It's been a long while since we last wrote, but we do have a good excuse: The weather has been acting up. How is that an excuse? Under normal conditions, while one of us is busy writing our notice, the other one is amusing the girls in a nearby playground. However, since it has been very cold and rainy for most of the past week and a half, this setup didn't work so well…
Since the beginning of our trip the local Kiwis have been telling us how unseasonably cold the summer is this year, but we have been managing to work our way around the weather and do almost everything we wanted. But our time came, and the weather hit us full force in the lowest part of the South Island. We had several indoor rainy days, and had to pass up on quite a few outdoor attractions we would have liked to see, mainly in the southernmost region of New Zealand, namely Southland. The area is very sparsely populated, and has many supposedly beautiful places along the coast (we wouldn't know, since we didn't get a chance to see most of them…). From the little we did see, the rugged country is indeed very beautiful. A bit further inland there are rich grazing lands, and we probably saw more sheep there than we did elsewhere in New Zealand. At times the view from the car window resembled a green and white carpet!
From Southland we continued to Dunedin, a relatively big city in the south-eastern corner of New Zealand, starting our way back north along the eastern shore. Being a city it offered a few in door attractions, such as a tour of Cadbury's chocolate factory. For us, the adults, it wasn't that fascinating however you should have seen Hadas and mainly Noga... Needless to say, the real treat was when chocolate bars were handed to the participants, leading to glowing eyes. Hadas walked most of the tour, holding a giant chocolate bar almost her size, and was very happy with it. We also fought the weather bravely, and managed to sneak several semi-outdoor acticities, such as watching albatross birds (very big and impressive !) and more important - seeing the extremely cute penguins in their natural habitat. There is a cool wild-life reserve,where the human visitors are in cages and all sorts of tunnels, so that the penguins won't be disturbed. It was fabulous !
Additionally, we spent Christmas in Dunedin, and joined a very jolly Christmas party in our hostel. It was very intersesting for us to see how this holiday is celebrated here, and I guess it's kind of a preparation to the coming years in the states. As said above, we're now on our way up north along the eastern coast of the south island, with a couple of detours inland. One of those detours is already behind us - a delightful visit to Mount Cook, the highest peak in New Zealand. The mount itself is very impressive, and the lakes, valleys and rivers around it are among the best New Zealand has to offer. Originating in glaciers, the turquoise colour of the water is difficult to describe. I think the lakes there are the most beautiful we've ever seen, even more than those we were astounished at in Tibet.
We also enjoy the fact that this period, after Cristmas, is the summer holiday for the Kiwis. Thus, we had the chance to go to a circus and an amusement park, a refreshing change for the girls after the daily nature walks we take them on. The circus itself was embarrassingly bad, but the girls had great fun and that's obviously what matters. There are many more sights and attractions to tell about, but this post is already too long...
It is hard to believe, but we have merely two weeks left on this trip. Though we try not to think about it, there probably is no escape from saying the we are starting to feel the end. Well, we guess every good thing comes to an end. We're currently in Christchurch, the biggest city in the south island, and within a bit less than a week will return to the north island, on our way back to Auckland, from which we fly out.
Love and miss you all,
Hadas, Noga, Anat & Giora
Thursday, December 30
Friday, December 17
The Magnificent Southern Alps of NZ
Hello to you all, the time has come for another word from overseas.
We are continuing our travels in the wonderful south island of NZ. There is a long mountain range going down the middle of the island like a spine, which is called the southern alps, and on both sides there are, of course, coasts. We started our descent downwards on the west coast, and actually found it to be a bit disappointing. Not that many attractions that suited our present circumstances, though we do believe that there are some great treks. We did stop to visit the two glaciers, that are world famous for being the glaciers that come closest to the sea. Maybe it was because the weather didn't permit us to see the mountain peaks around or too much of the glaciers themselves, but we found them a bit disappointing. Noga enjoyed hiking up to the Franz Josef glacier and touching the ice, but other than that there isn't too much to tell.
Once we had visited the glaciers, we practically started making ourway inland, towards the mountains, and our time here is more than making up for the west coast! The very day we left the coast and drove over the Haast pass (which is actaully not that high up, only 600 meters or so) everything improved - the weather was lovely: sunny and crisp. There were beautiful water falls along the road, and we even took a short hike towards the confluence of two rivers, where there are clear bright blue water pools. The walk was very gentle, and both girls were running along the path in the woods, screeching like birds and having a marvelous time (as were their parents, needless to say). Hadas seems to enjoy walking more and more, and has started walking for longer parts of our trips (okay, so its just 20-30 minutes each time, with numerous stops - but it's a real treat for us to see that she enjoys the exercise, and stops next to every flower, stick and stone and commands offensive weeds to move out of her way...).
Wanaka was our next stop - a little tourist town on the shore of a magnificent lake (lake Wanaka) surrounded by snowy-peaked mountains. Our friendly hostel had a great view of all the above, which made our meals there so much more pleasant. It was even nice enough in the evening that the grown ups could sit in the courtyard outside our room and share a beer and some conversation with other travelers. Additionally, in one of our Wanaka days we split, Giora going on a hike on his own, exploring a beautiful national park near the town (Mount Aspiring National Park). It was a refreshing day, walking quite a bit on his own, amidst meadows, waterfalls and gigantic mountains. However, this scenery was nothing comparing to the way I(Giora) saw it two days later: Our third day in Wanaka was amazing - it was the clearest day we had seen for a long time. So immediately Giora decided that this was the perfect opportunity for a scenic sky-dive: and boy, was he right!!
