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Jed River Cemetary

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Last Saturday was a gorgeous, warm (for winter) day, so Gayle suggested that we take our lunch out to Gore Bay and have a picnic.  What a good idea!  Since it was high tide and therefore not good for beachcombing, we decided to try to find an old Maori graveyard that a local farmer pointed out to the boys last spring.  We didn’t find that, but we did find an early European cemetery, dating back to the earliest days of settlement in this area.  The most recent burial there was 19 years ago.  There are around 25-30 graves, only about 1/3 of which are marked.  It was a beautiful spot for a cemetery–on top of a hill overlooking the Jed Estuary and Gore Bay, and so peaceful.

Getting ready to go

To go to the cemetery, we had to cross the mouth of the Jed River/Buxton Creek. It was only an inch or two deep, but with it being high tide, there were often several inches of water. Seth ended up carrying the two youngest over by himself!The trail from the beach to the cemetery was fun!

The Jed Estuary, with an old woolshed on the far side, and Gore Bay in the distance.

This is all that marked one grave.

All that’s left of the gate to the cemetery.

After exploring the cemetery, the boys worked on punting their “raft”–a large forked log–around the lagoon at the place where the Jed River and Buxton Creek flow into the sea.  They had great fun learning to maneuver it around, and then pulled it out so it will hopefully still be there next time we go.

The boys reenacted Hone Heke, a Maori chief in the 1840s, who chopped down an English flagpole on a hill overlooking present-day Russell, four times.

A hut that someone built out of driftwood. Daddy helped pull the log to a deeper part of the lagoon. Pulling the log out

Our Week

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This has been a pretty normal week–lots of school and other real life, too.

Baby wants more kombucha!

Baby loves his daddy! These Usborne puzzle books have been very popular this week.

Part of school every day–the most popular part–is practicing math facts with a game on the computer. I forgot to include these two pictures last week! Our hedge was trimmed.

The children have been bringing in heaps of these field mushrooms. They are delicious!

The hills to the north-west of us.

We see a lot of these cows in the paddock next to the house.

Baby fell against the wood stove Sunday night. Ouch!

After trying in vain to get into this laundry basket, and squealing in frustration, he picked it up and brought it to me. I put him in–and he was delighted!We enjoyed the sight of snow blowing off the tops of the mountains north of Kaikoura as we drove to church this morning. Finally, here are some of the pictures Esther took when we stopped at the beach on the way home this afternoon.  One boy was moving so fast all the pictures of him turned out blurry!

Napenape

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Today was Christmas Day.  We didn’t have anyone to spend the day with, so we decided to go to a beach we hadn’t been to before.  Napenape (pronounced nappy-nap) is just south of the Hurunui River.  It is a beautiful beach!  It always amazes us how different each beach is from all others.  We thoroughly enjoyed spending time there and relaxing this afternoon.

Looking down the hill, across the Hurunui River towards Cheviot (on the other side of the hills)

Hills on the way to the sea

The beach road at Napenape

Napenape beach

We had a picnic for lunch

The boys found this baby shag

On the way to the end of the beach, the boys climbed this little hill. The day was quite misty at first.

This cliff marked the end of the beach we could walk today! The tide was near high.

Baby loved the rocky beach!

About to grab the camera (and taste it!)

Gayle and some of the boys climbed the cliff

We played tic-tac-toe

The mist cleared shortly before we left

On the way out, we stopped so the boys could investigate a spring

They said the spring water tasted good.

 

Fossils and Port Robinson

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Last night, we took a picnic supper to Gore Bay.  It was a warm, breezy evening, unusual for this time of year.  Last week, when I took the children there for lunch one day, we had found a couple of rocks with fossilized bones sticking out of the top, and wanted to go back to take pictures of them.  They are in a place you can only go at low tide,  which is why we had to wait till evening yesterday.  We got there about two hours before low tide.

The boys took off down the trail to the beach as soon as they were done eating, taking a cloth shopping bag with them to hold all the mussels they were planning to collect!  The rest of us followed a little more leisurely.  We were able to find the fossils we had seen the last time without too much trouble–and then found more and more and more!
A lovely paua shell.Baby appreciates rocks, too–salty ones, especially!
Finally we made our way to the south end of Gore Bay, where the boys were diligently hunting.  After walking around a little on the rocks there, we decided to go around into Port Robinson.  This was the only access to the Cheviot area in the early days, 100-130 years ago.  Apparently, they would unload the ships and send the goods up some sort of track to the top of the cliffs.  They say there is no trace of the port left at sea level.

Port Robinson

I’m not sure what this tunnel was all about, but it opens out of the cliff just above the high tide line.  As you can imagine, the boys were pretty excited when their Daddy found it–that is the sort of thing you generally only find in mystery stories!

The tunnel that Daddy discovered in the cliff.


The boys, of course, had to practice their mountain-climbing skills, in addition to gathering a shopping-bag nearly full of mussels (now I have to figure out how to cook them!).On our way back to the van, we stopped for a few minutes to chat with some tourists from Australia, and then got caught in the rain when it started suddenly.  No one minded getting a little wet, though.  Everyone agreed that this was a perfect way to spend an evening.

