This was one of the best things that have ever happened to me. In NZ I have grown in size and as a person. I have gone out of my comfort zone by doing things like bungy swinging, rock climbing and flying on an airplane for 13 hours! I also petted a seal (don;t ask) and I got up on stage and performed a Canadian Comedy act for Eistedfod at St. Peter's College. These are all things that I never would have done before coming to NZ.
The scenery was breath taking and beautiful. Milford Sound was awe inspiring. Te Anau was such a cute little town and Porpoise Bay was the best beach to be at! I learned how to boogie board on waves and swim with dolphins! The Penguin Place in Portabello was so cool, we were a foot away from a penguin. My favourite penguin was Sam.
One thing I love about the South Island of New Zealand is how laid back everyone is and everyone say HI or waves to you. I feel like I fit in really well in NZ, everyone likes everyone for who they are.
Our schooling wasw great! At Pukerau School there is so few kids that the teachers had time to talk and get to know each kid. Everyone knows each other too. Gore was the closest town to us and it had a beautiful Main Street. There are so many little shops too. We felt safe and happy walking around Gore.
Our time in NZ has helped me understand the guy I want to grow up to be. It has changed me I know that.
Thanks NZ,
Sammer
01 September 2009
26 August 2009
Flights back to our home country... by Abby
Right now we are on our first airplane back to Canada from Dunedin. We got free cookies, free Kiwi lolliymix and Air New Zealand hard candies. When we get to Auckland we have 8 hours in Auckland. We are going to rent a car and go around Auckland. I am looking forward to going am home! I felt scared at first but now I am excited. I really want to see my cousins and Aunts and Uncles. I am also looking forward to seeing my own room. And there will be lots of kids around our neighbourhood for me to play with.
Right in front of me is a baby and it's mother with an older brother. The baby will not stop yelling at his mom thai it is not fair you take of the baby and not me.
Mom just met a friend in teh Auckland Airport, Tara. She is going to Las Angeles and back to BC. Tara was a Gap Student at the high school mom worked at. Gap mean swhen you get a year off school so you go to a different country and work anywhere you want.
There is only 2 more flights counting this one to get to Toronto. After that Grandpa Horton is going to pick us up and drive us back to our new home. There is 20 minutes until we board our plane to Vancouver. We are going to Gate 5. We have gone through security and Dad had to get a double check for anything bad in his two bags. It is 7:04 and we get on the plane at 7:30 so we have 26 minutes left.
We are in Vancouver airport!! We have switched airlines to Air Canada from Air New Zealand. We have just got back from our 13 hour flight. It was tiring but we made it...I watched Miley Cyrus, The Best Of Both Worlds concert, Hannah Montana The Movie and High School Musical 3. For tea I had Moraccan Lamb, kumara and peas and for pudding we got chocolate chunk ice cream.
We are now on the plane that goes from Vancouver to Toronto. We have TVs but Dads will not work and we have to buy earphones. Luckily we have our own. I am watching Monsters VS Aliens. We have an hour until we get to Toronto. I can not wait to see Grandpa Horton. Flying over Toronto I can see all the city lights. There is a big orangish redish ball. From the airplane you can see every light on the road. Here is our timetable that we flew to get home:
August 12, 2009
Dunedin - Auckland 1 hour and 30 minutes
Auckland - Vancouver 13 hours
Vancouver - Toronto 4 hours 30 minutes
Toronto - Chatham 3 hours (driver, Grandpa!)
We are home now and we are all safe. We lost a hockey bag somewhere along the way but I am sure we will sort that out. I am happy to be home, but I think I will miss NZ a lot.
By Abby
Right in front of me is a baby and it's mother with an older brother. The baby will not stop yelling at his mom thai it is not fair you take of the baby and not me.
Mom just met a friend in teh Auckland Airport, Tara. She is going to Las Angeles and back to BC. Tara was a Gap Student at the high school mom worked at. Gap mean swhen you get a year off school so you go to a different country and work anywhere you want.
There is only 2 more flights counting this one to get to Toronto. After that Grandpa Horton is going to pick us up and drive us back to our new home. There is 20 minutes until we board our plane to Vancouver. We are going to Gate 5. We have gone through security and Dad had to get a double check for anything bad in his two bags. It is 7:04 and we get on the plane at 7:30 so we have 26 minutes left.
We are in Vancouver airport!! We have switched airlines to Air Canada from Air New Zealand. We have just got back from our 13 hour flight. It was tiring but we made it...I watched Miley Cyrus, The Best Of Both Worlds concert, Hannah Montana The Movie and High School Musical 3. For tea I had Moraccan Lamb, kumara and peas and for pudding we got chocolate chunk ice cream.
