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

Weekend in Wellington

We had a perfect day in Wellington on Saturday!  Sunny, virtually no wind and compared to the prior weekend's "weather bomb" unbeatable!   We are all so happy that we postponed our trip one week.  The weather was greatly improved and a friend here gave me dramamine!  It worked beautifully and Abigail had a nice ride!  We did a tour on a bus - John's Hop on, Hop off Tour, to see the major attractions in Wellington.  We were able to be at each stop for as few as 10 minutes or as much as an hour - plenty of time to identify what we wanted to see more of the following day and during future trips.  The drivers - we were on two separate buses after stops - were knowledgeable and told us a lot that we would not have known otherwise.  They were happy to be interviewed so Mama would be proud - I am a chip off the old block, as is Abigail by the way.

                     Wellington Harbor and St Paul's Cathedral                          

So our - Adrian's - new obsession is a personal cable car.  In Wellington, there is the bay and there is a cliff.  If you are a property owner of a piece of the cliff you own the upper portion and the lower portion - so the garage and the cable car garage are either above or below the home so one MUST have a personal cable car to get to the other end.  Really amazing.  One of our drivers told us a friend of his just had one installed to the tune of $60,000.  We also learned that the low end, bad neighborhood real estate goes for $400,000 and the average real estate price is $500-600,000.  We figure the cable car is peanuts really...

We visited the Weta Cave.  Apparently Weta is second only to Pixar in terms of being the leader in animation for film and tv.  They did the Hobbit movies, Lord of the Rings, Avatar, to name just a few. from the weta cave website  In our mini-museum, you come face to face with some of the characters, props and displays from your favourite movies. Read the stories of how they were brought to life and learn about the artists who created them.
We really enjoyed that.

 

We also walked through the Botanical Gardens - lovely and witnessed the arrival of bride and party for an afternoon wedding - perfect day for that. We spent lots of time on Saturday and Sunday at Te Papa - the museum that is really one of the best any of us have seen.  We saw the City Choir perform in a sort of impromptu gathering with ukelele's and xylophones - we were very lucky with that!  We will go back to Te Papa!

Grace is going off to camp where she will do some caving, rock climbing and lots of water fun!  All of this is a part of school so learning is happening on lots of levels here.  I am trying to get used to not having homework but am having a bit of trouble so have started doing some home schooling in math and grammar.  I am liking the time together and they are not seeming to mind too much.

We went for an after dinner walk on the beach at Foxton last night.  It was very nice and the drive there is about 20 minutes.

We are so excited to move to a larger home - better neighborhood, more bathrooms, playroom - in the early part of April before we go to the South Island for a few weeks.  We have felt like we were in a campground and have not been quite settled here as it is a bit small without the necessary accoutrements for our family.  We will get moved and then head out for our South Island adventure.  We are still making the arrangements for accommodations.  We are very excited to have company coming when we get back. Life long friends are coming and we cannot wait!  Whether you are lifelong friends or new friends we would welcome your visit - we want to share the lovely land with all the folks we know.  Come on if you can!

Esplanade Day and Wellington

Finally, we have recovered from the hike.  It took us about two days to get over it which, frankly, I think is pretty incredible given our state of fitness or lack thereof and our preference for sitting.  We are slowly changing our preferences - Adrian is walking to work more and finds walking our golf course easier with each go.  This place is really made for walking/biking/hiking.  The weather is mild and even though we have had lots of rain it usually does not last long here.  There have been reports of some really intense weather north of us but we have not seen that.  We have had some really strong wind - I was walking to pick up children and really had to lean in to get there.  It is exciting weather and the forecasters have quite a time keeping up so we pay them little mind.  When it is sunny I do laundry and walk and when it rains we drive.  Quite simple really...

We attended a free event at the Esplanade - a park here - you may remember the rose photos from early on that were taken there.  We rode the little train around the park and saw a lady dressed in a balloon dress - yes, a dress made of balloons - quite a lot of work I would think.  We played carnival games and watched belly dancers - Adrian quite enjoyed that!

