Antarctic Museum in Christchurch

We went to a fantastic museum in Christchurch, which is the closest port to Antarctica. The museum shows life on Antarctica for the researchers (and penguins) who stay there as well as the quest for the people trying (and succeeding) to get there. 

They also had  penguins that we saw being fed. The penguins they keep at the museum are either wounded or born with deformities so they couldn't survive in the wild. Thanks to these penguins they can do research to learn more about life on Antarctica.

In one room they recreated a wind storm with the cold and the wind. You had to borrow warm jackets and boots and inside the area there was even a little slope that the kids could slide down before the storm took off. An igloo made for a nice wind shelter. The storm lasted for 7 minutes but felt much longer.

In another room the four seasons at Antarctica was recreated complete with an actual snow fall!

And of course there was a thrill ride. My rule of thumb is to avoid anything with the word terror in it so I stayed behind while the rest of the family went on Swedish "Hägglund" vehicles on the "wall of terror". Sometimes I wonder about my family. They all went twice!

Christchurch

We spent two days in Christchurch which is a really great city. Lots of backpackers, cool art stores and the first Starbucks we've seen in along time (= happy Stina.) After cooking our own food or making sandwiches for a while we treated ourselves to some sushi here. 

The tram is a fun way to see the town.

The holiday park we stayed at had a pool with water slide, bikes to borrow and big slides to play on. Bob bought the first of Swedish author Stieg Larsson's Millenium books so he's happy reading. (Great books that are now translated to English). So again, everyone's happy!

Not much internet access, though, so I am writing this on the ferry between the South and North islands. I can see out the window and the landscape is absolutely beautiful.

A Day at the Beach

r

New Zealand is breath takingly beautiful! We spent the day at Kaikoura beach and saw sun bathing seals up front. 

Tonight we're watching Lord of the Rings which was filmed here in NZ. I can see why!

Shearing Sheep in Kaikoura

Today we saw a sheering of a sheep here in Kaikoura.

There are 34 million sheep in NZ, that is 10 sheep to every person. That's a lot of sheep!

The record of shearing sheep is 560 in 8 hours! The guy who sheared the sheep today said he did it in slow-motion, which was 3 minutes!!

The kids loved the dog: Jed, and thinks we should get one when we get home:)

Going to the South Island

This morning we woke up and drove to Wellington. We didn't see much of New Zealand's capital since we were catching a ferry over to the South Island. The three hour long boat ride was beautiful.

Now we're in Kaikoura where we are enjoying a stay in a Holiday park with an adventure play ground, swimming pool and wireless internet. What more could you ask for? Did I mention that there are several wineries in the area too? I think we are going to like it here.

Rotorua

Rotorua was high on the kids' wish list for things to do in NZ. The main reason was that their cousin Katrice had told them about something called Zorbing. It's where you climb into a giant water filled ball and gets pushed down a hill. Sounds like fun? Apparently it is, even if I could think of many things I'd rather do! The kids absolutely loved it. It was pretty expensive but they even went a second time paying for it with their souvenir money. Experiences and memories are the best souvenirs so I think that was a good choice since that clearly was one of the high lights of the trip so far.

Another high light was when we went on luges down a mountain. First we took a gondola ride up and then we could choose three different paths to go down. We all went down several times and it was a lot of fun!

Ruakuri and Waitomo Caves

This morning after breakfast we drove 4 km to the famous Waitomo glow worm caves. We didn't know they even existed but there are people here from all over the world. Yesterday at dinner we met three young Swedish guys from Örebro!

The caves are absolutely amazing. With our guide Hop we went on a 2 km long walk under ground and saw all these lime stone formations and all over little lights that were light worms. They are actually maggots but that didn't sound good in a advertising kind of way so they call them worms instead.  We also went on a little boat ride, everyone was  completely silent and all the light we could see was the light worms. Very cool!

Bye for now from an internet cafe in Waitomo (population 50, two (!) rugby teams)

New Zealand

Yesterday morning we left Fiji early in the morning and arrived in Auckland around lunch time. We flew in a 747 which was less than half full so we could stretch out.

Once in Auckland we picked up our little mini van. Bob explained to the kids that we will be driving on the wrong side of the road. No, you will be driving on the left side of the road, corrected the rental car guy. Oops!

It's a little scary driving on the LEFT side of the road, I have to say. Bob is doing a great job, but our mantra is to all say drive on the left every time we get in the car.

We found a little bed and breakfast in Waitomo, Big Bird B&B. It's an ostrich farm and we got to meet the ostriches. The owner, Ann, told us that they are fast but not very smart, their eyes are bigger than their brains! They also had ponies that the kids got to ride on.

This morning we woke up to fresh bakes bread and fruit salad, ready for new adventures!

Fishing Fun in Fiji

Bob and the kids have been out fishing two days in a row now. Nick caught one fish yesterday and Clara caught two today! Supposedly the resort keeps the fish and cooks it for dinner so maybe we'll eat some tonight! The fishing guide's name is Koko and he now has an invitation to come visit Seattle. He or any of his 7 kids!

Tonight is our last night here in Fiji and we'll make the most out of it. We spent the day swimming and kayaking and right now Bob and the kids are playing mini golf and then we're off to a fire lighting ceremony then dinner and then the "mandatory" kids disco.

Time goes so fast and I can't believe that tomorrow at this time we'll be in New Zealand. My father-in-law always says that you are only limited by your imagination and we're living that saying right now.

Thank you all for reading! We miss you!

See you in NZ!

More Fiji

Only two more days in Fiji and the kids do not want to leave. We have experienced so much. More "real" Fiji culture than I thought we would considering that we are staying in a resort. I always like to go to a grocery store when I am in a new country and we did that one day which was interesting.

We also really enjoyed the visit to the Fiji school. The kids there sang to us and we even got to peek into one of their classrooms. The kids had uniforms but not all had shoes. When it rains bad the kids have to go home. Most of the kids walk far to get to school. There are three different languages in Fiji and one of them is English. To get your diploma you have to pass English. All higher education is taught in English. Tourism is the biggest industry so English naturally is very important. Everyone on our bus brought school supplies for the students.

Bob can't stay away from the Kavu, but hasn't done anything crazy yet (not more crazy than usual that is!)

We said good bye to our Australian friends today but hope to see them in Sydney. The kids had a lot of fun with the Holmes family as did we. The kids went on a Banana boat ride together and last night we all went to a Fire Dance performance (amazing!) as well as a Fijian feast with great food that was cooked under ground, very tasty.

Now I think I'll head to the pool for a swim!