A Family in the Field

As much as I love carrying Anna, she's almost 5! Still, there's only one way to get her up a wild West Coast creek, and that's in her "baby" backpack. Anna promised that she'd wear her boots and help me collect rock samples if I took her into the field to look for faults. Well, you can see how long her boots lasted! While I collected fault rocks, she splashed in a little rock pool, made a bed on a mossy cushion, found forest fairies, and learned to leap from boulder to boulder. She loved her days in the field, but she has agreed that it's much nicer to stay home :-)

We stayed up the creek until 8.30pm and met numerous native birds on the way back to the truck. I really like the large flightless wekas, which look a little like wild brown chickens. They are cheeky birds who often walk up to see if you have anything that they can steal or eat. It may be the massive amounts of poison DoC put in the native forest last November to control of the invasive pests (like rats and possums), but for some reason the native plants are really flourishing. In turn, the bird population has boomed.

While Forest and Bird and the Department of Conservation tote the benefits of 1080 (sodium fluoroacetate), the debate against poisoning rages on the West Coast. I personally am tired of seeing "poison" signs and skulls and crossbones plastered on every fence post the length of the coast. We are not allowed to take dogs in the forest and are cautioned to watch children at all times. It's not back to nature, it's warfare. I would love to hear any comments from chemists about this compound; it is dumped aerially by the ton into our forests every year, and frankly, I've had enough. I am all for traps, but aerial drops of pesticide are foolhardy.

Now, I will return to being my normally perky self. On Sunday, we went to the beach at Hokitika to observe the high tide mark left by the tsunami generated by the M8.8 Chile earthquake. Here, you can see Anna and James standing next to the waterline left by the tsunami waves. The photo was taken at high tide! Luckily, New Zealand was spared extensive damage because the waves arrived during low tide.

West Coast Bliss

The West Coast is my piper. I constantly long to march up streams to the tune of rushing water, rumbling gravel, cooing wood pigeons and laughing kea. I first fell in love with its primordial podocarp forests when I spent a semester abroad in 1999, and I remain passionate about the place to this day. In less than 30 km, the Tasman Sea gives way to rushing rivers, glaciers, the Alpine Fault, and 3000 m mountain peaks. Not only that, but in summer, the evergreen forest comes alive with bright red rata flowers.

For 6 days, I traipsed up rivers looking for the Alpine Fault, collected rocks, and carried them home to analyze in the lab. Along the way, I met interesting fellow geologists, marveled at sunsets in Okarito, and drove a spiffy 4x4 up braided river beds. Thankfully, said 4x4 waited until the end of my trip to have a transmission meltdown, and I made it home safely to spend James' birthday with our extended family in Moeraki.

Child's Play

I'd like to write happily about Anna's preschool. I looked and looked for a preschool for Anna. I read the Early Childhood Curriculum; I knew I wanted a place where children are physically and emotionally secure and safe. If these (quite substantial) needs are met, they are able to grow socially, physically, and mentally. Living in the suburbs of a city far from family, I also wanted us to be a part of a community, not just a "school."

We found that "perfect" ELC. Anna has been attending preschool for 6 months, and I've often visited and played with the children. I have never seen them being cruel or aggressive or crying uncomforted. The teachers are strongly attached to the children, and the children are attached to each other. When I drop Anna off, several girls always rush over to give her a hug, and they spend a few moments admiring each other's sparkly clothes/necklaces/shoes, etc. At the end of the day, children smile at me and say "Anna, your Mum is here." If Anna is outside, they tell me where she is.

The teachers describe how the children help and encourage each other. Everything indicates that the children are emotionally secure enough to make new attachments, and I think that's an essential life skill that many daycare kids lack.

They are also able to play creatively, and they have the space and time to do it. Today, Anna told me about a new game the children have been playing this week. The girls hide in a magic tire and run screeching across the playground. They say "monster" and a designated boy is the monster. The boys sometimes play and try to catch the girls with hula-hoops, but mostly the girls run and squeal and retreat to the magic tire or the playhut. It's really really cute and a sight for rock-weary eyes. Children playing securely and creatively... another one of life's joys.