The largest chiton I have ever seen! They are normally 1/2-1 1/2 inches long; this one was 4-5.

Sea squirt

Long Hike!

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Sunday after church, we decided to take a hike before going home.  We drove south from Kaikoura, along the coast, on our normal route home, but stopped where the highway goes away from the coast into the hills, at Oaro.  After parking the van beside the beach, we took off walking.  Someone had told us about a cliff where there are a lot of fossils, and the boys wanted to find some.  We walked along a trail through lupines in full bloom, first, then crossed the Oaro River. We never got our feet wet!  The river goes through gravel, under a bank several feet high. Then, we walked along the access road between the railroad and the beach.

This boy likes to do what everyone else is not doing–in this case, everyone else was on the road–but not him! The most surprising discovery we made appeared to be a train wreck, from 75-100 years ago.  There was a string of railway carriages pushed over the bank to just above the high-tide line of the beach, and even a steam engine!  We found out a couple of days later that old railway cars used to be pushed over the edge to help stabilize the bank.
The next excitement came when we got to a section of beach where there is a retaining wall for a good ways, and the water comes right up to the base of it.  Most of us walked along the roadway on top, but two adventuresome boys decided to walk along the ledge at the bottom of the retaining wall. Well and good–except it went a lot farther than we ever imagined, and got narrower and narrower!  They had to keep moving to different levels to keep going.  There was no way to get them up over the top–they had to go on or go back!  They made it eventually–but I think this mom probably has a few more gray hairs!
Another boy got down on the ledge after he got to the end of it, and went back to help keep the 3-year-old going, and safe. Brotherly love! While he waited for the boys to come to the end of the ledges, Daddy found a place to sit out of the wind and let baby play with rocks.
The next section was lovely sand that reminded me of Lake Michigan beaches, except that it was dark instead of bright yellow.  So warm to the feet!  After that section, the shore turned rocky again, so we walked on the road again, between tall stands of fennel.

This boy was pretending to hide from the train (long before it showed up!)

Baby rode most of the time on Daddy’s shoulders.We knew the passenger train should be coming through soon, so we were watching out for it.

Here comes the train!The children stood on a small hill to wave at the passengers, and when it had passed we started back for the van. By now, the sun had gone behind the hills and it was getting cold.  The children all armed themselves (against ??) with dried-out fennel stalks and we marched. Daddy got to the van first, with baby, and I straggled in last with the 3-year-old.  We all agreed it had been a wonderful experience, even though we never did figure out which cliff had the fossils.

This Past Week or Two in Pictures

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I keep thinking about things to blog about, but real life keeps getting in the way.  So, here are a bunch of pictures to give you a glimpse into the past couple of weeks.

Now that he can get around we have to be more diligent about cleaning up ashes!

Last Tuesday we had the biggest hail I have ever seen. When it hit a boogie board in front of the house it bounced up 3 meters (10 feet)!

After the storm passed, the cows finally made it to the trees for shelter–and when the sun hit them a cloud of steam went up!

Hail on the trampoline.

Almost crawling!Gayle and the boys built the framework for raised beds on Saturday.

On Sunday we stopped to explore some rock pools along the coast.

Starfish Sea anemone

Kaikoura Peninsula

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We had an adventure Sunday!  It was such a lovely day that after leaving church at 2:00 we went to the Kaikoura Peninsula to walk on the rocks.  Gayle has been wanting to walk around the Peninsula again, but we weren’t sure what the tides were.  When we got there, however, it became apparent that the tide was going out, so we took off from the north side of the Peninsula, and walked around to South Bay at sea level.  It’s quite a long, strenuous walk, but beautiful!  We made it to the other end around 5:00.  Gayle went ahead of us the last little ways and then he and two of the boys hurried up the cliff to the trail on top and across to where we had left the van, then came back to get us.

Seagull at the north end, before we started out hiking.

Here we go! Just starting around the first point.

The tide was still high enough we had to be fairly close to the cliffs, and the seaweed on the rocks that were in shadow was extremely slick. We had to search for dry places to walk on. Lots of energy at the beginning!

Simon climbed halfway up that high cliff! He climbed several hills on the way, and at the end ran back across the top of the Peninsula to catch up to his dad, who was on the way back for our van. Incredible energy, there.

Some of the easiest walking on the whole trip.Some of the first seals we saw up-close that day–but not the last!

The game of “Pass the Baby” was popular with the one being passed–until one big brother fell down with him. Then, he wanted Mom.

See the boys most of the way up?

More seals, and a shag grooming. At the base of the cliff ahead of us is where we first came very close to seals–like, on the trail! Seals can be quite dangerous; if they bite you can get a very bad infection. Don’t go between a seal and the water, and don’t threaten them! Signs are posted saying to stay 10 meters (30 feet) from seals.Our protector going ahead to scout for seals.

Here we come, skirting as far around the seals as possible. Simon, behind me, very thoughtfully waited there for me, keeping a lookout while I watched my footing, then brought up the rear.

