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Away From Home

Willowbank

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We were able to get tickets to Willowbank Wildlife Reserve for half-price recently, thanks to a tip from a friend.  The tickets were good till the end of June, so we were planning to go sometime before then, but weren’t sure when it would work out.  Gayle didn’t want to take time off work for that, but neither did we want to go on a Saturday because there would likely be a lot of people there.  Then, we ended up needing to go to Christchurch to meet the Vice-Consul from the American Embassy in Auckland when he made a visit to Christchurch, to get the baby’s American paperwork done and apply for his passport.  The appointment was in the early afternoon on a Thursday, and both of us had to be there, so that was our perfect opportunity to take the family to Willowbank!

There were tame eels in a pond at the beginning of the tour, and a woman was spoon-feeding them with a little container of food she bought in the office.  They would crawl partway out of the water onto the step!

Black swan.

Pukeko.

Fallow deer

The woman who had been feeding eels had some bread along, and let our children, as well as her daughter, feed it to the wallabies and ducks.

Monkey Island was fun!

Macaws

This bird would say, “G’day, mate!” when the boys said it to him!

Lemur

Kune-kune pigs

My horse-lover was happy!

Boys looking at antique tractors….

This was supposed to look like a Maori village.  It struck us that it must not be full-sized!  Those houses seemed pretty tiny.

We weren’t allowed to take pictures of the live kiwis, but we did see a couple of them.

Morepork owl–tiny little thing!

Holiday Trip Days 6 and 7

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Friday morning we loaded up again in Collingwood after enjoying a gorgeous sunrise over Golden Bay at high tide.

The boys tried fishing, but the reel broke.

We stopped at Pupu Springs on our way back to Takaka Hill–the largest spring in Australasia, which produces 14,000 liters of water per second and has the second clearest water on earth–second only to that under the Ross Ice Shelf.

The colors under the water were amazing!

The river that flowed away from the springs was clear as could be!

Takaka Hill–see the road we were on?

I enjoyed the rock outcroppings on top of Takaka Hill.

We stopped to buy fruit at the bottom of Takaka Hill, and got a close-up view of some of the vines we had been seeing–kiwis!  We had never seen them growing before.

We spent Friday night camped in the backyard of some friends, and in the morning they helped load up and tie down for the last time.

Our route home took us through an area where there had obviously been a forest fire a few years ago.  What desolation!

Fall colors along Leader Road as we neared home….

Baby was happy to be home again the next morning!

Holiday Trip Day 5

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Wednesday evening we made it as far as Collingwood, on Golden Bay.  We decided to stay two nights in that campground, as there were a number of things we wanted to do close by and it was as far north as we were able to go.  How nice not to have to take down tents and load and tie down the trailer Thursday morning!

The boys were up at the crack of dawn again, down at the beach to see what they could find.  This was the prize find–same boy who found the weta the day before–a dead shark! One person told us it was a dog fish; another said a carpet shark.  Either way, it was fascinating.

Sunrise over Golden Bay. This is high tide.

Grandma found a good place for her devotions just above the high tide line.

The morning’s beachcombing finds.

We drove up along the coast to Farewell Spit that morning.  These are some of the mud flats we passed in an estuary along the way–high tide.

The base of Farewell Spit. It is an enormous sandbar stretching 26 km (16 miles) into the Tasman Sea.  Four people walked a few kilometers out on it; I stayed back with the youngest five boys.  This is the inside of the spit.  I happened to overhear a tourguide telling the group he was with that there are 2 million hectares of land in the nature preserve here at high tide; 11 million at low tide!

They found several jellyfish stranded by the receding tide.

Mud flats and the spit.

After eating our picnic lunch, we drove to Cape Farewell, named because it was the last sight Captain Cook had of New Zealand.

The boys ran up the hill above the overlook.  Rather nerve-wracking for Mom and Grandma, envisioning boys getting too close to the sheer cliff dropping down to the sea!

The mudflats in the estuary at low tide, on our way back to Collingwood.

This is the beach at our campground when we arrived back in the afternoon, at low tide!  What a difference.  The tides rise 5 meters here (16 feet).