A few words about sky-diving in NZ are in place first: there are more than a dozen towns in which tandem-skydiving is an option. Tandem, meaning you're connected to an instructor. He sees to safety and operating the parachutte, and you merely have to enjoy yourself... For me (Giora), the main appeal wasn't the jumping itself as an experience, but especially viewing everything from above. The surroundings of Wanake are fabulous, and in a day like that, without a single cloud, the view was literally breathtaking. Two large lakes, Mount Cook (the highest in NZ) up there, many kilometers away, the winding Clutha river with its turquoise water. Simply AMAZING. Surprisingly, the jump itself wasn't that scary, but it's probably due to the fact I was concentrating on looking at the astounding scenery.
On the very same day, we continued for a lovely stroll by the lake, with the girls playing with rocks and dipping their feet in the water. Later on, we just had to go to "our" playground (see below) for a return visit, and from there two minutes down to the lakeshore, for some more quality "pebble time". Although we didn't go for a major tramp (trek in NZ jargon), and in fact stayed close to home, the weather, our great moods and the tranquility of the day made it one of the best so far! Truly a day to remember.
Wanaka is also home to "Puzzling World", a curious enterprise of all things puzzling - wooden 'put-me-together's of all sorts, visual illusions, gravity tricks and even a maze. We spent a very entertaining morning there, but had to enlist the help of the staff for solving quite a few of the puzzles... Just as importantly, down the road from our hostel we found the playground that has been crowned "The very best to far!". It had all kinds of original and interesting swings and spins, and a dinasour slide.
We are now writing you from Queenstown, the adventure and extreme capital of NZ, although this aspect of town seems mostly wasted on staid souls like us. The extent of our family adventure was to ride the gondola cable car up to a magnificent view of the town, the lake it sits on (Wekatipu) and the surrounding Remarkable mountains (that is the name of the range, and justifiably so). At the top we took a stroll and then rode a chair lift to ride a Luge (a primitive cart, sitting low to the ground, with a steering wheel like a bike and a simple breaking mechanism). We doubled up - Hadas with Dad and Noga with Mom, and raced our way down the concrete track - awesome!!! Noga had a great ride, and Hadas enjoyed it in her own way - she was mostly fascinated by the helmet on her head, to which she pointed every thirty seconds saying "kada" (kasda) with a look of great satisfaction. To each her own...
Again, the day was made even better by clear skies and a cessation of the rain that had been falling all the previous night. Yes, it is summer here as we keep reminding ourselves, but yes, it still rains quite a bit, definitely more than we would have wanted it to. But really, we've been managing beautifully to plan around the weather, and have not yet been caught out in a real downpour, though we keep reminding ourselves that it is sure to happen at some point! Finally, the campground we are staying in is slightly out of town, just above the greenish Shotover river. We really would have like to explore it further, especially as there are supposed to be some majestic canyons, but apparently the only way to do so is on a JetBoat ride (just what is sounds like, a boat that goes very fast, swerving and spinning to give you the 'ultimate adrenaline rush' -adventure queenstown, have we mentioned that?). So we'll probably have to pass on that one...
We are managing to ignore the christmas shopping fever that has hit New Zealand, and although we do go grocery shopping every couple of days, we have done almost no other shopping what-so-ever on this trip. We think this is a joint result of us not being such great shoppers in the first place, but also the consumer rush is much less conspicuous here. Indeed, there are commercials but somehow the whole shopping aspect of life seems to be less a part of daily routines. In the same vein, there are plenty of second hand stores, and it seems that everybody sees them as a viable option, and not only the needy. We must admit that it is a nice respite between the consumerism of Israel and what will hit us once we get to the US...
That is all for now,
Hugs and kisses to all,
Hadas, Noga, Anat & Giora
We are continuing our travels in the wonderful south island of NZ. There is a long mountain range going down the middle of the island like a spine, which is called the southern alps, and on both sides there are, of course, coasts. We started our descent downwards on the west coast, and actually found it to be a bit disappointing. Not that many attractions that suited our present circumstances, though we do believe that there are some great treks. We did stop to visit the two glaciers, that are world famous for being the glaciers that come closest to the sea. Maybe it was because the weather didn't permit us to see the mountain peaks around or too much of the glaciers themselves, but we found them a bit disappointing. Noga enjoyed hiking up to the Franz Josef glacier and touching the ice, but other than that there isn't too much to tell.
Once we had visited the glaciers, we practically started making ourway inland, towards the mountains, and our time here is more than making up for the west coast! The very day we left the coast and drove over the Haast pass (which is actaully not that high up, only 600 meters or so) everything improved - the weather was lovely: sunny and crisp. There were beautiful water falls along the road, and we even took a short hike towards the confluence of two rivers, where there are clear bright blue water pools. The walk was very gentle, and both girls were running along the path in the woods, screeching like birds and having a marvelous time (as were their parents, needless to say). Hadas seems to enjoy walking more and more, and has started walking for longer parts of our trips (okay, so its just 20-30 minutes each time, with numerous stops - but it's a real treat for us to see that she enjoys the exercise, and stops next to every flower, stick and stone and commands offensive weeds to move out of her way...).
