Learning to Surf in Raglan

Andrew and I have been enjoying the incredible experience of learning to surf in Raglan, NZ through Surf Safe. While the other surf schools have 20+ students, Steve, our coach, has had small, personal classes that have allowed us to get more out of the experience and learn a lot more quickly. Plus, his boards are in better condition and easier to learn on!

We signed up for a five day surf course. We had done a single day course in California a few years back and loved it, but it really didn't do much to teach us the actual sport of surfing. The first three days of our five day course have included learning the mechanics of surfing, how to read the ocean, tide charts, and rip currents, and how to actually progress in the sport. He has also let us experiment with different sizes of boards to find the size/shape that works best for us at the moment. Right now I am using a 10 foot long soft top foam board, while Andrew has progressed to a 9 foot fiberglass board. I'm still working on my balance!

Steve has also been very accommodating with time, frequently extending lessons if the surfing is good. We still have two days of lessons left and he suggested that, since we have the time, we should wait for good surfing days with good waves and decent weather. I'm certainly alright with that!

I managed to get standing on our first day of lessons, which I think is quite the accomplishment! Surfing is a very physical sport though and my shoulders were definitely sore from all the paddling after our paddling lessons.

If you are thinking about learning to surf, I would consider focusing on pushing strength, balance exercises, and doing a lot of swimming. Once you have had one lesson, practicing your preferred pop-up technique on land can help you nail your balance and landing on the board. I hadn't realized there were so many different techniques for going from laying on a surfboard to standing! Steve showed us four, then suggested that if are still struggling that we look on Youtube for other ideas and find one that works best for us before our next lesson.

For a basic surfing exercise routine that doesn't require a gym, I would recommend:

• 2 x 20 burpees
• 2 x 20 squats
• 2 x 20 lunges
• 2 x 30s hold superman
• 2 x 30s hold plank

I would also strongly recommend doing lessons with a registered surf coach as it has really helped Andrew and I progress faster and more safely than if we had tried to teach ourselves.

Happy 2016!

Fresh Made Pavlova 

Catan!

 Happy New Year's from New Zealand!

Andrew and I had a great time celebrating New Year's with our friends near Te Puke. We are staying at a friend's mother's house for the holiday season as she was kind enough to invite us. It has been great feeling like part of the family and has really helped us to not feel homesick over the holidays.

I am still having a hard time adapting to the fact that the holidays take place in the middle of summer. We enjoyed a nice picnic in the park last night after seeing a movie, which is something that you just can't do at home for New Year's unless you want to picnic in a foot of snow wearing multiple layers.

Midnight at New Year's

We had a very enjoyable New Year's Eve and New Year's day. I'm not sure if it was just the family that we are staying with, but New Year's was a very relaxed affair, with not everyone staying up until midnight! We splashed in the pool, enjoyed a game of Catan with our friends, had some fresh baked Pavlova, and sipped on some lovely blooming tea.

Blooming Tea

I hadn't heard of pavlova before coming to New Zealand, but it is a fairly popular dessert here. It is a very special meringue-type treat that has to be cooked and cooled just right for the pie-sized dessert to rise and fall perfectly for the ideal crispy and chewy texture. It is then usually topped with whatever fresh fruit is in season and some whipped cream.

It was a bit strange to be a full year ahead of our family and friends, as it was odd to get messages of 'Happy New Year!' at 8pm New Year's day for us (midnight at home).

Hot weather!

We hope that 2016 is happy, healthy, and adventurous for all our family and friends back home!

Goat Island Marine Reserve

Goat Island

Andrew and I had the unique opportunity while we were at Matakana to visit the Goat Island Marine Reserve. I say unique because, unlike many other marine reserves, this one is just off the coast. It seemed like such a strange thing to just grab our snorkels, walk down to the ocean, jump in, and swim to an island!

Blue Maomoa

The marine reserve opened in 1975 and includes 518 hectares of coast between Cape Rodney and Okakari Point. There is a neat laboratory from the University of Auckland where we could go explore, learn about the fish that we would see, and touch some crayfish.

I was repeatedly told I was absolutely crazy for swimming without a wetsuit, but the water was a balmy 17C when we went. Andrew and I snorkeled for about 90 minutes. It only took us about ten minutes to swim out to the island and there was interesting fish including snapper and blue maomao to see along the way. At one point I even got to follow an eagle ray for a bit!

