As planned, our last night in Whakatāne was spent at Mata Brewery - where we enjoyed not just some great beer, but also surprisingly good food. It turned out that the brewery was having an open mic night so several of Peter & Keturah's friends came wandering by to chat as we ate dinner and listened to music.
The next morning we rolled into the Whakatāne airport about 25 minutes before the flight was to take off, and were told that generally we need to be 30 min in advance when checking bags but it was ok this time. Rain and clouds had closed in all the way to Auckland, so the flight was a bit of a rollercoaster with bumps and drops - but the boys barely noticed - River slept through much of the turbulence. Back at the Auckland airport we were excited to grab lunch at The Ugly Bagel - a fantastic little local chain with a location in the domestic terminal. When we checked in for our flight to Queenstown it at first appeared the plane was 8 hours delayed, not a good thing with a moody 2 year old, but upon asking the airline agent we found out that no that was a different plane - thank goodness!
We landed into Queenstown about 45 min late due to weather delays, which wouldn't be an issue except for our impending drive over switchbacking, hairpin turn filled Crown Range Road to Cardrona - which we had hoped to do before dark, but by the time we were settled into our YES Rental Car the sun had already set. Thankfully there were several cars in front of us so Sharyl expertly navigated the road with the added assistance of being able to track the tail lights in front of her as they banked around each 180 degree turn. About 45 min later we were pulling into the Cardrona Hotel - a beautiful and historic hotel. With the four of us, we decided to rent one of the villas rather than cram into a hotel room - and it was a fantastic place to stay, with 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, a full kitchen and a gas fireplace!
Waking up the next morning we piled back in the car for the 20 minute drive up a winding gravel road to Cardrona Ski Area. The resort hadn't gotten much snow yet, so only a couple runs were open - but that was plenty for us. We had signed Reef up for an all day learn to ski group lesson, and he was excited to hit the bunny slope! After he was settled in we swung River by the on-mountain daycare facility - he immediately darted into the toy filled room making friends with the 4 or 5 other little kids and quickly forgot Sharyl and I were there. It was hard to determine which kid was going to have more fun.
The day turned out to be quite eventful, after watching Reef for a bit we went back to the rental center to find that the power had just gone out, so we couldn't pick-up our gear. As it turned out we didn't need it right away because the entire mountain had lost power including the lifts! For the next hour and a half the lift moved at a snails pace, which clearly was an emergency setting to allow all people to be off-loaded. Reef continued with his lesson, simply walking up the magic carpet to the top of the bunny slope. As Sharyl and I watched Reef a snowboarder suddenly crashed into Sharyl, knocking her to the ground and jarring her right shoulder. The girl who hit Sharyl was apologetic letting us know she didn't mean to run into us - as though that wasn't obvious - but none the less Sharyl needed to have her shoulder looked at so we walked over to Ski patrol where one of the EMT/Ski patrollers did a brief examination of her shoulder. We had the option to see the doctor, though they were tending to another injury at the time, but after 15 - 20 min Sharyl felt a bit better, and decided to just give the injury some time to see how it went, believing it was probably a pulled muscle or something which might improve over the course of the day.
So when the power came back on I got my gear and hopped on the lift for a few runs. It has been several years since I've ridden, but all felt totally fine - like riding a bike. With my limited vision my main concern was possibly hitting something I didn't see - like a snowboarder sitting on the slope, a sign, or a skier cutting across the hill. Thankfully none of that transpired, and I took the runs comparatively slow - just enjoying some cruiser turns down the mountain.
By the end of the day Reef was getting his ski turns down, and was asking when we could come back up for another day on the mountain. Sharyl meanwhile had found her happy place, right at the base watching Reef from the comfort of a heated deck with a chocolate croissant in one hand and a glass of mulled wine in the other. One random but interesting thing about Cardrona is that they do not have trash cans on mountain anywhere. They have signs prominently posted letting you know that everything available on mountain can either be reused (plates, cups, etc) composted (food scraps, paper wrappers/bags) or recycled (cans/bottles), so they have relevant bins for all those - but you are informed that if you have brought a plastic bottle, bag, or other item to the mountain with you for the day you will need to take it back down the mountain and dispose of it yourself. Through this reuse, recycle, and compost program the mountain has apparently eliminated 50 tons of waste each year . . . pretty incredible!
After the winding drive back down the gravel road to Cardrona town Sharyl steered the car into The Cardrona Distillery, where I enjoyed a flight of their offerings and Sharyl tried a taste of a few as well. That morning we had stopped into the Cardrona General Store - the only store in the tiny town - and met Margaret the seventy something year old proprietor. Margaret had let us know that she did pizza at night if we were interested. As it turned out the little shop has a wood fired oven outside and makes some pretty delicious pizzas, which we all enjoyed after a day on the mountain. That night both boys were wiped out and fell asleep without issue.