It was cold, but the boys played in the water anyway.  The older boys were able to wade through the chest-deep water to the sand bar, and decided to build a raft so they could ferry the little boys across.

Before the raft could be built, the tide turned and the water was rising too fast.

They built sand castles instead.

This is the same place a few hours later, with the tide about halfway in.

Holiday Trip Day 4

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Wednesday morning the boys were up and exploring the campground before breakfast.  One of them found this weta.

After leaving Nelson and passing through Motueka, we went up Takaka Hill.  This is looking back down, in the direction of Motueka.

We stopped near the top of Takaka Hill at an overlook.  These gray rocks were all along the trail out to the lookout.  We learned at our next stop that they are marble.  Marble was quarried from this hill to build the government buildings in Wellington many years ago.

A view from the lookout.  At the far left is the Tasman Sea, beyond the orchards and vineyards near Motueka.  Nelson is on the far side of that bay.

Our next stop was only a short distance from the overlook, at Ngarua Caves.  We thoroughly enjoyed touring this beautiful cave.

At some time in the distant past, moas (the smallest variety, not the giant ones) fell into the cave and died; their bones have been found there.

This area of the cave had a “new” growth of stalactites forming.

The way out–this is the hole through which the cave was originally discovered by a survey party in 1876.

The landscape around the cave.  If I understood right, some of the filming of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit was done here.

There are a lot of sink holes on this hill.  At our previous stop, at the overlook, we saw signs warning about them.  One of our boys was fascinated and badly wanted to see one; finally here he got his wish!

Going down the other side of Takaka Hill, towards Golden Bay.  The road winds back and forth down the side of this hill–an incredible drive!

Holiday Trip Day 3

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Tuesday morning in Picton, while the trailer was being tied down those of us who were not involved with that process explored the rushing creek beside the campground.  Our tents had been pitched just beyond the bushes on the left side of this picture, so we got to listen to the water all night.

A bridge went across the creek here, and a trail went along it on both banks.  Grandma and several of us went exploring.

We found this beautiful waterfall downstream just a short ways.

Here comes the train!  The track ran along the hillside maybe 200 feet from our campsite! Three trains roared through during the night!  We were glad that most of the boys slept through the noise.

After we left the campground, we started up Queen Charlotte Drive again.  This time, we made it past the lookout over the harbor without stopping (no ferries in dock or coming in, this time!), but just a short way past, there was another overlook!  We pulled in, thinking maybe we’d just take a quick look from the van.  No way–there was an enormous logyard down there, and we ended up spending half an hour or more watching the activity down below.  There were log trucks coming in constantly to be unloaded, with huge clam loaders that took an entire load in one trip, and then sorted the logs by size.  There was one clam loader being worked on, as well.  There was a barge tied up to the dock, but nothing loaded on it.  This is a deep-water harbor where ships come in from the ocean to load with logs which are taken to Japan, processed into lumber, and then the lumber is shipped back here!

On we went again!  The scenery was so amazing that Gayle stopped at most of the tiny pull-offs on the way up the hill, so he could admire the view, too.  We were glad he stopped, rather than trying to look as he drove; that would have been downright dangerous.  The Marlbourough Sounds are spectacular!

Some of the geologic formations along the road were really something to see, too–look at these rock layers!

Almost to Havelock!  We stopped at another overlook and Gayle and the children went down the trail to these mudflats that are exposed at low tide.

Made it to the bottom!  Now they have to climb back up the hill.

We ate lunch at a small picnic area at the edge of Havelock, and watched the tide starting to come in to cover these mud flats as we ate.

On we went again, this time as far as the Pelorus Bridge, over the Pelorus River.  This bridge is one lane, with a walkway along one side.  We walked over the bridge, then down a trail to the rocks along the side of the river.

Simon has learned how to skip stones, and Esther somehow caught a picture of his best skip–seven jumps!

Gayle and the children walked down another trail while Grandma and I went back to the van.  They got to cross this swinging bridge.We made it as far as Nelson that night, and found a campground there.

Holiday Trip Day 2

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Monday morning we were all up at the crack of dawn.