Wanaka was our next stop - a little tourist town on the shore of a magnificent lake (lake Wanaka) surrounded by snowy-peaked mountains. Our friendly hostel had a great view of all the above, which made our meals there so much more pleasant. It was even nice enough in the evening that the grown ups could sit in the courtyard outside our room and share a beer and some conversation with other travelers. Additionally, in one of our Wanaka days we split, Giora going on a hike on his own, exploring a beautiful national park near the town (Mount Aspiring National Park). It was a refreshing day, walking quite a bit on his own, amidst meadows, waterfalls and gigantic mountains. However, this scenery was nothing comparing to the way I(Giora) saw it two days later: Our third day in Wanaka was amazing - it was the clearest day we had seen for a long time. So immediately Giora decided that this was the perfect opportunity for a scenic sky-dive: and boy, was he right!!
A few words about sky-diving in NZ are in place first: there are more than a dozen towns in which tandem-skydiving is an option. Tandem, meaning you're connected to an instructor. He sees to safety and operating the parachutte, and you merely have to enjoy yourself... For me (Giora), the main appeal wasn't the jumping itself as an experience, but especially viewing everything from above. The surroundings of Wanake are fabulous, and in a day like that, without a single cloud, the view was literally breathtaking. Two large lakes, Mount Cook (the highest in NZ) up there, many kilometers away, the winding Clutha river with its turquoise water. Simply AMAZING. Surprisingly, the jump itself wasn't that scary, but it's probably due to the fact I was concentrating on looking at the astounding scenery.
On the very same day, we continued for a lovely stroll by the lake, with the girls playing with rocks and dipping their feet in the water. Later on, we just had to go to "our" playground (see below) for a return visit, and from there two minutes down to the lakeshore, for some more quality "pebble time". Although we didn't go for a major tramp (trek in NZ jargon), and in fact stayed close to home, the weather, our great moods and the tranquility of the day made it one of the best so far! Truly a day to remember.
Wanaka is also home to "Puzzling World", a curious enterprise of all things puzzling - wooden 'put-me-together's of all sorts, visual illusions, gravity tricks and even a maze. We spent a very entertaining morning there, but had to enlist the help of the staff for solving quite a few of the puzzles... Just as importantly, down the road from our hostel we found the playground that has been crowned "The very best to far!". It had all kinds of original and interesting swings and spins, and a dinasour slide.
We are now writing you from Queenstown, the adventure and extreme capital of NZ, although this aspect of town seems mostly wasted on staid souls like us. The extent of our family adventure was to ride the gondola cable car up to a magnificent view of the town, the lake it sits on (Wekatipu) and the surrounding Remarkable mountains (that is the name of the range, and justifiably so). At the top we took a stroll and then rode a chair lift to ride a Luge (a primitive cart, sitting low to the ground, with a steering wheel like a bike and a simple breaking mechanism). We doubled up - Hadas with Dad and Noga with Mom, and raced our way down the concrete track - awesome!!! Noga had a great ride, and Hadas enjoyed it in her own way - she was mostly fascinated by the helmet on her head, to which she pointed every thirty seconds saying "kada" (kasda) with a look of great satisfaction. To each her own...
Again, the day was made even better by clear skies and a cessation of the rain that had been falling all the previous night. Yes, it is summer here as we keep reminding ourselves, but yes, it still rains quite a bit, definitely more than we would have wanted it to. But really, we've been managing beautifully to plan around the weather, and have not yet been caught out in a real downpour, though we keep reminding ourselves that it is sure to happen at some point! Finally, the campground we are staying in is slightly out of town, just above the greenish Shotover river. We really would have like to explore it further, especially as there are supposed to be some majestic canyons, but apparently the only way to do so is on a JetBoat ride (just what is sounds like, a boat that goes very fast, swerving and spinning to give you the 'ultimate adrenaline rush' -adventure queenstown, have we mentioned that?). So we'll probably have to pass on that one...
We are managing to ignore the christmas shopping fever that has hit New Zealand, and although we do go grocery shopping every couple of days, we have done almost no other shopping what-so-ever on this trip. We think this is a joint result of us not being such great shoppers in the first place, but also the consumer rush is much less conspicuous here. Indeed, there are commercials but somehow the whole shopping aspect of life seems to be less a part of daily routines. In the same vein, there are plenty of second hand stores, and it seems that everybody sees them as a viable option, and not only the needy. We must admit that it is a nice respite between the consumerism of Israel and what will hit us once we get to the US...
That is all for now,
Hugs and kisses to all,
Hadas, Noga, Anat & Giora
Friday, December 10
Four weeks in middle earth
It's been more than a week since our last posting, and there's so much to tell that I don't really know where to start. Hard to believe, but we've already spent 4 weeks here in this wonderful country. Talking about time, it is a totally different thing here. Some days seem to go by so fast, swift like the quick New Zealand wind. Others are just so long and lazy. We've now been travelling for 4 weeks, and to us it sounds both such a long time (almost a month!) and yet so short, it doesn't seem like we've been doing this for so very long.
And then there are the "snip and save" moments. For example - a few days ago we hiked a short walk to view a seal colony on the West coast. The seals were quite disappointing actually - they did their natural job of camoflouging themselves too well, and we could hardly see them against the rocks. But on the way down we just sat, the four of us, on a bench and ate our sandwiches. And people were passing by, and each and every one of them was greeted by an over-enthusiastic "Hello!" shout from Hadas, closely followed by Noga's greeting. And we could see them turn their head, and most of the time a smile spread on their faces as they replied to our girls. And we felt happiness, and pride and (yes, yes, we must admit it) at the very end, when Hadas was well and smeared with Philly cream cheese (our local stand-in for gvina levana) just a tad embarrassed...