Adrian had his first weekend on call.  The referring physicians (surgeons,  ER doctors, general practitioners) call him directly and request the study to be done.  There is discussion about the necessity of the scan (mostly CT requests) and then usually an ok is given by the radiologist.  An X-ray tech works full time in the ER but any other study requires a tech to be called in.  There was a registrar on call with Adrian so he did the leg work of calling in the tech and getting the patients scanned.  Adrian then went to the hospital to report out the exam.  It was not very busy until Sunday evening when several exams were ordered as a trauma had arrived.  He did not get called in the middle of the night (Friday, Saturday or Sunday) so it was a relatively easy first.  He might argue that but getting sleep is always good.

We are planning a couple of trips during school holidays.  In April we will go to the south island for two weeks.  We will ride the ferry over and then travel around the perimeter of the island staying in cabins.  There are campsites that have a variety of types of accommodation ranging from motel to tent sites.  We will opt for the cabin and see how that goes.  Abigail and her carsickness is an issue but we are on the hunt for dramamine!  We keep ginger cookies in the car now as someone recommended that and we have not really had any incidents to speak of lately.

Check out the sites where we will be staying - this will be the first one after the ferry ride.

 The other trip will be to a Radiology Continuing Education conference in Spain.  We will stay over for a bit and visit France.  We are all very excited about this trip - we will be going in September so the weather will still be nice.  We are trying to learn a bit of Spanish and French so that we can at least ask for the bathroom!  I can speak a little Spanish and Adrian speaks a bit of French so we should be ok.  I do not think that my Spanish for "take a deep breath and hold it" will come in handy though.  Adrian gets an allowance for CME and the time away is not considered vacation so this will really be a great opportunity for all of us!  Yet another trip of a lifetime.  I do have to pinch myself to make sure this is not a dream.

We are off to Wellington this next weekend so will update with pics, etc. then.  Have a great week!

what a hike!

It is Monday morning and I should be at the gym but alas, I am feeling all of my joints and my feet having hiked all day Sunday.  It was spectacular!  We started the Beehive Creek Walkway about 10:30 Sunday morning and hiked up to the top of a ridge, we followed the ridge up and down and around through fern vales, sheep pastures, wooded forest areas, pine tree groves until we ended at the Ridge Road.

the beginning

The hike is published as a family friendly 4km (2.5 miles) each way.  We opted for the "road back" option as there were some wicked little stickers in the sheep fields - we had on tennis shoes or sandals...  When I read "family friendly" I was thinking of a sedentary, out of shape American family, not a hyper-fit, wearing hiking boots, always going New Zealand family!

It was sunny and nice so we trudged on enjoying the scenery and the lovely day.  A nice way to spend a Sunday morning we said to each other.  We came upon a woman farmer working sheep with her dogs.  She asked how far we were walking and we told her about the Beehive Creek Walk and she - wide-eyed - said with incredulity, "Well done!".  We should have known...

We had unwittingly and unfortunately headed the wrong way on the road.  Who knows where we would have ended up and when we might have arrived somewhere - it was a gravel road that went, as its name implies (The Ridge Road) along the ridge and quite a long ridge it is.  At some point Adrian and I talked and we decided to go back to the last farm we had passed.  We found farmer Tim bringing in rams for the vet to test today with his great working dogs (7 in all).

We filled our water bottles from the hose and he generously offered to drive us back to the trail head.  We were so surprised at how far we had walked on the gravel road!  I am so grateful to him for driving us as we might still be on that path...  We retraced our steps on the path back to the car.   We met a 70-something year old man carrying his mountain bike on this path as we were barely able to put one foot in front of the other - after questioning him, we learned that he was training for a race and was biking the trail and riding on the roads from where we had come.  See what I mean about hyper-fit!  We were a bit demoralized to say the least...

We were back at the car at 4:30 in the afternoon.  6 hours later.  We figure we walked/hiked between 12 and 15 miles all told.  We had not trained for that or even expected it but WE DID IT!  Adrian and I collapsed when we got home and the kids played happily of course.  It was nothing to them.

We spent Saturday at Owlcatraz in Shannon.  We did some shopping on the square and had a nice lunch at a cafe just outside of town.  We will go back there for shopping!

A really nice weekend. We hope to be recovered soon...

early on, intrepid explorers

fun guy

 fungi

becoming obsessed with fun guy, oops, i mean fungi

across the valley, tree ferns

 hi from Shannon 

See he really is a FUN GUY!!

All the latest...