I had to stop to feed the baby, and while they were waiting, Gayle and some of the boys climbed up through a cave and came out on top, where they could watch us coming up!

We all ended up going through a branch of the cave to get to the other side, because the only other path had a big seal on it!

More seals–all over the path! We were very cautious.

At last! We have rounded the end of the Peninsula and can see the mountains again. Our destination is across the bay.

This fascinating layer of rocks, shells, and bones ran along the cliff for quite a long ways.

Simon found this whale’s vertebrae sticking out! He brought it home.

Seth found this fence post washed up, and carried it a LONG way along the beach. He fell down four times while carrying it across slick places, but persevered. He really wanted it!

South Bay–the end of our hike.

Google Earth map of the Kaikoura Peninsula

Beach and Playground

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Yesterday the sun shone!  We’ve had several weeks of mostly rainy days, so when it was nice yesterday I challenged the children to finish their schoolwork by 11:00.  Everyone was done by 11:30, so we went to the beach for a little while.  We wanted to be home by 1:00 to be around when our landlord’s son came over to work with a wild cow that was here, but the beach is less than 15-minute’s drive away so we can go for just a short time.

A cold wind was blowing off the Pacific, so we didn’t stay out there very long.  I told the boys to see who could find the most interesting item washed up along the high-tide line, and they came up with some good ones.  There was part of a horse mussel shell with barnacles on it, a sponge attached to a shell, and a clump of several different seaweeds with various shells through it.  The 2-year-old collected a lot of sponges.  (When his Daddy came home from work, he wanted to show him his “seahorses”!)

The trail that goes up and over a small bluff to the beach.

Off on the search for treasure!

The clump of seaweed and shells.I carried baby, in his wrap, and the sponges that 2-year-old collected.

After spending awhile on the beach, we went to the playground on the other side of the bluff.  There is just enough of a rise of land to break the wind, and it was lovely and warm there.  Some of the boys just climbed around, but most of them spent time one time or another figuring out how to balance the seesaw with their various weights.  A seesaw, by the way, is a great way to learn how a balance scale works, and how you can use your weight on a lever in different ways!

Balanced! Baby woke up and enjoyed the bright day, too! On our way home, we drove through the Cheviot Domain–an area of public land–to admire the daffodils.

This Past Week

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It’s not real easy to write when most computer time involves multi-tasking (which being interpreted means feeding the baby!).  I’ll just put in a few pictures from this past week.

Baby thinks life is rough!  He even frowns in his sleep!

For Dead Boring last week, we met in a gym and the children played while the moms talked.  The group is so large now that we’ve had to split in two, but still want to all see each other occasionally.  Four times a year we plan to meet this way, and just have a social day without sharing writings like we normally do.  The children played hockey.

These are two of my boys, James and Simon.

The child farthest left and the one third from right are mine.

Baby studies things–mostly to figure out how they’ll taste!

Haircuts last night!  This was the pile after I cut six heads of hair!

Bedtime story!  We’re reading Horse of a Different Color, by Ralph Moody, right now.  Baby was asleep with his mouth clamped tightly shut.

On our way home from church today, we stopped for half an hour at the beach, where the Kowhai River empties into the sea just south of Kaikoura.  The waves were very high today.  I love those cliffs in the distance, just south of Oaro.

Brotherly love–the bank at the edge of the parking area, going down to the river’s edge, was steep, with these large rocks.  I like this one so well I put it on my desktop screen!

This is the boy who reads the best, enjoying Naya Nuki by Ken Thomasma for the fourth time.

Big sis was playing with her new tripod, and caught this picture.  Glad that leg was up to hide everything else!

Fossil Hunting

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Yesterday at our homeschool writing group meeting, a man showed us a powerpoint presentation about fossils.  He has been collecting fossils for several years and has an impressive collection from the local area.  My boys badly wanted to go to Gore Bay and search for fossils along the cliffs there, so, since it was sunny and warm today, we went right after lunch.  When we arrived, the tide was high, with waves hitting the cliffs, so we sat on top and read some of our books for school before we went down.  The tide was still so high that we couldn’t get to the best places, but the boys climbed up some of the less-vertical cliffs anyway.  We never found anything that we were sure was a fossil today, but had fun exploring anyway.  One unusual thing we saw was an oystercatcher (bird) with a missing foot!  I could tell something was strange about it, and when I was able to see its tracks, it had one normal footprint and one that was just a round peg.  Poor thing.

The tide when we arrived.

Reading stories.

This one quickly got bored with the stories and found something more interesting! Climbing the cliff to hunt for fossils

After they gave up on fossils, they cut a few branches of lupine bushes.

Driftwood makes a great boat.

The tide when we left–quite a ways farther out, and notice the shadows. Short days right now.

And these two pictures are just because they’re cute!  The first one was this morning when 2-year-old needed something to do during school and I assigned him to “read” to baby.

This one was after we got home this afternoon.  I set baby on the couch while I went to do something else, and when I came back he was staring, fascinated, at his booties!  They kept wiggling!