We pitched our tents between this road and some bushes; right on the other side of the bushes was the sea!

There were gorgeous flowers along the shore.

There was also a lot of Silverbeet (Swiss Chard) growing wild.  We harvested some for our supper the first night (it tasted quite salty!), and also for lunch and supper the second night.

While we were eating breakfast around the trailer, we got to watch sheep walking along the very edge of the cliff above us!

Baby doesn’t mind his surroundings too much, so long as he has his mama!

This was the view to the east of our campsite.  While the trailer was being tarped, some of us walked down the road to the fence in the distance.

After we left our campsite, we drove around the Lake Grasmere Saltworks.  Those are huge piles of sea salt, produced by evaporation from huge ponds.

The salt evaporation ponds.

See the salt along the edge?

Vineyards near Blenheim.

This is the kind of route we were driving a lot of the day.

We stopped just north of Blenheim to cook hamburgers for lunch at a rest area beside the highway.  The boys enjoyed playing in the bushes.

Our first family picture with the baby!

We stopped in Picton in the late afternoon.  After spending an hour or two in an aquarium, we went to the marina for awhile.  The boys and their dad walked around looking at the boats, while the rest of us waited at the van.  We got to see this car ferry coming in!

The ship had to turn around and back into the dock.

Late in the afternoon, we left Picton and headed up the hill on the Queen Charlotte Drive, intending to go halfway to Havelock to a campground for the night.  As we climbed the hill over the town, we saw an overlook–and of course, had to stop.  There was the other car ferry coming in, the Interislander.

We stayed to watch the Interislander back into her slip (quite a feat, in my opinion!) and unload.  See both ferries, side by side?

Cars and trucks were coming off the top deck of the Interislander, and trains were being unloaded from the lower deck.  That is a locomotive pushing two flat cars in; they hooked up to a string of eight freight cars and pulled them out, then went back in for more.

 

Holiday Trip Day 1

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We took a week’s holiday, touring the top of the South Island.  We left early Sunday morning, after loading the van and a borrowed trailer with everything we thought we might need for a week’s camping.

It was a beautiful, sunny day, and the Waiau River was especially pretty.

After church, we set out to go north.  The first stop was to pick up oil for the van.  The oil has to be put in under the passenger seat!

Next, we stopped at Ohau Falls, because the baby seals are spending their days there again.

The sea is always beautiful across the highway from the falls, too.

This little guy found a hollow under a rock into which he could stick his feet to watch the sea in comfort!

After we left the falls, we were going through places we had never seen before.  This long railroad bridge was impressive!

Hills a little ways south of Blenheim.

We turned off on the south side of Lake Grasmere to find the campground we had selected for the night.

Setting up camp for the first time!  This was a DOC (Department of Conservation) campground.  They provided flush toilets and water (boil before drinking), but that was all. We had a propane camp stove to cook on, so Mom and I worked on that while the rest set up tents and figured out how to blow up air mattresses.  We were maybe 200 feet from the sea, which was quite loud here.  Lovely sound to go to sleep to!

Baby’s First Outing

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Today was Baby’s first time to leave home.  We took a picnic lunch to Gore Bay, and the older children played in the sand for a couple of hours.  Esther and Grandma enjoyed taking pictures!

Baby slept happily on the way to Gore Bay and for an hour or more while we were there.

Lots of waves and lots of foam today!

When the waves went out, there was still enough water in the sand to make reflections. Daddy, Grandma, and the boys.

Baby was not happy about being in his seat when we left, and cried until he fell asleep (in a couple of minutes!) with this aggrieved expression on his face.

