For us the shortest day of the year was June 21, but the worst of the winter weather happens in July and August. When we were planning our trip to New Zealand we had planned to settle down for the winter in the north because in the guidebooks we read it was called the “winterless north.” We really should have talked to a few locals because it turns out that the north is not quite as winterless as advertised, but at least there is not any snow. When we arrived in New Zealand at the end of March the weather was wonderful and it remained that way for the first two months that we were here. The rain and wind started picking up in June and we haven’t had a full week of sun since then. There have even been a couple of thunderstorms that brought lightning and hail. Most of the bad weather has been intense rain and strong wind. The couple we are staying with has said that this year has been an unusually wet year for them. Almost every flat place on the farm has turned into a swampy mess. This is due to the combination of lots of rain and the soil type on the farm. The soil is a clay-based soil with a thin layer of topsoil. When it rains the topsoil gets saturated quickly and because of the clay below it, the rest of the rain has nowhere to go and starts pooling. After living in Oregon, we are accustomed to rain, but it amazes us how long it takes the soil here to dry out. We’ve gotten used to wearing gumboots when we go outside and have gotten pretty good at timing our outside activities to coincide with breaks in the rain. There have been a few absolutely wonderful days, however not as many as we expected for a place that was called winterless. The last two days have set record low temperatures across much of New Zealand. Snow had even been forecast for the surrounding mountains in the area we are staying. Thankfully we did not get any of the snow, but we did get another hailstorm.
The winter has also brought with it colds and the flu. The three children that we are living with are all attending school so they take turns bringing home sicknesses to share with the family. We have both been sick twice since we have been here. Jenni has gotten it the worst because she works so closely with the children and I have also spent a few days in bed. We are just getting over our most recent flu episode and with the children on school holidays for one more week we hope that nothing new crops up. It has given us something to look forward to if we ever have children at school.We have taken advantage of the winter weather to start our Christmas shopping. With the short days and bad weather it feels like Christmas must be close. Thankfully the crowds that usually accompany that time of year are completely missing and we are the only two running from store to store frantically trying to grab things off the shelf like they are the last ones available. We are certainly looking forward to the spring and a Christmas BBQ.
Jenni continues to work with the children and has been kept busy over the last week because they are on school holiday and are indoors more as a result of the wet weather. Jenni helped them to make twister from scratch, worked on her baking skills, and watched an amazing number of children’s movies. On the couple of sunny days that they have had she has gotten to go to the beach and into town.I have completed most of the projects that I was working on for the bus and have started working on building a new house with the other employees on the farm. The box to pour the foundation has already been prepared and we are just adding a layer of sand to smooth it out. We are also working on prepping the screen and steel that will be put down before the concrete is poured. We are hoping to get a few nice days in the next couple of weeks so that the slab can be poured.
We are starting to feel very at home on the farm and it is bittersweet thinking about continuing on the rest of our trip in about a month.