We are now on the plane that goes from Vancouver to Toronto. We have TVs but Dads will not work and we have to buy earphones. Luckily we have our own. I am watching Monsters VS Aliens. We have an hour until we get to Toronto. I can not wait to see Grandpa Horton. Flying over Toronto I can see all the city lights. There is a big orangish redish ball. From the airplane you can see every light on the road. Here is our timetable that we flew to get home:
August 12, 2009
Dunedin - Auckland 1 hour and 30 minutes
Auckland - Vancouver 13 hours
Vancouver - Toronto 4 hours 30 minutes
Toronto - Chatham 3 hours (driver, Grandpa!)
We are home now and we are all safe. We lost a hockey bag somewhere along the way but I am sure we will sort that out. I am happy to be home, but I think I will miss NZ a lot.
By Abby
30 July 2009
Dan doesn't feel like blogging tonight
So I will......again. The kids are tucked in bed and we are sitting at the dining room table with two laptops on the go. Dano is enjoying searching up Cogeco services for when we go back. He has thoroughly gone through a list of channels we will get, the speed at which our internet will flow from our finger tips and that I can make long distant calls to all of North America at no extra charge. He loves that crap.
Two weeks ago we created a list of items we had to sell before we leave NZ. Happily we were able to list our stuff on one page. Within two weeks of our list being posted at my high school, Abby's school and here at the camp we have sold most of our things. Our lounge set it gone, we are using the ones that were here when we arrived. Our receiver for our Freeview is gone, so our TV gets no channels. The TV, stand a DVD player will be delivered to it's new owner very soon. Besides Sam's bike and a few small items we have rid ourselves of things that will not be making the trip home. It feels good once again to be down to having very, very little.
Our Kiwi friends have been calling and setting up dinners with them before we leave. Jude and Peter George are friends of ours that we met through our kids at Pukerau School. They had us up to their house for tea. They have 3 kids, Katelyn, Rueben and Olivia. Our kids get on very well with them and our meal and visit was easy, delicious, full of conversation, noisy at parts and felt like we were saying "see you later" rather than "good bye". Our church held a farewell service for us and another family going to Sudan. It was lovely, a light finger tea followed. Stacey and Robert Young had us and the George family up for tea as well, the Georges were leaving for a vacation to California the next day. I am sure we will see Robert and Stacey at our doorstep in Canada one day, we hope! It would be wonderful for Sam and Abs to see their friends James, Libby and Sam Y again. In fact, I am betting that they will be our first kiwi friends to make the journey!
This has been a particularly trying week at school for me. Most of the Senior Management Team and all of the Deans were away Monday - Wednesday at training, which I did not go on as I am leaving. Myself and two SMT were busily hopping around the school. It has been interesting but exhausting at the same time. You would think that the moon had been full for 4 days in a row!
There have been two young families and an older couple staying here at the camp. They are part of a MMM New Zealand, a Christian organization the does property work at churches, camps and schools. The husbands have been lining the dining hall. The families live in giant trailer buses. I will try to get photos of these, they are like nothing we would see in North America. The bonus is that our kids have had the pleasure of having 7 kids living almost right beside us. Ernie and Michelle Pene have 4 kids, Daniel 13, Alix 10, Grace 4 and Mouse or Michael 2. Sammer and Daniel have become good mates. The kids are home schooled by their mom and for the past week Daniel has met Sammer when he gets off the bus at the end of the day. Alix and Abby get along great. Alix came to Alexandra with us last Saturday for Dano's last hockey tournament. She even got to witness Abby puking 2 times on the way, car sickness is bad in NZ with the twisting winding roads( and Dano's driving.) Alan and Rosina Mitchell have 3 daughters, Virginia 14, Erin 12, and Josie 10. For the last 3 weeks Abby, Alix and Josie have been like three peas in a pod. They bought rings together and had a little ceremony where they all put them on, signifying their friendship where ever they are in the world. It was cute! Grace 4 and Mouse 2 are so cute. At any given moment their adorable little faces might appear in our glass door. Many days I come home to them sitting on the couch beside Sammer and Daniel who are playing Mario Kart on the Wii. Both Grace and Mouse have little salad plates in their hands driving the Mario kart. And Sammer and big brother, Daniel encouraging them on as they drive with a plate. Very cute.
Tomorrow is Friday and I am thankful for that. Sam is planning to have a friend, Andrew come over after school. Abby will need an early bed, she has had a busy week. Her class does water safety and swimming lessons three times a week, she is still dancing and getting ready for an exam that she will not be here for. She practices hockey with Sammy and Dano too. She is usually zonked by the time Friday rolls around.
