South by South (sort of)

Jancie's favourite thing about the Moeraki Boulders? 

Getting her hands muddy, of course.

The thing about driving in New Zealand is that getting anywhere takes much longer than one might think it should. Queenstown to Milford Sound for example: It's only 50 km by crow, but close to 300 km by car. And although the speed limit is 100 km/hr through most of the trip, the road is so windy at times that all of your passengers will get sick if you actually drove that fast. 

After we left Christchurch, the vastness of the South Island become readily apparent, and we began to feel rushed (and confined to the car). If you're driving around with children (and you don't want to drug them), planning frequent stops is not a bad idea. The Moeraki Boulders, somewhere between Oamaru and Dunedin are definitely worth the time.

Probably the greatest invention ever. Part trampoline, 

part bouncy castle. Lasko Girls: You will never again bounce 

on one of these before getting into my car.

I was more than ready to call it a day long before we got to Dunedin, and were I planning the roadtrip again, I would probably cut out Dunedin entirely--not because it isn't worth seeing; but we had already been there, and it's a really long way from anywhere (except Invercargill, which we had to drop from the itinerary en route due to time constraints). From Dunedin, we made an overnight stop in Te Anau, which for some reason I was expecting to be a dot on the map with a few places to stay for the sane people that don't want to turn their Milford Sound experience into a 12 hour day by driving to/from Queenstown. Te Anau is a surprisingly nice town. Nicole preferred the supermarket to our own (except for the prices); there are three Italian restaurants (including one owned/operated by real Italians), and a beautiful lake. All very touristy, but so much nicer than Turangi. 

Milford Sound in the rain--yes, those are all waterfalls

Milford Sound in the wind. 

Notice the waterfall on the right is vaporizing halfway down.

The boat companies say Milford Sound is better in the rain. I am guessing they just want to make sure people show up on the 200 days a year that it does rain. The 12,000 extra waterfalls were indeed fantastic, but the visibility was so poor, I feel the need to return someday when the forecast is better.

Road Trip (Part I)

We used to take these expensive tandeming vacations to far off and exotic places, most recently (if you can call 2009 recent) to New Zealand. Since we are now on a Kiwi budget, we tend to do our cycling closer to home, and wait for tandems to come to us. This time around, we decided it would be a good opportunity to see a little bit more of the South Island.

Waikawa Bay boat sheds

A rare moment of sisterly solidarity on the Queen Charlotte Sound

After an early, early wakeup, a cross country drive, and an uneventful ferry through the Cook Strait, we found ourselves at Waikawa Bay. The next day, we bicycled 65 km from Picton to Marlborough wine country.



I seem to not have any photos, at least on the Pentax. In our prime, I did not mind carrying four pounds of camera on the bicycle. Although it probably matters less now that we are towing a hundred pounds of girls, the camera still seemed like too much work.

The following day found us on a cruise/very short hike around the Queen Charlotte Sound, and lunch at the historic Furneaux Lodge. The beauty of the Marlborough Sounds is impossible to believe. I had wanted to do a much longer walk on the Queen Charlotte Track, but tramping with little girls is even harder than bicycling with them.

Ohau seal colony --a giant seal bathtub

Shipping containers propping up buildings

As the tandem tour headed North, we drove in the opposite direction to Kaikoura, home to just about every type of whale imaginable. Unfortunately, Zooey is too young to get on the one whale watching boat, so we had to settle for alternate sea life. During seal season, there's a short walk up a stream to a waterfall to see baby seals playing in a waterfall. There were no seals in early March; the waterfall is pretty, but I won't bore you with a photo since we saw so many more waterfalls over the next few days.

In 2009, we started to drive to Akaroa. The road was very, very windy, so we turned around and went back to Christchurch. Though I had regretted not going for years, I was happy that we spent a little extra time in Christchurch before the city was destroyed. Four years after the earthquake, very little has been rebuilt. Lonely Planet called Christchurch the city to visit in 2013. They were way, way early. While some of the rebuild is interesting, most of it is just dirt lots.

What most of the Christchurch CBD looks like today

If you ever find yourself in Christchurch around dinner time, I highly recommend St. Germain. We ate there on our first trip to New Zealand, and it was one of the better meals we had ever had. In a new, post-earthquake location (a mile, or so from the old location), I can't say I was as impressed this time, but it was still very, very good. Try the chef's surprise (5 or 8 courses that the chef feels like making). I wish I could still say that I've never eaten snails. 

