Taieri Gorge Railway

Some photos from our trip up the Taieri Gorge Railway trip.  The last time I did the trip I was pregnant with Ben and miserably ill, thankful I got the enjoy this trip a bit more this time.  Our meal at the Middlemarch Hotel was a classic Kiwi meal and one of the most entertaining of the trip was spotting of the Middlemarch nudist colony on their Sunday afternoon train greeting (they were standing by the side of the tracks drinking a beer and waving to the passengers).

St Clair Beach

Here's a fun artsy photo I took at the end of yesterday, while taking a stroll along St Clair Beach.  Photos from our adventures on the Taieri Rail trip once I sort them out...  We went for a play at the beach afterwards so the boys could run around (they never left the playground, but I enjoyed a walk along the beach).

Otago Peninsula

The boys on Allan's Beach on the Otago Peninsula.  We read the sign about the yellow eyed penguins and sea lions before we walked on the beach and Josh was terrified of the sea lions.  The sign said "Stay at least 5 meters away" and our lack of metric system led to all sorts of interesting discussions on how far was 5 meters.  When we did eventually see a sea lion (after almost dragging Josh down the beach) he said in a very scared voice, "We have to go we're more then 5 ounces away".  Oh precious child.  So our trip to Allan's Beach was rather brief, so we went on around the peninsula to meet Dan and Glenn (who were riding their bikes).

We sat in the parking lot waiting for the boys and after we'd eaten our lunch we decided we'd brave the "steeper then Keyhole" sand dune to head down to Sandfly beach.  (Down wasn't my worry, it as up that had me concerned).

Dan and Glenn arrived, we fed them their sandwiches and cookies and we drove back to Dunedin while they rode home.  We had a quick visit with my friend Leah, the photo below is the view from her kitchen of St. Clair Beach.

Cheers, what a delightful day in Dunedin!

explore

I love that our arrival into Wanaka left us with little to no adjustment time- hello world, and we're off.  We had a catch up with several friends, dinner with Lesley and Gareth and I ended my epic long day with a hike up Mt Iron.  Love that no one seemed at all phased about hiking through the bushes in the dark with head lamps on.

A wet walk along the Clutha River in Wanaka, the fall colors are just lovely...  thanks to Lesley for being a good sport and ended up soaking wet.

And am amazingly picturesque drive to Dunedin.  Dan and I both marvelled that we never took this drive for granted before, but with a new set of eyes, it's really rather spectacular.  The boys declared that there's a "sheep invasion" and we were in awe of the lack of traffic.

hello wanaka

hello New Zealand, it's like we never left.  After many, many hours of travel we stood at the shore of Lake Wanaka on a sunny, crisp fall day, and felt like no time had passed.  Yes, our friend's kids are taller and missing more teeth, but there's something about the small town life in Wanaka, that reminded us that while the world changes and evolves, some things never change.  It's nice to be back...  

Spring Skiing

So our 2012-2013 ski season is done, but we are truly in awe of the leaps and bounds our kids have made this year.  They did a local ski program and did afternoon lessons for 10 Thursdays in a row and today they had a few more runs on their "bucket list" that they wanted to attempt (these are the same kids who are obsessed with trail maps and double black diamonds).  So after Dan did a test run, we decided with the spring slush that we'd take them both down Waterfall, a double black diamond run that Ben has been wanting to do all season.  Not only did both children do the run with relative ease, they decided to continue ticking off more runs and proceeded to ski all over the mountain for the rest of the afternoon.  The list included: Peril's Ridge (for Ben), Three Sisters, Palasades and Lower Our Father.  If they can do all this at age 5 and 7, I'm a little worried...    Enjoy the short clip of them skiing, including a few photos, we had the pleasure of skiing with Megan and Miles for a few runs.

A day of costume Fun

I wish I could capture the boundless engery of my children and put it in a bottle... they seriously never cease to amaze me.  Today, Josh spent the day dressed as a serpentine with a cape (it started off black, then went to silver, b/c really, we all know your cape has to change through out the day right?).

So we went out to lunch, because I'm trying to get some extra Outside Inn blog material, so my superheroes went out to eat too, they don't even bat an eyelash when the server comments on their outfits.

And then Ben decided he was hot and changed out of his costume, but Josh just kept going... so we went Geo-caching around downtown Nevada City with our friends Tara and Clara.

And then he ate ice cream... all while dressed in a costume and cape.  I love my little guys.