Christmas in New Zealand

We are still a few days behind in our posts -- we have many more pictures of Rotorua to share -- but I wanted to wish all of our friends and family a Merry Christmas.

We celebrated Christmas yesterday with some old friends from Coeur d'Alene, Kjelsty Hanson and her husband, Glenn Kastrinos, in Napier. It was a gorgeous, sunny day and so we spent it where you should spend gorgeous, sunny days... at the beach.


We drove out to Wairarama Beach, a rather perfect beach. When we arrived, the waves were breaking just right for a little body-surfing. Glenn and Joey wussed out pretty early on -- the water was freezing -- but Kjelsty and I stayed out and caught some good rides. I could have stayed out there all day but my Seattle skin is not used to the rays down here. We had to go in and re-apply sunscreen before I got my fill of the water. I am sure there are many days of body-surfing ahead of me so I was not too disappointed.


After a picnic lunch on the rocks, we hiked down around the point to check out some really cool rocks. All along the beach, the rocks are pretty neat. I wish I knew something about geology so I could explain what we saw. There were quite a few rocks created from compacted sediment; some contained sea fossils while others seemed to have petrified wood. Further down the beach are almost perfectly round rocks of various size. They are not from a river but instead from chemical action inside of the sediment. They were formed under ground and, as the cliffs erode, the roll out onto the beach. Very cool. The sun limited the time we spent looking through the tide pools but it was still a great day. Although we all felt a little pink at the end of the day, I don't think any of us actually got burned.


We miss our families at home. Spending Christmas on the beach was delightfully strange. I think the strangeness of it has helped to alleviate the homesickness we were feeling earlier this week. It is so not an Idaho Christmas that there are very few reminders of what we are missing. It also helps to be with Kjelsty and Glen; better hosts could not be found. As Erica said last night, they speak Idahoan so, at least for me, they sound like home.

We hope you all have a lovely Christmas. We miss you and are thinking of you... but we will also enjoy our time at the beach!