Rolling in to Fall in NZ

Hello friends,

I started this post a few weeks ago, and in the meantime, the terrible attacks on the 2 local mosques in Christchurch took place. The entire city was on lockdown that afternoon, and the kids and I happened to be at the library in Cathedral Square at the time. Tim was at work at the University of Canterbury. We were all safe, and in calm environments considering what was going on outside of the doors. We are so grateful for the safety and security that we felt. Yet, feel deep grief for those people and families targeted in the attacks, who were in a place they considered safe, and sacred. In the library, I overheard a 5 year old  boy ask his mom, "mom, if there is one bad guy but a lot of good people, the good people will win, right?" I believe he is right, and good does overcome, eventually. But there are so many innocent casualties along the way. It's very hard to get your head around.

As for the older post- keep reading.

The mornings and evenings are getting cool, the leaves are starting to turn and it's harvest time! We lucked out big time when moving to 115 Roker street in that the owners (who are away temporarily, like us) are amazing gardeners. There is SO much fruit here. We have feasted on peaches, plums, grapes, apples, raspberries, both black and red currants and this week Celia found a physalis plant which is giving the most amazing little berries right now. We'd tried physalis berries in Saskatoon before, but they're so much better picked in your front yard and not shipped half way around the world. Next to come are feijoa fruits. We have been told that these are amazing, and are eagerly awaiting their ripening. There are some lemons well on their way too. Given the weather reports that we have been getting from the Saskatoon region (and the rest of Canada this winter), we're savouring the warmer weather in Christchurch, and the fruit that this climate allows.

My job this sabbatical year has been, and continues to be the generator of enthusiasm for a year-long adventure that our children had no choice in participating in. There are some trying days, but in general the kids are champs at keeping on board with the plan. We are continuing to explore and learn, and have fun, but I think it's safe to say that we're all starting to consider what going home will look like. Our tickets are purchased for June, which will put us back in NS where we'll pick up our car and head back across the country to Saskatoon. In the meantime we've got a few big trips planned and otherwise will continue our weekly school routine. An aside, Celia refers to our school as The School of Hard Knocks, which I find hilarious. I'm pretty proud of how well they are both working and adjusting to everything we're throwing at them.

Some of our latest exploring includes cave walking, and I think it's safe to say that these underground adventures have been the most memorable and exciting. Our first crack at it was at Castle Hill, where a section of river flows under a big limestone hill. The section is around 750m, which sounds like a nice easy, short walk, but it was a much larger undertaking than I'd thought before we set out, taking us almost an hour and a few tricky situations to get through on our own. We were equipped with headlamps, and in the absence of these, we would have been in trouble. We experimented a few times in turning off our headlamps underground to see what it was like, and I can only describe it as the darkest of dark. The kids were in their wetsuits, which was a good move in planning on our part, as there were parts of the underground river that were up to Celia's shoulders. Tim and Celia buddied up, and Edie and I buddied up and we made it through. The water was refreshingly cool, as it was a hot summer day, and we felt like champions when we finally made it through to the other end of the cave. Daylight has never looked so good, and this cavewalk is hands-down one of the coolest things we've ever done.

The second cave expedition was near Greymouth, NZ, which is located on the West Coast of the island. It was not nearly as epic, probably because it was not nearly as long, and we had a guide with us. The danger factor wasn't really there. The coolness factor was high though, as the cave was habitat for the New Zealand Glow Worm, and was a part of a geological deposit of gold, amongst other minerals.

Evoking fear into the negative cave spirits with our fierce faces.

Panning for gold

We were privileged to host Brian Fry for a few weeks in February. He's been part of many a Jardine adventure, and we were so happy to spend time with him again, and in a new country.

Brian and our surf-bum kids.

The Antarctic centre, felt a little like home.

We found a hanging rope over the Grey River on our trip to Greymouth with Brian.

Celia's turn...

And Mom...

And even Brian got in on the action.

Much love- we'll be home soon!

The adventure continues

Hello friends,

It's been a few busy weeks here at 115 Roker Street. Summer holidays have just wound up for New Zealand students, and everyone is just finishing up their first or second week of school now. Originally we had hoped to have our children enrolled in school here, but upon further investigation of our current visa allowances, we can't send them without paying international fees, which we're not willing to do at this point. C'est la vie. Thankfully I had hounded both teachers in Saskatoon and Nova Scotia for curriculum over the past year, and the option of doing school at home has always been in our back pocket. I don't think any of us were keen on the idea originally, but I thrive with a good, well defined, short-term challenge (especially if I think other people don't think I can do it). It is working out well for all of us. 

Silent reading time has never been so cozy!

The first thing we decided once we sorted out the schooling business was to enrol the girls in surfing lessons. Seems to me a pretty NZ kind of skill to pick up, and without the confines of a normal 8-3 school day, we have heaps of time to get it in. The kids are fabulous, by the way. Both were up on their boards within 2 tries. They have 8 more weeks to go, and I can't wait to see what they'll get up to on surf boards during that time.