We have less than 2 weeks left of our Kiwi Adventure, it feels a little surreal. We plan on getting our blog made into book form. We hope that this will make a meaningful Christmas gift for the kids and we will get one for us to have. The deal is that every blog I have written Dano will read aloud to me as we snuggle into our bed, and likewise for me. He will doing most of the reading!
Until next time,
Samantha
Two weeks ago we created a list of items we had to sell before we leave NZ. Happily we were able to list our stuff on one page. Within two weeks of our list being posted at my high school, Abby's school and here at the camp we have sold most of our things. Our lounge set it gone, we are using the ones that were here when we arrived. Our receiver for our Freeview is gone, so our TV gets no channels. The TV, stand a DVD player will be delivered to it's new owner very soon. Besides Sam's bike and a few small items we have rid ourselves of things that will not be making the trip home. It feels good once again to be down to having very, very little.
Our Kiwi friends have been calling and setting up dinners with them before we leave. Jude and Peter George are friends of ours that we met through our kids at Pukerau School. They had us up to their house for tea. They have 3 kids, Katelyn, Rueben and Olivia. Our kids get on very well with them and our meal and visit was easy, delicious, full of conversation, noisy at parts and felt like we were saying "see you later" rather than "good bye". Our church held a farewell service for us and another family going to Sudan. It was lovely, a light finger tea followed. Stacey and Robert Young had us and the George family up for tea as well, the Georges were leaving for a vacation to California the next day. I am sure we will see Robert and Stacey at our doorstep in Canada one day, we hope! It would be wonderful for Sam and Abs to see their friends James, Libby and Sam Y again. In fact, I am betting that they will be our first kiwi friends to make the journey!
This has been a particularly trying week at school for me. Most of the Senior Management Team and all of the Deans were away Monday - Wednesday at training, which I did not go on as I am leaving. Myself and two SMT were busily hopping around the school. It has been interesting but exhausting at the same time. You would think that the moon had been full for 4 days in a row!
There have been two young families and an older couple staying here at the camp. They are part of a MMM New Zealand, a Christian organization the does property work at churches, camps and schools. The husbands have been lining the dining hall. The families live in giant trailer buses. I will try to get photos of these, they are like nothing we would see in North America. The bonus is that our kids have had the pleasure of having 7 kids living almost right beside us. Ernie and Michelle Pene have 4 kids, Daniel 13, Alix 10, Grace 4 and Mouse or Michael 2. Sammer and Daniel have become good mates. The kids are home schooled by their mom and for the past week Daniel has met Sammer when he gets off the bus at the end of the day. Alix and Abby get along great. Alix came to Alexandra with us last Saturday for Dano's last hockey tournament. She even got to witness Abby puking 2 times on the way, car sickness is bad in NZ with the twisting winding roads( and Dano's driving.) Alan and Rosina Mitchell have 3 daughters, Virginia 14, Erin 12, and Josie 10. For the last 3 weeks Abby, Alix and Josie have been like three peas in a pod. They bought rings together and had a little ceremony where they all put them on, signifying their friendship where ever they are in the world. It was cute! Grace 4 and Mouse 2 are so cute. At any given moment their adorable little faces might appear in our glass door. Many days I come home to them sitting on the couch beside Sammer and Daniel who are playing Mario Kart on the Wii. Both Grace and Mouse have little salad plates in their hands driving the Mario kart. And Sammer and big brother, Daniel encouraging them on as they drive with a plate. Very cute.
Tomorrow is Friday and I am thankful for that. Sam is planning to have a friend, Andrew come over after school. Abby will need an early bed, she has had a busy week. Her class does water safety and swimming lessons three times a week, she is still dancing and getting ready for an exam that she will not be here for. She practices hockey with Sammy and Dano too. She is usually zonked by the time Friday rolls around.
We have less than 2 weeks left of our Kiwi Adventure, it feels a little surreal. We plan on getting our blog made into book form. We hope that this will make a meaningful Christmas gift for the kids and we will get one for us to have. The deal is that every blog I have written Dano will read aloud to me as we snuggle into our bed, and likewise for me. He will doing most of the reading!
Until next time,
Samantha
15 July 2009
EARTHQUAKE!
We had an earthquake tonight! At about 9:30pm Thursday July 15th the earth shook. Dano was sitting at the dining room table, the kids and I in the living room watching Karate Kid III with our new friend Daniel Pene. Both Dano and I thought we were having dizzy spells at first. It was amazing! The feeling of the whole house gently swaying was unreal! The hanging lights were swinging. Our friend Daniel has lived in New Zealand his whole life of 13 years and this was his first quake too!
The quake had a Richter magnitude of 6.6. To give an idea of where we are in relation to the quake, Gore is 60km north-east of Lumsden.
http://nz.news.yahoo.com/a/-/top-stories/5729011/geologists-to-keep-watch-after-big-quake/
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