It is a very sunny Friday afternoon in Palmy.  The wind is almost non-existent and it is really nice.  I have laundry hanging on the line - have not used the dryer yet - and Adrian has just walked back to work after lunch.  I will walk to meet the girls around 3:00 so this is the time when I get all the work sorted before the weekend begins.

We are going to take a couple of short weekend trips this weekend and have identified a tramp - walk/hike - that we want to do close by.

So since last we posted - we have been tramping at the Manawatu Gorge - dense vegetation, songbirds singing, giant ferns, dense forest.  watched teenagers playing chess on the square right here in Palmy, went to a WW1 Museum - even the girls enjoyed it! - spent a weekend in Taupo, hiked around the HOT springs, visited a big petting zoo - even the adults enjoyed it! - rode on a jet boat to see Huka falls, went to a new local beach - Foxton - had family fun night - an assignment from Grace's teacher - had a sweet Valentine's day.

So the adventures during our weekend away - museum, Taupo, petting zoo and jet boat ride - Awesome! Taupo is a great place to go and we will go back there to do what we did not have time to do this time.  It is an easy and beautiful drive there from Palmy.  We stayed in a home - booked online - and it was really nice.  Nice size house, walking distance to town, a block off the lake, nice neighbors with two little boys that the girls played with, and less expensive than a hotel!

A little about Taupo - according to a travel site - Located in the heart of New Zealand’s North Island, Great Lake Taupo is undoubtedly one of the world’s most unique and picturesque areas.  The film location for The Lord of The Rings trilogy and the upcoming The Hobbit movie, the region is centred around the majestic Lake Taupo, the largest freshwater lake in Australasia. 

Great Lake Taupo Activities are as diverse as the landscape itself, which boasts beautiful geothermal scenery, breath taking waterfalls and world heritage listed forest reserves. You’ll see spectacular steaming cliffs, geysers, boiling lakes, bubbling mud pools and many thermally heated hot pools as well as the mighty Huka Falls, New Zealand’s most visited natural attraction.  It really is a fun and beautiful place.  There was a Doobie Brothers and Little River Band concert there on the Saturday night while we were there at is was Waitangi weekend - more about that later.  There was lots of activity and very few rooms available.  We had lots of fun.  The Huka falls jet boat ride was worth the money!  Very fun and exciting!

ferns as big/bigger than the girls!

Taupo Hole-in-One Attempts 

Museum

HOT springs - do not touch, very hot!

country folk...

for my friend Charlotte

jet boat ride Huka Falls

Mt. Ruapehu

We have so many great pics - my next task of any size is going to be to get them in a spot where all can see.  I always have so many more that I do not add just because who wants to wade through such a long blog...  

So what else, gosh, there is lots more I need to tell you about but alas, my day of solitude is done - time to get the wee ones.  I want to get this posted on the same day it was started so I will have to get back at it on Monday.  I will have more from this weekend, so check back soon.

Thanks for being interested and I do miss you all!  I just wish we could have this life with you all close by, tearfully signing off and grateful for this grand adventure of life - I hope each of you are living it up!  Who knows what tomorrow has in store so do grab life by the tail and go!

Hei konā rā

Almost a month in...

Lots to catch up on here! We have travelled, hiked, made new friends, Adrian has started taking call, the girls have started school and I am back in the gym!

So the travel - We spent a great weekend in Havelock North where we stayed on a working apple farm in the orchard in a two bedroom cottage. The photo is the girls sitting on our back deck watching two free range chickens. They had

quite an interest in Abigail who normally has no fear but does not apparently like to be checked out by two chickens. The screams were unlike any I had ever heard! There was a great front porch on our cabin - an olive tree, grape vines growing for privacy and a bird nest with two babies! The mama bird had no problem bringing the babies food while we sat on the porch so we got to know the bird family quite well. The babies were flapping their wings and pushing boundaries preparing to leave home. Adrian and I both encouraged them to stay in the comfort of their nest as the world is big and scary sometimes... Kids never listen... We went to bed with them in the nest and the next morning they were gone! We hope they are safe and happy little birds enjoying their freedom.

It was so pretty there and we had nice weather - which in Palmerston North is really not so common. Apparently in the Havelock North/Hawkes Bay area it is a lot more common. We may have to go more often if this cold and rainy business does not clear up! This is not like any summer I have ever seen, but I digress...