On the descent into Akaroa

The view from somewhere near our low cost accommodation

Back to Akaroa; it is hard to imagine a place more stunning. I had to stop the car at least once to take pictures on the way in. I see this entry is now turning into mostly pictures, so it must be time to stop writing.

Standing on a not too dangerous cliff above the lighthouse

Camping

We have made plans several times to go camping since moving to New Zealand, but had not gotten closer than glamping until this weekend. And so we dug up the old tent, borrowed a few essentials, and set off for Gisborne for two nights of roughing it. Roughing it is relative I suppose, as we would be staying in a Holiday Park which promised bathrooms/showers, a kitchen, and unobstructed ocean views.

Sunrise from the tent

Just a note about unobstructed ocean views: they sound better than they are. When it's windy, there are no obstructions to block the wind. If you haven't used your tent in 15 years, you start trying to remember how much wind it can withstand. When the sand is blowing around, a whole lot of it gets in your tent. And the sound of the waves can be less than soothing at 3 in the morning. Complaints aside, the view will be hard to beat. East Coast sunrises still look like sunsets to me.

In case I ever want to publish a coffee table book on Kiwiana, I have started photographing the most Kiwi things I see. Launching your boat with a tractor is high on the list. The picture came out surprisingly bright; I took it just before sunrise.

My girls at the Gisborne Saturday Market. 

Since the weather was not quite perfect for playing on the beach, and even if it had been, the water temperature is less than ideal we headed into town a couple of times for a walk around.

The grapes at Wrights Winery look good enough to eat.

Tongariro Crossing II

Discovery Lodge cabins and Mount Ngauruhoe

 

Chateau Tongariro and Mount Ruapehu

A visiting cousin seemed like a good reason to walk the Tongariro Alpine Crossing a second time. Actually, I wanted to run it, but I was vetoed. There are not a lot of accommodation options near the Tongariro Crossing. We opted for a cabin at the Discovery Lodge. They are slightly bigger inside than they appear. Next time, I am going with a bigger budget and staying at the nearby Chateau Tongariro. Maybe Nico can come.

Steven Lasko climbing Mount Doom

Because my cousin is an experienced mountain climber, and also because he is somewhat of a Lord of the Rings fan, and also, also because 19.4 km is just not long enough to walk for some people, our hike had to include an ascent of Mount Ngauruhoe. Hobbits aside, climbing Mount Ngauruhoe is less fun that in sounds. It is steep, sandy, and really, really high. 

When the clouds clear, the view from the top (or near the top for this picture) is unbelievable.

The most emerald of the Emerald Lakes

                                                 ` Total walking time was a little over 11 hours. I am so running next time.

At the bach with the whanau

We decided to get out of town for a low key Kiwi New Year's. Not too far out of town, but far enough to realize forgetting garbage bags was a bad idea. Our home for the long weekend (did I mention the day after New Year's Day is a public holiday in New Zealand?) was a bach in Porangahau belonging to my employer. The bach might be the only benefit I get through work. Notice the peeling door. The price was right, and after mopping the floors and cleaning the bathroom, it was almost livable.

Many consider Porangahau to be Hawke's Bay's finest beach. On the plus side, it is 16 km of sand and mostly deserted. The big minus for me is the gently sloping high-low tide zone. At low tide, it is a long, long walk to the water over wet sand so fine that it feels like mud. At high tide, there's hardly any beach. Probably if it had not been so windy all weekend, I would have liked the beach better. I took the surfboard out for about 5 minutes and caught a pretty small and poorly formed wave, just so I could tell people I went surfing.

Walking around the small beach town, I noticed a fundamental difference between Kiwis and Americans. In the US, if your family own a vacation home, you probably have a schedule with your siblings and cousins and aunts and uncles clearly noting when you can use it. In New Zealand, somebody in your family always owns a bach, and everyone just shows up together. There are about 14 vehicles parked in front of this one, including a tractor...because how else are you going to move your boat?



Here's Mr. Whippy--he stopped in front of our bach, much to the Lasko Girls' delight. Nicole thought Zooey sitting in our (peeling) doorway eating an ice cream cone looked very third world. Unfortunately, that photo did not come out very well.







Here is Zooey without an ice cream cone, sitting in our doorway and looking only a little third world.

So this is Christmas

This year, we were invited to a friend's house for a barbecue on December 25th. Although the friend in question is one of the few other Jews in Hawke's Bay, I was a little leery of going as it sounded like it might just be a Christmas celebration...but with Jews. In case you've forgotten, my goal around Christmas is to make it feel as much like an ordinary days as possible--often by working, and often by trying to find one of the few open places that isn't Denny's or Chinese food. [Actually, I didn't know I was avoiding Chinese food until very recently. It just wasn't something my family ever did.]

