Kaleidoscope World

Today we went to Kaleidoscope World -- a really cool place where you can view a variety of kaleidoscopes with patterns made from things like soap bubbles, flowers in a fountain and tiny figurines bouncing on a stereo speaker to Queen's "We Will Rock You."



Amber continues to make progress with her halter and lead training of Coffee, Caramel and Chocolate. She and Helena, another helper at the farm, walked llamas down the driveway (which has a golden kiwi fruit orchard along one side) this morning, while I pushed Ediza in her new stroller. Julie's mom was kind enough to get us the stroller as a gift from the thrift store (op shop) she volunteers at.

The sweet smell of sulfur

We went to some nearby hot springs today and took Ediza in a mild pool that felt like warm bath water. Amber and I went into a hotter pool, although some were so scorching we could barely dip our toes in them. These hot springs were much different than the ones we're used to, like those around Bridgeport and Mammoth.

At the hot springs here you pay a small fee to get in and there's all these little pools with names like Solomon and Doctor and they're all set at different temperatures. Some are steaming, while you can rub cold green mud on yourself in others. Regardless of where you go, there's a strong smell of sulfur in the air.

Before the hot springs we went to the Bay of Islands Farmers' Market, which is much larger and more impressive than the one in Sonora (no offense). We bought macadamia nuts and blueberries and freshly-squeezed orange juice and lots of other stuff. A flower vendor there even gave Ediza her own little mini bouquet of pretty flowers.

People are always giving Ediza things. Just yesterday a lady in an antique store gave her this doll, which really creeps Amber out. Its got the face of a girl baby doll and the body of a boy. Rather disturbing, wouldn't you agree?

Champagne truffles

In case you wanted to see Amber's sandcastle...



The rain has returned so we spent the day out on the town. We went to a thrift shop (they're called opportunity, or op shops here), ate a foot-high veggie burger and went to a fancy chocolate boutique where we split a champagne truffle.

Late in the afternoon I went on my longest run yet. It's a very free feeling to be able to just walk out the door and run, run, run. I went all the way to a place called Rainbow Falls and then ran a trail through the bush before turning around and running back. Not sure where that spurt of energy came from, perhaps Berocca.

Berocca is like the best thing ever. It's a multivitamin tablet that you dissolve in water, like Alka-Seltzer, and it fizzes and you drink it and it gives you energy. They don't sell it in the U.S., but they should.

Leap Year Baby

Xquisite Symphony (mom) and Pirate Ring (dad) are the proud parents of Kakophony Ediza, born about noon on Friday. That's right, the cria (baby llama) was named, at least partially, after little Ediza Rose. The cria weighed 11 kilograms (that's about 24 pounds) and was up and running around in no time.

Aside from baby llamas, we took a stud male named Poetry to the beach yesterday. We have actually been visiting quite a few secret little bays during the past few days. Can you imagine, swimming in February?

When we took Poetry to the ocean, we walked up a steep path to a hillside monument commemorating the Rainbow Warrior -- the Greenpeace ship the French sunk in Auckland 23 years ago so that it wouldn't interfere with their nuclear testing. Two years later, the ship was brought to Matauri Bay, near where the monument now stands.


Pictured with Poetry are Amber, Ediza and Tracy, a helper at the llama farm.

On the way back down we walked Poetry through a little cove where we came across a topless woman sunbathing. Needless to say she was shocked a llama had crashed her party. Poetry, putting on a good show, decided to sit down and have Amber pull him towards the water.



Today, at another beach, Amber made an elaborate sandcastle with a moat and everything. Not a bad way to spend a day you only get to live every four years.

Cape Reinga

Ediza has been acting just too crazy lately so I decided to throw her off a cliff. Just joking.

Yesterday we visited Cape Reinga, the northern most tip of New Zealand. Cape Reinga -- where the Pacific Ocean and Tasman Sea meet -- is considered a sacred place to the native Maori people as they believe their souls leave from this point.

It's a very majestic place and was well worth the three-hour drive to the north to get there. The last 20 kilometers (they don't use miles here) of the drive was along a rough gravel road and we were dodging all of this construction equipment. Kind of crazy to be driving with a huge steamroller coming at you and no one directing you where to go.



On the way back to the farm we stopped at Coopers Beach, a great little swimming spot with lots of colorful seashells mixed in with the sand. Ediza got to play with a puppy dog named Nigel before playing with seashells and taking a swim.

Ediza!

By popular demand, more photos of Ediza Rose...


Ediza being a cool dude.


Ediza standing in front of a trippy tree.


Ediza walking a llama at Rangemore Llama Farm in New Zealand.

Break Free

After more than two days of solid rain dumped about 10 inches here, we have been enjoying the New Zealand sunshine (with plenty of sunblock, of course, as the hole in the ozone layer sits just above NZ). The storm was so strong it caused some area roads to flood and made Amber's umbrella flip inside out several times.

Since drying out, Ediza Rose went on her first bush walk (see photos above) and has been running around the farm enjoying all the animals and fresh air. We have been doing some sightseeing drives -- one led us to a beautiful bay that had sailboats (one of the boats was named "Break Free").

We also found a great public park with a running trail leading to waterfalls. At the park, Ediza loves visiting and feeding the ducks, roosters, geese and seagulls (see photo below). I have started running some there, although I find it a bit difficult because of the heat and humidity. It's also been a challenge for me to learn to relax and realize that I don't have to go-go-go and do 50 million things at once.


Amber, on the other hand, has been very relaxed. During the past two days, she's clipped the toe nails of the female llama herd and has the males left to do. She's been having lots (make that "heaps") of fun and looks forward to training three llamas in particular -- Coffee, Chocolate and Caramel.

We are adjusting quite well here, given all the changes. Summer is starting to wind down and the kids are going back to school. I'm continuing to stay in the left lane while driving (most of the time, anyway) and even routine things, like grocery shopping, are becoming these great new experiences.