Andrew Underwater

On the way back an easterly came up and started a bit of a current at the surface that pushed Andrew and I a bit. Thankfully we are both fairly strong swimmers and managed to make it back without too much difficulty.

Fish in Kelp

The rocks on shore were fun to run around as well. There were interesting rock formations and soft sand to play on. The beach was fairly crowded though since it is summer vacation! What a place to spend a few days of a kids summer camp though.

Goat Island Reserve

Christmas in Te Puke

We are very grateful for our host mom, Colleen, for inviting us to spend Christmas with her and her family.

Zoolander Cuddling

Kiwi Chocolates

Andrew and I decided to keep some of our family traditions from home and exchange pajamas the night before Christmas and do stockings from Santa Christmas morning. We kept everything in our room and exchanged gifts in the morning before breakfast.

I got a new surf shirt! I'm excited to try it next month when we learn to surf at Raglan. The families were all quite generous and we had a few gifts to open, even at our hosts Christmas tree. There hadn't been a Christmas tree set up, so Andrew and I created a tree from clippings we had made in the garden. It really felt like a ten year old going "If I can't find a tree, I'll make one instead!".  After we were done with gifts, we played a few Christmas themed games, had lunch outside, then relaxed in the pool for awhile. We finished off the night with dessert and board games.

New Surf Shirt! Now to learn to surf

Happy Christmas to all our family and friends!

Andrew's Stocking

Late Night Catan

Gluten Free Croissants

Liz's Stocking

Christmas Tree

Pool Frisbee

Pool Time!

Hot Tub Time

Ocean, Beautiful Gardens, and Pool

Tauranga

Tauranga Art

Andrew Balancing

Christmas Tree!

Christmas Tree with Palm Tree

Gold Mine

Andrew and I took the opportunity while we were driving down from Matakana to Te Puke to stop in Tauranga and other random points of interest along the way.

While driving through Auckland to meet Robin, do some shopping, and pick up our mail, we found some Christmas decorations finally! Wandering random back streets near Queen street I found some pretty Christmas baubles, then we saw the Santa on the storefront in Auckland. Quite impressive!

L&P, A Popular NZ Soda

Christmas Baubles

Driving through Paeroa we found out where L&P comes from. It is a New Zealand soda that tastes somewhat along the lines of Sprite and Ginger Ale. Of course I had to do a handstand in front of the giant bottle! Yes, of course Hoppity and Shecky had to balance on my feet! It was a fun stop.

Santa in Auckland

Once in Tauranga we parked and did some shopping at The Strand, which is basically an open air mall along the boardwalk. It was certainly a quite pleasant way to do some Christmas shopping without dealing with any crowds! It was definitely a pleasant day.

Christmas Baking in Te Puke

Sugar Cookies

Me Making Sugar Cookies

Andrew and I are very grateful to our host mom for letting us make a bunch of cookies in her kitchen. She was quite happy to provide the space, provided that we share the results with her!

Andrew and I each have family recipes that date back several generations that we are quite happy to make each year. It just didn't feel like Christmas without them! I made Scottish shortbread and Sugar Cookies. Andrew made French Sour Cream Cookies.

Sour Cream Cookies

All the recipes called for softened butter. Usually at home for Christmas baking that requires us to put the butter on a heat register or in the microwave. Here though, I just tossed it in a metal bowl and set it outside for a few minutes. Christmas baking in summer certainly has a few advantages! The Sour Cream cookies usually have a few lumps of butter, but it was very smooth this time.

We haven't managed to find any eggnog in New Zealand, so Andrew found a recipe that sounded good and tried making it. It actually turned out really well! We are looking forward to introducing our host and her family to eggnog for the first time so we are quite glad that it turned out.

Now it is time to go enjoy the treats!

Andrew Making Sour Cream Cookies

Liz Making Scottish Shortbread

WWOOF and Kayaking in Matakana

View towards the ocean

For the past ten days, Andrew and I have been doing some WWOOFing at a nice place in Matakana. It has been quite different from our previous experiences. We work 4 hours per day, on average, with our hours being flexible (so if we work 8 hours one day, we can take the next day off). We prepare our own meals and our hosts either provide the food or pay us back for our groceries. It's been quite a pleasant experience!

