Nude Rugby

"Tackles were hard, but no player soft, as both sides went balls out to claim a victory."

Only in New Zealand.

All I can say is "ouch"! But I would have loved to have been there on the sidelines gazing at the dangly bits and pieces and laughing my ass off. Enjoy!

Tunnel Track

A 20 degree day (68 degrees for those of you who are Celsius impaired) on the eve of the Solstice allowed us a hike on the Tunnel Track at Godley Head. Miss M brought along Larry the Lobster and her torch for her treacherous, muddy journey down through the tunnel.

New Zealand germs

Okay, New Zealand. I have a bit of a bone to pick with you.

What gives with the germs? The snotty, mucus-inducing ones? The coughing, wheezy ones? The stomach cramping and puking ones? The achy, feverish ones?

Out, out with you!!!!

Evidently, this is a common ex-pat phenomenon, these unrelenting new kiwi germs that seem to take up shop in the bodies of new immigrants.

But really, I have to say, we have had our share of these germs over the last 3 months. And we are done with them, thank you. Time for them to move along....

Geek moment

Did you know that this guy


played an elf (named "Figwit") in Lord of the Rings?


Geek moment over. You may now return to your regularly scheduled programming.

Laundry revisited

Laundry drying on the line. How beautiful it is! The vibrant colors! How it blows gently in the wind! How eco-friendly to be using the sun instead of a tumble dryer which eats up energy and creates waste! And the divine smell of the sun permeating from your clothes! It is all so romantic isn't it?

A few weeks after our arrival in New Zealand, I mentioned that I was still ambivalent about the lack of a tumble dryer but that I was endeavoring to be positive and give it a go.

Yeah, well, the ambivalence is gone now. I really, really miss my tumble dryer and think that line-drying laundry kinda...well,er, um........ TOTALLY SUCKS.

Consider the weather we are having right now.



Drying laundry for a family of 4 (with two of those people being small children who have multiple changes of clothes) inside on a drying rack is a challenge. And consider the fact that houses in NZ tend to be on the colder side with no central heating which means it can take a couple of days to dry and we get heaps of condensation on our single paned windows. And the laundry smells a bit musty and it tends to be wrinkly and has a "crunchy" texture to it which I am not fond of.

We do have a dryer in our rental but a) it is quite ancient and not terribly good at its job and b) electricity is astronomically expensive here so I am loathe to use it much. However, the last few miserable, rainy, stormy, cold days have driven me to use the dryer a bit despite its limitations and despite our looming electric bill. The towels felt so soft and fluffy which only made me long for my old energy wasting, unaesthetic and purely American laundry facilities even more.

So much for being eco-friendly and PC. I want my tumble dryer!!!!!

Giddy...

for the new Crowded House album and the prospect of seeing them live here in New Zealand.

Crowded House - Saturday Sun from Crowded House on Vimeo.

Maori culture in everyday life

Every other week, Miss M's school has an open assembly where they sing and present awards to students for good behaviour, learning and sport accomplishments and other noteworthy deeds. The assembly is always started off with singing the New Zealand national anthem. It is first sung in Maori and then in English (and by a few, in NZ sign language). These are the 3 official languages of New Zealand (Aotearoa). Here is the first verse to the anthem:

Māori Version

E Ihowā Atua,
O ngā iwi mātou rā
Āta whakarangona;
Me aroha noa
Kia hua ko te pai;
Kia tau tō atawhai;
Manaakitia mai
Aotearoa

English Version

God of Nations at Thy feet,
In the bonds of love we meet,
Hear our voices, we entreat,
God defend our free land.
Guard Pacific's triple star
From the shafts of strife and war,
Make her praises heard afar,
God defend New Zealand.

This isn't the best video so skip it if you like. You can see one of the teachers and some of the children doing the sign language version of the anthem which is cool:

Miss M got a "Principal's Award" today for "excellent story writing" and so she was presented with a special sparkly pencil:


Miss M doesn't watch a whole lot of TV but some days after school we will let her turn it on to watch cartoons. Lately, though, I find her clicking through the channels to find the Maori channel (yep! There is one!) and she will sit and watch kids programs or a cultural program in Maori and she is just utterly fascinated.

She continues to learn some Maori at school and I hear her singing songs in Maori at home. How cool is that?