So you see, our days are filled with these small moments, as well as much larger things. Like the stupendous day we had in the Abel Tasman national park. It just can't be fully described - beautifull sand beaches, little bays of blue-green water, and great weather. It just seemed like one of those times when everything aligns perfectly to create a memory we know we'll cherish for a very very long time. Or like the lovely hike (fairly long, about 4km) we took today to see the Franz-Josef glacier, in the south west part of the southernis land. The glacier itself wasn't so exciting itself, but we just enjoyed the hike there so much. Hadas was cheerful on Giora's back, especially when he plays horsie and gallops with her from stone to stone. Noga was such a good hiker, insisting on crossing the little streams herself, and beaming with pride when we congratulate her that she's already learned how to choose her stepping stones herself.
There are so many things we're doing and seeing here, that it'd be pointless to try and describe each and everyone of them here. We frequently find ourselves talking (Anat & Giora) about how such a significant part of this trip of ours is simply spending the family-time, all the time. We both have our "bad parenting" moments, though admittedly we find ourselves having not as many of those as we feared. And really, the fact that we are together all the time is somehow getting the better sides out of us, rather than the lesser.
With Noga, it is almost like interacting with a peer on many levels. She understands so much, and even in the relationship between us it is felt. She is also growing less fearfull than she used to be, so much that when a while ago we crossed the longest swingbridge in NZ ("gesher taluy", 110m long, 17m high) in the Buller gorge, she insisted on crossing it on her own, and then returning using the fly-fox ("omega"). And so she did, with her Mom - see photos.
An extraordinary event is worth some lines by itself. We're now staying in a relatively large youth hostel. Among the guests yesterday evening, there was a group of 10 Malaysian women (who turned out to be young teachers). It should be noted that, well, how should we put it, they were fairly noisy, which was even amplified by their instant affection towards the girls. Noga immediately became best friends with them and communicated with them magnificently They were all literally fascinated by her, giggling and laughing. It's impossible to describe the event, but imagine our small 4-year-old teaching 10 Malaysian women how to count in Hebrew, while bragging a bit when she knows the relevant digit in English...The whole dining room couldn't ignore the situation, and the fantastic picture a moment later, when both Hadas and Noga had their hair done by two members of the group. Shame it wasn't feasible totake a picture...
Hadas - oh, what a wonderful baby !!!!!! Or a child, we should say. She's sooooooooo cute ! And so very undisciplied... And energetic - so much that a common nickname of hers is "Energetica" ;-) Her endless "Lama" dialogs were already reported by us, however the most special ones are those that follow the event when she behaves badly (not a rare occasion), and is being rebuked. An instant later, she ususally opens her big brown eyes, and with genuine "tmiha"asks "Lama ?". This is usually the point where we stop trying to seriously answer and resort to the simpler option of saying "Kacha"... The main problem is, that even on those occassions when we're supposed to be mad at her as parents, it's fairly difficult to do so.
Probably the most wonderful thing about the girls in this trip is the true friendship between them. They really are good friends, and quite often one can find them hugging and kissing. Watching them sleeping, legs-to-legs on the same single mattress covered by our emotionally-important sleeping bags, is literally beautiful. Naturally (or possibly luckily), being together 24-7 (as they say here) makes them even better friends.
We'll conclude by saying the obvious due to the above - we're having the greatest time in the world here in New Zealand. Couldn't ask for more !
Love and miss ya all,
Hadas, Noga, Anat & Giora
And then there are the "snip and save" moments. For example - a few days ago we hiked a short walk to view a seal colony on the West coast. The seals were quite disappointing actually - they did their natural job of camoflouging themselves too well, and we could hardly see them against the rocks. But on the way down we just sat, the four of us, on a bench and ate our sandwiches. And people were passing by, and each and every one of them was greeted by an over-enthusiastic "Hello!" shout from Hadas, closely followed by Noga's greeting. And we could see them turn their head, and most of the time a smile spread on their faces as they replied to our girls. And we felt happiness, and pride and (yes, yes, we must admit it) at the very end, when Hadas was well and smeared with Philly cream cheese (our local stand-in for gvina levana) just a tad embarrassed...
So you see, our days are filled with these small moments, as well as much larger things. Like the stupendous day we had in the Abel Tasman national park. It just can't be fully described - beautifull sand beaches, little bays of blue-green water, and great weather. It just seemed like one of those times when everything aligns perfectly to create a memory we know we'll cherish for a very very long time. Or like the lovely hike (fairly long, about 4km) we took today to see the Franz-Josef glacier, in the south west part of the southernis land. The glacier itself wasn't so exciting itself, but we just enjoyed the hike there so much. Hadas was cheerful on Giora's back, especially when he plays horsie and gallops with her from stone to stone. Noga was such a good hiker, insisting on crossing the little streams herself, and beaming with pride when we congratulate her that she's already learned how to choose her stepping stones herself.
There are so many things we're doing and seeing here, that it'd be pointless to try and describe each and everyone of them here. We frequently find ourselves talking (Anat & Giora) about how such a significant part of this trip of ours is simply spending the family-time, all the time. We both have our "bad parenting" moments, though admittedly we find ourselves having not as many of those as we feared. And really, the fact that we are together all the time is somehow getting the better sides out of us, rather than the lesser.