 

Finding a Bull

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What a day we had yesterday!  It started out peacefully enough.  I got up a little after 6:30 (Gayle had the day off, as the day after Christmas is also a national holiday), and had my quiet time.  Seth showed up in the living room at 7:15, so he went out with me to milk.  Our first hint of trouble was when I saw that the gate to where the cows were was–OPEN!  Oops.  Last night I moved their fence, then came to the house a different way, and forgot to latch the gate shut.  They obviously shoved it open and went off exploring.  They were nowhere in sight; they had all night to wander whereever they wanted to go.  We quickly checked, and no, they were not near the calves.  Uh-oh, now what?  I got my keys, told Gayle what was going on, and we got in the van.  Which way to go?  No tracks anywhere to be seen.  I had a hunch that they might go north; we’ve pastured them in a neighbor’s paddock in that direction and they know the cow there.  We went that way, checking for tracks in the driveways we passed.  No clues till we got beside the paddock they wintered in.  Finally, we found tracks in the dust on the road, going the way we were going.  Thank God, we were on the right track!  We went on; at the end of our road is a paved road and I knew we wouldn’t be seeing tracks there!  Well, Lord, which way do we go now?  Right towards Cheviot, left on Munro Road towards the railroad track, left and then right to Sinclair Road, another gravel road, or right and then left onto Factory Road?  I decided to check out Sinclair, turned that way–and we saw them!  They had found a herd of beef cattle and were visiting with them over the fence!  Thank you, God!  We drove around them, and Seth got them moving–but they went the wrong way on Munro Road!  He stayed at the end of Sinclair while I went around them and got them going the right way again.  They fairly willingly turned onto Homeview Road and headed for home, but while we were following them home, I saw something I was not happy about.  We were thinking that both cows were pregnant, but on the way home Chessie was very definitely showing signs of being in heat.  We thought she was six weeks pregnant, but by the time we were home it was pretty obvious that she was not.
After we got the cows home and Chessie milked, I started making phone calls.  First I called the man who AI’d the cows, and as I thought, he no longer had the gear to do it; mating season is over here.  So, I called the other man in Cheviot who does it; he’ll have the gear again in 3-4 days–otherwise no one is closer than Culverden.  Neither one had any suggestions of a bull to use.  We called a number of other people, and the boys and I went to the neighbors who had the Belted Galloway cows and bull, but she sold the bull.  We did get to meet her husband, and that was quite interesting.  He is a deep-sea fisherman, working near Heard Island, halfway between Australia and Africa and way south.  He goes out for six months at a time, catching Patagonian Toothfish–in South America they are called Black Cod.  The ship takes all supplies needed for six months, and freezes the catch onboard; they are not resupplied the whole time.  Next time he goes out he’s going with a different company, on a ship that only carries enough fuel for three months, so that’s how long he’ll be out then.  These islands are volcanic, but totally covered with ice except for a little spit that has a tiny bit of vegetation.  The only time they were inhabited was about a hundred years ago when some sealers lived in holes in the ground for five  years, catching elephant seals and putting the blubber in barrels.  Very interesting–I was glad the boys got to learn about it.  They couldn’t help us with a bull, but gave us a phone number of someone else to try.
I made more calls, and finally about 1:00 the man whose number the neighbor gave us called back and said he did have a bull we could use, a Belted Galloway, out at Manuka Bay.  Manuka is two bays south of Gore Bay, a few miles.  It’s probably 10 or 15 miles from here.  Too far to walk the cow!  We needed to find a horse float, now.  Well, the neighbor who lets us use her paddocks has a horse float, right?  Gayle was in Cheviot, so I called on his cell phone and asked him to stop by and talk to them, since their number is not in the phone book.  Just before he got home, a friend and her daughter stopped by for milk, and I asked if they would happen to have a horse float–no.  Gayle got home with the report that the neighbors sold theirs, but had a truck–but were using it today.  Our friend called about that time to say that they had a trailer that might possibly work.  Gayle talked to her about it, and she talked to her husband.  She called back to say that their trailer would not work, but she  had talked to someone else and they had a horse float we could use!  Finally, everything was lined up:  bull located, and horse float organized.
Gayle picked up the horse float after finishing the project he was working on.  Finally, at 4:30 we were ready to go.  We had decided to take both vehicles so we could all take the cow to the bull, thinking that we could spend some time in the water while we were there.  We found the paddock the bull was supposed to be in with no trouble, but no bull in sight!  We followed Chessie up the hill, and gates opened into two paddocks, one sort of open; the other thick bush.  A couple of boys went into the bush to search for the bull, and Gayle and some other children went up the other way.  I stayed near Chessie and followed her as she wandered up the hill, grazing.  It took an hour and a half of searching through a maze of paddocks and cow trails over hills, through thistles and springs and deep bush, to locate the bull!  In the paddock Chessie spent most of her time in, there were tall hummocks everywhere, and they were quite soft.  We figured out that it was many year’s accumulation of dead grass–each year the grass dies and falls down, and then more grass grows up through–as well as thistles!  There are thistles everywhere in that paddock, too–and springs of water flowing across and down the hill.  The view from that hill was absolutely gorgeous; quite a view of the ocean, and we could even hear the waves breaking.  Lovely place to spend a summer afternoon!  Finally they got him down to the first paddock, which was wide open, however, and we directed Chessie down there as well, then all sat back and watched to see what would happen.  It took about half an hour, but the job got done.  Then, we got to separate Chessie and her new boyfriend to take her home!  Even a Belted Galloway bull is massive, and that was a bit nerve-wracking.  He quickly realized we were trying to get her to the gate, and kept himself between her and the gate!  It took 10 minutes or so, but we finally got them separated enough to get her through the gate and lock him in.  Sure hope this works!  We’re praying for a Galloway/Jersey calf about the first of October.  Quite the adventure–but as I told Esther, our life here has seemed like a long series of adventures.

