Since we have been home in NZ I personally have enjoyed many moments. One of those has been the ability to walk around bare foot. This is a joy shared by many kiwis. And before you judge us, it doesn’t mean we are uncivilized or barbaric. A lot of it has to do with… THE FACT THAT WE CAN. Unlike in the USA and many other countries, NZ has nothing in the bush, woods, forest (you name it) that can get you. Not even fire ants, tics. Not to mention no snakes, etc.

And because of this many of us often will forego wearing shoes. We do still wear them and as i said, anyone who is judging us for that, you missed the point and i feel sorry for you.

That said in the past month i be given a full opportunity to do this and have embraced it fully. In part because my job allows me to and its impractical at times for me to wear shoes. As i made my quick trip back to the USA this past week i found myself needing to go outside at my In-laws to grab something from my truck. BTW… thanks for the REALLY cold weather brrrrrr. I ventured out, yup you guessed it barefoot. I have always been a fan of barefoot and had done it several times when we were staying with those same In-laws before Christmas. Those times though, it hurt, my feet were tender, and soft and felt every prickle, twig, sharp edge on the earth there was.

This week though i didn’t feel a thing. My feet have hardened up.

Now i will say that i don’t have the most sexiest feet in the world. Between twisted toes from being broken in years of rugby to most of my toe nails in various states of regrowth and falling off from years of abuse in Adventure Racing and therefore may be able to handle a little more “stress” of God’s green earth than most.

I did realize this from my experience this past few days. It is different this time around. My feet in 1 month have hardened up to the rigors of our new life. They are still the same hunks of flesh and bone at the end of my legs but i do not feel every prick and prickle i did 5 weeks ago.

Which got me to thinking about the 2nd time around and what everything looks like for Robin & I now. We are still the same people but this time around, or the 2nd time around its different. Not just in the obvious… Geography, but many other expressions of our life.
I’m not working a job with insane hours now. For example. I could tell you what i was doing 3 months from now on a wednesday at 3pm for those next 60minutes. That is not the case now. I have a calendar on my phone… Hardly ever use it. This doesn’t mean we have become reckless either. Or moved to NZ to live in a van down by the river. But this time around, the 2nd time around it has to and is different.

And what was a priority then isn’t now. Sure i miss it, and we are quite certain will go back to it one day, as there is clarity in knowing that camp and conference ministry is certainly for me, along with ordained ministry for Robin. However the second time around it will look different. It has to.

Thats not to say that it has been plain sailing, IT’S NOT!!! It may look and sound like i have a killer job, but it still has it tough moments. And if i don’t work i don’t get paid. Yeah Really. In case you were wondering. However Robin and I are ok with that for now. Will we do this forever, NO! Furthermore, Do we have all those second time around moments figured out, they come up daily, and sometimes we miss the moment and have to go back and re-examine, and ask ourselves “what can look different about this, in this second time around?” or “why do we want it to look different, this second time around?”

And please don’t hear me wrong, its not like our life for the past 11 years was horrible, it wasn’t, it was very fulfilling. Some of the circumstances to bring us to NZ we had a hand in, and other circumstances before that we didn’t.

We recently stumbled across this prayer and now find myself saying it at the start of most days. check it out.

Prayer for the Start of Day

This is another day, O Lord. I know not what it will bring forth, but make me ready, Lord, for whatever it may be. If I am to stand up, help me to stand bravely. If I am to sit still, help me to sit quietly. If I am to lie low, help me to do it patiently. And if I am to do nothing, let me do it gallantly. Make these words more than words, and give me the Spirit of Jesus. Amen.
Source: Book of Common Prayer 1979

So, when you get a “Second time around” opportunity, what will look different for you? Does this topic sound familiar … Like Grace… A second time around

The second time around.

Not many of you know this but a you read this i snuck into America and are here for one week, well not even that. I arrived late Monday night and will be gone Saturday evening from LA.

What huh how come really why you might be saying. The answer is simple i am here to take care of some immigration business for myself that will allow me to travel more freely between NZ and USA. I know not great time in fact we were in NZ for about 4 days with the notice to appear came through. Arrgghhh

So I left robin in a strange country for a week haha, she’s not worried. As noted its a really quick trip and I will based flying in & out of Raleigh but will be in ATL from Wednesday until Friday morning. Don’t have a lot of time there sorry if we don’t catch up wasn’t intentional to miss you. And I really want to see our dog Cora.

That said my life as one big adventure seems to continue and find myself open thinking or referring to Yvonne Chonaird’s quote about adventure and often referenced here in this blog.

