The Destruction of a Trout

Hello, Tom here.  One of Evelyn's colleagues very kindly gave us a venison steak and a trout.  We haven't cooked the venison yet (it is waiting for us in our freezer), but we decided to make the trout right away.  Unfortunately, this one wasn't fully prepared for us like the last one we'd been gifted.  The fisherman had chopped off the head and tail and then ripped the guts out, but that was about the state of it when we got it.

I am no fish expert, so I did what you do when faced with a task you don't know how to accomplish: I watched YouTube videos.  Funny, all the professional chefs demonstrating how to prepare a trout were cutting up tiny little trouts, nothing like the monster I had on my counter top.  So, I did my best to supersize their instructions.  Here is the beast:

Here it is after I spent some time with a knife trying to destroy it and make it completely inedible.  I nearly succeeded:

Here are the rib bones I removed and the spine I tore out:

At some point, I gave up trying to remove anymore bones and I put it in a pan with oil and garlic.  Here it is, looking unpleasant:

In the end, it was actually delicious and the remaining bones weren't a problem.  Shows what I know.  Here are two big pieces, ready for distribution to the family for dinner:

As consolation for all those gross fish pictures, here is a cool sunset photo.  Ruapehu is in there with snow on top - look closely for it.

National Park with the Chus

Hello, Tom here.  Evelyn's parents came to visit us and we took a trip down to National Park where the volcanoes are.  We stopped, as we often do, at the best cafe on SH1, Licorice Cafe, for some delicious coffee and a meat pie for Aidan.  We also made a stop in Turangi so that Evelyn could show her folks the clinic where she works.  Aidan would have eaten a second meat pie there if we'd let him, but we draw the line at third breakfasts.

Here is a cool view of Tongariro, the old man volcano, seen across Rotoaira.  You can see a puff of cloud where the volcano is pretty much always venting.

Jasper is conserving energy because he worried we are taking him on a long hike later.

When we arrived at Ruapehu, we headed up to Whakapapa, the ski resort.  This is a shot of Happy Valley where we skied back in winter with the boys.  Now there is no snow, so you can see the bare mountainside.  See the poles for the ski lift?

The main lift had just reopened that day for the summer, so we rode to the cafe up on the side of the mountain.  This is a view from the chairlift.  That waterfall wasn't there in the winter.

Here are the Pinnacles.  You might remember them from the photos from a previous blog entry.  I skied at the base of them in winter.

The boys enjoyed it, though it was very cold at the top.

Here is the view back down the mountain.

There are no good photos of all of us, but here is the best we have of our little crew, eating lunch at the cafe.  You can see the bottle of L&P on the table ("World Famous in New Zealand!"), Aidan spooning his hot chocolate, and Jasper hiding.

We wanted to go for a hike at the top, but the conditions weren't yet really hike-ready.  There was still a lot of snow on the trail, so we didn't get very far.  Here is Jasper, checking it out.

Here is Evelyn, making her way across the snow.

Another awesome view of the Pinnacles:

Evelyn and Jasper dancing at the base of the Pinnacles:

Aidan, scaling them:

The dude at the bottom of the lift offered to take our picture.  The picture is a bit blurry, but here we all are with Mount Doom in the background:

Cool photo of Mount Doom:

So, you might have been thinking, "Man, Tom, that landscape looks harsh and desolate.  It could almost stand in for the area around Mordor.  Are you sure that area wasn't featured in the Lord of the Rings films?"  Well, I've got this to tell you - you are right!  The opening scenes of The Two Towers were filmed here.  Remember the capture of Gollum?  Check out the photo below!  That crazy rocky outcropping is called Mead's Wall.

Gollum was caught right there.  There's naught left in him but lies and deceit, but I have to believe he can come back.  That area is covered in very strange rock formations.  Here is another cool one:

Evelyn in front of another one:

This one looks like it could get up and start talking like the Rockbiter in Neverending Story any second now:

This place is about a ten minute walk from the ski area, but is perched over a deep crevasse and is fairly dangerous.  You can see it behind me here.

This is the dramatic front of Mead's Wall.  It is huge.  Frodo and Sam stood here.

Maybe we can just smash this ring with a hammer.  Not sure it needs to be carried all the way to Mordor.

The National Park is great in summer and looks completely different than it did in winter.  We'll have more in a future blog post.  I can't wait to do the Tongariro Crossing in February!

Misty Mountains

Howdy, Tom here.  When it is cloudy in Taupo, the clouds often block our view of the three great mountains at the south end of the lake.  It has been cloudy a lot lately and so we haven't had a clear view in a few weeks.  Today, finally, we could see to the end of the lake, though the cloud cover was still there, only higher.  I celebrated by taking some photos of the mountains.

