Paraparaumu to Pukerua Bay: My feet hurt

July 21, 2013 in New Zealand, Oceania, Travelogue

I learned something important this week: My hiking boots will not do for the long haul.  Friday morning I set out under optimistic blue skies on a 22 km hike […]

Saturday Morning Adventures

July 12, 2013 in New Zealand, Oceania, Travelogue

What do we do when we have no place to go? Three weeks into our housesit in Paraparaumu we’re beginning to discover a few of the local delights: Like the […]

Ezra’s 11th Birthday

July 8, 2013 in New Zealand, Travelogue

Today is my baby’s eleventh birthday. Although, in truth, I don’t know if Ezra was ever a baby. Even though he’s the baby he’s one of those kids that came out […]

Moving forward… making onward plans for Australia

July 3, 2013 in New Zealand, Oceania, Travelogue

We got a text this morning, from the country of New Zealand, reminding us that our visas expire August 18th and that we should either get out, or renew them. […]

Sunday: Of life, lamb & the loveliness of being “home.”

June 23, 2013 in New Zealand, Oceania, Travelogue

I love to travel so much that sometimes I forget how much I love to be “home.” I love to wake slowly in a bed that doesn’t come with a […]

House Sitting: Day One

June 21, 2013 in New Zealand, Oceania, Travelogue

We’re celebrating the summer solstice with a winter storm. Rain and cold wind are buffeting the coast, north of Wellington and it is a good day to be sitting in […]

In Which We Dine With A Knight

June 18, 2013 in New Zealand, Oceania, Travelogue

It was with more than a small degree of trepidation that we opened the big glass door and stepped, once more, into the welcome gallery of Rannoch. There is something […]

A Night With A Knight: In which we meet Sir James Wallace

June 15, 2013 in New Zealand, Oceania, Travelogue

I watched his virtuoso fingers, reflected in the deep midnight gloss of the Shigeru Kawai grand piano tucked into the corner of the drawing room at the base of the […]

Happy Father’s Day: Top 10 List of Daddy-ness

June 12, 2013 in Inspiration, New Zealand, Oceania, Travelogue

No one thinks, when they have that first baby, about the marathon they are embarking on. If they DO think about it, it’s inevitably with rose coloured glasses on and […]

Hot Water Beach, NZ: in which we shower with a howling viking

June 11, 2013 in New Zealand, Oceania, Travelogue

After several days of sharing a cold and being stuck in our little camper in torrential downpours, it was good for the soul to emerge under a blue sky and […]