South Island, Take One

Jun 4, 2015 | Photos, The Great Journey, Trips

Despite my plans to travel the South Island later, I have spent last weekend there. And it was fantastic!

The framework:

  • 5 people, all of them au pairs, 2 of them boys
  • a rental station wagon, no USB or AUX connection
  • a holiday home (called ‘bach’ in New Zealand) right at the Mahakipawa Arm of the Mahau Sound
  • friday night to monday night as the Queen’s birthday is a holiday here

The ferry is a popular connection between both islands. A little swaying, but we were blessed with calm waters…

There are many of these ‘batches’ in New Zealand. Out little cottage was utterly cosy and well equipped.

The view upon the Mahau Sound. The entire northern side of the South Island is riddled with those.

On Sunday we went on an adventurous road trip west coast bound, in order to see the famous Pancake Rocks. Adventurous because of 5 grown up people inside one car.

Sailboat near Nelson

Some rest stops have nicer views, some less nice ones…

The tranquil appearance of the west coast turn sour with all the sandflies (fruit fly like mosquitos, varying in size). But some prices you are willing to pay…

After a long time with many guessing games and black stories (a card game, originally), we finally arrived at the destination: Punakaiki.

The Pancake Rocks are a stunning sight you might not want to miss.

One fateful morning I, as with many things for the first time, tried to make some scrambled eggs. 4 eggs by 5 persons is not quite much, should anyone look for this answer.

The water behind the cottage did look a lot more interesting up close. Also, it is another feeling, afloat like that.

On our last day we visited the Pelorus River. Once again awesome to behold, once again natural wilderness.
I would like to point out that some scenes for the Hobbit movies were filmed at this very location. (Just imagine 13 dwarves in the river inside barrels…)

This fantail was pretty photogenic, but as all the birds of that feather as quick as can be. Please marvel at only a few of many hundred pictures.

I’d make a movie right here, too. 🙂

The grand prize question: What is this?

The even grander prize question: WHAT IS THIS??

The travel fellowship. (Thank you for the pic, Henry.)

Looking back at the South Island, I can confirm it differs quite much from the North Island. While green round hills dominate the landscape of the North Island, the South Island features bigger, browner and more ‘edgy’ rises.
It all has a wilder and more forceful impression and I was surprised to see sub-tropical flora give in to coniferous forest after a short car drive. Settlements and gas stations also tend to be a lot further away from each other…

The weekend was a superb taste for my next journey there. And I hope to get such nice people again, whom you could sing some rounds with on long car rides… 😉

Rugby and the weekend

May 25, 2015 | Photos, The Great Journey, Trips

Getting up early on saturday!
Well, for some undertakings you must pay a price. Besides, the little one invited me.

So, early we went to the regular Saturday rugby tournament. The lovely boy attends training once a week, to where I drive him and on Saturday there’s the game. This time the opposing team was too mighty, which denied us victory.

Rugby is the national sport of New Zealand. Almost everybody is playing it and everybody is a fan of the All Blacks, the undefeated national team. And what sport it is, indeed!
One day I will see the All Blacks themselves play, but thiss little game gave me quite a taste to begin with.

I just let the pictures and captions speak for themselves…

Rugby is played with a great deal of tumbling.

It is funny to see those rascals and rascallettes whack and smash each other all the way. 🙂

And running. Running is what you do! 😀

But rugby is not the only sport taking place that day, it isn’t! Afterwards I witnessed a game of netball of the eldest girl. Also some national sport, but more on the women’s side… From there we proudly took the ‘player of the day’ home. 🙂
Also afterwards both of the older siblings had an indoor cricket match, the youngest had a game of hockey and the eldest, again, had an underwater hockey match. As the schedule was interlaced and all cars plus grandparents were active, I stayed home after rugby and netball…

It is interesting to see what deal those sports mean to the Kiwis. The parents meet on the side of the park and talk, the kids have fun playing (well, mostly) and there’s an engaging club culture. The week plan, and often day plan is built around sport and when you just sit over a cup of coffe outside a café in the park, you see many people practising various sports.

