The eerie sense that you're standing on something hollow

Not long ago down in cave country, we took a little walk through the bush.  The hilly bush.  One of my glow worms needed a ride.

We went through all sorts of exuberant greenery.

And monolithic limestone formations.

Then we came out into the bottom of this bowl-shaped clearing and the bits of limestone sticking up around the edges reminded me oddly of the Roman Forum.  A helpful sign let us know that this patch of earth was not always shaped like a bowl-- it became that way all of a sudden one day when the roof of the cave below suddenly gave way.  That was ages ago and it was a freak one-time thing of course, but I got a little horror-movie shiver thinking about holes and subsidence, under me.

We had a mission to get to the lookout point on top of the hill.  So we went up.

Along the muddy path.

Up into the setting sun.

Up. Up. Up.

And then we were there and it was just so pretty. 

Farmland, the sweet-smelling air, golden sunlight.

 
A view of a hotel in business since 1908.

And then we walked back down.

Harbour View beach

On a whim, we jumped in the car and zipped over to Te Atatu* Peninsula.  So what if it was threatening rain?  We needed some beach time!   Harbour View Beach looks nice from the satellite view on the online map; let's see what it's like in real life.

Well, hmm, that's deflating.  View of the Harbour, yes.  Beach, not so much.   More of a mudflat.

A rare miss for NZ beach beauty-- we rated it only a 2 out of 10.  But to be fair, we were there during probably the gloomiest possible weather, at the lowest possible tide, and had we been there to do a little clamming we'd have thought this was perfect.

We made the most of it and ended up having a wonderful afternoon.  And the boys, with their adorably short memories, said they liked this beach the most of any we've been to.

After all, who wouldn't like the opportunity to explore a real live natural mangrove forest?  That's what the bushes and the sticking-up rootlets are, real mangroves!  Their seeds float and you find them on the shores everywhere.

And there was a cool rock seawall that was good for climbing on.

And so many neat shells to sift through.  I like how each beach we go to has its own unique mix of shells.  Here, the striped-snails (bottom picture, far left and far right) became treasures and we filled both boys' pockets with them.

*Pronounced tey ATTA too
 

Possum products

The souvenir shop I visited today had lots of high-end knitted possum products.  There were all kinds of things-- gloves, socks, sweaters, scarves, throws, and wristlets for the hipsters.  One of the item's tags said, 'Support backyard businesses!', which I thought was a rather intriguing statement.   So when I got home I jumped online, as you do, to find out more about the informal possum fur trade.

OK, yep, it seems there's a ready market for the person who finds himself in possession of possums and/or fur.   But wait, how would the average person (presumably, with a backyard) do that? 

Well, they'd start by going to Trademe, of course.  I showed you the box-like Dept of Conservation traps in the bush recently, but it seems that these will also work...

And once you've acquired one of the critters you can make use of it in its natural state, I suppose....

What you really want, though, is just the fur, not the skin, for making into yarn.  But because its fibres are so short and slippery (they're like fluffy minks), possum fur by itself won't hold together well enough to be spun.  So it's blended with usually merino wool or alpaca or something nice like that, and the resulting fabric has this wonderfully soft, silky texture.  I bet this fellow is pretty awesome to cuddle.

But, wait, let's back up a second.  How do you get the fur off the possum?  Do you... shave it, or something?

Nope, you pluck it.  Like plucking a chicken.  Or you can again turn to Trademe and the wonders of modern technology.

Just imagine reading the owner's manual.  I think I am going to have nightmares.
  

We got a few gorgeous shots just seconds before the rain started

Daisy chains

Springtime comes with lawn weeds just like back home.  But dandelions aren't all that common here; instead we have these lovely wee daisy-like flowers.

They only grow an inch or two tall, but that's enough for making daisy chains.  Arram industriously picked an enormous collection of them, and Grammie wove the chains.  He and Amiri (once he came home from school) wore them proudly.

The chains dried beautifully and I want to save them forever.
 

Year Three

Today marks the end of our third year in New Zealand.

It's bittersweet, really; so many of our hopes ended here.  But in another way, we can look forward to brighter days to come.  And even considering all of everything, there are seriously so many days when I wake up feeling like the luckiest person on earth.

NZ has truly lived up to its legend; it's our warm and welcoming adopted home.  Will we go back to the States?  Yes, I know we will.  But...when?

