In the Groove

The sun wasn't up yet, but of course it was only 5:20 in the morning and we were already rolling two carts loaded with baggage from Novatel at Auckland Airport over to the domestic terminal where we'd be loading up for the flight into Queenstown just after 7 am.  The flight into Auckland the night before was smooth, and we were lucky to have clear skies and an easy 2 hour jaunt down to the South Island - with views over the Southern Alps as we came into Queenstown.  

From Queenstown, Sharyl steered the rental car - which had absolutely no remaining room for luggage once we'd shoe-horned all our bags in - over the Crown Range Rd to the tiny town of Cardrona where we grabbed lunch before the final leg into Wanaka . . . our home for the next 5 months!

The next day while walking along a neighborhood hiking path we met Sam - a Brit who has been in Wanaka for over a decade and now runs marketing & communications for the Queenstown Lakes District Council (the local government).  River more or less accosted Sam's dog Luna, and from there we had made a new friend.  Since that time Sam has shared all sorts of interesting information and ideas with us, he's super well informed given his job and so we've discovered several new things we'd previously been unaware of (more on this in future posts).  

Sunday saw a beautiful start to the day, and I was finally able to test out my new wetsuit in Lake Wanaka.  Every Sunday there is a local swim group that meets for a swim in the lake, and I was excited to join in on our first weekend.  Camille, one of the local swimmers (who I later found out was the first person to swim the 44 km length of Lake Wanaka without a wetsuit) was kind enough to point out the two main routes the swimmers take in the lake - one is a loop around a series of buoys running parallel to the shore 100 meters out in the lake, the distance of each loop is about 1/2 mile - the other route headed out to a rock along another buoy line in the lake and is roughly 2 km (about 1.5 miles) per loop.  Being my first swim in the lake and not being accustom to the cold water I decided to just do the short 1/2 mile loop - which was fantastic.  Post swim the group has free hot coffee & tea, snacks and hot showers at a fantastic little lakeside sports facility.  I'm looking forward to future swims with the Wanaka group!   The boys had a great Sunday chowing down on Crepes and running wild at the dinosaur playground along the lakefront.

Before we knew it Monday had rolled around . . . Reef's first day at Wanaka Primary!  He was so excited heading into his new school, looking official in his brand new uniform.  Anne, his new teacher, was just incredible.  She was so excited to meet Reef - showing him around the classroom before everyone else arrived - and we knew immediately that he was in for a fun day.  Sharyl and I were so relieved that Reef was heading into his new school with so much excitement.  

Behind our current rental house is Mt. Iron, a local landmark and a great short calf-burner hike.  During River's nap I took a quick spin up to the top and back - which was an hour door-to-door, and included 700 feet of elevation gain over a 3-mile total distance.  We had previously done the hike with the whole family, but it's a decidedly different experience with a 2 year old - still quite fun, but much slower going.  Over the next few days both Sharyl and I would clock multiple trips up Mt. Iron as a solid short workout.  This will clearly be a staple outing for us here in Wanaka.

As hoped Reef loved his first day of school, and after it was straight off to Basecamp - the local rock climbing gym - for Reef's first after school "Cliffhanger" class.  Every Monday afternoon for an hour and a half kids 7 - 10 take over the climbing gym, and an instructor gives them pointers and sets up games for them.  Right off the bat one of the boys said "Hi Reef" as he walked by - as it would turn out two of his classmates (Lawrence & Kai) were in the rock climbing group with him.  As usual Reef loved climbing, though he was being a bit goofy after a full day at his new school.  

While Reef climbed and I belayed him (parents stay to belay the kids), Sharyl and River ventured off to Wastebusters, the local second hand store, where River found a tractor he immediately fell in love with.  The tractor is a truly New Zealand toy - 100% home made with plywood, painted to look like a John Deere.

On Tuesday after dropping Reef at school we went car shopping - eventually settling on a great 2017 Honda CR-V, which Reef has subsequently dubbed "Revere" (after "Rosie Revere Engineer" a character in a show he likes, though it works equally as a Paul Revere reference).  We felt it only appropriate to name our car in NZ, and Reef finds it hilarious to talk about Revere as though she's a person - fooling those we walk by as he complement's Revere to us in conversation.

River's new daycare started on Wednesday, he's with two younger kids four days per week in an "at home daycare" program with an amazing lady named Elitsa who is a former Paralympic Ski Racer for the US (her husband Adam still is a competitive racer with 5 Paralympic medals representing NZ).  River immediately fell right into the grove and has been daily enjoying their outings to "mini muscles", "mainly music", and other fun activities they do around town.

Thursday was Athletics Day at Wanaka Primary, something they have a few times per year where the students do events like long jump, high jump, sprints, hurdles, and shot put.  The school is broken up into 6 Tribes which span all grade levels so that younger and older kids have a chance to connect.  Each Tribe is named after a native bird - Reef is part of the Piwakawaka Tribe and their color is Red - which he is thrilled about.  Sharyl and I went to watch the events for a couple hours and Reef did a great job!  After school we celebrated his athletic achievements in proper fashion with ice cream from Patagonia - our favorite ice cream shop in town!

