130 km and counting...

We were walking along Appletree Beach after a few kilometers along the Abel Tasman Track when Janet looked down and said; "look...granite!". A beautiful golden sand beach specked with small granite pebbles. It was like a little tap on the shoulder by God. This is what we are doing here...looking for the treasures that one will only find by paying attention to the details. It's been like that for us here.

A couple of days later as we were wandering around outside our campsite in Punakaiki we came across a cave that was 'open to all' who may wish to visit. Outside the cave was a mapboard with some standard information along with this poem translated from Maori:

I look to the South
To the mountain Aoraki
To our ancestral mountains that shape the
backbone of our lands
Outside the waves of the sea roar
and crash to the shore
'Tis the breath of life

Indeed! The breath of life!

We have been in this enchanting country for a little over two weeks and have yet to have a day without magic. We have walked every day putting on anywhere from 5 to 20 kilometers and each walk has offered up at least a little treasure that will stay with us. 

Some treasures are typical NZ experiences such as the walk we dubbed the NZ version of surf and turf in Paekakariki through Queen Elizabeth Park. We started along a picturesque beach looking out to the Tasman Sea up to a small community of beach houses then back, behind the dunes, through pastoral sheep paddocks. Only in NZ!

Within a short day's drive we were on Wharariki Beach, Farewell Spit and Cape Farewell seemingly a world away from the peace and tranquility of Queen Elizabeth Park. It was the wildest two days of hiking along the edge of headlands with vertigo inducing views (while clutching onto the grass as the howling wind threatened to carry us into the sea) and trudging through endless undulating dunes along the outer beach of Farewell Spit while sand being blasted into every nook and crannie of our wrinkled faces. It was two days that we will never forget...and two days that made us think that our seniors shoes were not so sensible. But we would not trade these two days for anything!

And, it is hard to believe that only three days prior to the raging winds of Farewell Spit we were walking through an 'other worldly' landscape in the Lake Taupo region of the North Island on a geothermal field called 'Craters of the Moon'. We spent two hours wandering in and around steaming craters and bubbling mud pools expecting a Hobbit to round the corner on his relentless trek towards Mt Doom. 

These are only a few of the treasures we have found here in NZ over our first 130 km of tramping. And, to remind us of the endless treasures ahead, today we walked along a short track called Truman track to a stunning little cove that was covered with...endless pebbles! 

Living on the Edge

Stopping in Tongariro has added a considerable amount of adventure to our NZ sojourn; although it wasn't entirely our choice. It was actually a Christmas present from our lovely children that brought us to the area; a gift that would get us out of our camper van and into the Tongariro River.  An adventure that lies somewhere between bungy jumping and paddling a canoe on Tom Thomson Lake in the evening while sipping port. All the magnificent beauty of a body of water spiced with all the drama of near death.  You guessed it...white water rafting. In retrospect, we wonder if the gift was our children's way to get access to our life insurance. Obviously, as we sit here writing this blog we have cheated death and our children out of the life insurance cash...for now.

Once suited up in several layers of polar fleece, a wet suit, a rain jacket, plus a helmet and life jacket (apparently 26 degree temperatures are freezing in NZ).  The 2 of us waddled to the bus for a 45 minute drive upstream on the Tongariro River. Upon arrival, boats were unloaded and we were given the NZ version of a safety seminar: "Stay in the boat mate and you won't get hurt!!" the seminar ended with "Who wants the front? "  In a nanosecond, Janet volunteered the 2 of us which was accepted with glee (?) by the more cautious half of this retired couple. (Having white water rafted before, Janet knew the best ride was in the front!!)

So now with the two of us 'safely' sqeezed into the front in the rubber raft of doom, we were off with 5 other passengers and our guide Ben, in a quiet pool of the river. In exactly 1.27 seconds, we were into our first rapids. With paddles flailing and the boat half filled with water, we exited what we were told was a class 2 rapid which can be converted to Canadian class 12. This went on for 2 and a half hours with the rapids getting progressively faster, deeper and wetter. Believe it or not, the cautious half of this retired couple actually began to enjoy it.

The river was stunningly beautiful. Although we had hiked along it the day before, seeing it from the raft - the odd time we weren't careening down a rapid or bouncing off a rock - was a wonder. As this river is in an active geological area (we are surrounded by active volcanos) there are many interesting sites.

After raging down the torrent for over two hours it was back in the bus and to the shop for sandwiches. After paddling through the rapids the sandwiches tasted like a royal feast!

So...how does one follow up on a day spent clinging to the side of a rubber raft? By trekking up the side of a mountain! After tucking in early, we were up at 5 am to catch a bus to the Mangatepopo traihead to begin our assault on Mount Doom (Mt Ngauruhoe). Mostly true...although we did not scale Mount Doom we spent the day in the shadow of it as we did the infamous Tongariro Alpine Crossing. Over 19 km of hiking up and through craters and along volcanic lakes never more than a sniff away from a steam vent.  In a word it was stunning! We lucked out with a beautiful clear day which attracted several bus loads of folks. Made it all the nicer to do the walk with 700 of our newest friends. They were not a distraction, though, as we spent the vast majority of our time admiring the Mars-like landscape.

The hike was easy...go up for 10 km and then go down for 9 km. While the final 9 were quite tedious, the alpine and subalpine scenery kept it interesting. We discovered that the kiwis have have a penchant for switchbacks. The trail could have been half as long if it wasn't for the predonderance of turns in the trail. 

We were picked up at the Ketetahi carpark and driven back to our campground. We hobbled off the bus (a poor advertisement for the crossing) but happy with our adventures. 

Tomorrow we sleep in...

