I had been having problems getting into the holiday spirit, because the days were getting longer and the weather was relatively warm. Being from New England, I associate cozying up around the fire and crisp winter weather with Christmas; Kiwis associate BBQs and going to the beach with the holidays. But after a very rough 4 hour ferry ride to Wellington, on the North Island, we were greeted with these lovely Pohutakawa blossoms. Like you can see in the picture below. Pohutakawa is known as the New Zealand Christmas tree and it helped me get into the christmas spirit.
Our holiday was filled with yummy deserts like this mound of merengue , turkish chocolate, and raspberries surrounded by brandy snaps. mmmm.... This desert is a reincarnation of Pavlova a standard at holiday parties here.
Here is Darrel with his dad!
Here is Darrel with his dad!
Sharleen and Brian with our drink of choice- champagne and strawberries!
Here I am with my new Christmas goodies including a hand made hoody from Sharleen and a made with love apron from mom.
Here is Joy with bags made by Darrel and I (left) and Sharleen (right).
Brian with a Vermont cutting board.
Darrel had fun putting his new toys to good use, including this icecream maker. You fill it up with cream and sugar on one end and stuff the other end with ice and salt. You roll the ball around for half an hour and voila- yummy icecream!
So, after some serious relaxing at Joy and Brians. We ran away to camp at the beach just south of New Plymouth in Oakura. This was our view at the campsite. We have kitted out the van with a bed, so our our boogie boards, food and stuff can fit underneath the platform. It's sweet for traveling in this land of unpredictable weather.
While we were camping we had to try out another new toy Darrel got at Christmas. It is a stealth camping grill- all the bits and pieces fit into one of the tubes. It works great! We put it to the test at a campfire ring on the edge of the beach.
The next day Darrel and I hiked to the top of Paritutu rock. The rock is an ancient remnant of a volcano that is much older than the current Mt. Taranaki cinder cone volcano that towers over the landscape of New Plymouth. The weather has been a bit wild here lately, heaps of rain and much cooler than normal. Actually, we were kicking ourselves for not bringing our snowboards to New Plymouth because Mt. Taranaki had just gotten a fresh dump of snow!
Here are Darrel and I at the top of Paritutu rock looking out at the other bits of volcano remnants.
Here is Darrel trying out his new skateboard at his old stomping grounds in Taranaki. We gave each other long boards for Christmas. We bought them from our friend Jaime who has a business making them. So I am learning by skating to work and taking baby steps towards riding in the halfpipe.
Here is Darrel trying out his new skateboard at his old stomping grounds in Taranaki. We gave each other long boards for Christmas. We bought them from our friend Jaime who has a business making them. So I am learning by skating to work and taking baby steps towards riding in the halfpipe.
After a fun New Years in Wellington with our friends Odie and Joel, we hopped back on the ferry to travel to the South Island. This journey was just as choppy as the first one, but I managed to keep my breakfast in my body! Yippee! Which is very fortunate because even the veteran ferry goers said that it was the roughest they had ever seen it. It's pretty amazing when a boat the size of a small cruise ship is slapping waves. For our trip from Picton to Christchurch on the South Island, we traveled down the seal covered coast through Kaikora, which is a very cool seaside town where the mountains meet the sea.