They surf on Tuesdays, and for the rest of the week, if the weather stacks up we hit the local beaches for boogie boarding, once we're done our school work, of course. Our typical weekday looks like this: wake up (whenever...), grab some breakfast, check on the chooks, get some real-people clothes on and head to the 'school room'. There, we tackle math (or 'maths' as they call it here), and some french writing for 1.5-2 hrs. After that it's pretty free-style. We have 2 great libraries nearby so we hit those up pretty frequently, and our house is full of books. So we take on what's interesting to us.

Boogie boarding at Pegasus Beach

Swimming at New Brighton Beach

The kids spotted an albino House Sparrow, leading in to a short lesson on genetics

Feeding giraffes at Orana Wildlife Park

Kea bird, Orana Wildlife Park

Orana Wildlife Park

Tibetan Musk Oxen, Orana Wildlife Park

At Orana you can get up close to the lions, thankfully my children were not keen.

We're building a model solar system, we explore through geo-caching, the kids have both been cooking, and we've been learning all about NZ cicadas, including how to catch them, as they are fabulously interesting and we really want to get our hands on some. We haven't caught any yet, but we're still trying. We also have a trampoline, and a great park nearby, so that covers P.E. Brian Fry (super intelligent retired stable isotope scientist, and all around great human) will be visiting us next week, I'm hoping he can be a guest lecturer in our school room.

New Zealand's Chorus Cicada

Cicada nymph

This is a 'temporary' display honouring the 185 victims of the 2011 earthquakes in Christchurch. It has been on display since 2012. We stumbled upon it on a geo-cache hunt.

We have been exploring lots in the area. Because we're so transient this year, we opted not to buy Christmas presents for the kids or ourselves, but rather spend money on special activities in NZ. A few weekends ago, Edie cashed in on her present by asking for a sailing afternoon in Akaroa harbour, where dolphin sightings are guarenteed. It was an incredible afternoon.

Akaroa Harbour

If you look closely, you'll see a Blue Penguin

Hector's Dolphins, endemic to NZ, also claimed as world's smallest dolphin 

Happy Jardines

We hope you are well, and getting through the winter. If you need a respite and have time, energy and money (ha!) we'd love to have you. This is a very easy place to spend a Canadian winter.

New Zealand!

Hello friends,

We have left the northern hemisphere, and are happily sunning ourselves in Christchurch, NZ for the next 5 months, beginning the second phase of our sabbatical year. We arrived earlier this week, after a 48 hour trek across the planet that started with a flight from Halifax to Toronto, followed by a flight from Toronto to Guangzhou (China) that took us due north of Toronto, over the north pole, then south through Russia, Mongolia and finally to the Western edge of China. We spent 19 hours there, exploring the region as much as we could, and then flew from Guangzhou to Christchurch over southeast Asia and Australia the following day.

Needless to say, we are a bit jet lagged, but are pretty content to be here. The home we are renting in the suburb of Somerfield is lovely, a great size for us with beautiful gardens and fruit trees everywhere. And the rental includes taking care of the 4 resident chooks (the girls just earned cash by chasing the last, and smartest, hen back into the pen with the others, an hour-long ordeal). We have been so lucky to have had wonderful places to live this year.

We have explored a bit on foot and by car in the area. Epic adventure awaits!

Christmas and New Year with the family this year was incredible, and difficult. Heather's absence is so much more noticeable when the family is together. However, not having to travel from Saskatoon to enjoy the time together with our family was nice. We feel like we struck gold with this sabbatical year.

Best wishes for the year to come for everyone. We miss you all, especially those in Saskatoon- but hey, we'll be back soon.

With so much love,

the Jardines

PS. Our local orchestra played 2 Christmas concerts with 2 local chorales, and some video and audio footage was taken by Mazel Musical Arts, (Gregg Mazel is the amazing bass clarinet player you'll see in the video). Follow this link. Enjoy.

Family feasting has been one of our favourite passtimes in NS.

Funny things collect in the woods near oceans.

Feeding Chickadees in Le Petit Bois behind Universite Sainte Anne 

Still geo-cacheing.

Christmas with the cousins.

Christmas morning with Nanny, Grampy and Lily.

Beach below our home in Clare.

Cold, but still fun.

New Years with our buddies in Clare.

One of our favorite trees near our home- the whomping willow.

Haircut date with Aunt Saysie.

From our hotel room window at the airport in Guangzhou

Cab ride to Canton tower...Pretty epic.

McDonalds in China- yes please!

Celia got a hold of my phone for photo editing purposes. Smoothies were a big part of her Chinese diet.

Edie and Celia in front of the Canton tower (world's 2nd tallest tower) in Guangzhou province.

Pretty epic slide at Victoria Park in the hills south of Christchurch.

The highlands en route to Awaroa. A lesson in NZ driving, narrow roads, no guardrails and opposite side (for us).

Celia and some local cacti.

Lyttleton Harbour/ Whakaraupo.