Kiwi Mix

This post will be another short one, I'm afraid, as we have still done little more than sleep late, eat 5 meals a day, and stare at the computer, but we've continued to have a wonderful time in NZ despite our thus far unsuccessful search for jobs and an apartment. We did occasionally get out of the house, especially because the weather remained absolutely gorgeous, sunny, and unseasonably warm, perfect for a run through the Botanic Garden, a visit to a couple wineries, or a spin in a vintage Austin Healy.

As luck would have it, such a car lives in the garage, and Simon was kind enough to take me for a ride.

Ben and I also made time to join in a local "Self Transcendence" road race sponsored by the international Sri Chin Moy group. The route was dotted with oddly motivational signs telling us runners that success is achieved only through knowing yourself, or something like that, but they must have worked as Ben took home the prize for the half marathon (with a course record, to boot!) and I ran a respectable 10K. Ben is so far 2-0 in races on this trip, and feeling quite pleased. Too bad we'll just miss the NY Marathon when we get home!

We were fortunate enough to time our trip to coincide with the annual Christ's College Black and White Ball, which was a lovely event in appreciation of the school's board and parents. It was the first time I've ever name dropped my new last name to get an impressed reaction - the benefit of now being related to the headmaster! It's hilarious to me to think about the extremes of our trip - climbing through dirty jungles in Vietnam, attempting to sleep on a dusty, non-air-conditioned bus in India versus sitting at the head table and drinking champagne at a black tie event and gliding through Hong Kong harbor in a privately chartered boat, again sipping champagne. Luckily we're traveling with a versatile wardrobe. I knew those heels would get some use!

Another favorite sight has been the college itself, which Simon took the time to show us around. The beautiful Victorian stone campus buildings are impeccable, and all the boys heading to class in their suits were very well-behaved - impressive!

We did actually get out of Christchurch, once, in order to walk on Fox Glacier, about a 6-hour drive away. My abilities at driving on the left continue to improve, so we made the drive through an incredibly beautiful mountain pass and along the west coast without any problems.

The town of Fox Glacier consists of one bar, two cafes, and glacier-walking guides, but we were able to get a cheap motel room and a decent dinner. Our glacier walk the next morning was beautiful - another sunny day counteracted the chilly glacier breezes and although our actual time on the ice was rather short, the 4-hour hike to get there and back was a lot of fun. The glacier itself was quite impressive, a huge expanse of ice that pours down from a narrow valley into a wider plain and ends at an expanse of rocks and small ponds, left behind as the glacier has receded in recent years. Without the pressure of the ice, the sides of the valley are rather unstable, and we even saw some boulders come crashing down the hillside (a safe distance away!) which apparently happens every day. Once on the ice we were able to trudge around with crampons on our boots and get some beautiful views of blue ice and the valley below.

Sadly, we knew our comfy time with the family would have to come to an end, and we are now in the Auckland airport heading to Chile. Between Jane's amazing cooking and the general spoilage we've received, it actually is quite difficult to get back in the swing of things and haul our luggage around again. We've had such a fabulous time without an ounce of stress - truly a vacation from our vacation. Still, South American has always been #1 on my list of places to visit, and I'm so excited to finally be on our way. It feels like we're on the home stretch, with so many good things behind us, and even more ahead!

Make them eat cake

It's apparently already been a week since Dad's post but as time at 16 Armagh Street is measured on the home baking calendar I can only confirm that it's been a lemon drizzle cake, a slab of raisin cake, a box of butter flapjack, several roast dinners, more bottles of wine than I can count and a Christmas cake (?!) since the last post. While we have both been lapping up the comforts of home (stocked refrigerator!, working plumbing!), we have also been steeling ourselves for our looming return to New York. Unfortunately while the great weather we've enjoyed throughout the trip has followed us across the Tasman as a beautiful early Spring that has meant spending a fair bit of our time deepening our hatred of Macs as we trawl the internet for jobs, apartments and cheap u-haul rentals.

On the days we have changed out of our pjs we have enjoyed exploring the spectacular scenery around Christchurch. The city itself is the biggest in the South Island and sprawls across the pancake flat Canterbury plain - bordered by the Port Hills to the South and an endless stretch of curved beach to the West.

