Lots of Helpers

Our family's life in New Zealand

November Pictures

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Here are the last few pictures from November that haven’t made it into other posts.

My wonderful mother, several days after she arrived here. We sure enjoyed her time here, and everyone was sad when she left.

I think this is the same nest that I had a picture of recently, with the eggs in it. How ugly those babies are!

These babies are a bit cuter! The ducklings are all Indian Runners. The picture in the middle is a turkey. Our second son has the ducks and a pair of turkeys. He put some of each kind of egg under a hen, so the turkey hatched with the ducklings. For several days, until two more turkeys hatched, he thought he was a duckling—see how he’s wading in his water! The ducklings love water from day one; they take baths frequently. It is quite a challenge to keep their water dish full, and their bedding halfway dry. We were all glad when they could be moved out to the chicken coop.

We went to Gore Bay the last week Mom was here. I think it had been a year or so since we had gone out there. The boys loved playing in the water!

Near the end of Mom’s stay, we celebrated American Thanksgiving Day. We made a Thanksgiving dinner for our evening meal, and invited some local friends to enjoy it with us. We roasted a large chicken, made mashed potatoes and gravy, and stuffing, corn, and a big salad (fresh from the garden—not exactly normal in America this time of year!) and some cranberry sauce with a package of frozen cranberries I had been able to find awhile back. For dessert I made a pumpkin custard, and Mom and one of the boys made lemon meringue pies.  I intended to get a few more pictures, but I guess I’m not a real good blogger—this is the only one I remembered to take!

 

Last Day With Grandma

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No one wanted to go to Christchurch the last day of November. Going to Christchurch meant dropping Grandma off at the airport, and we just weren’t ready for that! The tickets said we had to take her there that day, though, so we did it. We went to church in Waikari that morning, since it is on the way to town. Going between Waikari and the highway, we crossed Weka Pass, which is a low pass through a range of hills. There are some spectacular rock formations in that pass! The last one is called Frog Rock.

Since we had about three hours in town before having to be at the airport, we went to Willowbank Wildlife Reserve, a small zoo. Before entering, we were taking a picture of the children in front of this small building, and a bus driver who was waiting nearly came up and offered to take a picture of all of us! We greatly appreciated it; he said he does it all the time.

There are some beautiful spots along the trail that winds through the park.

See the black swan under the branches?

One special extra we had at Willowbank was when we happened upon a group of keepers releasing three emus into an enclosure. They had just gotten them and were opening the crate when we arrived on the scene. It was pretty funny to see those heads popping up over the edge of the crate, then hiding again. Once the door was open and the keepers were all out of the enclosure, it took a long time for the emus to get up the courage to actually leave the crate that had been their home for three days! We stayed to see one bounce out, but after 10 minutes or so moved on and left the 10 or so keepers to keep watch! This was obviously the event of the day at Willowbank!

New Clothes!

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When Mom came, she brought with her a shirt for each of the boys and a dress for Esther, all of which one of my sisters had sewed. She has talent, I would say! Everyone was thrilled with their new clothing, and it has been so wonderful to have NICE shirts for the boys each Sunday since then. And just to have new clothes, not secondhand or even hand-me-downs—this is probably the first time in their lives for some of these boys. Here are the pictures I took to send my sister, so she could see the fruits of her labors. The children are in order of age.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And, one of the whole group.

Tonight’s Field Trip

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We had an impromptu field trip this evening. We had just finished supper when we heard a helicopter quite close. A couple of children who were outside came in shouting that the Westpac Helicopter, the medical transport helicopter, was circling us, and then it obviously landed across the road in the rugby field. There is a thick hedge between us and the field, so everyone immediately took off running to see what they could see. I followed more slowly a little later, and found a gate to go through to where I could see. Gayle and the children stayed, beside the road, to watch until the helicopter took off; I just stayed a few minutes then came back. We don’t know what was wrong, but they said it looked like someone was injured. They were being transported to Christchurch.

Late October Pictures

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Yes, I’m behind. I should make a list of things that ought to be caught up before the baby arrives. Anyway, here are a few last pictures from October that I liked, that never got posted.

Several of the boys have been finding bird’s nests this year. This was one of the first to be discovered.

 

When you want to re-hang a gate that got crushed by a tree, you have to straighten it out first. Gayle and the boys spent an hour or two, using both vehicles, to try to get it straight. They still have to do a bit of welding, but it should be usable when they are finished.

 

Esther did a little photo-shoot with the two youngest one day. I love the expressions on their faces!

Shantytown and Arthur’s Pass

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The final day of our trip to the West Coast, we stopped at Shantytown, a historic village, for several hours. I didn’t take many pictures there, because I had gotten to the point where I mainly needed to sit. Here are a few, though. One of the first things we did was to ride the steam train. They take you on about a 20-minute ride, back into the bush, then back. Most people got off on the way back at the restored sawmill, then toured the gold-mining area. I opted to go back to the village where I could sit and wait.

 

This enormous stump was at the end of the line—apparently a sample of what they logged out of the area 100 years or more ago.

