Devo Family Road Trip

Gran, Thomas and Amy starting the road trip in Dunedin

 
For Christmas we decided to treat Gran to a few days in Dunedin. She was keen on going in order to check out the Casino and the new butterfly exhibit at the museum which was the talk of the retirement village! So we packed into Gran's car with way too much luggage and a chilly bin full of Christmas food, and drove down the coast stopping a few times to look at the ocean. Once in Dunedin, we walked around a bit, Amy and Gran went to the butterfly exhibit, and got up close and personal with hundreds of butterflies. Only later did we learn that Gran killed an innocent butterfly by accident while grabbing for the handrail. Smoosh. Whoops.

Amy and Gran had an afternoon at the casino, but eventually Amy left Gran to it, and we both went to the Otago Settlers Museum, trying on 1800s couture and looking at the very cool exhibits of the early settlement of Otago. We stopped off in St. Clair's on the way out, and soon we were off through Central Otago for Queenstown.

 
After our 'Christmas Extravaganza', we headed off in the convoy including the three of us in Gran's car, and mum and dad in their rental, headed towards Haast. We had a wee stop in Wanaka, stopped for views around Lake Wanaka and walked to the Blue Pools. The rain was coming down hard that night, but we made it to our hotel early enough to grab dinner and a beer, and then head down to Haast beach. We popped our way into one of the many beach driveways only to surprise a woman who was standing naked by her car. It was the highlight of Haast.

Up the coast we continued, through Bruce Bay, and on to the Glaciers. Around this time, Thomas started coming down with some strange tummy bug, and the real bugs were coming out in record numbers. It became a matter of life and death how fast you could get in and out of the car, and how few sand flies would be let in. None of us succeeded very well.

 


We stopped at both glaciers, and did a walk up to the base of both of them as well. At the first, Thomas, Amy and Steve walked up the steep trail leading to Fox Glacier, and we were all surprised by how significantly it had receded.

We stopped for lunch at Franz Josef Glacier, but this time only Thomas and Amy continued on to walk up to the glacier. Even more shocking than Fox, the trail to the base led us over part of the ice which was covered by rocks. We tried to remember what it was like the last time we were both here in 2012, and again what it looked like back when we both originally came in 2006 and 2010. Amy had done a walking tour in 2010, and only five years later, you can no longer walk onto either of the glaciers because the terminal faces are too unstable. We were really blown away with the transformation of the once monumental 'rivers of ice', and truly saddened at the state of the glaciers, and really urge all to visit the Coast and check out the glaciers while they are still around.

Thomas walking along some ice sheet. No Big Deal.

We spent that night in Greymouth. After some pizza, and a few cheeky drinks, we all walked to the beach and threw some stones and turned a log of wood into a bat and smashed some rocks out to sea with a few good whacks.

Breathtaking Arthur's Pass

 The last leg of our Devo Family Road Trip involved a detour around Lake Brunner, then through Arthur's Pass National Park, over Porter's Pass and back across the Canterbury Plains. Mum and dad spent a week in Christchurch, where we took them around to our favourite drinking establishments, cooked them yummy meals, showed off some mad windsurfing skills and played more games. It was a fantastic way to end off 2014, and to ring in the new year.

Devo Family on the Canterbury Plains

Queenstown Christmas Extravaganza

Pretty Picturesque Queenstown

It nearly seems a bit silly writing this as most who read our blog were there with us, as we spent a few days over Christmas in the beautiful Queenstown. Obviously missing Charlotte, Mike and the little one or was it ones at that point?! We did have a jolly old time with the family over Christmas and had the inclusion of some McDs for the holiday, McDonnells that is, the only burgers that were eaten were Fergs!

Jacks Point Golf Course

We had the mad big posse so had to split up to fit in all our activities over the four nights we were all in town together. On the first afternoon, the boys- Thomas, John and Papa-Devo headed out for a round of golf and had a good old Devo-Off. I tell ya, I had John worried after the first two holes as I  was in the lead. With his knowledge of the course, he had an obvious advantage and took the win by a few shots. Thomas did take the shot of the day managing to land the ball a good 30 meters behind him after a big tee-shot/rebound off a questionably placed rock. I really enjoyed the course, definitely the most scenic I have played on and a perfect of a day for it. Dad struggled with a few shots, once again complaining about his back. Those shots he played did still smoke us in accuracy, good-on-ya dad.