It is becoming closer and closer to winter every day and you not only notice that by the smudgy wheather, but by the temperature. It is freezing now, even though the sun shines and the hills are green. But maybe my body is thinking about summer in May/ June instead about 10 degrees and breezes…
My heatable bed is most welcome then. 🙂 Also, things like the scarf/ my hat and gloves, which I didn’t pay to much attention towards until now, gain in relevance…

New Zealand grass.

Rarely a graveyard looked more beautiful. But as the ghosts woke up, we better went our way. 🙂

Ohariu Bay. Pretty cold. And pretty. 🙂

This morning we had a blackout! That was quite thrilling for me and the boy, as neither of us had experienced it yet. But after about 45 minutes of nailbiting everything went back to normal. All the clocks are now readjusted and heating works again.
The next weekend we will go to the South Island with some more au pairs. Thanks to the Queen’s birthday there is a long weekend coming up and we intend to make use of it.
So I will ditch my plans to first discover the North Island in favour of this adventure…

Life is taking shape

May 19, 2015 | The Great Journey, Thoughts

So what’s he doing, now that he’s ‘there’? 🙂

One sweet as thing about the au pair life is that you practically pay for nothing.
You eat wth the family, you share their internet connection, you sleep under their roof, you are invited to every family do like sporting events, visits and many more. Additionally, you receive a small allowance and come to enjoy living that way, especially from the background of a self-supporting working life…
But this weekend I funded my own way of entertainment. And it was definitely worth it! 😀
I met up with an au pair from anther suburb of Wellington and we had a fine day in Wellington.

And what do you do on a sunday in Wellington?

  • You go for a walk. Wellington is beautiful and has many sights to offer. And whilst walking, you can think about hiding from the ever-present cold gusts.
  • You visit Te Papa. This museum has it all and the advantage of being completely free. You can just wander and gather information about New Zealand at will, you can leech off the free WiFi or (that’s what we did) you can just sit down in a corner spot, look down on Wellington and talk. And the conversation between two au pairs ‘in office’ is most interesting. 🙂
  • You buy something on impulse. At the market with fresh fruit and vegetables you can trust and follow the intel of an experienced apple picker for the most exquisit apple.
  • You visit the Embassy. Have I ever rhapsodized this movie theatre? Never? Then this is the time: It is old, it is cosy, it has character, a humongous screen in the main auditorium, it is the only theatre in New Zealand featuring Dolby Atmos (ceiling speakers for the perfect surround sound) and holds the utmost brutal sound I have EVER encountered. By saying brutal, I mean that I am deeply impressed each and every time. My Mivoc Sidekicks at home used to shake the room at home so I was almost worried, but this relentless pressure in any frequency just has to have unbelievable tech supporting it. We went to see a pure and well-made action movie and you are just dazed as the movie proceeds to a quieter moment. Awesome!
  • You go out eating. There’s a restaurant or takeaway at every corner and of every cuisine, it makes coosing hard. Inside the Capital Market the choice falls easier. There even is table service in the centre area as food stalls of all colours gather around. You purchase your meal, sit down at a table, eat and you’re happy. I chose Indian. It was yummy. 🙂
  • You can go for another walk. Especially at nightfall you are well off walking through the botanic gardens or up Mount Victoria. But it was rather chilly out and we went for the last big point.
  • You can have some coffee. It is an integral part of the culture, there’s lots of cafés, inside a huge offer of hot beverages and always a laid back atmosphere. Just what you need on a sunday night… 🙂

Besides that the everyday life solidifies with each day. The fact that English is the language we speak doesn’t get any second thought… I hope to live up to the family’s expectation, teaching them some German in a consistent way.

 

 

While going down Highway 1 towards the city centre, you have a great view over Wellington Harbour.