The last 24hrs or how long I don’t know as my time clock is all messed up. Went something like this
Left the house this morning at 7am to Take bus for5hrs from Blenheim to Christchurch … No drama there. A lot cheaper too.
Arrive early in Christchurch and chill on the grass waiting for my parents to come take me to the airport. Accidentally leave wallet sitting in the grass and we are 10mins down the road before I realize. Quick turn around drive back… Still sitting there at the bus stop. Yeah NZ
That would have been really bad as all my ID was in there including my green card to get back into the USA.
Get flight to Auckland no drama. Walk over to international terminal … Packed with people, 3 flights leaving for the USA all within 1hr of each other. Plane finally leaves gate 1hr late. I know you are thinking about connecting flights from San Francisco to Raleigh. Well, I’ve done this trip enough to build in enough wiggle room. No worries I have plenty of time to make connection.
THEN
As we are about to hurtle down the runway into the NZ sunset (btw always amazed me how those big planes get off the ground) the captain comes on and announces “folks we have someone on board who’s sick and need medical attention, we need to get them checked out so we are going back to the gate!

Ok now this isn’t funny and…
“This is your captain again, if they are removed from the flight we have to find their baggage in the cargo hold, refile a new flight plan oh and get more fuel after where wasted so much, this should only take 45 mins, thanks for your patience.”

Now I’m super nervous and really pissed. There’s no way ill make that connection and then I at the mercy of the airline. Looks like I’ll be staying the night in SFO.

We finally take off, pilot guns it across the pacific, thankfully we have a tailwind and makes up some time but not a lot. Flight crew arrange for those of us who have tight connections to be allowed to get off first which for the most part people oblige us with. And there are a lot of people with either tight connections or already missed flights.

Get it Border Control and I usually choose which line is shorter (USA citizens or green card holders) and the rest of the world. USA line was shorter, breeze through there, all good. Now really need my baggage to come through quickly …and … Of course it doesn’t.

Finally get it, clear customs in a hurry, thankfully no bag needed to be opened and checked and no bike with me this time. To begin sprinting through the airport AGAIN asking anyone who likes they know where AirTran terminal is. Of course it’s not close. “Take the transit train” I hear. No way I an run faster than that. Get to AirTran desk. No lines no people waiting just the gates agent. Sweet I think finally something going my way. To be meet with “Sorry sir, you are too late.”

No you don’t understand. Let me explain…. Please …. She makes a phone call and yes I make it. This flight left at 2pm I was still clearing customs at 1.40pm

Get to me seat, flop down, the plane is packed so have to stuff carry on under my feet for a 4 1/2hr flight after sitting for 12hrs across the Pacific. Make it to ATL for connection to Raleigh. Amazingly get to ATL early have 30 mins to change planes. Even found time to eat some Moe’s , robin and I really miss Mexican food. Not that Moe’s is authentic…

Get to gate and gate agent by some strange extra sense she had asks if I would like 2 seats to myself. You think? And it’s still Monday.

How was your day?

The week is over, i have a 1/2 day sea kayaking trip tomorrow with a family. In the afternoon Robin will drive over and we will go paddling on our own for a few hours.

This week as mentioned i got to lead this guided hike. It starts with me taking the ferry/water taxi up to the lodge where I would stay for the night. The skipper made a few stops on the way to drop off groceries to various holiday homes which because its summer here many of them have people in them. For about the last 45mins it was just the skipper and me. We struck up a conversation of course about america, which lead to politics and of course religion.

It was a fruitful conversation and one in which i think i was able to challenge some stereotypes about faith and religion in USA. i will say this. its amazing how many people outside America think President Obama is a Muslim. Don’t worry i’m not declaring a bias here just highlighting one of the many perceptions people have about America.

Anyways… the evening continued to go well and the hike the next day was great also. We hiked for about 8 hours. I wanted to leave you with a link to the lodge I stayed at. When i left the base on Tuesday they were kidding when they said just take your toothbrush. They weren’t kidding. Click on this link to see where i was slumming it.
http://www.pungacove.co.nz/gallery.asp

Tuesday night i will have my 1st night out on the trail. As part of a guided walk on the Queen Charlotte Walkway (or trail) which is the big hiking trail around these parts. Its about 71Km long and goes from point to point. The start (for most people) is at Ships Cove, where Captain Cook the first white person to land in NZ came ashore.

