A Quintessential Kiwi Summer

Kiwi summers are awesome.

For the past month we have been living in Whangamata on the Coromandel Peninsula, about 2 hours south east of Auckland in the Clements' bach (beach house). Friends and family streamed in and out, Riverhouse style which of course made us feel right at home. Our days were punctuated by a bit of work here and there (Jackie and Alissa at a local cafe and Anna waitressing at a small pizza/pasta place), teaching ourselves how to surf, frolicking in the waves, wandering (and sometimes running) along the beach, intense matches of beach soccer, lots of card games, lots of wine (and port courtesy of Andrew), and lots of sun and laughter.

For future reference, a new acquisition of the summer has been nicknames. Clem was quick to square these away within our first couple nights there:

Anna - BJ: In continuing with the Wheatley/Weet-Bix nickname tradition, I became Bix Jr. after my loving mother, or shortened to BJ. This nickname was especially exciting when yelled across crowded restaurants or introduced to strangers so that they believe my actual name was BJ

Jackie - Cat or The Cat: Apparently there is a kid's song that goes along the lines of "Oh Miller Catepillar..." Which was subsequently shortened to Cat. I find this nickname particularly hilarious, especially when "The" proceeds the nickname.

Alissa - Stick: The nickname process went a little like this, Alissa's last name is Hays. Hays like a Haystack. Haystack is shortened to Stack. We had to give the nickname a couple days to see if Stack would Stick. Stick stuck instead... Plus Alissa's tall...


Summer Highlights from BJ, The Cat, and Stick:
-Raggamuffin: A day-long Reggae festival in Rotorua where Alissa and I became the legal guardians of Jamie (from now on referred to by her true name, Jim Jam) and Conner so that they could a. go Zorbing on our way to the concert, and b. so we could get in with the family price. The highlight of this day as far as I am concerned is seeing Lauryn Hill perform live. It was pure heaven on earth. I can now die happy... -BJ
- Gigi/Steph Visit: When one of my dearest high school friends Gigi came to NZ on a "research and development" trip with her friend Steph (who is opening a wine bar in Napa, CA)...Anna, Kyle, and I jumped into the car with Gi and Steph for a wine tour of the country... we headed down toward the south island for a 11 day whirlwind of wining, adventuring, zorbing, crossing the Cook Strait, karaoking, and making our way to Christchurch. Unforgettable memories. - The Cat
- I suppose the highlight I would mention (especially considering the rest of my summer was consumed with cafe work), would have to be a lifeguard related one. We had a visit from our good friend Sebas at the end of the summer in which he and Kyle decided to go on a kayak out to the doughnut island where you can kayak in through a cave. I have to mention that this day was particularly stormy and not fit for kayaking, so when two hours after they left, we still had no idea where the boys were, we alerted the surf lifeguards who sent out an IRB (rescue boat) and ended up having to swim into the cave entrance of the island to find the boys perched on a rock...They were returned safely and subsequently made it into the local newspaper. - Stick

January was an amazing month. Good friends, good food, good wine, good surf, plenty of sunshine, and plenty of amazing memories. We are so luck to have had this opportunity. Now we are off on our next big wander, ending up eventually in the South Island for some more adventures down there.

Wish us luck!
BJ, The Cat, and Stick