Hiking Around Northland

We have enjoyed a lot of hiking recently. Rene, her son Riley, Phillip, and I did a hike 10 minutes from our house going from Urquate's Bay around to Smuggler's cove. You could see Ocean beach off in the distance. It tokk a few hours but was a beautiful hike to the beach.

Lynn and I got away for one night for a much needed to retreat together. It's only the second night together without the kids the whole year. We stayed at a lovely old bed and breakfast an hour south of town in a place called Mangawhai. We laughed because some white New Zealanders say the name like "Maine-ga-why" and the Maori word/way to say it is "Mon-ga-fie". We had a great time eating at a French cafe called The Kiwi and The Frog named after the married New Zealander and French Chef that own it. It was the best meal in New Zealand and the best cheese plate ever! After dinner we walked down the remote natural beach and saw the most amazing stars in a clear moonless night sky.The next day we set out for a 3 hour hike across the beach and up the Bream Head mountain cliffs then back on a loop across a very rocky mile of beach.

This is Lynn before we headed up to the top of the cliffs. The beach behind him is where we saw the amazing stars!

(Above) This is along the tops of the cliffs. The mountain off in the far distance is the Ocean Beach area we live next to.
The view looking back at the Mangawhai surf beach from the cliff tops (above). The trail went through a very lush tropical forest where Lynn took the pic of me (below).I had hiking shoes on but you should have seen Lynn's size 13 jandals (aka flip flops) along the beach rocks for the last hour or so.
There were amazing amounts of shells on some areas of the beach. You just walked for 100 feet of nothing but shells.

This parking lot at the trail head and surf beach is indicative of the outdoor lifestyle here. The kayaks, walkers, surfers, and bikers enjoying the vast great outdoors New Zealand affords.
Lynn often hikes the mountain behind our house (Mnt Aubrey) for exercise because in 30 minutes you can get a good stair climb heart pumping walk with a view at the top. Andrew and I went with him after dinner the other night and enjoyed a rest on the bench for a minute.

The sunset view at the top was worth the hike. The hospital sits about where the sun is setting.

Our time here is setting too and it is hard in ways to think of leaving the beauty here and the people we have come to know but we are excited to see our friends and family back home. Please leave comments to let me know you were here. It takes so very long to upload the photos and encourages me when folks scan over them.

March Madness

I think I am at least 2 weeks behind on the blog. With work, kids, and the approaching departure the time to blog seems to be sparse. In addition, my Dad has been in the hospital this week in the US but should go home tomorrow. I thought he would like these pictures of the recent sunset from the mountain walk behind our house. The sky has been so clear and beautiful lately with brilliant color at sunset and millions of stars on moonless nights. I wish I could get a picture of the Southern cross. The fish Andrew is pointing at is snapper which feeds at night. We look forward to a promised fishing trip with Andrew, Phillip, and my Dad when we get back. Lynn has been out once with some Phillipino people here I know through work. They fish all night but Lynn called it quits about 2 AM. The snapper is really good eating fish. Our neighbor Stuart gave us some he caught too. After a year on the waiting list his wife Sue had her brain surgery earlier this month. They are back from Auckland and she has been without seizures. It is a big change from the daily seizures she has been having. Phil and Rheba may remember them from the airport upon arrival to NZ. They were headed out for 2 different kids' weddings in England and Thailand.

A few weeks ago the kids went to a Pirate party. Andrew won for best costume because he took the great pirate ship kite my sister sent him for his Birthday last June. The kids have had a variety of friend's birthday parties to attend including a skateboarding for Riley Jack (Anna and Andrew's freind) while I as in Australia and the lazer tag party below for Naomi Abascal's 12 birthday.

Church has been a blessing due to the relationships we have there. It is more like a small group but it allows us all to really know each other's faith in a mutually encouraging way. The kids have been blessed in this way too.

Notice the Upward Basketball flyer. The church is starting an Upward League here as an outreach. Miguel brought all the materials back from California when they visited family last October.

I have two really precious friends and neighbors in Sharmaine and Rene. Rene is Anna's friend Brooke's Mom and has started watching the kids after school for me on the days I work. The above photo is Rene's son Riley who reminds me of my nephew Rhett and is almost the exact same age. He has speech problems and says "Dawn" so cute. Sharmaine's son Leo below is one of Andrew's best friends. He broke his arm sand surfing a few weeks ago and required surgery. They live up a little path behind our house and Andrew spends a lot of time up there. Sharmaine comes and visits over a cup of tea. I treasure our talks about what God has done in our lives. She has a beautiful story of God's redemption and on going emotional healing.

Through common friends we met this wonderful family who have a ministry here and in the Phillipines to help families do devotions together. Their website is www.walkingwithgod.com where they have daily verses to print out and guidelines on how to get started. This is an area we have wanted to grow in for a long time. Colin Pyle (the dad) also loaned me Larry Crabb's book The Pressure's Off which has been really speaking to me about centering on Christ in the midst of things not working out in my life. I think all of us have times when we feel things just aren't working out to our hopes (illness, economy, relationships,etc) despite us doing the right things. If you are in a season of disappointment or struggles in some areas then I would recommend this book. In any event the below photos are from their local fellowship group at their house. Colin is able to independantly fund this ministry and is an amazing example of how a follower of Christ with large financial means can live humbly and give to others greatly out of love for God.