But I digress. To start the day on a positive note, we drove up to Waipatiki Beach. I was busy surfing, which left Nico with the camera. There were not very many blogworthy photos. Of note: we ran into one of the other few Jews in Hawke's Bay while at the beach. Jancie and Zooey love sand. I think Zooey even likes eating it. Jancie dislikes cold water, but still managed to get about waist deep.

Off to the barbecue, which went much better than I was expecting. I even learned that deer are kosher...or rather they could be kosher. They are most certainly not kosher in New Zealand.

Rainy Day

My last post seems to have inspired a little home improvement fever in the Laskos. We have a conservatory (solarium to you Americans) that has leaked for as long as we have lived here. After several not inexpensive attempts at fixing the problem, we finally had the (glass) roof replaced...also not inexpensive. We had no leaks this winter, but the years of dripping water had stained most of the wood beams. So although the room was now leak free, it certainly did not look water tight. 

Since we are talking about a glass room, I was expecting a couple of hours of painting, at most. Two days later (and 1 trip to Resene and 3 trips to Mitre 10), we are finished. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a before photo. Fortunately, you can find anything online, including remnants of a realtor's advertisement for our house. 

In other news, paint is unbelievably expensive. So are paintbrushes, rollers, and every other supply you might need. I have taken to recycling masking tape.

Four more years

The calendar has reminded me that we moved into our art deco beauty exactly four years ago today...which means that we've now been in New Zealand for the better part of five years.

Which means that Nico and I are just about eligible to become New Zealand citizens. There are not too many advantages of becoming citizens. Really, the only ones I can think of are 1) we can currently be deported for committing crimes. If we become citizens, we could only be deported for treason...or maybe not at all. I'm not that clear on the laws regarding deportation. And 2) we would be able to live and/or work in Australia without needing any visas. Americans are required to get $20 (Australian) visa waivers just to visit Australia. As Kiwis we could walk in and set up shop with only our passports.

I guess a third reason to become citizens is NZ passports. There are many benefits of carrying a Kiwi passport, like you won't be the first person killed when your plane is hijacked, and you can visit Cuba. Actually, I am not sure if I would be allowed to visit Cuba anyway. I would probably still be breaking US law...would Cuba let me in? I'm not sure if I can pass for non-American. In the last five years, I have developed absolutely no trace of a Kiwi accent. To tell the truth, I still don't even know what a Kiwi accent sounds like. Or rather, I could not describe it if I had to...I sort of know it when I hear it. I could probably do a fake Australian accent that might pass for Kiwi in Spanish speaking countries, though my vocabulary is limited to "G'day" and "A dingo took my baby".

So Jancie likes Hawaii. 

Here she is with her beach toys. I'm guess this bench is somewhere in Waikiki that is not quite at the beach. Jancie very likely wants to go to the beach, but the fact that she's smiling and not crying about it leads me to believe that she has not been waiting very long to go to the beach.

And here we have a rare picture of Zooey playing with Jancie's beach toys. I can't remember where we took this picture. Possibly it is Kailua; maybe an interested party could figure out which island that is and then determine the location of Zooey from there. 

I met this yellow fish at Shark's cove. He was swimming along innocently, and then I stole his soul with my waterproof Sony camera. Taking photos underwater proved difficult, and few came out as well as this one. 

Shark's Cove is supposed to be the best place to snorkle with turtles, but there were not any present the two times we were there. We did run into some very lazy ones on nearby Turtle Beach, but none of them felt much like swimming. 

Have you seen my garden, it is most peculiar. Have you seen my garden?

If anyone has been wondering why I haven't posted anything in a while, it is because I have been doing absolutely nothing except jungle taming for the last few months. I realize now that I neglected to take any before photos, which means that the after photos look less than impressive. This picture from March of my (then) just washed PT Cruiser is the best I can do to give you a frame of reference.



A walk around the house today looks like this:

 After pulling all the ivy (and other vines) off of the fence, we have been left with 1) an ugly chain link fence and 2) an ugly view of the neighbors'. I am confident that both will be gone by spring.

 That's a native flax in the centre, and to the right is an avocado tree I planted shortly after we moved in.

 I never realized how scary the house next door is until now.

 I discovered several rock walls during the most recent cleanup.

 In addition to the hundreds of hours of labour, I am out one rake, one pair of gloves, one hand saw (which I hope to recover while loading the below pictured pile for the dump), and one box of snail pellets. Note to French people: Do not eat the snails around our house for a while.