Our Special Visitors - LP

Delayed Post

Just when we thought our #nzadventures trip couldn’t get any better, we had some special visitors arrive to share some experiences with us. On December 28th, we picked up my brother, Scott and his beautiful family, Kristin, Zyler and Taya from Auckland airport!

We were SUPER excited to see all of them, and Jonah and Siena LOVED having their cousins visit. They had a LONG journey, but were superstars and transitioned quite quickly to New Zealand time (not that they had much choice, tour guide Mike had LOTS planned for them:)

Our kiddos were very excited to see their cousins, Zyler and Taya.

First stop on the way home from the airport: One Tree Hill to check out Auckland city from above.

Next stop: Whitehaven to show them why Auckland is called The City of Sails.

Merry Christmas on Dec. 28th. Thanks for a little bit of Canadiana...Illbury and Goose shirts for The Phillips Family!

The tough life of a 15 year old...chillin’ at Narrow Neck beach.

The next day we took the ferry into the city for a little tour around and for a fabulous lunch at the Sky Tower. Oh, and Zyler’s Skyjunp...15 year old adventure was good entertainment for all of us:)

There he is...flying through the air:)

The next few days we spent up in the Bay of Islands to ring in 2018. We spent some time at Russell, on a catamaran cruising through the Bay and celebrating New Year’s Eve at the fireworks in Paihia.

Fish and chips on the beach at Russell.

Jumping off the floating dock for an evening swim.

We enjoyed a 6 hour cruise on Dec. 31st around the Bay of Islands. It was a great day...we got a bit of everything. We started off with sunny and clear skies and little wind meaning we had to use the motor to get us going. We enjoyed lunch, some snorkeling and paddle boarding while anchored in a Bay at Moturua Island and then by the time we were heading back to Paihia, the winds had picked up and we got to experience sailing at a faster speed. 

Getting ready to board our boat, Kōpiko 1. (verb) to go alternatively in opposite directions, go back and forth, meander, wander, ramble.

Snorkeling 

And yes, even the Moms got into it:)

Sailing back to Paihia, we had to hold on to everything...it was windy...which works well on a sailboat:)

The kids got a chance to steer the boat, Kōpiko.

Zyler

Taya

Jonah

Kōpiko

New Year’s Eve

After a great day of sailing, we were exhausted, so we headed back to our Airbnb to relax for a bit before we got ready to rock out for NYE! And, by “Rock out”, I mean barely make it to midnight to see the fireworks at the ocean front in Paihia.

Happy New Year! We hope 2018 is your best year yet!

Siena bought these special glasses to share with everyone on NYE:)

Paihia fireworks

On January 2nd, Scott, Kristin, Zyler & Taya booked parasailing. It was such a cool experience to watch...especially at the beach at Maungawhai Head’s on a spectacular day! 

To complete the day, we hung out on the beach & had fun boogie boarding.

Here’s Uncle Scott cruising in:)

On January 3rd, after I shed a few tears saying, “See you in 6 months” to my brother and his family, Mike, the kids and I took off on an 8 hour drive (which took us over 9 hours with stops) to Wellington to begin our 3 week tour of the South Island. Scott, Kristin, Zyler and Taya took off for their own family adventures of the North Island. It was amazing to have them visit and really, the next 6 months are going to FLY by...they won’t even have a chance to miss us and we’ll be back on their doorstep:) 

See ya on the flip side:)

Term 1 Update - LP

After a fantastic summer holiday, we returned to Auckland to prepare for the start of Term 1 on the 31st of January. Mike is back at Onehunga High School, Jonah is in Year 8 and Siena is in Year 5...more on that in a bit, but a little update about me to start with.

The week before school started I got a call to see if I was interested in teaching science for Term 1. The school I was relief teaching at had a science teacher bail at the last minute & they needed someone to fill in until they could get a permanent replacement at the beginning of Term 2 (desperate times call for desperate measures!). Although relief teaching had its benefits, I didn’t love it. I much prefer to connect with both staff and students on a more permanent basis and Mike and I figured we could all manage the busier schedule and workload, so I said yes. 

They considered loading me up with Junior science classes (Years 9 & 10), but in the end they decided not to disrupt a whole bunch of schedules & left me with a full timetable, Years 9 & 10 Science, Year 11 & 12 Biology + an IB Biology class (International Baccalaureate). I got my timetable on Thursday and started Friday...can you say, “Behind the eight ball” to start?! 

To be fair, there are teachers that are setting the work for me, but I still have to teach it and am responsible for the running of the classes, marking etc. I felt like a first year teacher again...for the first 3 weeks I couldn’t print, didn’t have access to the attendance system and didn’t have a computer that connected to the data projector...so needless to say I scrambled on a daily basis to make things happen. 

I'm also realizing what it's like to teach in a non-semestered schedule for an extended period. There are many things to juggle.

Tomorrow is the end of week 6 and so far, outside of the IB class, I have successfully been able to BS my way (legit!) through my classes. I gave up on the IB class before I even got started...it moves WAY to quickly and has WAY too much depth for my background knowledge. So, the IB Bio teacher has to come in for the teaching portion of that class & then I sit there while the students talk amongst themselves about the work. We like to say that we are building some “independent learners”. Here is a molecule the IB class built one day...I am sure most of you will recognize what it is immediately?!

(In case anyone doesn’t know, it’s a polypeptide molecule, obviously 😜:)

Needless to say, it has been enjoyable stretching my brain, I have enjoyed working with some great people in the science department and the kids have been generally quite well-behaved and engaged in their learning...having said all of that...I am counting down the days until the end of the term (only 5 weeks to go!). 

