Cuba Street

Chris at Reynalton, with permission

The noun sabbatical is defined as:

“any extended period of leave from one's customary work, especially for rest, to acquire new skills or training, for study or travel, etc.”

Unlike us, the weather since arriving in Wellington two months ago has NOT been on sabbatical! In fact, we’ve weathered a magnitude 5.1 earthquake and Cyclone Gabrielle. While Chris was disappointed not to even feel the earthquake (I considered us lucky), the cyclone devastated Auckland and Hawke’s Bay but did little damage here. Today is a brilliant, beautiful sunny day, perfect for hanging laundry out on the line to dry, which has become a favorite pastime of mine. I think it’s the privilege talking, but being #sabbaticalled does wonders for transforming the drudgery of everyday life. You get nice and relaxed from residing in one spot for months on end, with all the comforts of home, mixed with the excitement of constantly being a newcomer on adventure. Last night I went to a Women in Photography exhibit at an art gallery, which is the type of thing I always want to do in Chicago but never have time for, and hobnobbed with the art crowd. I fit right in, by dressing like I didn’t try too hard in my new Teva-style Hush Puppies knockoffs and discovered Mary Hutchinson’s Cuba Street photography, which is delightful!

Photo by Mary Hutchinson, from “Cuba People”

Traveling in India, in my twenties (back when Tevas really were in style) brought me face to face with my worst self. Traveling in New Zealand, in my forties, has brought me face to face with my best self (or maybe that’s just middle age!) Everyday is the same, in a good way: I wake up to coffee expertly brewed by Chris, send Louisa off to school (she and a friend can walk there by themselves!), tidy our modernist dream of a house…

65 Moana Road

…read about Simone de Beauvoir, plan what to cook for dinner (another luxury I don’t have time for in Chicago), write, go speed walking through the Botans (which has a rose varietal called Hot Pants), stop by my Third Place for a long black, pick up fresh groceries, do a few hours of work at my desk overlooking Wellington Harbour…

The view

…wind down with an episode of Bad Sisters, welcome Louisa back from school, cook a meal, eat family style and enjoy al fresco whenever possible, head to bed when the sun goes down. Repeat!

We’ve met enough foreigners in Wellington to make us feel right at home - I have made mom-friends from Canada, South Africa, Seattle, Germany, Korea, England, and Australia, to name a few. And the New Zealand national slogan should be: “Built for Families,” with a childcare center on every block, affordable afterschool care, and part time hours (especially as a parent) commonplace. If you ask a New Zealander they’ll tell you the support is not as sophisticated as what Europeans receive from their governments, but it’s still palpable, for me, compared to what we have in the US. One thing I’ve noticed and love, is that businesses hours are restricted, which means people have to take time out of the workday to do personal errands. The upside to this, of course, is that people don’t have to waste “free time” doing mundane life tasks, keeping free time really free.

In January, we took a trip through the South Island, visiting Kaikoura, Christchurch, Murchison, Nelson, and Reynalton. In Kaikoura the weather (you guessed it) was uncooperative so instead of whale watching we discovered real fruit ice cream, which is a thing here! For anyone keen to launch a new start-up in the US, I’d recommend importing a couple of these real fruit ice cream machines, which blend together ice cream and fresh or frozen fruit to create a “sensational real fruit ice cream with very little effort and high profitability.”

Christchurch has a Cardboard Cathedral built out of cardboard tubes, timber and steel from shipping containers (which sounds more impressive than it looks IRL:(

Christchurch’s Cardboard Cathedral

and in Murchison we went on the country’s longest Swingbridge over the Buller Gorge.

This is actually a different Swingbridge over the Falls River, but you get the picture [and checkout my hair!]

Nelson is the push-off point to explore the Able Tasman National park. We stayed two nights at Reynalton - the site of the legendary bathtub photo (those you who know my husband know he is a regal bath taker) - on the Motueka River and befriended our host Zoe and her two daughters, who invited Louisa to her first Kiwi sleepover and taught her how to do aerial silks.

Books I’ve read (and a podcast I’ve listened to) since my last post:

• Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland, by Patrick Radden Keefe

• How to be You: Simone de Beauvoir and the Art of Authentic Living, by Skye Cleary

• Legacy of Speed, hosted by Malcom Gladwell

We’re expecting our first visitors in a weeks time; for those of you still reading this, take care, and come visit!