Week-1 at Waiheke

Finished the first week of island living and feel good about the decision to live "offshore". The ferry commute is convenient and permits me to work, although I spend most of the time looking for signs of whales or dolphins. A pod of orca was spotted in the Waiheke harbor a couple weeks ago. If I can find a catamaran I'll consider sailing to work...

We've been in our "permanent" house for three days now. The kids are stoked because the previous renters left a trampoline! The house is perched on a small hill on the narrowest stretch of the island, so we have views of ocean to both north and south. The Blackpool beach (south) shown in the middle two pictures has a very shallow aspect, so the tide changes are quite dramatic, beaching a number of large boats, then buoying them up again several hours later. The bottom picture is looking north toward Oneroa Beach.

Nikolas and Isaac completed their first week at the nearby primary school and enjoyed it thoroughly. Nikolas made a "new best friend" on the first day. The school has a stunning view of the ocean--I'm sure the local kids do not realize how amazing it really is. The classrooms are a series of small freestanding structures, which will allow nice breezes in the Summer. Right now it has been rather cold in the mornings (near 3 C), but there are a number of kids who go to school without shoes (just because they can?) It is a NZ thing. Needless to say, no school uniforms at Te Huirhi school! We were under the impression all schools required uniforms--but the parents had a vote at this school, and the vote went 60:40 against. Power to the people. Makes our life easier!