It’s summertime in New Zealand and the days are long. There’s plenty of time for recreation in the afternoons and we are making the most of it.

Last evening Des and I headed out to Weld Road for our first surf together. The water was warm, the waves were beautiful and the locals were friendly. I followed all of Des’ safety instructions walking on the rocky beach, across the river and paddling around the big rocks to the outside. Des zipped down the line and I caught a good left. I mean, LEEFT!

Oh, we have a new car. Yeah! 4wd with a sunroof…

We loved meeting Grant at the car dealership. As a purchase perk he found a hubcap for the one missing on the rental just in time for its return! He will deny this.

Kai continues to practice basketball mostly on his own at a neighborhood court with one intact net. He works on his jump shot while playing his “American Rap” music. One day 2 locals strolled over to join him and Des. The girl is a netball athlete and made some great shots.

Kai will be attending New Plymouth Boys High school. It’s the more formal, traditional, and probably more academically challenging option. Historically and culturally it will be an amazing experience for him.

And we bought his uniforms yesterday, so we’re all in! On Feb 8th he’s prepared to look more like this guy…

…and you can be sure I’ll post his first day of school photo !

In town on the coastal walkway you’ll find the stone sculpture artists and their completed works. They are from all over the world. It was very cool to watch them cut and polish the stones into such intricate sculptures. The process took 20 days. The video below may take a couple of minutes to load- hopefully you can view it here.

This is a megaphone for an iPhone! The auction is today so I’ll try to find out the final bid amounts.

That’s All for now.