Day Two: Christmas Eve

More fishing was necessary on Christmas Eve. Ben and Caty hadn't caught their salmon yet and we figured they ought to, since it was a stocked pond. So, back to Anatoki in the drizzle on Christmas Eve. The salmon liked the cloudy day and it didn't take long before Ben hooked a nice looking salmon.

 Classic shot with Dad and the fish. This is Ben's first fish ever!

 This is how excited Ben and Maggie were about another fish.

 Dad was excited (and we were both relieved) that Ben caught a fish too.

 Not to be out done, Caty caught the biggest fish! More than a kg (>2.2lbs)!

Caty is an old hand at catching fish, thanks to all her practice at Lake Powell with Sherman and Sue!

 Here's the ticket for their fish that day. It says 2390 grams (that's 5lbs 3oz). We didn't think to get a pic of Maggie's ticket the day before because we didn't know you had to trade it for the fish after it's cleaned for you. But hers was 907g (2lbs). (They clean it and fillet it and this day we had Ben's classically smoked and Caty's smoked with lemon pepper.

Waiting in the fancy cafe area. Where we drank flat whites (like a cappuccino but with less foam) and ate freshly made salmon muffins with gooey cream cheese centers while we waited. 

 Here's Erik with our Christmas Dinner for the next night!

 After depositing the salmon in the communal, commerical fridge we went for a drive. We got a kick out of this tunnel/arch. On the right there's a tunnel through the side of it for pedestrians to access the marina.

 Back at the campground we could see the clouds moving in. It started to drizzle a bit and bed time for the kids was easier because it was a bit darker, earlier.

 But you could still see bits of blue sky! Little did we know, it was pouring down in Christchurch and continued to do so for about 5 days I think. We certainly didn't expect Able Tasman to be the sunny spot in NZ Christmas week. It's well known for it's cloud and rain.

 Since we thought it might rain overnight, we hung the stockings with care in the back seat of the car. We figured if Santa could get down a chimney, he could jimmy a car door. And we weren't wrong!

Day One continued: Anatoki Salmon

After lunch, we went to a fish at Anatoki Salmon. It's a stocked pond where they hand you everything you need to catch a salmon and point you at the pond. It was gorgeous and sunny and not windy at all. (It's usually windy, everywhere, all the time. Not like Phoenix.) Anyway, it was terrific weather! But not for catching fish. The pond was sunny and the fish were jumping. I remember Dad telling me that was a good sign you weren't going to get a trout and I guess it must also apply to salmon. But none of that mattered.

 There was a cool kids play area where you could play in the sand, slide, or pump water.

 Once we got our fishin' gear, we found the perfect spot. Then Erik gave some instruction to Caty and she remembered what Grandpa Sherman had taught her about fishing and she took over her own pole.

 Ben got going with his own pole next but it got heavy and he got bored, so Erik helped Ben a lot. Erik would cast and then Ben would want to reel it in and have Dad cast it again. Kept Erik busy.

 Maggie's pole was of little interest to her after the first few minutes but we didn't really expect her to do too much of her own fishing really. She liked picking little, wild daisies and "feeding" them to the fish. It kept her happy and busy.

 I didn't expect to be catching the first fish but we got Maggie over to the rod and she felt him fight and reeled him in with me.

 Victorious! Maggie caught the first fish. (She's been rubbing it in for weeks now!)

 Here she is with her fish!

 She was fascinated by Mr Salmon and since he was dead, she thought she should "bury" it with rocks from the path. We let her go ahead but the guys at the weigh station were mystified as to how we got so many rocks in our bin! lol!

 After all that fishin', I needed refreshments! We'd been there for a looonngg time, maybe close to 3 hours before we finally left. With only ONE fish!

 Caty thought Mr Salmon was pretty cool but wanted her OWN! So did Ben. So we promised to come back the next day to try again.

 Ben is goofing off here.

 Ben and Maggie played a nice game of rolling the ball back and forth while they waited on dinner.

 Caty made creamed corn that night.

 Maggie was asked to help with cooking her fish.

 We had it cleaned and filleted at the salmon farm.

 Touching the fish was a must-do.

 Drinking local fruit of the vine while cooking was also a must-do.

 Maggie helped season and "pat" the fish in the pan.

 Pants are always optional when Maggie's the head chef.

 After dinner, we headed over to the beach again. The tide was way out.

 Caty can always seem to find a stick. (This drives Ben nuts because he never can find one.)