There were several definite blessings yesterday. #1:  This is THE week I really wanted Chessie bred, as if she takes from this time, which we’re praying for, she’ll go dry the week Chrissie calves and we won’t be without milk.  #2:  Gayle was home yesterday; he rarely has a day off, and I could not have done the job myself.  #3:  The calf should be a good dual-purpose calf, good for meat if a bull and milk if a heifer.  Wonder what a black-and-white Belted Galloway/brown Jersey cross calf will look like?

Looking south from Cathedrals Road, on the way to Manuka Bay, towards the Hurunui River.

Looking north or west from Cathedrals Road. The views from this road are spectacular!

The gorgeous fellow we went to such trouble to locate!

Mud and Boys and Life

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This has been another normal, interesting week.  The “mud” in the title comes from Wednesday evening, when the three youngest boys slipped outside after supper when I wasn’t watching.  They went into the garden, which they had been told before supper not to do, and played in the mud.  I’m sure it was fun–but what a mess!  I didn’t get a picture of it, but it looked worse than this one from Michigan two and a half years ago!  This time, they were coated from head to toe in thick, sticky clay!  Because they had disobeyed, and because they knew beforehand what the penalty is for getting muddy, I had no compunctions about hosing them down with a cold-water hose.  I had  to hose and rub with my hands to get the quarter inch of clay mud off their clothes, then had them take off their clothes, and hosed them again, and then sent them to the bathroom to finish off with a cold shower!  And it wasn’t a warm evening.  They all decided they don’t want that again.  While the youngest watched the other two getting cleaned up first, his lip stuck out farther and farther as he considered his coming fate.

One warm evening, the kitchen door was open, and Ginger came along to see what we were doing.
I spent a couple of days this week sorting clothing.  Does this look anything like a secondhand shop? or a garage sale?  We’ve been blessed with lots of hand-me-down clothes for the boys!

Next step:  sort through what each boy had in his drawers/closet and decide what to keep and what to put away/throw away.  Here is Seth’s stack (think he had more than he needed?):

One rainy day, Esther decided to make a batch of bread, since it always raises better on that sort of day.  I gave instructions while I worked on clothing.  It turned out pretty nice!

One day this week the sun shone!  I did lots of laundry (and it all got dry!) and we weeded the strawberry bed.  We found a number of ripe strawberries.  Yumm!  We have to get them quickly or the slugs eat them.

Aren’t Esther’s kids cute?

We went to Gore Bay for a baptism this afternoon, and when I mentioned we wanted a family picture, one of the ladies there offered to help take one.  It took quite a few tries to get one with everyone’s eyes open, and this is the best.

After the baptism, we went to the home of the girl who was baptized for a meal.  Joe discovered this wheelbarrow and had so much fun with it that they gave it to him when we left!

So there you have it–several tiny glimpses into our week.  It was a good one!