These two are from the morning.  The white peaks on the left are Ruapehu, the cone in the middle is Ngauruhoe (aka Mount Doom), and the broad shoulder going off to the right is Tongariro.  Note the white puff coming up out of the mountain on the right in the second photo.  That's actually venting from the volcano and not a cloud.

Here are some sunset shots.

All of these photos were taken today, all from our kitchen window.

As a farewell bonus, see below for a shot over our neighbor's roof.  Happy 11-12-13!

O Christmas Tree

Tom, the boys, and I have never ventured out into snow covered hills to chop down our very own Christmas tree, even though it's always seemed like the epitome of wholesome family holiday activities. This year, when my colleague Anna suggested we do just that, I sort of jumped at the opportunity.

Ok, so it wasn't an opportunity to do just that, exactly. This tree she had selected for us was growing on the side of the highway at the edge of Lake Taupo. Our plan was to head out, following their "ute" (i.e. utility vehicle) with various implements of tree destruction and head back with the tree in the back of the truck.

Adventures ensue.

Here we are, following their truck on the highway, where the speed limit is 100 km/hr. See all those trees just growing along the edge?

Here's our tree, in its natural habitat, right next to the water. It's a pinus radiatus, and Anna assures me this species is generally considered a weed.

It's a really big weed! See little Steve in there next to it?

Here's Anna, bringing Steve the machete he needs to bushwhack his way to the tree.

Almost done!

The boys, Anna, and I did our best to help out, while sitting there on the side of a major highway. Here's Jasper, trying to look casual with a flower growing out of his scalp.

Yes, eventually the tree was successfully felled.

It was still ginormous.

This is the view of us trying to get back on the highway, having just picked the tree up off the road onto which it had fallen. We have secured it in a more solid fashion this time, which is to say that we did secure it at all. See how it's waving at us from underneath the tarp?

After trimming about 8 feet off the base, it is now an appropriate size for our house.

Here are the happy and successful participants in this year's Christmas tree challenge. Many thanks to Anna and Steve!!!  This was the most fun our family has ever had procuring a tree!

Six months and counting...

I can't believe it's been six months since we left the US. In many ways it feels like it's flown by and I am afraid that when we leave New Zealand I will feel like there was so much more I wanted to do here. It's been a great six months and I still feel like we are in the midst of our experiment which will tell us, in the end, what the essence of being a family is, and the fundamental things we need to feel comfortable and at home. It will teach us about how we adapt and give us some idea about the things we might do but hadn't yet tried. So many good ideas, and great goals-- and yet during the day to day of just living in a place, it doesn't feel like we are doing anything that high minded. I am hoping that reflecting periodically like this will help me to learn and remember all that I hope to from this experience.

At this point, not quite halfway through, I have noticed that I've lost a little of the frenzied sense that we have to pack in New Zealand Adventure after Adventure. I think that before we had arrived here, I had pictured this year as a year of constant sightseeing and tourism. I've never done a whole year travelling -- backpacking through Europe, for example. After spending some time with backpackers here, I'm not sure I would have ever made a great backpacker. A year strikes me as a very long time to not be part of a community, and not be contributing to society in some way. To travel for so long without any real goal - I think I'm not made for that sort of thing. So it's great to discover at this point in my life that I should never regret not having backpacked through Europe.

So we are settling down in a few ways. I've really loved getting to know our town and the town in which I work. I've loved getting to know my coworkers and the families we meet through the school and in town. I've learned that there are virtues to spending some weekend time just reading by the window and playing computer games. The kids seem to need this down time as all the running around exploring gets tiring for them. They are much less likely to think that this particular rock formation is awesome or the way the road winds into that valley is amazing. I am suspicious that this down time is something that I need as well, and it's good to learn that. Running around, whether it's from tourist sight to tourist sight, or from overbooked obligation to overbooked obligation, needs to stop sometimes. It's maybe taken six months to learn that (evidenced by our previous blog entries.)

Which is not to say that we've been sitting around doing nothing. Last week we went back to the Coromandel Peninsula with John and Sara and did some of the things I had really wanted to do, but missed during our last visit, including seeing Cathedral Cove and the Hot Water Beach. I think the difference I'm describing might just be that I've started to feel like less of a tourist and more like a denizen. That's pretty cool.

Anyway, at this almost-midway point, I think it's safe to say we've had an amazing first half and at the same time we are looking forward to fully enjoying the second half and coming home. I think this trip may have turned me into a firm believer in the value of a sabbatical year. Maybe we will start planning our next trip soon.....