I have to admit, I was feeling quite proud of myself earlier this week when I marked the Internal Assessment for the first topic: The Rocky Shore Ecosystem in New Zealand (Oh yeah, I have learned a ton about that along the way too...I can name snail species, their adaptations, their food chain and the abiotic factors that affect them like nobody’s business 😂😂)...AND...when I marked the assessments and sat down with the other teachers to ‘moderate’ them (make sure we were all on the same page with our standards), I had pretty much nailed the levels for my students...feeling pretty good about that!! AND, my students did quite well on their assessment (Yay me:)

Next unit: Genetics: Variation and Change...YIKES!!! 😳 (I should probably be studying Punnet Squares instead of writing this post!). 

Here is a picture I took of myself just before my first Year 9 lab...I think I am looking like the real deal:)  

As for Mike and the kids, Mike is cruising through his term...as he does! He is currently at Auckland Champs with his boys volleyball team (getting their butts kicked according to the text I just received from him:)

In his spare time, he runs 16km trail races and makes pavlova...because he is awesome!!

Returning home after his 16km trail race.

Mike’s awesome pavlova.

Jonah has settled into his year 8 class and received a Principal’s award in the first few weeks for being enthusiastic contributor in class. #proudparents

He is currently away on a 5 day camping trip with all of the year 8s from his school. They have posted a few pictures on Facebook, so I know he is still alive and seemingly having fun. They get to do some pretty cool camp activities, including surfing, kayaking, caving and swimming...sounds like a pretty good week to me!

A picture of Jonah at camp that I found on his school Facebook page.

 

Siena is also loving her Year 5 class and received a class award last week for always doing her best and always contributing positively in class. #proudparent

Siena receiving her award at the Friday morning assembly.

They are both in parkour classes on Monday nights, tennis lessons on Tuesdays and Jonah sails every Sunday morning. He has progressed very quickly through the ranks and has moved on to the Learn to Race course. 

We continue to do new and fun things on the weekends...a couple of weeks ago we went to a Black Caps cricket match on Friday night, paragliding on Saturday (that was my birthday present!) and sat in the audience for the TV show Family Feud on Sunday. Good times!

Cricket at Eden Park.

Paragliding at Pakiri.

Family Feud studio audience.

Last weekend was Siena’s School Fun Fair. It was...........fun:)

Hanging out with some of her friends.

In just a few weeks time we will pack our things and wrap up the New Zealand portion of our adventure. We leave NZ on April 30 and head to Australia for ~ 6 weeks. Breaking up that 6 weeks, we have a little 2 week side trip to Cambodia planned. We leave Australia mid-June, stop in Fiji for 2 weeks on our way home and land back on Canadian soil at the beginning of July. So, while it is going to be very hard to leave the incredible life and the amazing friends we have made in NZ, there are lots of adventures to look forward to in the coming months. And then, of course, we get to arrive home to see all of the wonderful friends and family we have missed during our time away. 

I’ve got to sign off for now...Mendel’s peas are calling:)

Car Troubles - MP

Our car has given us troubles since November. Here is a short history. 

We purchased our Honda Stream (a station wagon) from a Car Fair (Garage Sale for cars) when we arrived in mid July. We purchased the 2004 car for $3400. I took it to a mechanic to ensure it was safe and to see if future expenses were expected. At the time, the mechanic felt that the car was in great shape.

Our first challenge occured in late November when the car overheated. Luckly, this happened close to home and I was able to get the car to a nearby mechanic that assessed the problem. A new radiator was required. We spent the money and moved on with our new radiator. While this repair was happening, we also purchased a new front bumper for the car since it was falling off. Unfortunately, the new bumper is blue and the car is grey. This makes it easier to find your car in a car park (parking lot).

Summer vacation arrived and we drove 2 hours to the Coromandel for Xmas. On our way the car overheated again! Luckly, again, we were only 3 km from a mechanic in Thames who was open for the last two days before Xmas holidays. The mechanic was very nice and drive me to a place where we could rent a car for the 24 hours and we continued with our plans to spend the day and night hiking in the Pinnacles Regional Park. By the next day, the mechanic had created a bandaid fix so we could continue on our Xmas holiday. The fix required us to refill the new radiator with water every 30 minutes and to drive with the heat on in the car. Remember that its summertime here! We continued on our 4 night Xmas vacation without changing any plans. We were still able to hike the Pinnacle Region, spend time in Hahei, Hot Water Beach, Whitiangi, the Cathedral Cove and much more.

We returned home back to Devonport and realized the car would not be fixed for over two weeks since everyone shuts down for vacation over the Xmas and New Years time. We also realized very quickly that we would need to rent a car for the next month since our plans for summer holidays entailed driving all over the North and South Island. So we dropped more money on a rental car while our car was parked, disabled for weeks, needing repair. Since we were renting at the last minute, all that was available was a compact. 

Jucy is a rental company in NZ. We had this fine vehicle from Dec 26th until January 27. We crammed all of our belongings in it, and drove around the South Island. 

When we returned home I was able to get the Honda to a trusted mechanic close to my school. The issue was major. The engine needed a new head gasket. Three weeks later and a pocket full of money dumped into the car, we now have a working vehicle. It's been a couple weeks and the car is working fine.

We have another 8 weeks in New Zealand. In about 7 or 8 weeks, I'll need to go back to the Car Fair and sell it. 

This is totally a 1st World Problem and we were absolutely lucky throughout the whole adventure to be near help when the car broke down both times. We all have our health and amazing stories to tell about our adventures.

All the best,

MP