We were in a bit of a rush down to Wanaka, a drive that only takes about 20 minutes, because it was June 24th and at 10 am the New Zealand Mountain Film Festival had an event we were intent on making. A day earlier we had no idea that the annual Mountain film festival was happening while we were in town, but the opprotunity was too good to pass up. Not only does the festival offer days of amazing films around both Wanaka and Queenstown - but on the morning of the 24th they offered a free family film screening which we attended. The screening is ONLY open to families with young kids . . . translation - don't worry about your kids running wild and making noise throughout the films! It was a revelation to be able to fully relax while the kids spread out on the ground in front of the screen and we all watched 5 spectacular short films over the course of an hour. The films included one that talked about Kiwi Conservation, another about an aspiring professional mountain biker who is maybe 8-years old, a base jumper who had a film called Adrenaline Sucks, a short ski film, and an animation/claymation film called Egoland. What an amazing way to be able to enjoy part of the film festival, and the boys loved it too!
From there it was off to the Dinosaur playground where the boys burned off energy on Wanaka’s picturesque Lakefront, before we checked in at the Te Awa River Lodge.
The Lodge is actually just an AirBnb run by an older couple named Graeme and Carolyn, who live on property and rent out their guest house. Graeme immediately made an impression - a hilarious guy who noted right away that River must have gotten his looks from me "because your mom still has hers!". Carolyn had left us with some fresh baked ginger bars, and once River was down for his nap we set out to explore the Hawea River which runs right in front of their large property. The river is fenced off to keep Rabbits (a big pest in the area since they eat all foliage) out, the fence though also serves to keep kids away from the river, which is quite nice. When Sharyl and Reef went over to get some info from Graeme and Carolyn - Graeme offered to teach Reef to play piano in 1 minute, and after having some fun with him on his old time player piano, Graeme taught Reef to play twinkle twinkle little star. Since then Reef has been jumping on the piano several times a day here in the guest house. River was immediately engaged with the stash of toys available at the guest house from the moment of arrival. After our exploring and Reef's impromptu piano lesson we headed back into Wanaka for dinner at Francesca's - a great Italian restaurant run by a Scotsman named Alan who we enjoyed meeting last time we were in town.
The next day after grabbing food and coffee at Pembroke Patisserie we went for a hike along the Clutha River in the Hikuwai Conservation Area, which is located in Albert town, a section of Wanaka just outside the main town.
From there we headed to Cinema Paradiso to watch a matinee of the new Pixar movie Elemental, if successful it would be the first full movie River had sat through. We could hardly have chosen a better place to take the boys to a movie, first off seating options include standard movie seats, couches, or a classic car, secondly they sell beer, and probably most importantly the theater does intermission during all movies and you are able to order a fresh baked cookie that will be pulled from the oven right when intermission hits. The boys loved the movie, and the giant chocolate chip cookie they each got part way through helped keep them engaged for the duration!
The next day we visited Te Kura o Take Kārara - one of three local public primary schools. After the incredible facilities and kind welcome we got at the Ohope Beach School in Whakatāne I warned Reef not to expect it to be nearly as nice, but to please reserve his comments until after the visit. Well I was wrong - the school is brand new, build just 4 years ago it has stunning facilities much like Ohope Beach School. Where Ohope had a swimming pool Te Kura o Take Kārara has a bike "pump track" where kids can ride their bikes around at recess. The school also has a coffee shop for parents during the first hour and a half of the day if you want to grab a cappuccino after dropping off your kid! We walked away from the visit with our heads spinning - my favorite feature was the attached music room onto the class where kids could go and pick up a guitar during free time if they felt so inclined. The class sizes were basically the same as Ohope and set up similarly with two teachers in each large room each one overseeing roughly 20 kids. The approach appears quite similar to Montessori in its self directed nature outside the core reading, writing, and math skills.
After the school visit we finally went to Puzzling World, one of Wanaka's signature attractions. At Puzzling World you are given the option to explore their giant maze or go through their rooms of Illusion. We chose the Illusion rooms, and it was fairly entertaining - but not ideal for an energetic two year old. After a pass through all the rooms filled with tilting floors, optical illusions where you could look giant or tiny, and halls of faces with eyes which seemed to follow you, we headed on our way.
