A New Zealand Christmas

Arthur's Pass highway

Emily and I were fortunate enough to be able to spend the holidays with family here in New Zealand. We stayed with John's cousin, Robin MacIntosh and her husband Tony Zwart. They took us into their home and treated us as if we were part of the gang. They live roughly 40 min outside of the city of Christchurch, with the southern alps in their backyard. Robin and Tony's house is still recovering from the big earthquake back in September, this is no surprise as ground zero of the earth quake is only a few hundred yards away from their house. This did not damper the holiday spirit however, Christmas baking and good cheer prevailed. The following pics are of the Christmas break, sailing in Queen Charlotte Sound and New Years eve in Nelson. 

Arthur's Pass highway, one of only 3 passes on the south island that take you from west to east.

The highway cuts right through the Southern alps as you can see.

John and Tony taking Daisy the donkey for a workout

Getting around the good old fashion way

Christchurch Cathedral

Emily standing in front of the Christmas tree at the Church

Lighting candles for family, Love you mom & dad

Emily outside the Cathedral

John standing in front of the Christchurch war memorial

Taking in a local chess game, John spotted a check mate move, and a few minutes later the move was played out. He decided not to play on this occasion to save New Zealanders their pride, being the holidays and all.

It only took us 40 hours to build this gingerbread replica of the Cathedral...... Just joking but it did take the actual artist 100hours to design

Emily with baby Evelyn. This is Sarah's new baby girl. Tony's middle daughter

John taking Sam for a walk.

Hiking in the Southern Alps foothills

Let the cooking begin, Peanut Butter Chocolate Balls

A few of the creations that Emily, Robin and John created. The Chocolate balls were a hit, thanks for the recipe mom.

The Christmas tree at Tony and Robins

Emily feeding the chickens

Christmas croquette, how else do spend a green Christmas when you do not have pond hockey.

A little Canadian flare for Christmas dinner

Following Christmas dinner, Bruce Willis the dog sniffed out a Possum up a tree. Tony the marksman took it out, but Bruce Willis finished it off. Nothing says Christmas in NZ like a good old fashion Possum shoot.

Stocking time, much thanks to Tony and Robin for making Christmas special.

Canadian mail, thank you all for thinking of us this Christmas and for taking the time to send us mail. It was pretty cool to arrive here with mail under the tree with our names on it.

Staying true to our Canadian roots, thanks to the Craigens

Thanks to the Zwart girls and their significant others, we got to experience some awesome NZ cheese

John strutting his New Zealand towel

Christmas day at Kathryn's

Bruce Willis, Sylvie and John relaxing after a big meal

Sylvie on the verge of walking, John lending a hand

Seal colony on the east coast

Let the sailing adventure begin. Tony and Robin were kind enough to let us tag along for a week of sailing on their boat. We spent 5 days sailing around the Queen Charlotte Sounds on the north part of the south island.

John having a go at sailing the boat

Emily fully indulged in Harry Potter

Sailing in the rain, the weather was starting to turn for the worst. That is when we hunkered down in a cove for the night where we experienced gale force winds.

The day after the storm, the wind was still blowing at 40 knots at times. Tony braved the weather to snap some shots of the wind.

Robin, Tony and John enduring the elements

After a few days with no bites, John finally started to bring in fish after fish

Kauai fish

Sand shark

This guy was not happy to be on the line

When John was not eating and or sleeping, he was fishing

Getting ready to go Paua fishing

Tony paddling us to shore. We ended up getting some Paua, and eating them for lunch.

"Park Lane" our home for the week

View of the sounds from the boat

Emily with the Sounds in the back ground

Bird Sanctuary and predator free zone.

The warm weather returned and we were back to sailing, all hands on deck.

close up of a NZ Robin

Emily at Nelson Lakes National Park

One of the Nelson Lakes

Rice Risotto and Surprise peas, all you need to camp in the bush here in NZ, just add water and boil

New Years Eve in Nelson

Reuniting with some fellow wwoofers, the girls form Georgia

Emily with Lucy and Kristi in the streets of Nelson, where we took in a local Reggae band.

Party in the street

Lewis Pass, our drive from Nelson back down to Christchurch. Only one more pass to drive to do all three.

We were both definitely missing home over the holidays but Tony and Robin made us feel welcomed, and our time spent with them was as if we were with family. We hope everyone had a good holiday season and that the new year brings everyone good health and fortune. From here, we are making our way to Queenstown where we will attempt to find some work and take in Fiordland National park. Take care for now and we look forward to seeing you all in the  new year.