Sunday, Mar. 12 (week 7 / day 49) Wanaka, NZ

Miscellaneous thoughts by Stacia:

Well, we are 7 weeks into this trip and things are going well.  The kids seems to stay in semi-contact with their friends through texting, instagram and face timing.  One day Sydney's friends sent her a picture of another friend just sitting in a desk at school.  They said- wish we were in New Zealand. It was cute and funny and was a good reminder of what our kids would be doing if we were not here.  We do give thanks nightly in our prayers for the opportunity to do this.

The other day we were on what is now my favorite hike- the Rob Roy Glacier Hike.  Cannon had the quote of the day.  As we were pulling up to the car park he kept asking where the trail was and where we would be hiking.  We weren't quite sure but he asked us several times.  The hike was rated intermediate and it was pretty steep in some places.  Paul took the older girls at a faster pace and went clear to the end.  The younger kids and I went to the first of the two lookouts.  I was worn out by the end.  One hour and twenty two minutes up for us and 47 minutes down and then 20 minutes back to the car park.  When we were down and walking through the valley Cannon said, "Mom, is that what we just climbed up?  I thought we were walking up an ACTUAL HILL, not a mountain!"  He has some lower expectations that were not met.

On a different hiking day Kyra asked what we were doing that day.   I explained that sometimes our goal is to just look at the beauty of things and not necessarily do something.  She informed me, "I do not get joy from looking at something!"  I laughed but they have been pretty good at not complaining too much on the looking parts of the trip.

Food.  I had imagined a little more of a culinary experience but lets face it, food is way more expensive and going out to eat with 7 in the US is not cheap, but here, even costlier.  So, we eat mostly at home.  However, we have tried to find what people eat on a normal day.  I mean, generally people don't actually eat restaurant type food on a daily basis at home either. That's why you go out- to have something special.  So, we ask around and try the "normal" foods.
Muslei for breakfast.  Sydney and I eat that most days with yogurt for breakfast and it is good.  There are tons of premade options in the grocery store.  They have about 1/10th the cold cereal options and 3 times the muslei options- yummy!
Lammingtons- a popular dessert we have not fallen in love with.  We have been in several bakeries and they seem to have generally the same things.  The primary items are pies.  Savory, small pies most popular being the venison or steak and cheese.  We have tried the steak and cheese and a nacho pie and both were quite tasty but I can't imagine eating them that often- all those calories in the crust! :)
Other items we see in most bakeries are cream buns.  Kind of like a shorter, wider hamburger bun with a line of cream down the middle.  The sides are topped with chocolate or raspberry.  We really liked these.  Like a doughnut but not as heavy because it is baked bread and not fried. 
Caramel bars are commonly found too.  Usually like a homemade Twix but yesterday we had one that had more of a Nanaimo bar base.  It was good!  We went back for two more. 
I have yet to see a cupcake in a bakery.  Muffins.  Unfortunately the common combo of chocolate chip muffins seem to be with orange and not plain, not our favorite combo.  Cookies, I still only see hard, crunchy cookies.  We should open a cookie shop here so people can taste good, soft, gooey cookies.
Hokey pokey ice cream.  A country favorite and ours as well.
I have purchased two box brownie mixes now that we generally have ovens.  The first time I baked them I forgot the oven was in Celsius and I way over cooked them.  The second time I remembered and I still overcooked them- just not as much.  One of these days we will have a gooey treat.

One question I ask myself is why haven't these other countries been clued into screens??  Neither Costa Rica nor New Zealand have had screens.  I just don't get it.  It is not like these are some expensive upgrade.  The weather is nice here and they open the windows and doors to let the nice breeze through.  I couldn't help thinking I would not have had the large moths in my sink every night or the few more mosquito bites on my legs if they would just get screens!!

Avery: New Zealand has been fun and filled with MANY exciting and new things. We have done speed boating, off-roading, the a & p fair, and it still isn't over. We are still going to do more things before we leave on Wednesday. New Zealand has gone by sooooooooo fast! It's hard to believe that this week we will be in Thailand. One thing that has been really nice is being able to understand everybody. The branch is tiny. Carley, Sydney and I actually taught nursery to only one 3 year-old  girl named Bella. Well I wouldn't say we taught her because she pretty much just played and for the last half hour she went with her mom in the junior primary. Oh and church is only 2 and a half hours.
Some of the treats at new Zealand that I have really liked are Hokey Pokey Ice cream (the best ice cream in the history of the world), Tim tam Slams, chocolate coated honeycomb, crispies baked coconut biscuits (which were just like coconut cookies). New Zealand has been relaxing. From staying at a dairy farm with home cooked meals every night, having our own house with loads of grass to run around on, and our own apartment to Frankton motor camp where after they realized they didn't actually write our names down and we ended up staying in a popup camper where Sydney and cannon shared a twin bed and a room with no power that we got moved to because a raging party was  going on by the room they offered us (everywhere else and all the places at the motor camp was booked so the popup camper was where some workers some time stayed and the house with no power was because it was still under construction and the house near the party was near the party because it was a detached room from the owners house where there kids used to sleep in) but hey it was only for one night and we slept good.

Kyra: Wow. We barely got to New  Zealand and were already leaving? Time flies when your having fun, and we've been having a lot of fun. We're trying a lot of new things, and I'm not just talking about the activities. The foods (well, mostly treats) are good too. The most delicious? Three words: HOKEY POKEY ICECREAM! I am not kidding that stuff is heavenly. Anyways, one of my favorite things we've done is the jet boating, which is a speed boat that goes fast all over the lake. Then there was the Off-roading which is basically when you get into this car that is like a monster truck, kind of, but not as big wheels. They strap you in and then go really fast around the track and do stuff like jumps and go down this REALLY steep hill so you feel like the car its standing up on the front. It was all really fun. Another thing that was fun was the fair we went to. We watched dog races and the parade and shopped around and ate. It was cool. I also liked when we went on the milford sound boat ride. It had a great view and carrot cake. New Zealand is just fun after fun after fun things to do!

Sydney: NZ is great but sometimes it doesn't feel real. Like, am I really here right now, right now??   Things I miss/crave:  1) I miss soccer, I just want to go to practice and be competitive and play really hard ya know?  2) Talking to different people daily. Don't get me wrong, family time is awesome, but I actually like going to school/church/soccer/other things and seeing plenty of various people who talk to me. Those are the only things I miss.
I love the outdoorsy adventure backpacker vibe that is here in Wanaka. There are travelers from all over. The A&P show was fun because it was like the Fair in Boise but waaaayy less redneck. Overall, I have no complaints about New Zealand.

Paul: I could live here in New Zealand. Can't say that about Costa Rica, though beautiful. It hasn't been Lord-of-the-Rings spectacular, since you need to be in a helicopter for those views, but it's out there. I love the mountains, trees & water; that's what made the Rob Roy Glacier Track so top-ten. My guess is that we'll be back later, with less or no kids to do some of the "great walks." The people are nice & housing & food are closer to what we're used to. I could forgive them for driving on the wrong side of the road & actually thought it seemed weird today that you would sit on the left in the front seat to drive, just for a second. Sydney has a point about being together most all the time as a family. The trip forces us to cope with the same situations every day without the variety of change in our schedules that we're so used to back home: school, work, church, neighbor & community interactions that allow you to shift your attention. Travel psychology, interesting. Thailand here we come.

New Zealand is:

 

the Zorb (best 10 seconds of our life), luge, sheep,