Twelve Feet, Six Continents, One Year

Our last stop in New Zealand was meant to be our most relaxing. The Coromandel Pensinsula is apparently the posh weekend getaway for the 40% of NZ's population that lives in Auckland. There's a ferry from the Big City to Coromandel town and plenty of evidence all around that these folk have second homes on the hillsides all around. And for good reason: it's beautiful here. For example, this is the view from our rental just north of Whitianga (pronounced, "Fiddy-ang-uh" with the first syllable rhyming with the artist 50¢). Our first outing was to a place called Hot Water Beach, where we were told you can dig down in the sand and create a natural hot tub for yourself. This is sufficiently true that the cafe next to the carpark rents shovels for a $10 deposit and $10 for up to three hours. Here's Cate at the bottom of the hole that we inherited and then expanded. Indeed, the water at the bottom was quite hot But it never filled up in a way to make it appeali...

People: our visit in Melbourne was filled with great people.  Our host, who shares the duplex with the apartment she rents, was a generous and warm person who made us feel so welcome and comfortable. Her family, especially her 12-year old son and their 4-month old English Staffordshire named Lucy, brought us many smiles. The abundant toys in our rental used to be his and we are very grateful, especially for the LEGO. Our first friend in Melbourne was “Motormouth” Bridget at Oliver’s Barber Shop. We passed the shop several times a day and the kids always looked forward to saying hi. Bridget renamed Henry “Jabberjaws” and they were good mates. Bridget had lollipops for the kids but they’d love her without them.  The kids went to summer camp at the local primary school with a program called TeamKids. They enjoyed being in the company of peers for several days, doing kid-focused activities, and being as wild as they felt like. Ali and Cate made friends with two girl...

First of all, is my math right? I know that we started on June 23rd but that was in the United States. Today is January 8th but that's in Australia. It's only January 7th in the US. Does that mean the trip is longer or shorter? Can anybody explain daylight savings time to me? Second, we've been having a really good week. Elise took the day off on Monday and regained some energy. We found a daycamp here that is effectively drop-in during their school holidays. For friends in Portland: this is like Campfire mixed with Trackers. In other words, it's awesome. We showed the kids the "menu" if activities on each day and the result was that Henry and Lily went on Tuesday, Ali and Cate on Wednesday and all four on Thursday. Arriving at St Kilda Park Primary School for TeamKids Camp We feel really satisfied and proud that our kids show up at a new venue with unfamiliar kids and adults and plunge right in. Henry made a friend, which led to a playdate and possibl...

For starters, we're fine. If you're reading this in the distant future, that's relevant because right now an area (in our general part of the continent) the size of Wales has been consumed by fire and it's making international news. The only threat we face here in the city is from smoke. The good and bad news is that the winds shifted and picked up, giving us clear air and cool days but horribly exacerbating the catastrophe unfolding to our northeast. We arrived in Melbourne on the evening of Wednesday, January 1st. We had a pre-arranged shuttle that worked seamlessly, our host greeted us on arrival and we improvised a dinner in a nearby casual Italian restaurant. Yay, noodles! Couldn't take this until Lily found her sweatshirt The latest accommodation is terrific: the space has inherited all of the toys and other possessions that have been cast off by the owner's sons, now 12 and 18 years old. There are gallons upon gallons of LEGO, 25 feet of of overfl...