With Noga, it is almost like interacting with a peer on many levels. She understands so much, and even in the relationship between us it is felt. She is also growing less fearfull than she used to be, so much that when a while ago we crossed the longest swingbridge in NZ ("gesher taluy", 110m long, 17m high) in the Buller gorge, she insisted on crossing it on her own, and then returning using the fly-fox ("omega"). And so she did, with her Mom - see photos.
An extraordinary event is worth some lines by itself. We're now staying in a relatively large youth hostel. Among the guests yesterday evening, there was a group of 10 Malaysian women (who turned out to be young teachers). It should be noted that, well, how should we put it, they were fairly noisy, which was even amplified by their instant affection towards the girls. Noga immediately became best friends with them and communicated with them magnificently They were all literally fascinated by her, giggling and laughing. It's impossible to describe the event, but imagine our small 4-year-old teaching 10 Malaysian women how to count in Hebrew, while bragging a bit when she knows the relevant digit in English...The whole dining room couldn't ignore the situation, and the fantastic picture a moment later, when both Hadas and Noga had their hair done by two members of the group. Shame it wasn't feasible totake a picture...
Hadas - oh, what a wonderful baby !!!!!! Or a child, we should say. She's sooooooooo cute ! And so very undisciplied... And energetic - so much that a common nickname of hers is "Energetica" ;-) Her endless "Lama" dialogs were already reported by us, however the most special ones are those that follow the event when she behaves badly (not a rare occasion), and is being rebuked. An instant later, she ususally opens her big brown eyes, and with genuine "tmiha"asks "Lama ?". This is usually the point where we stop trying to seriously answer and resort to the simpler option of saying "Kacha"... The main problem is, that even on those occassions when we're supposed to be mad at her as parents, it's fairly difficult to do so.
Probably the most wonderful thing about the girls in this trip is the true friendship between them. They really are good friends, and quite often one can find them hugging and kissing. Watching them sleeping, legs-to-legs on the same single mattress covered by our emotionally-important sleeping bags, is literally beautiful. Naturally (or possibly luckily), being together 24-7 (as they say here) makes them even better friends.
We'll conclude by saying the obvious due to the above - we're having the greatest time in the world here in New Zealand. Couldn't ask for more !
Love and miss ya all,
Hadas, Noga, Anat & Giora
Wednesday, December 1
We started exploring the South Island...
Dear friends and family,
A novelty this time – we are reporting to you from the South Islandof NZ. We have stopped for a short time in the city Nelson, and will be continuing later today further west, towards the Abel Tasman national park.
So, what have we been up to since our last posting in Taupo? We spent a night with a very nice couple, in a small town on the way to Wellington. Ken and Raewyn, our hosts, are part of the HIT network (stands for Hosting Israeli Travelers). For reasons we haven't entirely figured out, people that are part of this network host Israelis in their homes, for a token payment (or none at all). Some of them are Jewish, though not too many. Others, like our hosts, are Messianic Christians. Still others are former Israelis. Anyway, we had a lovely Friday evening meal with our hosts, lighting the candles and listening to some Hebrew music. All in all, our hosts were extremely friendly, sharing their home with us, and opening their hearts to us. For us, it was a very speical experience, visiting an"authentic" kiwi home. They did their best to catch a few Hebrew words, and actually said it seems easier to do from the girls than from grownups talking full speed. By the end of our visit, Ken said it is unlikly that he will ever foget the word "lama" courtesy of our little Dus... :-)
The next day we continued south to Wellington. Just a big city, nothing too exciting. We spent a nice day at the NZ national museum (Te Papain Maori), where they have heaps of activities for litttlies (as they call them here – see, we're starting to pick up the local slang!). Noga had a good time in the volcanic exhibits, and Hadas enjoyed just being in the kids area where she could wander around freely and just touch anything she felt like (a unique museum experience for her)... The following morning was rainy, so before boarding our afternoon ferry, we spent a few hours in an indoor playground.
Luckily, by the time we reached the ferry the skies had cleared, and we had quiet sailing. Noga met a friend and spent most of the ride playing with her. Hadas was fascinated by the water. We slept in alovely holiday park in Picton, and continued our water adventures the following day. The area is riddled with 3 beautiful sounds (fiords). We sailed out on the Quees Charlotte Sound, where the boat dropped us off for a nice walk over the hill and to the other side of the narrow land finger. The day was simply gorgeous – the bluest skies, green bush around, and tourqouise sea all around – we couldn't have hoped for anything better!! The sail back included a cruise of several additional bays and coves. What a lovely piece of NZ !!!
Today, with similar (and even somewhat better) weather, on our way to the Abel-Tasman national park, we stopped for a short half-day hike – a nice walk inside a forest amidst trees and bushes, up to a lovely waterfall. The path was easy, and Hadas insisted and walked big portions of the hike. It's really great walking with the girls, explaining so many aspects of nature and other things we encounter. This is definitely a unique opportunity !
So far, we're liking the South Island very very much, and the weather has been just awesome!! You can't imagine what a major impact this factor has on our moods – just waking up to a clear day raises our spirits, and sets us in such a positive mood. Having experienced some less clear spells, we treat each sunny days as a special gift we were given, and go ahead to try and make the most of it! As you've probably understand, our adventures so far stand up to everything we could hope for !!