Next stop were two of the area's breweries. First up was Rhyme & Reason Brewery. They had a great little spot where we could hang out on couches inside or at their outdoor tables. The beer was fine, nothing to write home about but a nice spot to hang out. From there we walked across the street to Ground Up Brewery the spot we really wanted to check out. We had previously tried beers from each brewery and knew going in that we liked Ground Up's offerings quite a bit more. Both breweries were tiny by US standards - roughly the size of Mahalo Aleworks but set in an industrial area without any of the refinement. Ground Up did not disappoint. We split two flights of beer and every one of the tasters was excellent. New Zealand has proven itself to have a range of breweries like anywhere - but Ground Up quickly rose to near the top of the places we've tried. Being that it was a Monday afternoon we were the only people at the brewery and an older lady walked in from the outside food truck delivering us a basket of French Fries saying "the boys will enjoy these". It was such an unexpected treat, and soon an older guy who clearly was part of the operation came into the tasting room and started talking with us. As it turned out his name was Neil and his wife was running the food truck. The brewery was owned by their son Julien and they were both very happy to talk story about the brewery, the area, and all things New Zealand which we had questions about. Their son was apparently a very good rock climber and had named all the beers after famous climbing routes. We asked if their son was around and were met with a - "oh yeah he's brewing right in here" - they walked us through the door and introduced us to their son, and we all stood around talking story for the next 15 minutes. It was a great experience, and one that is hard to imagine in most breweries.
This morning we were off to visit the Hawea Flat School - yet another public primary school in the area. Since students attend based upon where they are living, and - if we end up in the Wanaka area - we don't know exactly where we'd be, we thought it would be smart to check a couple of the schools out. Again, like the day prior we cautioned Reef not to say anything negative if he didn't like the school as much as the prior two, both hugely impressive schools we had visited. Having seen some online photos of the school I told Reef the facilities would be much older, but it would still be a great school even without the new buildings and all. Once again I was wrong. The school is literally just wrapping up construction on a whole new area of their school including multiple new buildings, and a brand new bike park/pump track for the kids. We had heard that the school fostered a real community feel and that became apparent before we even entered the office. Just outside the door was the groundskeeper who was a gregarious guy and was telling us how great the school was and that there's no sense looking anywhere else because Hawea Flat School is "the best!". Tanya, the school principal took us around. She let us know that all teachers are on a first name basis with the students, and true to that statement kids were calling out "hi Tanya!" as we walked around, one little girl coming up and giving her a hug saying "you're my favorite teacher!". The school took a somewhat different approach than the others in some regards - their playground included wood and various things like tires and tree stumps - which Tanya said were there to encourage kids to "build forts" and construct things. She also pointed out some trees asking if Reef liked climbing trees. Classes were similar to the other schools, again with roughly 20 students to 1 teacher, and with two classes in one large room. Tanya walked us through multiple grade levels showing us how technology is introduced around year 4 - 5, at which point the kids get school computers to work through various assignments on. Like Te Kura o Take Kārara the prior day, Hawea Flat School has a winter ski program where students go up to the resorts one day per week for 5 weeks in the winter to learn skiing or snowboarding. The kids get $155 NZD ($95 US) season passes, and parents get a really great deal - a $250 5-day pass - as well. It is worth noting that Reef’s single day lift ticket had been $75 just a couple days ago, and mine had been $150 for the day. Action sports are a big part of the community here, the principal said that in the last Winter Olympics their were 5 Hawea School Alumni competing on the same day. Well by this point it was pretty hard to find a flaw in any of the schools we had checked out, and as we wandered around the campus Tanya took us over to an area under some big trees where a class of kids about Reef's age were roasting marshmallows over the fire. This is apparently a pretty common activity at school, and the two teachers out with them were happy to talk story with us while supervising the marshmallow roasting. Tanya got Reef a stick and Tom, one of the teachers, got him a marshmallow, and before you knew it he was right in there with the kids by the fire roasting up a treat for himself! Along with the kids and teachers, the groundskeeper we had met when we first arrived was right there in his orange vest, chatting up with all the kids. We soon found out that his name is Doug, and he is hugely popular with everyone at school, to the point that they even have a "Doug Day" where everyone dresses like him (he wears the same outfit everyday) on his birthday . . . which just so happens to be August 5th! When Doug found out he and Reef had the same birthday he was stoked and gave Reef a big high five, insisting that now Reef had to come to Hawea Flat School . . . What a fun place!
After that school visit and a swing by the coffee cart next door River went down for a nap, and Sharyl took Reef to the rock climbing gym in Wanaka, where he topped out on a few climbs and conquered the 25 - 30 ft high rope ladder, which had scared him last time (though he was clipped in the ladder is hanging in open space so gives a much more dramatic view as you climb higher and higher).
On their way back Sharyl and Reef visited the local second hand shop called Wastebusters, which sounds like it is full of great items. We had dinner from a good local Indian restaurant, and can barely believe that tomorrow is our last full day in the Wanaka area before we drive down to Clyde!
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