I am very much enjoying reading a lot the history of this part of NZ, especially about early explorers and their interactions with our indigenous people or Maori. Captain Cook first arrived in the South Island in January 1770 and stayed for about 20-something days. He made several other trips always coming back to the same Ships Cove. In part because of the good relations he had with local Maori, access to food and the cove was a great place to beach his ship the Endeavor on its side for repairs. One quirky story about Cook was that he was well known for taking good care of his crew, especially in preventing the onset of scurvy which many sailors faced because of the lack of fresh fruit and vegetables on the long journeys at sea. Cook took many different measures to prevent this, one which included having his crew make, brew and drink beer from the NZ Manuka Tree or Tea Tree. Strangely though his crew really disliked the taste of it, however he still made them drink it to ensure they were getting some of nutrients they needed. Who ever heard of a sailor or the like not having a taste for beer.

I will be out on the trail tuesday night, and back home wednesday afternoon. However this trail is being done the easy way for the hikers we are taking. All we and them have to carry is a day pack and all our clothes get transported each day by the boat and all our meals are cooked for us. AND… i get to sleep in a real bed in my own room,in a real fancy lodge i here.

In case you think this is all work and no play. I will tell you that i spend the last 90mins to 2hrs of my day each day i work, hosing and cleaning sea kayaks and washing stinky PFD’s and spray decks from the boats. So not all work and no play

OK,so this may make some of you really jealous. Read at your own risk, and i apologize, well not really.

Today (Saturday) we decided we would head over to the Marlborough Sounds, where i work. Oh BTW… we now have internet at home, finally got it hooked up this am woo-hoo. The sounds are an intricate series of long bays, inlets, channels etc at the top of NZ’s South Island. One word…Beautiful. This is where i work as you have seen from previous photos. Daily leading either sea kayaking trips, hiking trips or mtn biking trips. Some overnights and school groups when school goes back in a few weeks.

I found out this week that the Sounds has more coastline… wait for it…more coastline than the entire USA. YEAH!!! no joke it does, imagine all those bays etc waiting to be explored. As far as NZ goes its about 15% of NZs total coastline. Not bad for a country about the size of California and 4.5 million people.

Needless to say we did some exploring today. We drove to a place called Mistletoe Bay, to do some hiking and see part of a 5 day trail system that i will be leading groups on eventually. We had a great short hike and on the way back we stopped and sat by the water. My eyes were immediately drawn to the mussels growing wild beneath the surface. You know the kind you see in restaurants and are really expensive. There they were ready for the taking. And so we did. How cool is that, to take from the ocean, not to much, just the right amount, and not have to fear that you will get sick from consuming poisonous sea food. Welcome to NZ!

After a great day we travelled home, to prepare our dinner which included fresh mussels. Now here’s where you will really dislike us. Dinner consisted of cous cous, fresh local bread and all vegetables (carrots, zucchini, lettuce) ALL from our vegetable garden that our Landlord left for us to ‘take care of’ if you know what i mean. Not to mention the potatoes, corn, onions, cabbage, broccoli, radish etc still out there. I look forward to keeping this garden going over the year.

A perfect meal from the garden and the ocean to the dinner table.

Here is was i was writing about and some other distractions…

Its been a while since i have posted, and as you can probably imagine a lot has happened. I am sitting in the Blenheim Library as our internet at the house hasnt been hooked up. This is some ways is driving us nuts but really its not that bigger deal.

So where to start on all that has gone one in the past week or less. I will give you the bullet point form and hopefully soon will begin posting more reguarly.

• Robin has her 1st day at church on Sunday and was welcomed with open arms. They are really excited to have her here. We were both welcomed in front of the church followed by a ‘morning tea’ after worship.
• She is already well into her work & ministry with meeting and programs starting next week.
• I have started my job, in fact i started a day before Robin, spending the day sea kayaking on saturday in the Marlborough Sounds. Was shadowing another guide for the day as we paddled with 7 clients, 6 Americans from New England and 1 Dutch woman.
• Was off Sunday for all the welcoming etc for Robin and then back at it yesterday (monday).
• Spent the day hiking on the 1st day of a guided 5 hike for 7 clients, 6 Australians and 1 dutch woman. The day started with a 2hr boat trip to the outer Marlborough Sounds.
• We stopped at a bird sanctuary island called Motuara Island, where our equivalent of National Park Service or DOC Dept of Conservation has cleared this island of ALL predators (1 of many islands around NZ now) so our birdlife can thrive.
• HIGHLIGHT of the day… we saw a Kiwi, yes a kiwi bird. These are very rare, and to see one in the wild, was amazing. Most NZers will only EVER see one in a zoo. Also got to see many other rare NZ birds and their beautiful songs.
• After that we took a short boat trip to Ships Cove, where Capt Cook, the 1st white person to land in NZ came ashore. This beach is very remote and not many people come all the way out here.
• We then prepped our clients to hike. Well lets just say its pretty easy hiking. They carry day packs and all there lugguage is forwarded on to the next fancy lodge for there night accomodation. All meals are provided, its really very easy, with 15-20Km per day of hiking. Needless to say you dont see many NZers doing it this way. Preferring to carry all their stuff.
• I had to leave the group after about an hour of hiking to go and catch the only ferry back to Picton, my home base for work. This involved running for about 12-13km’s to make it to the lodge where they would stay for the night.
• i made it! Then back to Picton on the ferry for the 90min trip and seeing more on the Sounds.
• Chatting with boat captain, who i will get to know well told me that earlier in the day on another trip out they saw Orca’s in the Sounds. WOW!!!. cant wait to see those.
• Robin came and picked me up after work, we had dinner looking over the waterfront and then took a senic route home, continuing to exlpore our new home.
• The photos below are of the past week.

