St Claire's Beach, Dunedin

After Simon's futsal games on Wednesdays, we sometimes head to St Claire's Beach in Dunedin. Now one of our favorites. Love how the South Pole is so close, New York so far!

Colorful murals, even with a happy (random) bat :)

 A favorite for urban surfers.

 Checking out the cafe scene.

Settling in for gourmet fruit popsicles. 

 Yum!!

 Followed by tree climbing.

 And a squished but happy family selfie.

Mopanui

Each of the three classrooms in the Waitati School is named for one of the nearby (extinct) volcanoes. The smallest, Mopanui, is Simon's classroom. We discovered that the mountain is a beautiful, easy climb, very close to our house.

 The climb up....

 Mother-daughter selfie.

Cool spiral-y fern.

Blueskin Bay from above.

 

The summit!

Love of Dunedin

I love Dunedin!!!! I love being able to have an amazing cup of coffee as I work on a manuscript in a cafe, then walk down beautiful old cathedral-lined streets, passing funky stores and museums and bookshops.... Panama has culture too, but it's not like this. We've been loving it all - the theater, the music festivals, the art shows, the farmers markets, the great restaurants and cafes... Trying to soak it all in.

 

And did I mention the amazing coffee....

Koru

The fern is full of significance in New Zealand:

The koru (Māori for "loop") is a spiral shape based on the shape of a new unfurling silver fern frond, symbolizing new life, growth, strength and peace. It is an integral symbol in Māori art. The circular shape of the koru conveys the idea of perpetual movement, while the inner coil suggests a return to the point of origin. [Wikipedia]

I love how fern designs seem to permeate every sphere here. The one above is by the NZ artist Raewyn Harris. You find them everywhere - from the Air New Zealand planes, to the steamed milk of cappuccinos, to the beautiful greenstone traditionally carved by the Maori.

 

A koru from my trip to Pureora.

And one on our mailbox in Waitati :)

Cool kids

Weekend morning at the Waitati skate park. Every NZ town seems to have one. In the absence of scooters, skateboards, or anything at all with wheels, our kids seemed pretty content just kicking the soccer ball and jumping off the walls.

 

I LOVE the tui mural.

Fluffies!

A wonderfully amazing new discovery, one of our new favorite things about NZ - FLUFFIES! Can't believe how many cafes we visited not knowing these existed. I saw a mother order them for her kids at the Blueskin Nursery recently, and asked her about them. She said they are just little cups of steamed milk for kids, usually with chocolate powder and sprinkles on top, and either marshmallows or chocolate fish on the side. And they are FREE! Or sometimes $1. I love NZ! I'm starting a photo collection of our favorite NZ fluffies, here are a few:

Governors Cafe

Blueskin Nursery

 

Orokanui Ecosancturary 

 

 

Owaka Cafe

Quiet afternoon reading

Cozy, sweet, calm :)

Lost tooth!

 

First lost tooth in our family for quite some time! [The beginning of many to come. Seems like by the end of our year in NZ Gwen will have lost more teeth in this one year than in all the other years of her life combined.] This one is the bottom right front molar if you can't tell :). And we've made a fortunate discovery - the tooth fairy can indeed find you anywhere, even in a tiny town on the South Island of New Zealand!