Weekends End

The girls and I had a quiet day on Sunday as Adrian went to play golf at Cape Kidnappers. He went with our neighbor, Roger. Roger is a plastic surgeon and is such a nice fellow. I think Roger was as excited as Adrian to go play. There was little sleep Saturday night as someone kept checking the weather on his phone! As it turned out it was perfect, little wind and lots of sunshine.  More pictures are at the end of this post.

We will be moving this next week - same home phone number - 06.359.3431 or if you are in the states and we are home - 615.942.0550 new address - 201 Victoria Avenue, Palmerston North 4410, NZ The new house is much more suitable for our family - girls will have their bedrooms and bathroom upstairs with a playroom. We will be downstairs with our own bathroom off the bedroom - there is even a proper laundry room and an extra bathroom with a bathtub!! We will be able to entertain our new friends and would love to entertain old friends if you are so inclined to come over! As always the door is open.


We have our trip to the South Island sorted. We will be spending the night in Wellington Good Friday and then boarding the Interislander Ferry to cross the Cook Strait.  The trip is about three hours and we hear is beautiful as you come in to Picton.

We decided to drive in our car rather than rent an RV.  We think eating, sleeping and traveling in the same vehicle might have been too much.  We will stay in Kaikoura on the east coast for three days.  This is on the migratory path of a number of different species of whales and home to many species of dolphin including some rare ones.  We have booked a boat trip to check that out.

Then we will head to Christchurch for a day and then on to Twizel for a day.  We will be spending several days in Queenstown as everyone around here loves it.  It is a bit touristy but sometimes that can be lots of fun!  We will go to Franz Josef glacier and stay on the path as we have been advised!  Then to Westport (Cape Foulwind) and to Napier for several days before heading home.  We will be gone about two weeks during the kids' fall break.  We are all ready for a break and I am really excited that the dramamine seems to work for Abigail's motion sickness!

You can bet we will have a big blog post upon our return.

As an update about us - Adrian is settling in well, knocking that list down!, enjoying the pace here. He loves that he has a couple of half days each week to golf or do whatever suits him at the time.  His weekends on call have been somewhat busy but not overly so and they do not come around often.  The group with whom he works is very dynamic in that there are more docs doing locums than not. There is now a German, a Swede, an Asian, and the American Brit that we all know and love.  There are three Kiwi docs that are there - one full time, two part time.  It is interesting for him to get to meet all the docs coming through.    He has an office that is centrally located within the department so is able to keep in the loop during the day.  People stop by and he likes that.  He took us to the hospital for a tour - very different from the states - looks a bit older and more sterile - I did see some blue lead that made me long for my intervention docs!

I am still at the gym most days and have started a knitting class - why not with all this wool around! - I registered for a sock knitting class.  For those of you who know knitting, you know that there are four, yes four, needles involved in making a sock - well, I found that out about five minutes into the class and opted for a scarf instead.  The instructor - sweet Mya with a wonderfully foul mouth - was kind enough to help me get two needles and some fun wool and I was off and laughing!  I have neither the drive or skill as my mother and Aunt Gardner when it comes to knitting but I am very pleased with my new shawl/scarf/table runner!  Who knows what it is but it is the first of hopefully more knitting projects to come.  I may just treat some of my readers to a knitted treat!  I am laughing out loud at that one...


The girls have been to friends' houses for play.  That is huge for them to have people to spend time with.  They are both trying out for basketball and are coming right along at the swimming lessons.  They both moved up in their classes at the last assessment.  They are learning at school - lots about spreadsheets, website setup, etc.  We are doing math and spelling and reading at home daily - mostly because I miss a worksheet!  The school is really big on technology which is great - the girls will benefit in the long run I think.  They are looking forward to getting moved as they have not been able to have friends to play here (too small! and no yard on a busy street).  They are really starting to love the adventures that we find in town and during our time traveling.  I love that they are getting to broaden their scopes!  They both are starting to sound like Kiwi girls - particularly Abigail, who ends lots of sentences with Aye and/or mate with the New Zealand lilt at the end of the sentence...

cape kidnappers

cape kidnappers

cape kidnappers

Adrian and Roger