Windy Wellington, Waitomo Caves, and Gloworms

Please excuse my lapse in blogging. I have not forgotten how to blog. There have been some technical difficulties. The Internet connection at our Kiwi house had slowed to crawl for the past 2 weeks. Plus, we have been travelling over the past weekend. However, the true culprit may have been the Hawkeyes. Our Internet minutes(10G limit/month)were gobbled up in downloading the Hawk football games. Life is good, now. We have our high speed Internet connection back.

Thanksgiving in NZ means football and turkey w/ the ex-patriots. The last two weekends have been full of turkey and the fixins for us. In Oakura, there was a holiday celebration with sixty Americans. The following weekend, we packed our bags and we headed south for a ten hour round trip. An American child psychiatrist (formerly from the University of Iowa) was hosting 20 friends for Thanksgiving in "windy Wellington". It felt like we were driving to grandma and grandpa's house, only half way around the world. Gabe played real football with the Americans and he jumped on an outdoor trampoline--Just like we were back home.

It was a small world. At the celebration in Wellington, we met another adult psychiatrist from the Midwest. He and his family of four (including 3 teenage boys) from MN are living in NZ for a 12 month medical assignment. Al had used the same placement firm and he had interviewed for a similar medical position in Wellington. It was just like looking at our own faces, only they had been in NZ since June.


We have been doing the typical Kiwi tourist things, including visiting caves, art galleries, museums. We spent one day at Waitomo Caves (wait = water, tomo = hole). In this elaborate underground network of caves and sink holes, we saw the famous glowworms of NZ. The sparks of light from these NZ "fireflies" and the feeding of the long finned eels that live in the nearby stream with our Maori guide were the highlights. In typical Kiwi fashion, we stopped for tea and biscuits(cookies).

In Wellington, New Zealand's capital city, we stayed in the downtown Holiday Inn (a recognizable American name). We were one block away from the bustling port and within walking distance of various museums. During our brief stay, we managed to find time for several side trips, including two museums, a 60 acre bird reserve, and an art gallery. My favorite site was Te Papa Tongarewa-The National Museum of New Zealand. Al was happy as we spent several hours at Karori Sanctuary to view the exotic and endangered birds of NZ. Gabe discovered he enjoyed the modern art exhibit of Yayoi Kusama. As expected, there was grumbling and tired feet as we tried to see it all.

In Dec, there will be more adventures for us. We will have a Kiwi Christmas holiday with Alec and Emily during their college breaks. We are thinking of you all during the Christmas season.

Picasa is not being friendly and refuses to share my photos with Blogger. If ya have time, view our pictures on the web album.