The kids love to go to the Pyle's because they have tire swings, a beach, a man made water slide, and a corn maze on the property.

Having a lazy swing at the Pyle's place is like Mayberry must have been. Peaceful! Despite the March Madness I think we have been more at peace.

Sydney

Last weekend Lynn watched the kids (took them to the circus with our neighbors) while I went to Sydney for an Australasian Pathology conference. I got to here lots of interesting speakers including the CMO for Seimens and the president of the College of American Pathologists.

This is Manley beach where Nicole and Keith live.

A highlight for me was going to Hillsongs where the message was on sacred joy. It was a well timed message for me as I have been a little blue lately over the job situation in Knoxville. May the joy of the Lord be my strength.

Sailing families

I've been wanting to write for awhile about the "yachties" we have been meeting. In general, they are families from all over the world who have sold everything, bought a boat, and left home together to sail the world. I thought the words of an actual sailing family do their life experience justice:

Sailing dream comes to an end
http://www.blogger.com/
To:
Nichols, Phillips L. II MD
Cc:
Attachments:
Hi Dawn and Lynn
Wonderful to meet and stay with you guys. Hope to see youal again soon

Please excuse the round robin, it´s an attempt to make up for my slack
communication skills. You can see the photos on www.oceanfamily.net

Final blog, Tutukaka, New Zealand

Our sailing cruising dream is nearly over, all that remains is for us
to move on land after a little more exploring of New Zealand´s islands
and to get my yachtmasters ticket. Our three years living on Yamana has
been an amazing experience, we traveled over 17 000 nautical miles and
visited 21 countries. When I think back to how little I knew before we
set off it seems incredible how much I´ve learnt, from handling the
boat in tricky situations to maintaining every electrical and
mechanical system on board. At some stage I realized that in spite of
being only of average intelligence and dexterity everything I had to
learn or cope with I could, it just took perseverance and tenacity.
We´ve all learnt a tremendous amount, sailing in heavy weather, keeping
one´s cool in difficult situations, self entertaining over long
passages and perhaps most fundamentally embracing the unknown with a
sense of adventure. I shall never forget catching up with the kids in
a seacave to see Ruben dive 20 feet down then disappear into the
rocks, emerging through a 15 foot tunnel outside the cave. Or how
confidently Olive aged 10 steered Yamana between numerous ships in 40
knots of wind through a packed Panama harbour when we were short
handed.

Many people can't really imagine what it's like traveling by sailboat,
so here are some descriptions and answers to questions. For starters it's
not a holiday; for the skipper it's about half a day of work everyday
keeping up with the maintenance. All the regular tasks of living that
you take for granted in a house are so much harder in a small boat,
like cooking at anchor in tiny kitchen with so little bench space, when
heeling over on a passage even eating is tricky, let alone dealing with
meals trying to jump off the cooker. Washing clothes and getting on the
internet can be major time consuming hassles if not impossible in some
places It's very restrictive, you've always got to be mindful of how
much power or water is being used, often when someone walks by you have
to move your body for them to squeeze past, personal private space is
non-existent. As they say it's the most expensive way to travel third
class. Cruising can be very expensive and it can be very cheap, some
months we would spend less then $100, but if you have to replace sails
or engine parts then it adds up fast. The most expensive thing we did
was replace all the rigging, I did most of the work myself and it still
cost about US $5000. We seemed to have gone through a whole lot of
money but once the boat is sold it would average out round US $50K per
year, not bad for keeping a family of four and an old sailboat going.
One of the funniest questions people ask is "do you anchor at night on
an off shore passage?"; once you get going theres no stopping, we set
three hour watches through the night, every twenty minutes or less one
of us looks around for ships and squalls, checks the course and sails.
90% of the time we're at anchor using our dinghy as a car to go ashore,
visit our floating neighbors or go snorkeling.

Our scariest moment was being violently shaken by a water spout
(tornado over water , Blog: 22 June 2007). Our most dangerous moment is
a toss up between being swept by the current under a low bridge in Fort
Lauderdale as we incompetently got off the dock, saved by the boat
getting stuck on post which gave me a chance to get back in control. Or
nearly entangling our masts with a steel boat in 8 foot of swell when
our rudder failed. Our close proximity was due to passing lines and
equipment between us, we could only watch in horror as the mast danced
within each others rigging. (the full story can be read on 16th March
blog)

Many people have asked us about home schooling. Alice did three days
and I the other two days a week, two hours per day, we had books for
maths and english which we steadily worked our way through. We had
some science and reference books for other subjects, we followed their
interest a lot and from the lonely planet guide books presented them
the history, culture and topical issues of every country we visited. I
also taught them to be competent crew, navigating, sail trimming,
diesel engines and rules of the road. They have fitted easily back into
regular school, enjoying the social and sporting aspects and coming in
above average in most subjects. The worst thing about cruising is the
lack of space and the best thing is all the wonderful people we've
meet, both among locals and the cruising community.