On Friday we took River to Red Bridge Berry Farm where Sharyl and River picked 2 kgs of delicious strawberries (while I unfortunately was stuck on the phone wandering around the farm!).  The highlight of the experience for River came after the berry picking, when he spotted the farm's sandpit and play excavator (again a bit of NZ plywood ingenuity).  He loved working the levers and quickly go the hang of how to work the bucket and lift sand around the play area.

After our full first week in town, we headed 45 minutes out of town to Kidd Bush Campground, located on the western shore of Lake Hāwea.  The boys were so excited, Reef couldn't wait to set up the tent, meanwhile River fell in with a group of kids camped right across the dirt road from us.  Thankfully Elitsa had given us a balance bike for River to use over the weekend (he refused to let it go when leaving daycare), because all the kids had their bikes and so River spent the next several hours bombing hills and racing after the group of mostly slightly older kids.

Wanaka and Hawea are known for their strong winds, something we hadn't really encountered on our prior visits, but man-o-man did we get a dose of wind at the campsite!  It was like being in Maalaea on a windy day, with sand blasting our tent, and our stove (thankfully not lit) sailing across the campground (we actually never were able to locate the lid which is now likely in the forest somewhere).  Thankfully a kind retired couple named Declan and Trudy were in their RV immediately next to us and saw the unfolding catastrophe, and quickly came out and offered up their stove for us to cook on.  So as it turned out we had a great dinner thanks to our generous campground neighbors.  Not long before dark River got into a bit of a shoving match with one of the kids across the way.  River had tried to play with one of the kid's toys and the kid wasn't into sharing so took it from River and pushed him.  I have no concerns about River in these instances, there are few kids his age as solidly built, but the neighbors with the kids had proven to be fairly unhelpful (our stove blew into their camp but they failed to let us know or help us collect it, just sitting by and watching us look for our gear), so we just decided to keep River away from the other kids for the last hour of light.

The next morning was breathtaking, as I sat there watching the sun rise over the southern alps it really felt as though we had arrived into New Zealand.  Once the family was up we broke camp and headed into Hawea town for a delicious breakfast, it was the ultimate in simple camp outings - just a quick jaunt from the house, and a good opportunity to work out the kinks before doing any more involved camping excursions.

Back in Wanaka I managed to convince Reef to do a quick hike up Mt. Iron with me while River took a nap.  We hiked the entire trail holding hands, and with Reef talking - without pause - the entire way.  At the top he did say he was a bit tired, and informed me that once we got home he'd need about three minutes to rest, after which his energy would be back and he wouldn't feel like he had done a hike.   

This week we've begun to feel like we're getting in the groove, moving into our more permanent rental (where we'll spend almost 5 months) on Monday, and getting our stuff (kids bikes, climbing gear, etc) out of storage.  On Monday night we met up with our friends Rhiannon and Slava from Maui who are spending a couple weeks traveling around NZ in an RV with their three kids.  We got hit by a downpour as we ate at the Wanaka food trucks, so we all relocated to our new house where we had a chance to get our fireplace going so the adults could dethaw while the kids ran amok.

On Tuesday we went down to Beacon Point - on a recommendation from our friends Lee & Miri who had been in town a month ago.  The trail around Beacon Point is a wide, flat path connecting to Outlet Road where Lake Wanaka drains into the Mighty Clutha River.  The path was excellent, and with trails bordering both the lakefront at the beginning and running along the Clutha River at the end the route can be extended as far as you want.  However, with a two and a half year old on a bike with training wheels the distance that can be covered is somewhat limited - so after a little excursion down the trail we headed back toward the car.  Slava and Rhiannon met up with us after our short walk to deliver strawberries.  They had just picked 10 kgs (22 lbs), and their RV was bursting at the seams with the fresh berries - so we were the lucky recipients of about 2 kgs of their haul.  Their adventure now takes them off to the West Coast so it was fun catching them again, even though briefly, before they left town.

The next day Sharyl and I headed back to Beacon Point for a 4 mile run to continue exploring the trail - it really turns out to be an excellent easy running or biking path just a short distance from our house, and along with Mt. Iron is sure to be a spot frequented by our family over the next few months.

Yesterday we headed to Queenstown to pick-up a bike for me, it is a great condition Trek which we scored for less than half its retail price.  Just as we began driving out of Queenstown we noticed a bump in our tire, pulled over and saw a nail sticking out!  Someone must have been watching over us because on the very street we spotted the nail in the tire were several mechanic shops, including Bridgestone less than a quarter mile away.  So thirty minutes later the tire was patched and we were on our way back to Wanaka!

This weekend is the Annual A&P Show in Wanaka - an event which I'll include in my next post . . . be forewarned it includes sheep shearing!