Susie has a fan beyond our family.

I failed to mention the fact that a 20-something German man approached Susie during the glacier hike.

Susie is so sweet and a fan of Europeans.  She was delighted to chat with the young man.

I am a guy and understood that he was hitting on her.  I am sure he did not know she was married.  The warm attire hid any ring and we were walking separately.  I have no idea if he knew whether she had more than one child, but that did not seem to deter him.

She insists that I am wrong.   Let me assure you that I am right.  I must also admit that I was thrilled that a 26 year old would try to pick up Susie.

I partly mention this because her potential suitor showed up today at the A J Hackett Bungee jump site.  He flirted a bit more and left.  I only mention this because it sets up my report from the bungee jump site.

9 years ago, I chose to jump 140 feet into a river with only a bizarre rubber band supporting me.

I did this because I was scared of heights.  Like Susie in helicopters, I felt a need to overcome a fear so that I could better connect with campers that were scared.

Susie, on the other hand, felt no such compulsion.

At least not yet.

Over the next several years, she realized that we regretted not taking the jump with me.  She led a Vespers talks at camp that talked about regret and not living a life of fear.  She promised the girl campers that if she ever returned to New Zealand, she would jump too.

She also told our kids that if each of them eligible to jump did so, she would jump too.

Three years ago, she regretted making this pledge as she stood on the ledge.  Yet, to my delight and admiration, she jumped on the first chance and was delighted she did so.

While we were there, we set or copied 2 records.  Terrill, at age 10, tied the record for youngest jumper.  Many 10 year-olds have jumped, so Terrill essentially tied many others.

Wiley truly set a record.  The minimum weight to jump is 35 kilograms, or 77 pounds.

This sign lies!

Three years ago, Wiley weighed just 73 pounds.  He, more than any child, wanted to jump.  His twin was heavy enough.  Heck, his younger sister was heavy enough.  We did what any loving family would do.

We, with the help of Michael Moak, equipped him with a harness including 3 lead rods that made him look like the Unabomber.  Here is the shot.  Wiley jumped and loved it.  [Note: we tested the harness multiple times to assure that it was safe.  One of the benefits of having a summer camp is access to really good equipment.]

This is simply one of the my favorite shots of all times!

Today, Virginia joined the ranks.  We were so proud of her.  She had no delay at all and jumped.  Terrill, Liam and Wiley all jumped readily.  We decided to jump in our Nepalese wool animal hats, with Virginia as an owl.

The flying owl

Terrill as bunny,

Look at that form!

Liam as penguin,

The non-flying penguin

Wiley as lion,

Wiley went into the river

Susie as a crab and me as a tiger.

Meanwhile, Susie and I decided to do something different.  She jumped 3 years ago.  I had jumped twice (once forward and once – ill-advisedly – backwards).  We decided to do a tandem jump.   This meant that we would be tied together and jump together.

I also wanted to get dunked in the water (as I had the previous 2 jumps).

The girl before us was scared.  No, let me correct myself.  She was terrified.  In the US, we would have let her back out.  In NZ, that does not happen.  After several false jumps, her facilitator pushed her off.

Seeing this happen 10 feet away rattled Susie.  Also, she got worse when we talked about entering the water.  The guide told us to duck our heads before we hit the water.  “You do not want to be looking at the water when you hit it.”

“Why not?” asked a shaky Susie.

“You could get two black eyes.”

I found this statement surprising.  I had hit the water with my face before and did not have any visible damage.  He was describing a worst case scenario.  Given Susie’s dicey state, it induced a veritable freeze.

She declared that she did not want to do and wanted to jump alone.

I marveled at this for several reasons.  First, she is scared of little.  OK, she might have some fears, but when she chooses to face them, she does so with gusto.  Second, she had done this perfectly before.  Third, she was the first to approve the tandem idea.  Finally, she had just seen how they dealt with reluctant jumpers (throw them rather than indulge them), so I do not know what she hoped to accomplish.

I will not detail all the conversation nor list the different individual protestations she made to the guide (she was reasoned and articulate though she was on the verge of panic).

I hope you can see the look on her face

I will say that we took more than the usual amount of time to jump.  I will also report that the entire conversation is delightfully recorded on the videotape we bought, so anyone who visits us needs to ask to see it.

Here are the crab and tiger . . . flying?!?!

Steve Sir

After our evening of cockles, we had another day of driving and beauty.  We started at the northern coast of the South Island, but we headed to the west coast.  Once again, I have little to report beyond a detail or two and some photos.

