So, we spent Christmas kayaking off the coast and exploring caves on some offshore islands.  As ever, New Zealand boasts an embarrassment of riches in terms of natural beauty.  I think that you’d be hard pressed to find a more pristine and beautiful place in the first world.

Apparently the dolphins that we’ve seen off the Tairua coast aren’t fooling around – check out the front page news in the New Zealand Herald:

Since we wrote last, we’ve moved to a new home on laceType w:st="on">Mt.laceType> laceName w:st="on">PakulaceName>.  The views are amazing – including out to laceName w:st="on">SlipperlaceName> laceType w:st="on">IslandlaceType>, the site of the aforementioned dolphin revolt.

We had the pleasure of a visit from Beverly and Jonathan shortly after our move.  It was great fun showing people the lay of the land; we’d love to show other people around if they’d like a cheap tour guide.  While Bev and Jonathan were here we had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner replete with local staples (and admirable Thanksgiving stand-ins) kumara and blue pumpkin.  No luck with the Tofurkey, however.

The weather has been beautiful – sunny but not too hot, and we’ve had to adjust to people saying, “Have a happy, hot holiday.” It still doesn’t sound quite right.

Despite our homesickness, we enjoyed a few days off from the café (and each of our respective jobs). David quit his job at the IT firm, and got hired on with the District Health Board; he’ll be starting the beginning of January.

For Christmas, we received some beautiful boxes from my mom and dad and enjoyed the treats all day. Our cupboards will be full for a while yet. Aaron and Lynsey bought us all a much needed vacuum, and the feminist side of me cringes at how much joy their gift brought.

The influx of tourists has definitely begun.  The café is busier (as are the roads around the Coromandel). We are looking forward to enjoying this beautiful summer and then another summer again in Utah – it seemed like we had one very long winter and we want to drink up as much of the sun as we can.