Thank you to all my readers for your continued love and support.  Knowing that you're out there makes this little hobby of mine so much more fun.

Stakeholders' report:  0.57 posts per day
 

The reason they call it ARMY Bay

Today I have a follow-up from my last post!   Consistently, just next door to Army Bay is the, well, real Army-- a Hibiscus Coast outpost that was at one point a resettlement facility.  If you view the location and then go to Street View and 'walk' east, eventually you'll come to its 'No Entry' sign and suddenly double-clicking won't take you any further because the Google camera car must have been turned away.

Fittingly, as I was walking along the beach I found an old military installation.

 I found a sign telling me it was a machine-gun hideout, just in case the Japanese invaded.

It was a bit overgrown, and the door was hidden by a big clump of swordgrass.  I worked my way in ever so carefully.

It looked kind of like you might expect inside.   It smelled benign, which I gotta admit I was not expecting.  I appreciated that.

And here's the view through the window.  It makes me reflect that of all the jobs one might have had during WWII, being a gunner stationed here must have been pretty decent. 
 

Army Bay again, this time with exploring

It was still pretty blustery after a big wind storm, but the blue skies and sea were just gorgeous.

And nothing big seemed to have loosened on the rocky seaside cliffs.

It happened to be low tide when we arrived, so off we went to explore the tide pools.  So many interesting things were waiting for us!

I almost fell over upon finding my first real, live, in-its-native-habitat starfish.

Then more!

I carried one of the bigger specimens to show the others.  I think it must have liked me because it had a hard time saying goodbye.  Ew.

And when I looked a bit more carefully it turned out that these little guys were all over the place.  Starfish feel much harder and tougher, like wood, than I had expected.

In looking for starfish I found something even more interesting.  The tide pools were full of activity.  Hermit crabs and snails!  I sat myself down on the rocks and must have watched this little pool for half an hour.

I suggest you turn down your volume for this one; there's no audio aside from the noisy wind.

While I was absorbed with my little underwater friends, a gull much like this one came by to visit me.  I think he was just checking whether I was eating anything, and would I like to share it with him.  Notice how his beak and legs have gone bright orange for mating season; such an irresistible beast.

  

This week's theme was 'Magic'

Here is Amiri at Story Hour at the library last week.  He raised his hand, went up to the front, got the correct answer, and had some fun while he was at it.  I was so proud of my big boy!

 

The librarian is dressed as a wizard.  At home, we still play a game she taught us:

Wizard says wave your wand!  wave your hand about as if you are casting a spell
Wizard says ride a broomstick!  knees together, clasping your imaginary broomstick
Wizard says Sleeping Beauty!  lay down, eyes closed
Wizard says stir the cauldron!  stir a giant pot with a giant spoon
Wizard says kiss a frog!  go and kiss a member of your family, this is hilarious
Wizard says proud prince!  hands on hips, chest out and chin up
Wizard says leaping toad!  hop hop hop on all fours
Wizard says wizard hat!  make a cone over your head with your arms
Wave your wand!  AAAAHHHH!!  I didn't say 'Wizard Says'!  You're out!!
 

Manaakitia mai Aotearoa

Amiri has been singing this sweet-sounding song lately, one with Maori words that I didn't understand.  Something he learned at school, he said.  Yesterday he also sang the English translation and I realised with something of a start that that's the national anthem he's singing.

Here he is.


And here's the full version.

A trip underwater

We made another trip to Kelly Tarlton's Underwater World Sea Life Aquarium.  It was, as always, a good time-- even if it was undergoing renovations.

First of course we had to get into the megadon mouth...

 And Arram needed to dress up as a penguin.

 

Then we saw the real penguins.  Poor babies, their habitat was under construction and so they were all kind of crammed together in a temporary enclosure that looked like they just installed a snow maker in the beer room at King Dick's.  Even the Sno-Cat ride was out of commission!

 

We visited the stingray tank for some soothing relaxation after that.

Then we got on the moving walkway (the boys climbed on stools) and circled our way through the shark tank about five times.  

There was even a sea turtle floating around!

 After that we made friends with a puffer fish...

The most intimidating crab I've ever seen...

Some sea dragons (or are these pipefish?) in the Seahorse Kingdom...

And an octopus who was cracking his way into a mussel shell.  (Yes, he has lots of toys in his tank for 'enrichment', including a rifle.  Because if there's one animal that's a sensible choice for handling firearms, it's an octopus.)