Gardens on the property

We also have our own 'house' basically. Our own bathroom, bedroom, kitchen, and living space that is completely separate from their space. At first it seemed a bit odd, but it has been quite pleasant to have our own space that is a bit larger than the campervan. I was so excited to sleep in a real bed the first night here!

Pretty Flowers

The work has been mainly gardening, gardening, and more gardening. Pulling weeds, laying down mulch, pruning trees, and tending to the nearly 10 acres of gardens and orchards. The first day I spent crawling around on my knees spreading mulch and fertilizer underneath plants for 4 hours in the rain I wasn't too fond of the work, but it hasn't been too difficult. I've been quite enjoying spending the days enjoying the sun, listening to audio books, and doing some gardening.

Front Door Garden

It wasn't feeling much like Christmas and I was upset and missing home the other day. Andrew wanted to cheer me up, so he went and grabbed the solar Christmas lights from our campervan and put them up for me. We then proceeded to spend the rest of the night watching Christmas specials. I have such a sweet husband!

Christmas Lights

Living Room

Our hosts have 4 kayaks: 2 long ocean kayaks and two three meter play kayaks. One of the mornings was perfect for a kayak so they invited us to join them. They made sure that we had the lay of the water and knew where to go, then left us to enjoy our morning paddle while they, with their longer boats, explored further. It was a very pleasant day and we had fun paddling along the shore. I had forgotten how much more buoyant salt water is and how stable it makes kayaking! We paddled past a nice looking golf course, under a bridge where there are usually eagle rays, and along some beautiful properties. We saw a school of fish jumping, which looked really odd at first. It took me a few moments to figure out what the silver flashes at the surface of the water were.

A Real Bed

We've really enjoyed our time here in Matakana, exploring the markets, vineyards, cinema, gardens, and shoreline of the area. Andrew and I are looking forward to our next adventures and finally heading south of Auckland!

Matakana Market

Pottery from Medicine Hat

The market on Saturdays in Matakana is quite well known in New Zealand. After having no less than five people tell my husband and I that we needed to attend said market, we decided to get up early Saturday morning and go. There are actually two separate markets; one with crafts and one for food and produce.

Buffalo Cheese

Craft Apple Cider

We started in the craft market because it happened to be the closest to where we had parked. So many interesting items to explore! We picked up a nice gift for the 'Sneaky Santa' for Christmas morning and admired all of the unique artifacts. We found good tea! This may not seem exciting, but I have been searching for good loose leaf tea since we got to New Zealand and finally found some. She even had every tea made hot so that I was able to sample the ones I thought I'd like. I had thought to get one tea, but then Andrew found one he liked, and we both found a third that we really wanted...so we ended up getting three new bags of tea. We both really enjoy having tea a fair bit since neither of us drinks coffee though. Especially in the campervan some mornings can still be a bit chilly so a hot cup of tea is nice.

Meat Pie Lunch

We wandered into an antiques stall since they usually have interesting artifacts to admire. It is definitely a small world! Years ago Andrew and I visited the Medalta Potteries in Medicine Hat, which is quite famous in the area. We found jars from Medicine Hat here at the antiques store. It might be a good thing that we don't have a house or it would have been very tempting to pick them up.

From the crafts market we wandered down the road to the food market. No dogs are allowed, so there were a couple of ladies on a park bench near the entrance just minding dogs. I thought it was a very neat idea and quite convenient for people with pets.

Andrew enjoying lunch

Fresh Strawberries and Cream

The food market was incredible. Since there is so much fresh produce available, each stall had its own little niche market. We tried buffalo cheese and buffalo yogurt. There was an assortment of wonderful hot sauces (of which we picked up the berry hot, which is VERY hot). The hot sauces start off sweet and finish with a nice chili hot.

We tried an assortment of craft beers and ciders too. Craft ciders aren't nearly as sweet as the apple cider that most stores sell, which is quite nice. We picked up meat pies (they had gluten free dairy free meat pies!) and sat by the river listening to the live music and enjoying our lunch. On the way out, Andrew and I picked up some fresh produce to have with dinner. Well, I guess it was more dessert. Hard to resist vine ripened strawberries and fresh cream!