The first time cabin fever forced us out of the house we drove the route of my favourite cycling route up through the Port Hills and all the way to the town of Akaroa. This (comparatively) old settlement is a former French colony and its history is still visible in the architecture and street names of the town center. The real highlight of the trip though is the drive itself - these are just a few of the views:

Littleton Harbour

A cow

Akaroa (4 seasons in 1 day was written about this country)

Our next trip was a carefully negotiated double header - if I agreed to entrust my life to a horse of guaranteed docility for two hours Megan would accompany me for an afternoon mountain bike around the beautiful Bottle Lake Forest Park. Although neither of us will admit it both trips had their charms but the scenery again stole the show:

No pedals

Mum Leese and Megan looking the part

When you turn on a PC in New Zealand this is what you see

Wow

No hay required

We emerged next for a quick jaunt out to the house of some friends of my parents who have redefined "work-life balance" by retiring (or semi-retiring) from legal careers in the US to pursue farming and beekeeping in rural Canterbury! After a delicious lunch we were walking around their fields when our host announced that we were just in time to witness the birth of their first ever baby goats!
"You're kidding!" I said,
"No she's kidding!" she replied:



For our most recent expedition we drove up to Hanmer Springs, finally making it into the foothills of the snowcapped mountains which have seemed to float above the Northern horizon since our arrival. The town markets itself as the South Island's Alpine village but I don't know anywhere in France where you can soak off a hard morning's mountain bike crashing in a 41 degree thermal hot tub:

Simon Says

Aware that most of you are probably sick of hearing from Megan and me, for the latest installment of bamrtw we have, as promised, ceded the keyboard to our first guest writer...Dad Leese! [excited applause].

I am most honoured to be the first ‘guest blogger’ on the Ben and Megan odyssey, but having had to wait so patiently for them to arrive in Christchurch, it is the least they could do. They managed to pick a Jet Star flight which ran to schedule, and their (minimal) luggage improbably arrived with them – in all a good start. A biosecurity lapse enabled Ben’s running shoes to enter the country also, so what else was could be needed.

Safely installed ‘at home’, washing machine in action, and an acceptance that Jane had assumed they had not had a square meal in months, they have settled into a respite in Christchurch before the rigours of South America. Apparently objectives whilst here include finding jobs to go back to, ditto somewhere to live, and devise the plan for retrieving their material and canine possessions from the four corners of North America. That should keep them busy.

After a day’s R&R we all set off for Dunedin, with a four-hour run to the midday lunch booking at Fleur’s Place, Moraeki arriving minute perfect (you can do that in New Zealand).

The run down the country’s main arterial route (one lane each way and passing places at intervals) could hardly be regarded as stressful. A delightful couple of hours in the sunshine, and then off to book into The Brothers’ boutique B&B. The place used to be the home of the Brothers who staffed the Roman Catholic Cathedral adjacent to it. The happy couple found themselves in the unique ‘Chapel’ room, whilst we repaired to a dowdy garret elsewhere… En route, we caught up with Tom (currently laying firm foundations for a career in sales and marketing selling up-market car polish to anyone who strays too close and can’t handle his badinage). Then on to the national schools’ choral federation finale concert in the Town Hall, to see ‘my’ choirs outperform every other effort from all over the country. Inexplicably, three very high-powered judges allowed swine flu symptoms to get the better of them, and the top spot went elsewhere – but we took it well.

After a night’s diligent prayer in the Chapel, the happy couple enjoyed a run along the Dunedin peninsula to meet Simon Richardson, who is charged with the unenviable task of committing my visage to canvas, under commission by my Board. He tells me he can mix botox in with the pigment with splendid results. Ben found talking to his gorgeous wife whilst trying not to be distracted by her framed naked form on the walls something of a discipline, but all were very impressed by the part completed work.

Then on to the Albatross colony at the end of the peninsula – a fascinating insight into these amazing birds, most of whom weren’t there. Five days non stop flight time to Chile was just one amazing fact, along with pairs bonding for life of up forty years, but spending most of each two year breeding cycle apart and doing their own thing. Sounds perfect. (Most of the birds in this photo are shags, but there is one albatross visible as a white speck!)