Esther got this shot of our youngest at the sawmill.

While I was waiting, I amused myself watching Oriental (probably Japanese) tourists taking picture after picture of each other and themselves, and watching this weka go in and out of building after building.

We also did the touristy kind of things—posing the boys in a stagecoach and playing around at the jail. The boys shoved their daddy into the jail—but a couple of them got locked in with him! Right to left, this is Seth, James, Nathan, Simon, Elijah, and Joseph.

This is Seth, Nathan, and Elijah, with Joseph just visible inside the jail to the left.The two youngest enjoyed this play fire engine!And then, we were on the road again! We had originally planned to camp in the mountains that night and arrive home the next day, but the weather was cold and damp and we decided to push on for home. Towing a camper up Arthur’s Pass is a slightly risky proposition, with a 16% grade for several miles, but we made it. The van did heat up (we have some kind of radiator problem at the moment), so we stopped at an overlook at the top to cool off. That afforded quite a view of the Otira Viaduct, which we had just crossed.

This structure allows a waterfall to cross the road, just below the Viaduct.

This is the road we were to take next, going east across the Pass.

There were a lot of keas at the overlook. They are a wild mountain parrot, but not afraid of anything—and they love to eat rubber and plastic! We had to ward them off the open windows of the van so they wouldn’t eat the weatherstripping, but they did manage to eat part of the skylight of the camper. Naughty birds!

And then, we were over the Pass and on the dry side of the island. The scenery on this side is much different! This top picture is Castle Hill. We had hoped to stop there, but it was getting too late.

And, one more picture from the West Coast that I didn’t get stuck in anywhere else. As we drove the highway along the coast south of Hokitika, I was amazed at the trees. It was so obvious that the prevailing wind is from the sea!

And speaking of wind, we arrived home to find damage from strong winds while we were gone. The chimney above the kitchen had fallen on the roof, and broken the light directly below it, and a row of willow trees lost their tops. One tree fell on this shed. The fellows spent the day after we got home fixing broken things and cutting wood.

 

Franz Josef Glacier

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After we left Fox Glacier, on Friday evening of our trip, we tried to find a campground in the Fox Glacier Township. We knew it was supposed to rain, so we wanted a place where we could put part of the family in a cabin. The only place we could find cost about twice what we had paid the two previous nights! We decided to drive the half hour to Franz Josef and see if we could find a better place. The first place we checked out would have cost about three times as much, so we ended up at another of the chain we had tried in Fox Glacier. Still very expensive, but the best option we could find for that night. When the rain came down in torrents most of the night, leaving puddles all over, we were glad we had gotten a roof for the ones who were to have tented it! In the morning, then, we were thankful to see the sun, to dry out the camper before we closed it up. We were also treated to this glimpse of the mountains!

After breakfast, packing up, and family worship, we drove to the glacier. It was a much easier walk than at Fox Glacier, since the track hadn’t washed out. Again, the faster members of the family went ahead, and Mom and I walked at the pace of a two-year-old. Life is quite interesting, viewed from that perspective! Once again, I’ve borrowed most of these pictures from my daughter. I let our oldest boy use my camera, but her pictures are better. There were, once again, many waterfalls along the rocky path. Everything we walked on was once under the glacier! It is retreating rapidly. This is about where we slowpokes turned around. We got a good view of the glacier, and decided that if we didn’t want the rest of the crew to pass us up and have to wait for us, we’d better turn back. We got about halfway back, and suddenly some European tourists, passing us, exclaimed about the glacier. We turned to look, and the sun had come out on the ice! What a glorious sight! The picture Mom took, below, does not do it justice.

And, here are a few more pictures from closer-up.

Above: our oldest two, Esther and Seth. Below: Elijah, Simon, James.

At one point along the trail, they found a chunk of ice from the glacier. Esther had a plastic bag to protect her camera, so they brought the ice back to the van to show the rest of us.

Gayle and Joseph—on the top of the world!

 

 

Be prepared for danger!

A few of the boys raced back to the van ahead of the rest. I gave them permission to explore another trail, to the river below the glacier. They apparently took these pictures there. This is Elijah and Simon.

What a wonderful chance to explore a special part of God’s creation! We felt especially blessed when, just before all the explorers joined us back at the van, the heavens opened and rain poured most of the rest of the day! The weather had cleared just for a little while that morning, long enough to allow us to see the glacier.

On the Countdown!

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We only have a month till we get to meet this baby! I brought the tubs of baby clothes into the house last week to sort through them and find the tiny stuff, and a few days ago got the receiving blankets and burp cloths washed. I still haven’t touched the rest of the clothes, but at least that much is done. I was going to take a picture of those things on the clothesline, but took a nap first, and woke up, just half an hour after hanging them, to the sound of rain! They were halfway dry already, which I was thankful for. We’ve also been very thankful for several days of rain, badly needed here in North Canterbury. Anyway, here are the things I washed—a lot still around from when Esther was tiny! I just love seeing them again. Yes, that does look like a lot of burp cloths, but based on past experience, we’ll need them.