Enjoy

This is about 10mins from our house. Looking north. the hills to the left are the Marlborough Sounds, the very Northern tip of the South Island.

This is the view on the hills right behind our, at sunset.

i know we promised photos and we will deliver. There has been so much going on that we havent had a chance to get where wecan upload them yet. Hopefully over the weekend we will be able to do this. Then show you all our new home.

I can tell you this though…
We move into our place today. Its a great house and we are very excited about settling in there. It has a great vege garden which is in full harvest right now being summer. The growing season is really long here too so we will get a lot of produce out of it over the coming years.

We have both been by our new jobs and meet various people. The pastor of the church where Robin will be serving and my new job as outdoor guide. For me most of next week will be spent learning th area where i will be guiding. Which literally means, spending my days paddling, mountain biking and hiking. Either on my own or shadowing a group. it will be tough but someone has to do it.

Robin has lots to do at church and much of that begins on sunday at worship and then a picnic in the afternoon. Our hosts, that we are staying with are wonderful and even went and got Robin a bicycle for her to use. Blenheim sits in a river valley and is surrouded by hills and mountains. We have both already ran in the hills and will certainly be out there more in the coming days and beyond.

Next post will include photos

Today we leave my parents home and begin our trek to our final destination. We leave here with most of the details and items needed to begin our life here. We will stay with some good friends tonight then drive up the Pacific Coast to Blenheim our new home. Which is about 4.5hrs from here.

The past week has been very busy and we feel quite good about getting on the road today. Look out for more details and photos of our drive to Blenheim in the next day or so. The coastline we are driving up is very beautiful.

WOW what a whirl wind of a few days. Its late Saturday night here and in the past 48hours we have taken care of, completed, signed up for, enrolled in, paid for, the following…
A Drivers License
A Bank Account
New Cell Number
New Cell Phone & number for Robin (her 1st smart phone, now thats entertainment)
Tax ID # for Robin
Re-upped my tax ID #
Looked at buying a car
Test drove a car
Almost got a car
Installed banking software on computers

What other major life decisions can we make in the next few days… is there anything left. It almost makes your head hurts. At least tomorrow is Sunday and we get to go to church. The church i worked at for 5 years. This will mean seeing many old friends again.

Tonight was great as we had many of the family over for a BBQ, not USA style but kiwi style, yeah… sausages, tomato sauce and of course most of my family including nieces and nephews, 2 or my 3 sisters. A good time by all.

one more thing. Today was warm, and breezy, which is very common in NZ at this time of year. And we were still outside at 9.45pm IN DAYLIGHT, had not gone dark yet. At this time of year there is only about 6hrs of darkness.

We arrived. I sit here at my parents kitchen table at 6pm and its still light outside and will be for at least another 3-4hrs. The weather is warm and windy of course which is common place for NZ.

Of course our jounrey here wasn’t without drama. What was that quote again “True adventure doesnt begin until things start going wrong”. And here’s how it all went down. We arrive safely in NZ all good. Take the nice stroll over to the domestic terminal to see that our domestic flight to Christchurch has been cancelled. “Nice of you to tell us that” were the words that came out of my mouth.

Keep in mind this is all going down at 8.30am and upon my enquiry am meet with “sir, the next flight we can get you on is at 9pm this evening.” You can imagine how that all went down with me. Needless to say that i set to work to figure out other options. Including telling the airline rep “Well, what are you going to do about it for me the customer?” Along with exporing other airline options. And after A LOT of waiting in various lines and getting various things sorted out we got on a 12.30pm flight to Christchurch. AND… even managed to get a full refund from the first airline which was nothing short of hopeless.

But we are here and tomorrow begins the long list of things to do for setting up life for ourselves here.