The west coast is thinly populated. Its beauty is stark and even lonely.  We drove slowly down the highway, stopping at different places that seemed interesting.

We came to a seal colony.

Mother and cub

We saw some exotic coastlines.

Rocks and surf

Near our camperpark

We came to the famous Pancake Rocks.  I was intrigued to learn that geologists are still unsure about how they formed.

One of the rocks with the sea in the background

Here is a close up

While at the beach, the kids played like, well, kids.

Hey, there are two upside-down kids running too!

Our 8 children. I am glad that this is not really the case.

The kids buried themselves to their ankles - I love this shot

While we traveled, it was nice to find directions.

It is nice to know where you are

Steve Sir

While in New Zealand, we have been struggling with a minor dilemma: do we try new things or return to our favorites from before?

Sometimes, the decision to return to the familiar is obvious.  For example, we needed to go to Wellington to ride the ferry, so we visited the Te Papa and Botanical Gardens.

Other times, we find an obvious opportunity to be different: like our trek in Tongariro and the subsequent stay next to the river in our campervan.

For us, the challenge manifests most when we think about the special, unique moments of our previous trip.  Let me give you an example.

When we came here 3 years ago, we wanted to take a hike on Christmas day.  We needed to cross over a small mountain range to find the trailhead.  As we drove, the fog came in.  And in.  The road was extremely narrow.  It featured sheer drops of over 300 feet.  As we ascended, the fog got so thick that I literally could not see the front of the campervan.  I became deeply afraid that I would drive off the road before I even saw the edge of the lane.

I then did a three point turn to reverse our ascent and return down the mountain.  I found the experience doubly frustrating.  First, I was rattled from the harrowing drive.  As a rule, I do not enjoy facing death – it is not one of my things.  Second, I really wanted to hike.  Once I get an idea in my head, I can be slow to switch gears.

As we came to the bottom of the road, we came upon a small beach city.  [Note, I know it does not seem to make sense that a stunning beach could be a 30 minutes drive from a cloudy mountaintop, but here it is another day in New Zealand.]

The beach of Kaiteriteri featured white sand beaches, gorgeous rock formations and a high blue sky.  A small tidal channel ran through the beach.  Children were enjoying boogie boards, sand skimmers and the waves.  Our children fell in love immediately.  I was initially petulant (remember, I was rattled and annoyed), but soon fell under the spell of this special place.  We soon saw that the low tide revealed a huge bed of wild mussels, that we spent time harvesting.  We ended up with two buckets full and even used them to write “Merry Christmas” in the sand (forming one of our best family photos).

That night, we ate like kings with fantastically fresh seafood pasta.

This is the memory that we toyed with repeating.  Should we return to Kaiteriteri or branch off to new locales?

I am delighted to report that we branched out and were rewarded instantly.

After we arrived in the south island, we went to the Mussel Pot, a lovely restaurant in a tiny backwater called Havelock.

The delightful mussel pot

(But known as the greenlip mussel capital of the world.) The owner, an avid camper, overheard us talk about our different options to stay the evening.  She told us of a spot next to the ocean where we could stay for less than $5 for the family.

It had bathrooms, a barbeque and “tons of cockles” (essentially clams).

We found the spot she promised and enjoyed a fine evening.  We tide was in, so we did not try to look for any seafood.

The ocean with the tide up

The next morning, the girls went searching with the tide lower.

The gals are in the background

The first sortie failed, producing only 4 or 5 cockles.  Susie then joined the scouts, but with little success.  30 minutes produced almost nothing.

As we were ready to throw in the towel, Susie remembered her days in Cape Cod.  One of her favorite activities is clamming.  In New England clamming, you stand in water that is roughly chest-deep with a special rake with a basket attached.  You drag the rake throw the silt below you until you feel something hard, like a rock.  You work the rake below the object and pull it into your basket.  When you pull your basket out of the sea, you (hopefully) have a clam or two there.

It does not sound like much fun, but it really is.  We clam every time we visit her wonderful parents in Cape Cod.

Using her Cape Cod knowledge, she stopped looking for cockles in the water and instead started to rake her fingers below the silty sand.

Bingo.

Within 20 minutes, we had over 10 pounds of cockles . . . and a beaming Susie.  She loves the ocean, her family and seafood.  She also loves the unexpected serendipity.  This was all four.

And when Susie is giddy, we are all happy too.

That night, we had a feast of cockle, wine and parsley pasta.  It was fresh and exquisite.

You have to love the road less taken.

A scene from our road less traveled

Steve Sir