So Hawke's Bay and the surrounding areas are nice - wineries, beaches, parks, good food - all of which we tried. We went to an olivery - a first for all of us - very interesting. Telegraph Hill is the name if you want to check it out on the web - http://www.telegraphhill.co.nz/

We also went on a trailer ride, pulled by a big-wheeled tractor

on the beach below Cape Kidnapper's Golf Course. Our mission was to see the world's largest gannett colony - a gannett is a bird that was very interesting to hear about. They are born and raised by parents who mate for life - unless one is late coming home - and when they are in their teen years they take off for Australia where they stay for about three years. They tire of that and home they come. Back to the place of their birth where they hang around the fringes until they choose their mate and then the cycle begins again. We came to the end of the tractor ride at the very tip of the cape and then hiked up a very steep hill - seemed like a mountain! - to the actual colony. There were hundreds of birds! We stayed for a bit and then hiked back down to have a picnic and play in the surf. Back on the tractors and headed back to the car park. The whole trip took about 4 1/2 hours. Well worth it.

The cliffs have obvious fault lines - some had shifted as much as 9 meters (29.5 feet). We learned that this is a very young country - geologically speaking. But enough of that - if you want more info of this sort, look it up! Just kidding - call Adrian!

We went to a winery where we had a tasting, made some purchases and had a bite to eat. There were lots of recommended wineries but with kids in tow it did not seem right to drag them from one vat to the next and as neither is old enough to drive we opted for the water park instead. We spent the day floating on the lazy river, riding in the bumper boats and took a train around the park - they had some giant water slides but we were not brave enough. It was a fun day and we all slept well that night.

We played golf - my first time in over 10 years - thankfully we were alone on the course. Adrian was very patient and encouraging. I hit the big ball under the little ball only a couple of times and I remember how much I enjoyed the game. I hit a few good shots and look forward to playing more! I will never be as good as Adrian or Timi but I look cute in my new golf shoes that match my bag holding all my pretty new clubs especially my favorite hot pink hybrid club...

An avid hiker with whom Adrian works gave us directions to a place to hike. It was about an hour and half drive and at the end of a really long gravel road. Along the way there were fields of sheep, red stag deer, cattle, sheep, creeks, sheep, rivers, sheep... There really are A LOT of sheep here! Colin's jokes are warranted.

So we arrived at the beginning of this trail and were not disappointed. The trail was at times hard to see and other times under water but it was gorgeous. We ended on the shore of the river among the river rocks and then hiked back to the car park (parking lot for you Americans!). Did I mention that there was a metal swing/suspension/foot bridge - it was swinging way over the river - and it was small and it was high and I was super nervous! The kids and Adrian went right over, no problem. I had to go but I was not happy about it. We all crossed safely both times but my palms sure were sweaty - heights and bridges are NOT my thing.

We stopped on the way back at a Model Railway Museum and cheese shoppe. The proprietors with whom we chatted were retired and made a modest living having guests view his lifelong collection of model trains and enjoy her homemade cheese. It was quite a collection of trains and delicious cheese. We were able to pat (and be licked by) the cow who produced the milk from which our cheese was made. We were making memories as my mother would say...

On Sunday we wanted to hike, "tramp" as the NZ'ers say, close to home so we found a spot and off we went. We thought we had arrived and so headed in at the sign for the scenic route - up the mountain we went, winding and winding - remember that Abigail suffers from motion sickness - until we topped the mountain and amazingly the wind farm was there - Te Apiti Wind farm - The windmills are huge! There was a gate so out I hopped to open and close the thing and I was not sure that I was not going to get blown away! The engineers were right on when they chose the top of that mountain. Roughly 4% of New Zealand's power is generated by wind mills. Their goal is to make that 20% in 20 years. There are a variety of sizes and a variety of designs but all are really cool to see. We knew they were big but really had no idea until we were at the base of them. Awesome!

So that gets us current - this week we had the first day of school! The girls enjoyed it! They start at 8:55 and are through at 3:00. We walk to school and they found their classes just fine. They have a snack (brain food as it is called) break around 10 and then morning tea around 11:30 and lunch at 1:00 Several things are strikingly different - everyone is on a first name basis - kids call teachers by their first names - teachers and students alike do not wear shoes, the kids do lots of work in groups. Both girls are in tech classes which means that they will be using computers to assist in their learning process. Should be a good thing I think.