Family Frisbee

Meanwhile the ladies of Queenstown had ventured off on a boat ride across the lake on the Earnslaw, the 100+ year-old, coal-steam-fired boat, which at the time we could see making its way out across Lake Wakatipu from where we were golfing. They enjoyed the cruise and an ice cream. From the middle of the lake I imagine one would feel quite insignificant, surrounded by the Remarkables, Cecil Peak,  Ben Lomond and the rest.

Tucker Beach Disc Golf Course

The bro-off continued with rounds of Disc Golf at the Queenstown Botanic Gardens and Tucker Beach courses. Some pretty epic disc golf went down. Amy did fantastically and took out the women's competition with two unchallenged victories, and the bros took one win each. John in town and Thomas out on the banks of the Shotover River. 

Christmas Morning

We had the mad chilled Christmas day. Hosted by John and Kel at their lakeside apartment. There was definitely no shortage of food, course after course to the highest caliber. Well done John and all others that contributed. We had a good wee session of presents in the morning, always good to see we're not growing out of that tradition. Mum and Dad played the cheapskate/sensible card and re-gifted us all our possessions that we had ditched on them since leaving home as well as all the remaining family nicknack sort of possessions. Pretty funny really. We had a little knock around of the cricket ball out on the driveway, until Amy played a strong defensive shot to the onside and hit the ball clean on the roof, spoil sport, great shot though. We played some games and had a good old family time really. The family portraits were taken down by the lake with the fair background of the Remarkables. 

 
As we did everyday while we were in town, Dad, John and myself all jumped in the lake for a bit of a swim around. Was bloody cold, but manageable and refreshing. We pulled out Johns old windsurfing board and gave it a go as a stand up paddle board. It was particularly narrow, so it was very wobbly underfoot. I was able to balance quite well on it and made it out to the middle of the lake, the others were not quite so successful.

On Boxing Day, The Bros, Dad and Amy made a cool afternoon trip up the Remarks to Lake Alta. It was a very familiar spot to us young ones but with an unusual summer twist. Last time I was up Lake Alta we were dropping cliffs and hiking through a foot of powder. Was a bit strange to see the stark opposite landscape. The beautiful water was too temping so I got my naked on and took a cool plunge. Gota bring the steeze, with an epic dive. There was still some snow around, and Amy was excited to make a snowman and have a wee snowball fight, reminding her of Winter Christmas back in the Northern Hemisphere. 

 Family

Foggy Peak

The view from Foggy Peak

Thomas had suggested that we walk up Castle Hill Peak one weekend. I thought that sounded like a nice Sunday afternoon activity. Just going for a nice drive through the Canterbury Plains, and a casual walk up some hills to a lovely view. Little did I know, that my out of shape body would be put through a bit of a rough time, walking two hours up a steep mountain face, with no trees, no bush or anything sheltering me from the beating sun, and just a few tussocks and stones to catch my stride-or rather my shuffling feet. I made excuses to stop every so often, and take some photos, and to be honest, the view, as always, was worth it.

 
Having been away for about a year, I loved the idea of going for a drive. We left fairly early, around 9am, and had lovely views from the road. Passing Porters Ski Field and other places.

There were a few cars parked on the side of the road below Foggy and Castle Hill Peak. We placed Thomas' work ute along side the other cars and took our obligatory pre-tramp photo.

Lets do this!

To my surprise, there wasn't any real track to begin with. So a few other people and ourselves started off, but taking different routes. Some went to the left, we went to the right, and occasionally we'd cross paths and then keep on. Some times we walked through tussocks, other times it was just scree slopes. The scree bits usually had paths, but due to the angle, there were occasionally a few rock slides beneath our feet. It was incredible being on the side of the hill with the Southern Alps in the background, Lake Lyndon in the foreground and blue sky as far as you can see. 

