Video of Sea Lions

Click below on link to witness our first encounter with Sea Lions

Video of Sea Lions

 

Giant Sea Lions

September 19th  -  Sandfly Bay.

 This gorgeous bay is backed by deep sand dunes on the southern coastline of Otago Peninsula. 
This trip we got to view our first Giant Sea Lions. 

*This Track begins Seal Point Road car park off Highcliff Road about 7km from Anderson's Bay, Dunedin

View from the top of the Hike. Notice the ball? Yes, our children are stoked on Rugby now. They both got mouth guards this week and have been practicing side throwing and tackling eachother at our nearby park.
(Although Ellie's age group is "touch" rugby)
We are so pleased that they want to try out this classic Kiwi Sport.

Safe distance of 20 meters when walking past sleeping  Sea Lions. The beach and the dunes are also haul-outs for New Zealand sea lions. These are large animals (300kg) and they are not at all afraid of humans. Be very wary of them!

These two were cuddling and fun to watch interact

We all thought that the Sea Lions looked so cute

John and Alex walking toward a sleeping Sea Lion

This guy was huge!

We are looking forward to coming back in the evening to view the Yellow-eyed penguins surfing in on their belly's. We are planning to bring my cousin Joel and his wife Becca here next week to check out the "Penguin hideaway" available for viewing in the morning and evening. 

 

Ellie thought that this Sea Lion was a girl.

These Sea Lions make sounds called "barking" but it is more like a Grizzly Bear Growling sound. Very Impressive!

Alex and Ellie

The waves have the same impact on us that a campfire has - they are so hypnotic to watch.

Mama Jen with her bandaged hand with kids.

The kids worked on their Gymnastic Skills in the sand.

Ellie going big!

The kids going tandem.

Check out that White Sand - Simply Gorgeous!

Kiwi children call their mommy's "mum" and Dad is spelled "dab"  (cute technical error)

Knife Stabbing

Not so fun adventure.....Jen stabs her palm with a knife in the kitchen popping out an avocado seed.

Urgent care in New Zealand offers free care for any accident within 7 days.

Home-made sling 

keep hand above heart.

The nice thing is my kids & John being extra sweet to me!

Digging for Cockles

What is a Cockle you say? A Kiwi word for Clams.  

J

    Thousands of Cockles to eat - don't pick the open ones!

John digging down under for bigger ones.

We all gathered and put in daddys pockets...

Yummy! This was the best soup stalk that we have made here so far...

Directions;
Place crockles in water,
boil until shells open,
dig out the clams and wash out excess sand from beach.
Save the stock for soup
Add a can or corn, some potato and fresh parsley with clams to stalk... oh my...it is too good!

John's Math host here in the Physics Department at the University of Otago, Colin Fox, has a crib (what we'd call a cabin in Montana) out at Purakanui Bay, which is a little settlement on Purakanui Inlet, about half-an-hour out of Dunedin.  Last week he invited us out to stay. These are the boat house's below the cribs at low tide. It was amazing to witness the Sea come fill up the bay, and then just drain out again down to the "cockles" that we gathered.

 Alex checking out dock - Dad dares Alex to jump into the freezing bay for $5

For $5 will Alex jump in the water?

There are not many things that Alex will not do for $5

Yes! A rope swing!

Don't be a chicken!

YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

Our insane children!

Otago State Cross Country Championships

Ellie and Alex both qualified for the State Cross Country running championships. Ellie was one of two kids to represent her school, and Alex one of 5 kids from his. The race took place on a gorgeous sunny day. We hadn't seen the sun for a while, so it was a great day.

Ellie had a real bad start and was in the back by the first turn, but she cranked up her speed on the narrow and passed like 25 girls. It was awesome! Out of 60 girls, Ellie took 12th. She was really happy with her effort.

Alex had a good start, and placed around 20th. He raced in some crazy shoes that we bought in Missoula before we came here. They are the hot new thing in running. I was shocked how much they are here -  $260 new! Maybe we should sell them to help pay for his upcoming surf board!
As a side note, ALex's best buddy Johny took 3rd and smoked the boys. So that was cool too.

Ellie and John streching before race.

Go Ellie GO!

Ellie passed over twenty girls after a bad start.

Ellie at the end of the race - Congrates from family and a candy bar from the organizers!

Check out ALex's shoes....loads of kids ran completely barefoot as well

Ready .........    Set  .....

GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

painful uphill!

Coming down the home stretch.