Sadly we're coming up to a round of goodbyes as our cruising mates
prepare to head into the Pacific. I'm glad not to have such a weighty
mission in front ofme Not that getting into land life is any
easier especially with our current economic downturn joining the rat
race and earning isn't going to be a cruise. We hope to take on a
franchise Test and Tag <http://www.testandtag.co.nz/>
which should bring us a steady income with minimal management that will
allow us to develop my photography and Alice's healing work. We'll rent
a house before the winter comes then hopefully buy some land and start
building a new dream next year.

The sailing dream will never go away for me, besides buying a summer
sailing business in Russell I have a ten year goal of building or
buying a low maintenance, fast, spacious, sea worthy catamaran. That'
the only boat I'll have any chance of enticing Alice onto. Then
continuing our circumnavigation, there's so many more wonderful places
to visit and people to meet.

We have met a lot of inspirational people out there, like the family
crew of Summerwine who left England in a £6000 coastal yacht with an
£600 overdraft, five years later they are still going strong. Something
I hope will arise from our sailing adventure and blog is that other
people will be inspired to step out of the main stream. If we can do it
anybody can, you don´t have to be gifted and wealthy, merely willing to
learn and step away from the safe secure path. Sailing is not for
everyone, there are many way to live out your dreams, to step out of
the box, perhaps now more than ever is a good time to set a new course.




Yamana is now for sale (click here to view <http://www.gulfgroup.co.nz/displayboat.php?Boatid=92621&id_broker=19>)
for a snip at NZ$168 000, if we are lucky enough to get a buyer it will
be sad to see her go but if not then I guess the dream will live on,
certainly the maintenance will.

I will most likely keep the oceanfamily website going and do the
occasionalupload to show our progress on land. I have for one reason
or other been pretty hopeless about staying in touch with most of my
friends so please help me out and let me know how you´re getting on,
talk about your dreams or just wish me happy birthday for the 17/3 pg@pgpix.com
tel 64 21 686820 or S/V Yamana, Tutukaka Marina, R. D. 3 Whangarei
0173, NZ

Live your dreams.

Pete

Kids Update

Kids have been enjoying baseball and T ball in town 2 days a week. Phillip has been playing catcher and really likes it.

Claire is all legs and personality.

Anna kills it.

Lynn is coaching which he really enjoys.

Claire recently gave a report on the ills of smoking. The school assembly listened including many parents. Lynn and I were amazed at her boldness.

Andrew is packing up his bag at the end of a day at school. In New Zealand years they are in year 2. Anna is actually in year 3 Math. They will come back to finish up a few weeks of Kindergarten in May and then on to 1st grade next year. Their reading is coming along nicely. I greatly enjoy curling up each night and listening to them.

The schools here have a pool and swim lessons everyday. A lot of the education happens outside.

I had a great time with Claire on a class field trip to Reotahi for snorkeling, hiking, and beach combing.

The school classroom outside under the tent on the field trip was a great place to learn.

With clip boards in hand the students scavenged around to record things they found on how man has impacted the environment as well as items with certain qualities in nature.

I took this photo of Claire's group while we were on the nature walk through the preserve. Claire is on the right end in bluejean shorts.

The highlight for most kids was snorkeling through the marine reserve. I think we listed 20 or so species of marine life we saw during the excursion. Pictured left to right is Hannah, Cora, and Claire.

Claire's group preparing to take off. They practiced snorkeling in the pool prior to this field trip. Next week they go for an overnight camp at a larger marine reserve. Schools here are very hands on in their approach to education. All subjects school wide revolove around a unit theme which for this 6 weeks is "marine life".

On the cultural side we celebrated Chinese New Year when we were in Wellington with Rus. It's the year of the Ox and below is a red gas producing variety in the New Years parade as well as the tradtional Chinese dragon.

These smiling faces of Chinese children living in New Zealand are sweet. Unfortunately there is racial tension here. Many people feel Chinese buying fishing rights in New Zealand as well as their world wide economic spread is a threat. Last week I was riding back from a rural hospital with an Asian colleague when a car harrassed us. Two 10 to 12 yo boys and their Dad sped around us shouting Asian slurs, slanting their eyes, and flipping us off through several red lights. The end result was a police call and a trip to the station for my coworker to file a complaint. I felt so bad for him and it was a horrible experience for me to witness racism.

On a brighter note, a few weeks back we participated in a Maori youth camp with a Christian ministry to at risk teens. Miguel was the devotion leader and we helped out with break out groups to discuss what he shared. It was very interesting to get to know these kids and their culture a little. At the end of the retreat we got up to say Thank you for letting us participate. It was so funny because in the Maori culture we are expected to sing them a song. We hadn't prepared anything! After trying in vain to come up with something we commonly knew the Abascals and I muddled off key through Blessed be Your Name with great embarrassment! The Maori kids then got up and did an AWESOME haka.