January 31 - February 16, 2012 - Kitchen remodel

Last December, we worked with a renovation company to design a new kitchen. While we were on vacation earlier in January, the carpeting in the living/dining area plus the hallway was pulled up and tiles were laid instead.  This included taking the old tiles out of the family bathroom as well and adding under floor heating to the hallway and bathroom areas.  Then starting on Jan 31, the old kitchen was removed and the new cabinets were delivered and put into place.  Over the next two weeks, we watched as the cabinets were fully installed, the benchtops put in place, the electrician rewired the kitchen to install a new induction cooktop and double oven, the plumber connected the new sink and the old dishwasher (couldn't buy everything new), and finally the splash back tiles were installed.  The whole project was completed on Feb 16.  While the kitchen was out of commission, we ate take away and did dishes in the bathroom - it was well worth the inconvenience.

Rick has been in charge of putting all the pots & pans, dishes, foodstuffs, etc. back into the new kitchen. Cabinets have come a long way and now there are wire baskets that move forward to keep down the amount of forgotten products in the back rows.  And drawers now hold all the dishes and pots which in an earthquake active area, means less damage during the shaking.

The music in the video was recorded by my friend, Elly Leslie. It's a favorite of mine.

January 28, 2012 - Adrenalin Forest

Rick joined his friends George and James Kerse, Kurt and Jonathan Frauenstein, plus Galen Erickson for an adventure packed morning at the Adrenaline Forest.  It's a park with lots of cables, zip lines, safety harnesses (thank god), and everything is well elevated off the ground. They all had a great time and had sore muscles for several days to remind them of the good times.

James and George Kerse

Jonathan and Kurt Frauenstein

January 13-16, 2012 - Summer Holiday (Part 2)

On January 13, our friends (Ericksons and Kerses) started their holiday in Kaiteriteri. Being much braver than Rick and me, they stayed at a campground in a tent (Kerse) or a caravan (Erickson).  Their campground was full of other families from Chch and their kids had lots of friends to hang out with. We did a hike, visited George Kerse's sister + family, and then spent a day at the beach with all of them. Rick and I hiked to Harwood's Hole (no photos, battery was dead on camera) on Jan15. On the way home, we became part of the sheep herd on the road and then stopped at St James Walkway and did an out-and-back hike.  Lovely sights, amazing company, good food - just what a vacation should be about!

13-Jan-12: Felicia (in caravan) and Jay Erickson - setting up their campsite

13-Jan-12: Hardisty's tent during a rainy day picnic (Scott
Hardisty, Felicia & Sydney Erickson, Jess Hardisty)

14-Jan-12: Galen, James, George, and Jay on walk to Little Kaiteriteri

January 7-17, 2012 - Summer Holiday (Part 1)

We are currently in the Golden Bay area of New Zealand on holiday.  This is the northern most area of the South Island, across the Tasman Bay from Nelson.  There are incredible beaches, hills with caves, and great little towns. We haven't taken a vacation like this in a long time - one where we are booked into the same holiday camp for 9 nights. Usually we are moving on to a new location every 1-2 nights. It reminds us of vacations our families took when we were kids and we went to the cottage for 1-2 weeks. This holiday camp has lots of kids, tents, camper vans, activities, etc. We are in a self-contained unit which means we are living luxuriously with a bed, our own bathroom, TV, and a kitchen. The viewing out our front door is priceless as kids come and go to activities and ride their bikes in various groups. Here's a small recap of our holiday so far:
Sat 07-Jan-12: We drove to Takaka and spent the night with our friend, Tim Hughes. His driveway was washed out by the recent rains so we had to hike the 300 meter hill to his house.  It was great to catch up after not seeing him for a year.

Lynn, Rick, Neil (standing), Scott, Lindsey, Jess, Ben Hardisty at Wharariki Beach

Sun 08-Jan-12: We went to Wharariki Beach with friends (Neil, Lindsey, Ben, Jess, and Scott Hardisty) from Chch who are also vacationing in the area. It was overcast but pleasant and we spent a few hours so the tide could retreat and we could explore the caves.
Mon 09-Jan-12: We rode our bikes about 15 km to the resurgence of the Riwaka River. The river runs under the adjacent hills and then emerges into a deep clear pool of cold water. Neither of us was brave enough to jump in even though we were heated up from the ride.  Rick had a flat tire on the return so I did a long walk while Rick took my bike back to the camp to return with the car.  That evening, we joined one of my colleagues from my job at Nurse Maude for dinner.  It was a coincidence that they had scheduled to be in the same holiday park at the same time as us.

Rick at the entrance to the Resurgence of the Riwaka

Tues 10-Jan-12: Tim loaned us a great book of walks in the area so we spent several hours walking through the coastal hills from Stephens Bay to Little Kaiteriteri to Kaiteriteri Beach and back including lunch at Shoreline Cafe in Kaiteriteri.  There are some enormous holiday homes along with some classic basic baches (Kiwi for cottage).  The beaches are very inviting and in Kaiteriteri, the beaches were as crowded as we've ever seen one in NZ meaning there were more than 10 people on the whole beach. That night we biked into town to see the new Sherlock Holmes movie and I can actually recommend it even though I'm not a huge fan of Hollywood blockbuster movies.

Lynn on the coastal walk to Little Kaiteriteri Beach

Wed 11-Jan-12: The day was sunny and we couldn't resist the temptation to take a ferry into Abel Tasman National Park to do a hike. The ferry dropped us off at Torrent Bay and we hiked over coastal hills to Bark Bay where the ferry picked us up. It was a classic NZ hike with great views, lots of vegetation, birds, and rivers, a swing bridge with kayaks passing underneath, and a fair number of other hikers. We haven't done many of the most popular walks so normally it's just us and maybe one or two fellow hikers.  The track was very well maintained with large sections obviously cut away from the cliffs especially for the track.  It took us about 100 min to do the walk and then we had a nice lunch while waiting for the ferry. Unfortunately our internet connection at the holiday camp isn't good enough to upload videos.

Lynn & Rick on the Abel Tasman National Park track from Torrent Bay to Bark Bay