Love,
Hadas, Noga, Anat & Giora
A novelty this time – we are reporting to you from the South Islandof NZ. We have stopped for a short time in the city Nelson, and will be continuing later today further west, towards the Abel Tasman national park.
So, what have we been up to since our last posting in Taupo? We spent a night with a very nice couple, in a small town on the way to Wellington. Ken and Raewyn, our hosts, are part of the HIT network (stands for Hosting Israeli Travelers). For reasons we haven't entirely figured out, people that are part of this network host Israelis in their homes, for a token payment (or none at all). Some of them are Jewish, though not too many. Others, like our hosts, are Messianic Christians. Still others are former Israelis. Anyway, we had a lovely Friday evening meal with our hosts, lighting the candles and listening to some Hebrew music. All in all, our hosts were extremely friendly, sharing their home with us, and opening their hearts to us. For us, it was a very speical experience, visiting an"authentic" kiwi home. They did their best to catch a few Hebrew words, and actually said it seems easier to do from the girls than from grownups talking full speed. By the end of our visit, Ken said it is unlikly that he will ever foget the word "lama" courtesy of our little Dus... :-)
The next day we continued south to Wellington. Just a big city, nothing too exciting. We spent a nice day at the NZ national museum (Te Papain Maori), where they have heaps of activities for litttlies (as they call them here – see, we're starting to pick up the local slang!). Noga had a good time in the volcanic exhibits, and Hadas enjoyed just being in the kids area where she could wander around freely and just touch anything she felt like (a unique museum experience for her)... The following morning was rainy, so before boarding our afternoon ferry, we spent a few hours in an indoor playground.
Luckily, by the time we reached the ferry the skies had cleared, and we had quiet sailing. Noga met a friend and spent most of the ride playing with her. Hadas was fascinated by the water. We slept in alovely holiday park in Picton, and continued our water adventures the following day. The area is riddled with 3 beautiful sounds (fiords). We sailed out on the Quees Charlotte Sound, where the boat dropped us off for a nice walk over the hill and to the other side of the narrow land finger. The day was simply gorgeous – the bluest skies, green bush around, and tourqouise sea all around – we couldn't have hoped for anything better!! The sail back included a cruise of several additional bays and coves. What a lovely piece of NZ !!!
Today, with similar (and even somewhat better) weather, on our way to the Abel-Tasman national park, we stopped for a short half-day hike – a nice walk inside a forest amidst trees and bushes, up to a lovely waterfall. The path was easy, and Hadas insisted and walked big portions of the hike. It's really great walking with the girls, explaining so many aspects of nature and other things we encounter. This is definitely a unique opportunity !
So far, we're liking the South Island very very much, and the weather has been just awesome!! You can't imagine what a major impact this factor has on our moods – just waking up to a clear day raises our spirits, and sets us in such a positive mood. Having experienced some less clear spells, we treat each sunny days as a special gift we were given, and go ahead to try and make the most of it! As you've probably understand, our adventures so far stand up to everything we could hope for !!
Love,
Hadas, Noga, Anat & Giora
Friday, November 26
New Zealand: Second week bulletin
Dear family and friends,
We're about to complete the second week of our stay in NZ, and wanted to tell you a bit about the things we've done this past week. On Friday, 18/11, we reached Rotorua, which has a reputation as the world's smelliest city. We actually didn't find it bad at all. But there are occasional sulphurous fumes, since the city sits in the middle of a large geo-thermally active area, which made our week very interesting - geysers, hot pools, bubbling mud and vulcanic sites. But even more than that, just walking through the streets, every second sewage hole is spewing sulphurous fumes, and every single hostel and hotel in town has a hot spa, fed by natural hot mineral-rich water.
The weather was also very very good - if anything, some days we felt it was too hot and sunny (we had to upgrade our 16 SPF sunscreen to something more serious :-). There is a huge variety of attractions around the city, and we picked 4 of the most impressive (some of the attractions can be seen in the photos we uploaded). In these places we saw huge geysers, colorful water pools (due to mineral deposits), boiling and bubbling mud which was quite peculiar and smelly, and a village that was buried under a volcanic eruption some 120 years ago. As our geologist source tells us "New Zealand to geologists is like Mecca to the Muslims" (thanks, Akiva). We now understand this saying perfectly. Rotorua is also a major center of Maori culture and heritage, and we saw a performance of Maori song and dance, and various traditional crafts such as wood carving and weaving.
One of the most enjoyable aspects for us in all those sites is Noga's endless curiosity and astonishing patience - she has a million questions, and really listens to our explanations. She is especially taken by the whole idea of volcanic eruptions. She actually insisted on going back to a museum display at the buried village site, and patiently listened to explanations about different types of volcanos and eruptions. Needless to say, this adds much to our enjoyment and provides interesting conversations.
Hadas, although not quite so interested in learned explanations, seems to be having a great time as well. She really loves the backpack baby-carrier that we got for her, and has even taken two or three naps in it. She is almost constantly happy, probably because our current out-doorsy way of life suits her active nature very well. Her vocabulary has also expanded some (in addition to the all encompassing "mamani" - me too): Any negative statement is immediately transformed to a defiant "LoBaLi" (I don't feel like it), and we hear plenty of those during the day. The second runner up is "Lama?" (why?), in most cases followed immediately by "Kacha"('cause).