 Maggie likes making sand castles best.

 Ben doesn't like to get in the water much. (It's COLD.) But Erik got him to go all the way out to get water for the sandcastle construction process. Golden Bay is very large. I felt very small on the beach.

Caty loves the beach. Can't get enough. I think she swam in the ocean maybe 5 days in a row. She had to go with a Kiwi family from next door to our tent because it was too cold for me most days. Although we ALL got in one warm day near the end of the trip.

Day One: Labyrinth Rocks, Takaka

 On our first day, 23 Dec*, we took it easy (after two days of driving in rain and setting up camp) and explored our new neighborhood.

*[I have to say here that NZ can make you crazy when it comes to dates! First of all, they're backwards! They always write the day first so that day was 23/12/13. Looks weird huh? Well, it gets worse, when you ask someone the date you're liable to hear, "it's the twenty-third of the twelfth". Seriously? Who talks like that?]

Ok, back to the twenty-third of the twelfth... Between our campground and the little town of Takaka we stopped to explore the Laybrinth Rocks. As a geographer, I have always gotten a kick out of karst formations (especially the ones that swallow entire houses) so I was excited to get to walk around in this formation.

We were greeted by this lovely couple. 

 The kids wanted to try out the bench before we even got started. We read the signs and picked up a "map". I put it in quotes because it was utterly useless. There was no scale, no indication of north, and no way to orient yourself once inside the labyrinth. That said, I have some of my mom's frankly incredible sense of direction (combined with a fear of getting lost with three hungry kids) so we braved the labyrinth.

Karst topography is formed when water erodes and cuts into limestone (in this case) and creates caves, sink holes, and basically cool looking mushroom shapes of rock. This location was pretty spectacular with the leafy vegetation.

 And mysteriously, there were hundreds of little Happy Meal toys placed all along the trails. We have no clue why they were there but we left them alone (despite the pleas of Ben and Maggie to take some home).

 Here we are at a fork in the path and uncertain which way to go. While it was being debated, Ben showed us how he felt about the delay. A few times he tore off ahead and once we very nearly lost him for good!

 Caty really enjoyed the walk and listened to my physical geography lecture. (She was the only one.)

 Erik, being a geotech, had to jump in with bits of engineering trivia about karst. My information was the most interesting, of course. ;)

 Caty found a cave with a skylight.

 This is looking up through the top of that cave.

 It was a nice warm day; we enjoyed the walk.

 At the end, glad to have found our way back, we took some group photos.

 Caty is getting pretty handy to have around. She's a fairly good photog when pressed into service.

 I like this photo because you can see the grooves in the stone so clearly. And Ben's in it too!

We were wandering around, um... exploring the rocks for about an hour on a beautiful sunny day before lunch in a populated (with tourists) area and yet we were the only people there the entire time. This happens all the time here in NZ. I love it. But I must say that at a certain point, when we were debating whether or not to wander deeper in, I thought to myself, "If we get lost in here it could be days before another tourist shows up!"

 After all that exertion, we drove into Takaka to play at their park and look at the shops on main street. We found a German bakery and ordered some bretzels and cinnamon rolls (proper German ones, not like at Cinnabon) and sipped some fizzy drinks (what they call soda/pop/soda-pop here). The kids get a kick out of my favorite brand: Phoenix. It's yummy!

The guy that was working the kiosk in front of the bakery was so high he was literally shaking! Upon investigation, people at the campground told us that the area around Golden Bay is the pot growing capital of NZ. After that, I noticed hand written signs in convenience stores (they call them Dairies here for some reason despite the fact that they are most certainly NOT milking cows in them) signs saying not to ask to buy pot! Stay classy Golden Bay!

After lunch we went fishing, but I'll post that separately.

The kids spent the rest of the day making friends with the other kids in the campground and playing a game of cricket (I kid you not) with one of the kids' fathers. (Erik and I are useless at cricket.) Apparently you keep trying to hit the ball until the "pitcher" for lack of the proper term, knocks this little, white, Lincoln-log looking thing off the top of three vertical dowels. (At least that's what I gathered.) Ben was first at-bat, again for lack of the proper terminology, and kept at it for nearly half a hour. By which time, the other kids were foaming at the mouth for a turn! The whole thing ended in crying and gnashing of teeth and was entirely undignified - in complete opposition to how it was all supposed to go. Personally, I think "catch" is a much more fun game. With or without mitts. #JustSayin