Today was rather stressful. I had to save the laundry from the rain and put it up in the living room. It hasn’t dried yet, but at least all the pegs (which fell to the ground while collecting the laundry) are on the line now, sorted by colour. 😀
The chicken nuggets came out nice and the crumbing process has been improved. I got the kids to taekwondo on time and taught the German word ‘Schabernack’ (meaning mischief) to the youngest.
The family’s vacuum cleaner is GENIUS, by the way! 🙂 You just strap that thing to your back and only have to take care of the cable. I transform into Vacuuminator for that time. 8/
Once a week I bake and that is tomorrow. I’ll see, what sugar bombs I will let loose this time. 🙂

 

 

Chocolate Chip Cookies, just before visiting the oven. They were addictive… 🙂

New Situations

May 10, 2015 | Photos, The Great Journey, Thoughts

There’s two ways: Either you blog about your new experiences (of which there are many) every day or you let the first work week pass in peace and you start telling in retrospect.
I decided for the latter. 🙂 Please do read the accumulated mass of experiences in my first work week as an au pair:

You find yourself in the situation to fill that bucket to mop the floor (fortunately there’s not much surface) on your own.
You find yourself in the situation to fight against the will of the children, to deal out disciplinary measures, to be strict.
You find yourself in the situation to embrace those kids after mentioned storms have passed and to show them your love won’t ever ‘just end’.
You find yourself in the situation to compose the day, to think ahead and to be rewarded by a smooth process.
You find yourself in the situation to take care of the laundry, to check school uniforms for spots and to be able to look behind the scenes of that ‘circle of life’.
You find yourself in the situation to blend together flour, butter, heaps of sugar and similar things and to put it all in the oven, hoping for the best.
You find yourself in the situation to see the happy faces after a meal or having discovered the rearranged cutlery drawer.
You find yourself in the situation to partake in a dance-off for a change, while doing some homework with the kids.
You find yourself in the situation to realise that hot water and some soap make all the dishes seem quite manageable.
You find yourself in the situation to notice that an early bed time not only benefits children of a young age. For adults it does hold joy as well. 🙂
You find yourself in the situation to deal with cat puke on the carpet.
You find yourself in the situation to design your life as a role model all day, to keep promises and principles up high and on top be wise and fair alike.
You find yourself in the situation to ration your time smartly, as you complete important things first and have some lazy time later. (On a clean conscience, of course. 🙂 )
You find yourself in the situation to put your own preferences and habits aside and to adapt in many departments…

 

 

 

 

My task is to help and guide the boy to his homework (more motivational work as of now) in the morning and to get some of my daily chores done, before I accompany him on his way to school. The school is close to us, so it becomes my daily walk; except for rainy days, we are made from sugar after all and would melt. 😀
One everyday chore is to keep the laundry rotation moving. That means getting the laundry from the machine online (haha) outside or inside when rainy (something about sugar, I am sure) and in the end allocate each piece to its owner. The latter is still hard, but I think the kids will do the swapping. 🙂
Next to generally maintaining order I am to deliver dinner 4 days a week. The first week was somewhat wild, as I have never ever baked a meat pie or crumbed chicken nuggets. Though it went (thanks to substantial instructions and the bits I remembered from home) well and everyone was happy…
I really enjoy having a list for all the tasks I can call my own. The family had a number of au pairs already, which provides a secure dealing with each other. You are the new one, no doubt, but the au pair itself is known element.
In the afternoon I pick up the boy from school and when the girls get home, soon there’s food and activities every day. Let it be swimming lessons, taekwondo, rugby training and so on. My job is to get the kids there and to make sure they have eaten beforehand. But with the well-tailored plan of my host-mum there’s no worries. 😉
On each of the 5 days there is a special task, like vacuum cleaning, mopping, baking something, cleaning the microwave… All in all doable with some time to spare.
Some of that time you look like the pets:

 

 

ZzzzZzzzZzzzZzzzZ

 

 

You might just as well get used to learning new stuff and doing new things everyday. But with every new activity I do for the second time you realise: Soon enough this will be normal, soon enough I will do these things blindly, won’t be needing any lists, won’t be asking basic questions. The only thing that counts then is the motivation you bring for the new day…