Both girls are extremely friendly and communicative. They've already picked up some very basic English words, mainly "hello". Actually, the day after they learned it they were shouting it at anybody who passed near us. When this happened in the hostel it wasn't so bad, but when Noga started shouting at people out the car window, we realized we had to put a stop to it. So now they only shout it to every second person :-) Of course, as soon as anybody responds they become shy and hide behind the closest parent's leg.
After four lovely days in Rotorua (spent in a very friendly and comfortable backpackers hostel), we moved on to Taupo, a town sitting on the shore of a large lake, which was once the crater of yet another volcano. Generally, the whole center of the North Island is full of lakes and we're visiting quite a few of them, some for longer periods of time, and some just for a couple of hours so the girls can play in the sand and feed the ducks and swans that always turn up. Swimming is still out of the question, it is way too cold.
Near Taupo we went to see the Huka falls, reputedly the most beautiful water falls in New Zealand. Although the falls are not very high, the sheer volume of the water passing is astounding. They are so powerful, that no-one has even found anything adventurous to do on them (kayaking, rafting, jumping, swimming, jet boating, bungy etc.), and this is indeed very rare here :-) We also went on a few terrific nature walks, or as they're called here bush walks. This is very easy to do, since wherever you look there is bound to be a stream, a forest, a lake, a waterfall, or just a beautiful mountain.
Today Anat hiked the Tongariro crossing trek (isn't that a coolname?). It's a full day track, which traverses a mountain and passes between two peaks. Also on the way are (once again) volcanic craters in vivid colors, crystal clear and tourquise (!) lakes, some more sulphurous activity and a dense forest to finish with. The hike is very beautiful, and although many people tackle it every day, Anat started out very early, to try and beat the masses - and she succeeded to a large extent. It was a great feeling to be out trekking for a whole day, with time for observing nature and concentrating on the magnificent views around. Even the weather played along - although it was cold and windy, there was no rain (only a bit of snow and ice). And finally, for the last hour or so even the sun came out - who could ask for anything more?!
Tomorrow we are heading further south, and plan to reach Wellington (the capital, situated on the southern tip of the North Island) and cross over to the South Island within a week or so. As you understand from all the above, we are having a great time!
Love,
Hadas, Noga, Giora & Anat
We're about to complete the second week of our stay in NZ, and wanted to tell you a bit about the things we've done this past week. On Friday, 18/11, we reached Rotorua, which has a reputation as the world's smelliest city. We actually didn't find it bad at all. But there are occasional sulphurous fumes, since the city sits in the middle of a large geo-thermally active area, which made our week very interesting - geysers, hot pools, bubbling mud and vulcanic sites. But even more than that, just walking through the streets, every second sewage hole is spewing sulphurous fumes, and every single hostel and hotel in town has a hot spa, fed by natural hot mineral-rich water.
The weather was also very very good - if anything, some days we felt it was too hot and sunny (we had to upgrade our 16 SPF sunscreen to something more serious :-). There is a huge variety of attractions around the city, and we picked 4 of the most impressive (some of the attractions can be seen in the photos we uploaded). In these places we saw huge geysers, colorful water pools (due to mineral deposits), boiling and bubbling mud which was quite peculiar and smelly, and a village that was buried under a volcanic eruption some 120 years ago. As our geologist source tells us "New Zealand to geologists is like Mecca to the Muslims" (thanks, Akiva). We now understand this saying perfectly. Rotorua is also a major center of Maori culture and heritage, and we saw a performance of Maori song and dance, and various traditional crafts such as wood carving and weaving.
One of the most enjoyable aspects for us in all those sites is Noga's endless curiosity and astonishing patience - she has a million questions, and really listens to our explanations. She is especially taken by the whole idea of volcanic eruptions. She actually insisted on going back to a museum display at the buried village site, and patiently listened to explanations about different types of volcanos and eruptions. Needless to say, this adds much to our enjoyment and provides interesting conversations.
Hadas, although not quite so interested in learned explanations, seems to be having a great time as well. She really loves the backpack baby-carrier that we got for her, and has even taken two or three naps in it. She is almost constantly happy, probably because our current out-doorsy way of life suits her active nature very well. Her vocabulary has also expanded some (in addition to the all encompassing "mamani" - me too): Any negative statement is immediately transformed to a defiant "LoBaLi" (I don't feel like it), and we hear plenty of those during the day. The second runner up is "Lama?" (why?), in most cases followed immediately by "Kacha"('cause).
Both girls are extremely friendly and communicative. They've already picked up some very basic English words, mainly "hello". Actually, the day after they learned it they were shouting it at anybody who passed near us. When this happened in the hostel it wasn't so bad, but when Noga started shouting at people out the car window, we realized we had to put a stop to it. So now they only shout it to every second person :-) Of course, as soon as anybody responds they become shy and hide behind the closest parent's leg.
After four lovely days in Rotorua (spent in a very friendly and comfortable backpackers hostel), we moved on to Taupo, a town sitting on the shore of a large lake, which was once the crater of yet another volcano. Generally, the whole center of the North Island is full of lakes and we're visiting quite a few of them, some for longer periods of time, and some just for a couple of hours so the girls can play in the sand and feed the ducks and swans that always turn up. Swimming is still out of the question, it is way too cold.
Near Taupo we went to see the Huka falls, reputedly the most beautiful water falls in New Zealand. Although the falls are not very high, the sheer volume of the water passing is astounding. They are so powerful, that no-one has even found anything adventurous to do on them (kayaking, rafting, jumping, swimming, jet boating, bungy etc.), and this is indeed very rare here :-) We also went on a few terrific nature walks, or as they're called here bush walks. This is very easy to do, since wherever you look there is bound to be a stream, a forest, a lake, a waterfall, or just a beautiful mountain.