Also on view was a WW2 Armstrong disappearing gun in restored condition, in its emplacement to defend Dunedin harbour. In the large circular gun chamber, the 360 degree aiming marks around the walls included a segment marked with a thick red line and the words ‘LIGHTHOUSE’. Worth a reminder, we thought…

On the way back to Christchurch we stopped off to look at the Moeraki Boulders, an extraordinary geological formation revered by Maori for their mystical significance. Ben, on the other hand, thought one of them looked like a breaking dinosaur egg and decided to hatch out.

Spring is springing in Christchurch, with cherry blossom and azaleas everywhere for the pair of them to run round. Far too much energy.

Flight of the Leeses

After somewhat adjusting to the Australian winter chill, we have now arrived in New Zealand where the temps are even lower and people are still inexplicably strolling around in T-shirts! Clearly we are wimps, but I'm hoping we'll adjust soon enough as well. New Zealand is everything I've heard about - even from the plane, I couldn't believe how gorgeous the coastline and green hills were. Every view is spectacular and the towns all appear to be quite charming and full of hardy, outdoorsy, very friendly people. It has been a warm welcome, despite the weather! Unfortunately, our time in the North Island was very brief, as we (fortunately!) have my new in-laws awaiting us in Christchurch on the South Island, where we'll spend a few wonderful weeks being pampered and spending a lot of Internet time trying to arrange our lives back in New York. We did make the most of our North Island experience, though, by renting a tiny car and driving the length of it - again , with me driving on the left side, and this time I only pulled out into traffic on the right side of the road once!

We flew into Auckland and only spent one night there, as while it's a pleasant enough capital city, there isn't really much to see or do there when there's such gorgeous scenery throughout the rest of the country. We did however stay about a block off Parnell Road, which is lined with really cute restaurants, boutiques, and old Victorian houses turned into tea shops. Bright and early the next morning, we set out for Rotorua, well known for the lake that dominates the middle of the town (where I saw black swans for the first time!) and the crazy geothermal activity throughout the rest of it.

The town itself is pretty quiet, but the geothermal sights are amazing. We spent an afternoon walking through steaming lakes of bubbling mud and a cemetery filled with spooky tendrils of rotten-egg scented vapor - a great setting for a horror movie. Just outside of town is a sort of geothermal theme park, Wai-O-Tapu, with a large and very punctual geyser, visually stunning formations, and mineral-filled lakes and waterfalls. The whole area has that sulfur smell, but it doesn't matter when you're looking at springs naturally colored electric green and brilliant orange.

Rotorua is also known for its large indigenous Maori population, so we went to a "traditional" Maori village for an evening of traditionally cooked food (prepared in a hangi, an underground stone oven) and eye-rolling, tongue-waggling entertainment. The Maori were a very warlike, intimidating people, as appropriated by the national All Blacks rugby team - how would you like to oppose this on the playing field?:


and we learned about their war dances and weapons from the Maoris themselves. The whole evening was really fun and not nearly as menacing as it looks.

After our brief stay in Rotorua, we hit the road once again and headed for Taupo, also known for its huge lake. Rather than hot springs, Taupo instead features trout fishing, so we decided to give it a go. Unfortunately, once we got our fishing license and rented the equipment, Ben cast the spinner about 3 times before the rod separated into two pieces, the line broke, and we ended up with a 2-foot pole and only one lure left. The whole cheap endeavor resulted in our buying the shop a new rod and no fresh fish for our dinner, but we did have a great time on the gorgeous river.

Our last day on the North Island was dedicated to our driving straight down to Wellington to return the car and catch our flight to Christchurch, but the scenery along the drive was well worth the trip. For a solid hour, the most spectacular rainbow either of us had ever scene lingered just ahead of us, begging us to find the pot of gold - it occurred to us that such a find would preclude our having to look for jobs in New York, but we drove on instead. We passed over beautiful rolling green hills, by countless sheep, and under a sparkling sky.

I can't believe we have so much time to enjoy this country, especially from the comforts of a family home. The next few blog posts will probably be on the shorter side and involve lots of references to bottles of wine and sleeping in, but we do intend to explore the South Island and keep the updates going. Also, rumor has it a guest blogger may make an appearance, so stay tuned!