We went for picking berries...

Today we went picking berries from a local orchard.

This is a local tradition in Napier, where there are lots of orchards with gorgeous summer fruits, strawberries, raspberries, apricots, plums, peaches and nectarines.

Here we are in the trays that the pickers use.

"Hans, where are you?"

These berries are so good, we couldn't help ourselves, we had to dive in to the bowl.
Some in the bowl, some in our mouths. Yum!

"Paul, stop eating them all and come and help me!"

Happy New Year!

We want to say THANK YOU to all of you for a wonderful year 2012! We hope that 2013 will be a same exciting year like the last!

We visit Aotearo's Henge

 We traveled with our family for Christmas, and stopped along the way for a visit at Stonehenge Aotearoa.  

This is a henge, constructed from concrete and stone, to measure the movements of the sun and stars and is calibrated for the exact longitude and latitude of its location in New Zealand.

http://www.astronomynz.org.nz/stonehenge/

We couldn't have been luckier, we visited the henge on Summer Solstice in the Southern Hemisphere, which is the longest day of the year. It is a very significant day at Stonehenge Aotearoa, not only for astronomers, but for people who celebrate Solstice as part of their belief systems. There was going to be a big event at the Henge at sunset, but we had to keep traveling.

The seven standing stones measure the movements of the constellation known as the Seven Sisters, the Pleiades, Subaru and Matariki.


Can you see us at he bottom of these stones?

We are in the middle of Middle Earth

Wellington is such an exciting place to be right now. A few weeks ago we saw the red carpet roll out for the world premiere of The Hobbit; An Unexpected Journey, and our family took us to see the movie! The Hobbit film was made in a studio in Wellington, and much of the footage was shot in New Zealand.

 

This is the Embassy, the cinema where the wold premiere was held. There is an enormous Gandalf and hobbit hole on the front of the building. Can you see Gandalf putting the magic mark on Bilbo's door?

 

We had our tickets ready. We couldn't wait to see the movie!

 

Look who we met at the cinema - Bilbo Baggins! 

Of course, all good movies need popcorn.

We loved the movie, some parts of it were very scary, and it was all exciting. We won't spoil the ending for you, but we think you should go and see it, it was fantastic.

We have visited the Wellington Christmas Tree

In a park by the water in Wellington there is a large display of lights in the shape of a Christmas tree. Our family took us to see it.

The lights change colours and make different patterns all the time. 

The city council provides bean bags and blankets so that people can lie warmly underneath the lights tree and watch the colours change. We were there quite late at night and the bean bags were full of people enjoying the view and the atmosphere.

In the same park were some special telephone boxes. We saw that they were specially set up so that we could talk to Santa! We told him that we have been very good backpackers this year, and he said that we were already on his "nice" list. 

It is strange to us to be getting ready for Christmas in the middle of summer instead of the middle of winter. It's just as much fun, but with much less snow than we are used to.

We go to Scouts

The children in our host family all go to scouts, Keas (named for an alpine parrot native to New Zealand) is for children 6 to 8 years old, Cubs is for children 8 to 11 years old, and Scouts for children 11 to 14. Scouting is very popular in New Zealand.


The Scout Den that we visited is located at the top of the Wellington Botanical Gardens. It is a small hut built about a hundred years ago. 

From the Scout Den the view over the city and harbour is breathtaking.  On a windy day we would really have to hang on, but today it was gorgeous and clear and still.  Perfect!

We go to school with one of our hostkids

The children at the local school have been following our adventures on this blog, and when we came to visit the classroom, the children wanted to play with us and show us around. 

We didn't do any lessons, just played around.  In New Zealand, December is the end of the school year and the children are just about to start their 6 week long summer holiday, so there are lots of activities and parties at school.  The weather is getting nice and warm, and everyone is looking forward to Christmas.