guy could be upwards of 80 years old.
…
….as they say, ‘when in New Zealand….’
I think Jesse and Nina had such a good time that they decided to renew their vows in Nelson………that or they visited the designer of the ring from The Lord of the Rings.
The combination of the warm days and cool water creates steady thermal winds at the Tahunanui beach which was about a 4 minute walk from our Airbnb in Nelson. During the afternoon, the thermals made for a not so relaxing time at the beach as the water turned into a mecca for kitesurfers. Jesse and I decided to take a crack at it so we got suited up in wetsuits, helmets, life jackets and ventured out to the water the exact moment when the wind died so we ended up talking quite a bit about how to fly a kite….that said, I ended up with quite a workout in my super tight smedium sized wetsuit. 🙂
Abel Tasman National Park is about a 45 minute drive (through orchards, hops farms and vineyards) away from Nelson. The entire group of 14 ventured up for a day in the park so we knew we were only going to scratch the surface. We arrived at low tide and took a 30 minute walk to the ‘beach’ and made a day out of it.
Lot’s of mini adventures as we walked to the water from the beach…..a few races were had…
I got this….
Plenty of photoshoots…
Big smiles:
Lots of surprises in the water…
CRABS!!!!.
We packed up and headed for a more proper beach in a town called Kaiteriteri. It was another amazing scene…beautiful turquoise water but the water was so cold that you couldn’t go in…even on a dare. 🙂 Here is Lucy trying to dance up the nerves to go in…
Abby, Jesse and I would make it back to the Kaiteriteri Mountain Bike Park later in the week and go on what was easily the most amazing ride of my life. The terrain, the views, the ferns. Usually, a good mountain bike comes with some suffering which was the only thing missing on this day…:)
Abby lovin’ the loopty loops on Jaws….
At the summit…
We had the perfect combination of Airbnb’s in Nelson. Ours was a 4 minute walk to the beach with a big deck for dance parties and drinking wine….
…along with some skateboard lessons.
While Jesse and Nina found a spot in an Eco Village in the woods above town….
…which was perfect for making bubbles…
Look!
Bubbles and sledding!
…’sharing’ ice cream with your cuz…
..exploring behind the house in the magical evening light.
….our guesthouse.
….big greek kiddo dinner.
…followed by a big greek adult dinner!
..and drinking some more wine…..this time with a good luck black/yellow ladybug.
The fun doesn’t stop there, there were trips to an Animal Farm…
….Bead Shops
As if things couldn’t get better, Abby, Jesse, Nina and I took in a concert one night at one of the vineyards surrounding Nelson. Wine, beer, grapes, pizza and music combined with a 9:30pm sunset doesn’t not suck.
Oh man, we have indeed found our place…:)
Cheers and love from the South Pacific!