Today Anat hiked the Tongariro crossing trek (isn't that a coolname?). It's a full day track, which traverses a mountain and passes between two peaks. Also on the way are (once again) volcanic craters in vivid colors, crystal clear and tourquise (!) lakes, some more sulphurous activity and a dense forest to finish with. The hike is very beautiful, and although many people tackle it every day, Anat started out very early, to try and beat the masses - and she succeeded to a large extent. It was a great feeling to be out trekking for a whole day, with time for observing nature and concentrating on the magnificent views around. Even the weather played along - although it was cold and windy, there was no rain (only a bit of snow and ice). And finally, for the last hour or so even the sun came out - who could ask for anything more?!
Tomorrow we are heading further south, and plan to reach Wellington (the capital, situated on the southern tip of the North Island) and cross over to the South Island within a week or so. As you understand from all the above, we are having a great time!
Love,
Hadas, Noga, Giora & Anat
Wednesday, November 17
Oh, New Zealand - Green endless scenery
Dear all,
We landed in Auckland, New Zealand's biggest and main city, lastFriday. We used the first few days for getting over the jet-lag,attending some city-type attractions (underwater world - the penguinswere sooo cute, zoo etc.) and buying a car. Since Saturday we're thehappy owners of a 1991 Subaru Legacy (no nick name yet...), which formany practical reaseons will be our home in the coming two months. OnMonday we left Auckland and started enjoying the magnificent viewsand scenery, which are literally everywhere you look here. We're evenalraedy used to driving on the wrong (left) side of the road :-)
A few words about the country: it consists of a southern island and anorthern one. We started from the latter, plan to go southward in thecoming month or so, and then return up north to Auckland towards midJanuary. Our first destination was an area called the CoromandelPeninsula, in the north-east. We set our base in a campground in thearea, and are driving and hiking around every day. The sites aroundhere are really beautiful - lush green endless horizons, astonishingsea-shores and everything is oh, so green ! Due to Noga's 4-years-oldhiking ability (Hadas is sitting in her baby-carrier most of thehiking time), we limit ourselves to easy day-hikes, however there areplenty of them in New Zealand, so we're just fine. We visited somemagnificent waterfalls, went on a terrific gorge hike which includedgoing through a very long (1km) train-tunnel and today hiked themagnificent beaches of the area. It's difficult for us to describehow beautiful these places are - we hope to be uploading some photosto this group's site when we find more affordable internetconnection ...
Even the campground we're sleeping in is something different fromeverything we experienced as travellers. The cabin we're renting ispractically a room with a bed and mattress (waterproof tent, onecould say :-), however the suroundings are unique. Waking up with thegirls and going to feed the ducks in the nearby lake is indeed a niceway for opening the day. The main thing we'd like to improve is theextremely volatile weather. Within an hour, it sometimes switchesfrom sunshine to heavy rain, which makes it a bit difficult for us toplan ahead. We hope it'll be more stable (and sunny !) soon.There is quite a bit more to tell about travelling with kids (anintensive schedule !), but this seems to be a good point to stop tillour next bulletin.
Miss you all,
Love,
Hadas, Noga, Anat & Giora
We landed in Auckland, New Zealand's biggest and main city, lastFriday. We used the first few days for getting over the jet-lag,attending some city-type attractions (underwater world - the penguinswere sooo cute, zoo etc.) and buying a car. Since Saturday we're thehappy owners of a 1991 Subaru Legacy (no nick name yet...), which formany practical reaseons will be our home in the coming two months. OnMonday we left Auckland and started enjoying the magnificent viewsand scenery, which are literally everywhere you look here. We're evenalraedy used to driving on the wrong (left) side of the road :-)
A few words about the country: it consists of a southern island and anorthern one. We started from the latter, plan to go southward in thecoming month or so, and then return up north to Auckland towards midJanuary. Our first destination was an area called the CoromandelPeninsula, in the north-east. We set our base in a campground in thearea, and are driving and hiking around every day. The sites aroundhere are really beautiful - lush green endless horizons, astonishingsea-shores and everything is oh, so green ! Due to Noga's 4-years-oldhiking ability (Hadas is sitting in her baby-carrier most of thehiking time), we limit ourselves to easy day-hikes, however there areplenty of them in New Zealand, so we're just fine. We visited somemagnificent waterfalls, went on a terrific gorge hike which includedgoing through a very long (1km) train-tunnel and today hiked themagnificent beaches of the area. It's difficult for us to describehow beautiful these places are - we hope to be uploading some photosto this group's site when we find more affordable internetconnection ...
Even the campground we're sleeping in is something different fromeverything we experienced as travellers. The cabin we're renting ispractically a room with a bed and mattress (waterproof tent, onecould say :-), however the suroundings are unique. Waking up with thegirls and going to feed the ducks in the nearby lake is indeed a niceway for opening the day. The main thing we'd like to improve is theextremely volatile weather. Within an hour, it sometimes switchesfrom sunshine to heavy rain, which makes it a bit difficult for us toplan ahead. We hope it'll be more stable (and sunny !) soon.There is quite a bit more to tell about travelling with kids (anintensive schedule !), but this seems to be a good point to stop tillour next bulletin.
Miss you all,
Love,
Hadas, Noga, Anat & Giora
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