As soon as it looked like we were at the top, it was just trick, and instead the peak was always in the distance, seemingly not within reach. I couldn't really bare the idea of going further to Castle Hill Peak, so we agreed we'd stop at Foggy Peak, and enjoy the views from there. We got to the top, elated at completing the hike, surprised that we were all alone, and in awe of the surrounding mountains and the view they provided us.

Stunning New Zealand

It was a peaceful place to have our lunch of avocado and cheese sandwiches and I even pulled out our well used Santa hats and we took our Christmas card photo. We seemed to be there forever, enjoying the stillness and the peace. Another couple arrived, and shortly after we decided to make our descent.

I thought the walk up was hard, but going down proved to be even harder. It wasn't as exhausting, but the sheer steepness of the mountain caused us to slip and slide and it put strain on my knees in particular. At least this time, we were facing the Canterbury Plains and the Southern Alps and had stunning views, when you weren't looking down at where you were walking.

We were happy to have completed our casual Sunday afternoon "walk" in just three hours. Thomas then had the idea of going on an adventure over to Lake Lyndon, where we stopped and had afternoon tea of fruit. Not a bad place to sit and relax, and rest our legs. We saw cars arriving from another road around the side of the lake, and Thomas decided we should follow that road around and see where it goes. The road winded around the mountains, with views of other lakes and hills, and soon we ended up at Lake Collerage. We parked our car, walked to the beach there, and sat, again all alone, enjoying the view.

We made our way back to Christchurch the long way, but really the whole day was an adventure. As is everyday in the lives of Thomas and Amy.

Merry Christmas!

Lake Daniells

Lake Daniells

Back in early November, Cantabrians had a long weekend due to the A&P Show in town, and it just so happened to be Amy's second weekend back in the country. So, like everyone else in the Christchurch area, we decided to spend the long weekend tramping. We invited our good friends Euan and Natalie along. They're good company, but also the fact that they had a car was a plus! We decided on an easy, casual tramp to Lake Daniells. We'd been here once before together, but in the middle of winter and at that time the entire place was secluded and peaceful. This time, being the long weekend, and the beginning of Summer, it was a bit different. 

 

We stopped at a few look out points during the drive, and walked around the top of Lewis Pass, which lead us to this stunning view, and in through the bush. We were surprised to see only a handful of cars at the start of the Lake Daniells track, and thought that was a good sign that there wouldn't be too many trampers, but it was only 11am. Thomas had the brilliant idea of bringing in his inflatable stand-up paddle board, and although it packed into his rucksack okay, it still proved to be very heavy and to everyone's surprise, Thomas was slowly trailing behind us the whole walk in.

      

There were already a few groups of people when we arrived at the hut 2 hours and 15 minutes later. So we quickly laid out our things, claimed beds, and then sat overlooking the lake for lunch. Thomas' paddle board actually turned out to be brilliant, and we each had a turn paddling around the lake.

Amy paddle boarding

As we were hanging out at the lake and on the jetty, plenty more groups arrived. Soon enough the hut was full, so some slept in the kitchen area, and others pitched tents! There were heaps of families with young children, understandable as its an achievable tramp for young and eager kiwis wanting to get outdoors. We decided to find our own slice of seclusion and headed off into the woods, and found an old fire pit site. So we collected wood, made a fire, and roasted our sausages for dinner, marshmallows for dessert and just enjoyed the tranquility of the forest.

We woke to a cooked breakfast by Thomas before he headed off for another paddle out on the lake. We let many of the groups start off first, then we packed up and were off.  It was a quick trip away, but spending the time with good friends, with good views is what tramping is all about. 

los cuatro mejores amigos

Together Again in Christchurch

Thomas rocking it in the estuary

Well it took over three months, but we managed to get Amy's visa all sorted out, and to get her over here, right in time for Guy Fawke's night fireworks on New Brighton Beach. For Amy's arrival I had made sure my wood working goal of building a bed out of pallets was accomplished, as I wasn't sure she was keen on sleeping on a mattress on the floor. With a just a few days to spare I got it all knocked together and looks, well, rustic is the word I would use.

