We spent the last weekend in Auckland. I did an ACLS course, which was good. Back to work tomorrow. Nice weather today, around 62 degrees. We spring forward on the 26th of September. We will spend a week in Sydney 10/19-10/26. After that we start working on selling two cars. I plan on booking a flight back on 12/14/10. About 3 months left. We are ready to come back. It will be interesting to see what God opens up, as far as a job and location.

September, and winter is almost done.

A little over 3 months left. Temperatures are still hanging around 59 in the day and 50 at night. The rain keeps coming and going. It can change quickly here, which Jill has found challenging when trying to hang clothes out to dry. We have no dryer here, but there is a clothes line under the carport, and we rigged up one in an extra room, to use during rainy spells.
We will get to enjoy spring before coming back. Their time springs forward at the end of September. We are going to make it over the Sydney Australia on 10/19/10, and we'll be there for a week.
No job back in the states, but may try to do locum tenens in Virgina until we figure out what to do.
We went looking for some caves recently, but they were to wet or rough, for us to go in. Here are some pictures from that muddy adventure.

Well, we are down to a little over 4 months to go in NZ. We are getting through the winter, and I'm looking forward to September, the beginning of Spring. Hopefully we'll get to enjoy some warmer weather before we come back, although it may not be until closer to November. The current day temps are 55 to 60 range, and night time 40 to 50. Most of our traveling is done. We did just get back from a weekend in Auckland for medical training, and we'll go back in September for an ACLS course. We think we'll get over the Sydney at the end of October, but need to set that up still.
After that we'll be making plans for coming home, wherever that might be, since we have no home in the US at this time. We'll start off by going back to Roanoke. I've done some looking at jobs online, and will continue to evaluate things long distance. Time will go fast, and leaving will be an interesting experience. It will be hard as far as the clinic, after being there for a year, but it will be good to get back to the states.

We went to the bay on Islands with the boys. They made it back from Australia a week ago. They were there for 2 1/2 weeks and had a good time.
We took them to Auckland today, to fly back to Roanoke, VA.

A Tui. It is interesting hearing them make noises. There is a bird recovery center in Whangarei that has a Tui named Woof Woof. If you go to You Tube and look up WoofWoof the talking Tui, you can hear how well these birds can talk. It sounds like a recording of a person talking.
This is our new home, as of the end of May. It is working out fine. We have about 5 months left in New Zealand. We are in the middle of winter at this time. It is not near as pleasant as summer. The days are short, it is rainy a fair amount, and it gets cool at night. It is around 55 to 60 degrees for a high, and drops to low 50's or in the 40's at night. The days should be getting longer, since we are past the shortest day of the year.
Work is going well. I am now very comfortable with things, although still occasionally have a question. I think they would like me to stay longer, but a year will be long enough. We would be OK with coming back now, but have committed to a year, so will be hear until around mid December. It has been an interesting experience, and I'm not sorry we did it, but the thrill is gone. We are talking about getting over the Australia in September or October.

The newest member of our family. Angel, or Boo Boo Kitty as I would prefer to call her. She came with our new rental house we moved into at the end of May. We did some traveling with the boys to Wellington. We then took a Ferry across Cook's Strait to the south island. It was a rough trip, Luke and I puked. The trip back was much better, the water was much smoother. This time of year is not near as pleasant. The days are short, it is cool, and more rain. The summer was so nice in comparison. The temp drops down to the lower 50's or into the 40's at night. It can get below 40. The days are in the upper 50's. That doesn't sound like bad winter weather compared to places we have lived in the states, but the house is cool at night. I don't think the insulation is very good, and no central heat. So it is cool weather, and we just have to get through the next 3 months.
A geothermal area.
The boys wanted to see a penguin, but this was the only one I saw. It is not alive, and was behind glass in a boat.
Wellington, the capital of NZ.


Winter in NZ. A cruise off the Banks Peninsula, South Island.

The west coast of the central north island.

The only place we have seen sheep that looked like this.

David and Luke in NZ

David and Luke wanted to visit Hobbiton, so we dropped them off. Beautiful weather that day, and the countryside is really pretty. There has been some rain and it is greener.
We then drove south to Taupo and spent the night. Lake Taupo is the largest lake in NZ, and apparently great trout fishing. I don't fish. We then drove a couple hours south and found GRAVITY, where David bungy jumped 80 meters down into a canyon. I think he liked it fine, but I'm don't think he was ready to do it again.


This is how you end up.
It started raining as we went north. We ended up spending the night in Roturua, where we had been before. The next morning we went to Auckland and the boys visited the Aquarium. We then went home that evening, early because of the rain. We were so fortunate through the summer, the rain really didn't cause a problem because of the drought. Now we are getting more rain, which we here is common in the winter. We are currently at the end of fall and getting ready to head into winter. The temperatures are cooler, highs around 60, so not bad. It drops into the 50's at night, so feels cool in the am. It won't be winter like we think of winter.
The job is fine, they have made me temporary clinical director. They needed someone to do this at this satellite clinic, which I thought was interesting since I had only been here around 5 months. We plan on staying a year, and will come back to the US in December. No plans yet, as far as a job there. I'll have to start checking that out within a few months.
We plan to head for Wellington in about 10 days. I have off 11 days, so we will drive down, and probably take a ferry over to the northern part of the south island. Hopefully there will be some good pictures.

David and Luke will be visiting us in NZ, and be there 5/18-7/8.
The Family at graduation from Roanoke College on 5/1/10. It was a nice day, but hot in the sun.
Our last child to graduate from college. David is 22 and will be starting to work with Acts 2, a Roanoke inner city ministry, in August.
It has been good to be back in Roanoke for a short time. I've only been on the wrong side of the road a few times, but turning the windshield wipers on with a left turn was a problem at first.
We'll be heading back to New Zealand in 4 days. Winter is right around the corner, which I don't expect to be to bad, compared to the US where we have lived. There is a drought where we live in NZ. I've been told that the summer has been unusual because of the lack of much rain. It's been great for visiting, but tough on the farmers. We'll have to see how much it rains this winter.