One of the mothers enlisted my help in handing out the school hats - floppy hats that the kids must wear when they are outside. It was a fun way to get to see the kids and meet some other moms. I look forward to helping out from time to time there.

I am not sure how much time I will have to volunteer with the golf, the gym and planning the weekend trips. I am working on next weekend's agenda for another three day weekend at Lake Taupo. It is the largest lake in NZ and in a volcanic crater so has hot springs that we will check out. You will have all the latest upon our return.

Oh I almost forgot - I DID IT!!!

Drove down the wrong side of the road! Yes I did! I knew I would... but did it have to be a very busy road - Main Street - not kidding! with a median and pedestrians... Only me... at least we were none the worse for it except perhaps the children who may have learned some new and inappropriate words!

Bye for now...

First Impressions

Adrian here, with some first impressions of living and working in NZ. Since I have been at work less than 2 weeks, these are very preliminary observations, so I reserve the right to change my mind! It has, though, been a remarkable change to move from working in a large group covering multiple hospitals in a fee for service environment to a single hospital practice in a socialized system. A truly upside down world! Here we are gatekeepers to the system with the incentive to do less and where radiologists say NO if they think the exam is inappropriate - and they do! Last night I was on call for the first time, with a very expert 3rd year resident riding shotgun. We did 1 US for possible torsion and 1 CTA for a cold leg. Both phone calls requesting the exams came from the attending physicians, not residents. The ER probably saw 60 people.

The hospital has 300 beds, draws from a population base of about half a million and is a regional cancer centre. Equipment levels are good, with 1 16 slice CT going to be replaced by a 64 slice scanner within the year, good US and the rest. Exams are heavily prioritized. There are x number of US spots on the schedule in a given session, half a day, and when they are filled, that's it, on for tomorrow. Everyone accepts this. You can wait a year for a non urgent US. CT waiting times are much better, now less than 2 weeks for non urgent cases. There are several locums who are here for a variety of reasons, mainly the adventure. There is a heavy sprinkling of Scandinavians (not much money in medicine in Sweden and Finland ) as well as another American, all with different skill sets. Most of the Kiwi radiologists work part time in private practise where they say they make only slightly more money but see a different case mix. One of these is a remarkably talented transplanted Englishman who is the best sonographer and interventionalist I have ever seen who has free rein to do whatever he wants. He was sclerosing varicose veins, injecting shoulders etc etc in the only US session I have been with him. The surgeons are only too happy, otherwise they would have to do it. There are multiple meetings with the clinicians every week with an extremely collegial atmosphere. Everyone is on a first name basis.

Work starts between 8 and 8:30 and continues to around 4:30 to 5 with an hour off for lunch. I walk home for lunch. I get 2 half days off a week. My education allowance is about US$ 13K, with most meetings held in Australia and the Far East. One of my colleagues is off to Cambodia next week for a meeting. Another is taking off 4 weeks to work as medical officer on a scientific cruise ship in the Antarctic. You only have to get special permission if you want to take off more than 4 weeks at any one time. It is definitely a work-to-live environment.

Palmerston North is the butt of some jokes in NZ, probably because it's not on the coast and is set in flat farm land. There is some spectacular scenery close by, however, with 2 mountain ranges within 45 minutes drive and a great beach 20 minutes away. It is the friendliest place I have ever been. We rented a cottage in Hawkes Bay last week and never did see the owner, who lived down the street. I called him  when we were leaving and asked him how he wanted to be paid. He laughed and said just leave it under the cutlery. The lock didn't work and wasn't needed.

So far, then, so good. There are not many negatives. The cost of living is high, with grocery shopping usually ending at the check-out with sweaty palms and anxious checking of the bank balance, but we are living a much healthier life style and feeling the better for it. Our horizons have expanded. My next CME will be in Sydney, our next holiday will be a 2 week trip to the South Island in April, with other trips to Cambodia, China etc in early planning. Oh, and my malpractice insurance is $1200. Whats not to like? If you are the kind of person who frets about not being able to find the right pumpkin for Thanksgiving, this is probably not the right place for you, otherwise it's fantastic mate. No worries! We're off and laughing! (Kiwi for everything's OK).