Amy spent a few of the first days acclimating herself back into NZ life and had a few outings with Gran and easily managed to get back relief substitute teaching for her old agency. She also had a few days work helping our friend B-rain out with his organic beverage company, at the A&P show doing samples and endorsing the product. Was a bonus as she got a chance to walk around the show and see a bit of NZ farming culture sorta stuff while working.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Another year of traveling, another Thanksgiving overseas. Amy has gotten good at hosting the holiday, and she spent the entire day before preparing dinner and dessert. With our American friend Natalie here for Thanksgiving as well, we decided to have a good old American gathering. Amy made her Greek Pastitsio, her grandma's broccoli casserole and her mother's baked sweet potatoes and I made roast chicken and roast veggies. All our flatmates came out for the back yard Thanksgiving and Natalie and her partner Euan joined too. Natalie brought a salad, cranberry sauce and wine. For dessert Amy made a pumpkin pie, a pineapple coconut carrot cake, and cranberry white chocolate cookies went down a treat to go along with Euan's extremely impressive pavlova.

Making sure we get amongst all water sports activities, we have gotten Amy out a few times on the surfboard that I bought her as a welcome back gift. Without a lot of surf time over the last few years, I've rediscovered that surfing really is a challenging sport, especially when dealing with New Brighton or Sumner waves. Amy gave it a good go and I guess technically we'll say she got up standing a few times. Always good to be out in the ocean though, I seem to enjoy mostly just getting a good body surf in and messing round helping Amy get going. 

Amy catching a mini wave at Sumner

I try to get to the estuary every time the wind is humming, and often I drag Amy along too. She enjoys reading a good book in the car, or trying to spot me amongst the other windsurfers and attempting to take a good photo. With the help of Christchurch windsurfing legend and my new friend and mentor Rob, I've been progressing heaps, and should be getting mean air, over waves in the harbour or at the beach in no time!

For some reason getting up on Saturday morning and running our asses off keeps sounding like a great idea. So we have been boosting down to Hagley Park and getting our weekends off to a flying start. Amys doing good working her times down and I have probably hit a wall going sub 20 minutes with my PB of 19minutes 47seconds. It really is a good way to start our weekends full of activities.

With our local Grower's Direct Market selling tomatoes for 99 cents a kg, I decided to surprise Amy with more than 5kgs worth one night. I didn't really know what to do with them, but we ended on making mum's tomato relish recipe! With a large pot we boiled the tomatoes and our collection of jars alike, and made enough for some Christmas presents too!

 

We got really lucky landing the flat that we did. I moved into the flat on Kahu Road, right across from Boy's High a wee while before Amy moved in. With 7 other flatmates, it was a mean way to meet some new people, make some friends and have some good times. The two other guys in the flat are our closest friends. Andrew is into mountain biking, and I got him to join me to play frisbee golf and generally he agrees to do anything and everything with me, and Dan plays ice hockey, and its good fun going to watch his games whenever I can. When Amy got back, she put her touch on decorating our room, and with the new (used) beach chairs I acquired for us, we've had nice days sitting in the sun, and nice nights sitting by our makeshift fire pit. I've planted an epic vegetable garden, and in no time we'll have an incredible amount of produce. All in all, its been an amazing way to settle back into New Zealand life.

Welcome to our humble abode!

Life back in NZ

Back in NZ

It was a bit of a last minute shock for both Amy and I when we had to swiftly book a departing flight for me back to New Zealand. We no realistic visa option for us to apply for and with only days remaining on my current visa, the decision was made for us. So once again there I was commuting across the globe with all my possessions in-tow. This now including my Stand Up Paddle board.

I made it back to the familiar Christchurch on a gloomy day. Fish and chips and a trip to New Brighton was in order right off the 27 hour journey. I tell you what, I have never felt so confused in my life. Such a dramatic transition from normal life in America with my fiancee, to being back in NZ all on my own.

I occupied and entertained myself by visiting friends and keeping busy. I jumped up to Mt. Hutt for a day snowboarding with my mate Andrew, and I took Gran out to dinner at Cassel's and Sons, treated by Amy's grandfather.