 

Fox Glacier

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The day after we visited Pancake Rocks, on our West Coast trip, we drove several hours farther south to Fox Glacier. We enjoyed some stunning sights along the way, such as this wall of rock as we came into Greymouth,

and this road/rail bridge just south of Greymouth. (Well, maybe that one isn’t stunning—just unusual!)

This mailbox (apparently) was beside the bridge, where we had to stop to wait for oncoming traffic to cross the bridge before we did.

As it got near lunchtime, we needed a place to take a break and eat lunch, so we followed signs off the highway a mile or two to this spot by the bluest river I’ve ever seen. The blue comes from glacial melt, I believe. We ended up leaving in a hurry, though, because the toilets were closed for painting and some of us were desperate!

The road from Franz Josef Glacier, which we passed up that day, to Fox Glacier, was lined with incredible ferns!

We finally made it to the vicinity of Fox Glacier late in the afternoon. First we drove to a spot that promised views of the glacier, from the south side of the river. The road up to that spot was amazing enough:

A short walk through the rain forest took us to where we could, indeed, catch a glimpse of it!

We could just make out the end of the glacier at the bottom of that valley, about where the waterfalls come down.

The shape of this mountain was intriguing!

As we got back into the van, some of the boys asked if they could run down the road to where we had seen a sign for warm springs. Sure—good way to burn a bit of energy! They took off running, and even though it must have been a good mile or two, they beat us. Yes, it was downhill, which I’m sure is the reason they got there so fast. They were dipping their toes in when we arrived.

We then drove back to the main road and crossed to the north side of the river, where a sign indicated glacier access. This turned out to be a trail that led you to within something like 200 meters of the glacier, which is retreating fairly quickly. The first part of the trail had been wiped out by a slip, or landslide, and foot traffic was temporarily rerouted up a muddy, steep hillside, along a level, muddy, slippery trail, and back down another steep, muddy, slippery slope to the nice gravel path! Mom decided she shouldn’t try to tackle the climb, so she waited in the van. I wanted to see the glacier, so gave it a try, with the help of a walking stick my sweet second son found me—and made it through that worst part! The rest was easy, but I turned back, with our youngest, when we got to where I could see the glacier. Therefore, these pictures are Esther’s—thank you, Esther, for sharing. It was worth the hike to see the glacier!

My husband and Joseph, the second-youngest, at the glacier.

Pancake Rocks

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I had checked the tides for Pancake Rocks before we left on our trip, as someone told us once that high tide is the best time to go. High tide was to be around 4:00 the day we visited, so we aimed to get there around 3:30. We had been noticing that the waves were quite high, and the wind was from the north-west, so we were hoping for a good show. We really felt that God blessed us, because the blowholes were spouting quite high. What a sight to see!

The first thing we admired when we arrived, however, was the nikau palms. They are quite an unusual looking palm, and the southern-most palm in the world. We noticed some beginning to bloom, then saw that others had seed or fruit clusters hanging below the leaves. Then, we were tickled to see a wood pigeon helping himself to some of the fruit! After admiring the palms for a few minutes and poking our heads into the visitor center/gift shop, we went across the road (the main highway) to the rocks themselves. A lovely concrete path has been built through the rocks, with great viewing areas.

James, with his new camera! Funny thing about that is that he is camera-shy! Guess he likes to be on the other side. Isn’t he cute, though?At one of the first overlooks, we noticed how foamy the sea was. The water was extremely turbulent.The poor littlest boy was stuck going at the snail’s pace of his mom and grandma.

Mom and Esther admiring the rough seas.

This spot, a near-rectangle with walls all around, is in the middle of the rocks. It is aptly named the Surge Pool. Water comes in through two arches, one of which you can see here and the other is roughly under my feet from where I took the picture.

We finally got to the first blowhole! This is called Chimney Pots. If a wave of the right size comes in and ricochets off the rocks at the right angle, over and over again, it will burst up through a channel in the rocks and form a geyser. It was pretty amazing to see the path the waves had to take to get here—there were at least two right-angle corners they had to turn. The power the water still had when it reached this point was awe-inspiring.

I don’t remember what this spot was called, and I don’t know if there is an open channel to the sea or if the water comes through an archway, but it sure splashed up here!

My boys! Left-right: fourth (James), first (Seth), third (Elijah), fifth (Joseph), and second (Simon).

The Surge Pool, from the other side.

The sea on the north side of Pancake Rocks.

After we went all the way around, we decided to go back to Chimney Pot and enjoy the spectacle again. Our second boy found a spot on a bridge where the spray from the geysers blew over him. Not only did he get soaked (and later I noticed salt crusting his face!), but he lured a number of unsuspecting tourists to stand there long enough to get wet as well. I hear that he would ask them, “Do you like showers?” then keep them talking till it blew again!

I took a few videos to try to capture the experience. Of course, it isn’t anywhere as good as being there yourself, but these will give you a tiny glimpse of our experience.

This was definitely a highlight of our trip. We felt especially blessed when we were talking to a friend on the way home, who had been to Pancake Rocks a number of times, and he said he had never seen a show such as we described.