28000 Steps in Raglan

Actually, 28 262 steps to be exact. It appears that all the walking we've been doing since Jan 15th was a good thing...we have discovered that walking is a way of life here in NZ!

The owner, Brent, of the motel we are staying at (The Raglan Sunset Motel) has been sharing his enthusiasm for walking in his homeland once he discovered our intrest in the NZ tracks. In fact, this morning he drove us about 8 km from the motel to his front yard beside the trailhead for the Ngarunui Track. This track winds down through lush rainforest to the beach at Manu Bay...a surfing haven. From there, we meandered along the beach back to Raglan stopping along the way to watch the surfers and cool our feet on the emerald green waters of the Tasman Sea.

Sound exotic? It was!

But not as exotic as the multi-year project that Brent is on. In an effort to raise money for MS research he is part of a group who have decided to walk the length of New Zealand in 200 to 300 km chunks.  His journey continues next week when he and the group will be walking from Springfield to Fairlie on the South Island. This will bring his total to about 4000 km thus far.

Like I said; it's a way of life here!

Needless to say, Brent has been a font of knowledge for us in our planning for the next six weeks.

Janet's decision to spend our first couple of days in Raglan has been the usual stroke of genius. It is a sleepy little surfing town with a great coffee shop, some interesting little cafe type eateries and a beautiful black sand beach to spend the day walking. The jungle track was an unexpected bonus. What a way to get over the flights to get here! And, with the addition of a local who loves his land so much that he wants to walk across it you have the perfect recipe for planning our adventure ahead.

Tomorrow we get our campervan. We were picked up at the Auckland airport by the owners, Anna and Neil, who drove the scenic route down to Raglan and dropped us at our motel. The conversation over the two-hour drive was very pleasant and informative. They are a young couple from the UK who decided to start a business in a place they fell in love with while travelling NZ. Neil, who is a mechanical engineer, is bitten by the surfing bug and Anna, who has a background in Environmental Studies is equally at home in the area around Raglan. Neither had any background in campervan renting but started the business five years ago and have grown it to be the #1 ranked capervan rental company in NZ. I asked Neil how they did this and he gave me the secret formula. He simply stated that he and Anna treat their customers in a way that they would want to be treated if they were looking for a NZ adventure. I would suggest that getting picked up by the owners at the airport and being driven to our hotel is a great way to be treated! And, by the way, they are picking us up at the motel tomorrow morning and driving us to pick up our van.

I think they're on to something here!

And, given the people we have met so far and the land that has embraced us so early it looks as though Janet's genius reigns - NZ looks better than my choice of six weeks of winter in Edmonton. And, as usual, I'm more than happy to be along for the ride!

What is Flecks Time?

Over the years, my wife, Janet, and I have been renovating our house. We have found these projects enticing, thought-provoking, and, at times, overwhelming. Although we are not skilled do-it-yourselfers, it was important to us to engage in the process as fully as possible. We found a way of doing this through designing the projects and then leaving it to the builders to make the designs come to life. Of course, this process kept us engaged in the renovations as we would have to check our designs against what was actually happening as the demolition and rebuilds evolved. Often, our thinking would have to be completely altered by what was discovered when a wall was torn down. In times like these, which were more often than we would have expected, we would constantly revisit our thinking, trade magazines, Google, and reams of graph paper to edit and sketch out our next steps. Renovations never went completely according to plan - but the plan always led us to a decision, a new plan and a commitment to the next best step.

As Janet and I enter retirement together, it is feeling, yet again, like another renovation project. The strange combination of careful planning and commitment to the unknown seems to be the order of the day. We have learned that this strange combination leads to an exhilarating process as well as a satisfying product. We have also learned that it can be an addictive state. No sooner would a renovation project be over and we would be talking, thinking, and planning what was next.

So what does all of this have to do with 'Flecks Time'? 

Janet and I are both educators who have spent a good portion of our careers in and around high schools. At one point in our careers we were working together on a project - much like a renovation - which challenged us to look at the organization, structure and programming of high schools. We worked together with a number of colleagues from around our province thinking about the nature of learning, the incredible potential of our young adult students and the ways that we could rethink high school practice together to engage our students more deeply in their learning and their communities. One common belief that emerged among our colleagues in this work was that high schools were relatively rigid organizations that did not necessarily support students in 'finding their way' through their learning. It occurred to a number of us that providing more flexible environments for our students, including portions of the day that students could make decisions to guide their own learning, rather than respond to the directions of a timetable and a teacher, might lead to deeper engagement in learning - for both students AND teachers. 

This high school redesign project occurred for Janet and I at a time that we were renovating our kitchen. We were drawn in our planning to the beauty of granite countertops. This was one feature that we knew we wanted to incorporate into our renovation. In shopping for granite we discovered that the 'quality' of the granite came from its distinctive look. It was the variety of different rocks that made the conglomerate that led to its beauty. In short, the more varied the 'flecks' in the rock; the better the granite. This notion of the variety and diversity of 'flecks' in granite became a bit of a theme for us in our work with high school redesign. We knew that the work we did with our provincial colleagues would add diversity and strength to decisions made by each of us individually. We knew that by fully considering the diversity of our students we would make much better decisions for our schools as a whole.

It wasn't a fluke that the notion of giving flexibility (flex) to students was a homonym for the flecks in granite. Honouring the diversity of students and committing a school to the uncertainty that comes with handing time and decision making to students ended up being a rather important realization for our work.

As we enter into our retirement together the notion of 'flecks time' rises to the surface. One of the things that both of us have realized is that having the flexibility of time is a precious gift that we do not want to squander. And as we have a new landscape opening to us, we want to engage with, as deeply as possible, the diversity of the world we live in. It is our latest renovation project. Join us for the ride!