I headed down south to Queenstown to hang out with John, do some snowboarding and coincidentally be Kel's carer after her accident. I enjoyed being in the company of family and Queenstown turned it on with a month straight of sunny days. Not great for the snowboarding, but fantastic for other activities. We did hit up the mountain a few days. I didn't have a pass, so I just hiked up to the terrain park and would walk laps of the jumps and rails. But I was most stoked to get out playing disc golf. I loved the new course at Tucker Beach on the side of the Shotover River and while there did an Ice Bucket Challenge in the river. I took a nice mountain bike out to Arrowtown as well, and had some good walks round into town and round the lake. We all cruised for a few drives, one to Glenorcy for a game of golf (real golf) and a milkshake, and out to The Fork and Tap in Arrowtown for some pints and bites.

A string of job offers led me back to Christchurch where I have now set myself up in a sleep-out room in a big flat in Fendalton. I have embraced a slice of normality taking a team leader position landscaping. Ute and smartphone and all. I am enjoying work, good hard stuff that it is, but I do hold some authority so I can delegate wisely.

So I have been busy spending my salary on craft ales and water sport toys. I get out and about every week night just keeping busy till Amy arrives. I play a lot of evening golf at Hagley, I went to my first BBQ of Summer, I always get out on my bike, even up mountain biking in the Port hills this weekend. I've got out to Sumner on my SUP and actually caught some good water on it. Played my first round of disc golf at the Jelly Park course and I have committed to learning and mastering windsurfing, having a slow but successful first outing on the estuary. As usual I have been enjoying cooking and eating mostly vegetarian food and entertaining my ears with good bass music.

Lastly, I participated in the first Christchurch Parkrun in North Hagley Park. I bettered my time each run getting into the low 20 minutes winning my age category and finishing in the top 10. I would say my lifestyle is "active" and I'm loving it. Just really need my darling fiancee Amy back in my life ASAP.

Our Hot Air Balloon Ride!

Sunrise hot air balloon ride over Connecticut

For our birthdays, my mom and I got tickets for a sunset hot air balloon ride. We tried to schedule it in a few times, but each time it got cancelled due to the weather. Finally, I made the executive decision to do an early morning sunrise ride, in hopes that the weather would hold out and we'd be able to do our ride before I left. We got lucky, and had chose a perfect Autumn day in October.

So my mom and I got dressed in extra warm layers, and left the house before 6am for the dark drive north to the launch site. We arrived 20 minutes before sunrise and to our surprise, were asked to help the crew of local churchgoer volunteers set up!

Sunrise from the balloon

With the experienced pilot and one other couple, we hopped into the tiny basket, were told to wrap our arms around one of the 4 posts and to hold on! The balloon lifted off the ground and we soared above the trees as the sun was rising in the sky. The group of volunteers jumped into their cars, and become 'balloon chasers,' driving around on the ground chasing our balloon in the sky in order to be there whenever we landed, wherever the wind took us.

Looking down at a lake and treetops

We had spectacular views of the New England foliage, and our hour long flight took us both high up in the air, and sometimes even low enough to touch the tree tops. We flew over Lake Compounce, one of America's oldest amusement parks, and saw the old, historic, wooden roller coasters and all the modern ones as well. The edge of the basket was about at my waist, and I was nervous that if I leaned over too much, I'd just fall out. There were no problems though, even as we awkwardly switched places and moved about the cramped basket.

 

It was an incredibly exhilarating experience, floating above the sleepy little towns, as the sky got lighter, and the wind took us in whichever direction it wished. We had views out for miles and on the horizon we saw the surrounding cities in the distance. It wasn't too much of an adrenaline rush, but it was peaceful and lovely, and the view was spectacular.

Amy on board

We finally started to lose altitude, and our balloon started to float down over a golf course! Golfers below were baffled and intrigued and took photos of us coming down, and then ran over to tell us that a tournament was going on and we'd have to leave ASAP! So one of the guests on board our balloon was asked to 'walk the balloon'. We didn't know what this meant, but he jumped out, took hold of a rope and pulled us off the fairway.

'walking' the balloon off the golf course

We had to help pack the balloon back up, as it took the volunteers forever to find us. They finally arrived, got the gear on the back of the truck, and drove us back to our cars, which was four towns over, where we started. Once we were there, they offered us champagne, cheese, crackers and cookies and we all talked about the ride and how beautiful a morning it was. To be able to fulfill my mother's dream of hot air ballooning, and share the experience with her was the best part of all. 

Me and my mommy