Author: Hannah
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Summer solstice & Christmas
We got invited to a somatic dance party and potluck to celebrate the summer solstice. It was outside, everyone barefoot, and drizzling on and off. The music was a wave set, so starting off mellow, getting crazy, and back to mellow. It was so fun to dance!! It was a big effort to get there,…
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Prizegiving and Report Cards
On Monday 18th December Paihia School had the end-of-year celebration, called a Prizegiving. The whole student body (180 students if all are present) was assembled in the Whare. Each teacher presented awards for their class, and between the awards the students performed kapa haka. There were also some New Zealand Christmas carols thrown in. It…
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Happy 8th Birthday Jade!
I was worried about how to make Jade’s birthday special seeing as the cruising community is so fluid — but I needn’t have worried! The cruisers understand the importance of community, and our friends all showed up. We celebrated with a party on the beach in Paihia, on Sunday at 4 pm. We arrived to…
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A weekend of firsts
This past weekend we joined our friends Taylor, Brad & Rex from SV Pangea in a bay near Waewaetorea Island. The water was so clear! We tried a lot of fun water activities for the first time in New Zealand. Saturday night in the anchorage a pod of 11 dolphins were playing between the boat…
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Sushi night!
Taylor used to be a sushi chef, and started her own restaurant called Sushi Girl in Kaui, Hawaii. On Friday she came over to make sushi with us. It was so fun! Jade said, “Taylor, your meals are funner than Mama’s meals.” š And it’s true. We learned how to cool the rice by cutting…
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oh, the birds!
New Zealand is a real birder’s paradise. There are so many, so varied and colorful, and loud! And many unique birds because of the isolation of the islands of New Zealand, and the lack of mammalian predators (until the MÄori arrived from Polynesia, and after them, the Europeans). I’ve been loving hiking around and trying…
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Moments of delight
Last night after a glorious day hiking with friends and hosting friends for dinner on our boat, the kids wanted to go swimming at 8:15 pm. The water was flat calm, the sky was pink and orange, and I was just watching some White-fronted terns dive into the water. The kids put on their wetsuits…
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Paihia School
All the classes start each day with a karakia (prayer) and a hÄ«mene (hymn) in te reo MÄori, the MÄori language. This is the karakia which they say first in te reo, then in English: in te reo MÄori: Kia hora te marino Kia whakapapa pounamu te moana Hei huarahi mÄ tÄtou i te rangi…
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Exploring Northland
A few weekends ago the kids and I went on a 5 mile hike to Rainbow Falls. It was beautiful! We also spent one day at the beach in Paihia — the kids played in the waves in wetsuits for about 4 hours. And we visited the public toilets in Kawakawa, designed by the famous…
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New friends and boat projects
We met John, Caroline, Dalton & Hall from Charleston, South Carolina on SV Nogal, and enjoyed a few days of dinners together and lots of kid play time. When they pulled up the anchor Sunday morning Tomu said, “aww, they’re leaving already?” And Jade has said repeatedly, “I miss our friends Dalton & Hall.” We…
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