Summer Crops

Our garden is starting to produce its summer crops, and tonight I spent some time doing something I love...gathering food that I planted and weeded and watered and grew. I especially love unearthing root vegetables. Tonight, I dug up carrots, potatoes and beets. I roasted them all together with a bit of rosemary and served them with lamb chops (grass fed, free range like all NZ meat). Anna and James had fun shelling the peas, and I cooked the beet tops slowly for 30 minutes with a rasher of bacon, salt, and butter. Even James and Anna loved them! Hooray for home gardening, pastoral farming, and southern cooking!

Taylor's Mistake

You know when you think, Gosh, we're doing a lot, maybe we should slow down? Well, I'm not very good at listening to that advice, so on our first day back from our 5 days, 5 bays adventure, we headed out to Taylor's Mistake for more sun and fun. There were paraponters:

sand and surf:

And a big metal post. Anna will show you how big it was and the size of the dent it left in our new car:

Yes, really big. Some days, you're better off just staying home, or at least not going to a beach named Taylor's Mistake. The surf was great, and with the tide going out, once I swam past the breakers, I just wanted to stay there forever. I very nearly did until a couple of big waves sent me back towards the beach.

The rest of the week, we spent a lot of time hunting for things hidden by Anna. She thinks it's quite funny to hide our favourite things and make us find them. She's also decided that while I am, as a whole, not very fashionable, I have a few good items of clothing that belong in her room, not mine. She's only 4 1/2!

5 days, 5 bays

Wow, what a New Years! Last year, we did a 5 lakes trip through Central Otago and braved the rain, wind and sun to swim in 5 alpine lakes. Having a bit more wisdom, we beached it this year. We took our trusty (pre-loved) new tent, the dog, and a good map and traveled up the East coast of the South Island to sunny Blenheim. On the way, we spent 2 days on Pegasus Bay at Waikuku Beach (who needs Waikiki?):

Goose Bay near Kaikoura:


The seal colony at Ohau Bay:

White's Bay near Blenheim (named after an American slave, Jack White, who jumped ship and lived there with Maori in the 1860s):


and Kekerengu:

Apart from the dog chasing cats through the campground at 1 am and chewing through much of our gear and my half marathon (where's that shortcut I saw on the map?!) through the vineyards, it was relaxing. With all the other Kiwi kids in the campground, Anna made friends quickly and let me know that my adventures in search of rocks, geographical oddities, rare birds and new beaches are not nearly as fun as playing Barbies. Oh dear.

Christmas and Corsair Bay

We had the classic Kiwi Christmas. On Christmas Eve, Anna told me she was a "sleep-later" and that she wouldn't wake up early even on Christmas. So, I woke up early, went for a bike ride through farmland (I love seeing sheep), ran around the racecourse (yes, they were exercising the thoroughbreds even on Christmas. I love the thunder of their hooves!), and did some gardening. After breakfast with James and more chores, Anna finally woke up at 8.30!! The festivities began, and I loved her expressions as she discovered the bounty from Grandma-in-America, the surprises from Santa, and the practical things from Mom and Dad. This year, I think Anna has mastered wide-eyed wonder.



After lunch, we dragged Anna away from her toys and went to Corsair Bay, a very calm beach near the Lyttleton Harbour. The "sand" is an interesting mix of little volcanic rocks and lots of seashells. We had fun hunting for rocks (Anna knows volcanic rocks because they have small holes from escaping gases), finding shells, and splashing in the water. As always, we headed home after a couple of hours because the water here is really cold!

Then, we had a surf and turf BBQ feast, replete with fresh trumpeter fish, ribeye steak, peas and potatoes from our garden, and a salad. We decorated the table with a bouquet of Christmas-coloured roses from the garden. For dessert, James and I made a lemon meringue pie from our own ponderosa lemons. After eschewing plastic toys all day, I played princesses and tinkerbell with Anna and her new toys until bedtime. Best of all, I loved seeing her dress up in all of her new outfits.