Getting settled & exploring Dunedin

Kia ora from Aotearoa, New Zealand!

We left San Francisco at 9pm on Thursday October 13 and landed in Auckland on Saturday the15th at about 6am local time after a 13 hour flight, basically skipping Friday entirely. New Zealand is currently 19 hours ahead of Missoula (it will be 18 after the "fall back" time change). The flight was not nearly as daunting as we'd expected - it helped that we had two full rows to ourselves and the footrests popped up to make a sort of bed you could lay flat on. We all slept for the most part which was basically a miracle traveling with two kids under 5. We are lucky that our boys are pretty good travelers at this point, though they were very squirrelly by the end and we narrowly avoided a meltdown right in front of the customs agent. Thankfully they let us in the country!

From Auckland (at the northwest end of the north island; NZ's largest city) we took a connecting flight to the city of Dunedin (called Ōtepoti in Māori), a university town of about 150,000 on the southeast coast of the south island which will be our home base for the next 6 weeks. Dunedin (pronounced duh-NEE-din) has retained many vestiges of its Scottish heritage and we will be learning and sharing more about the city's history in the coming days I'm sure. And I'll let Eric say more in a future post about why we've landed here in particular as our home base. But for now while we are still recovering from jet lag and getting our bearings, I thought I'd share a few miscellaneous observations and some updates from our first few days here. 

• Te reo Māori (Māori language) is an official language of New Zealand; Māori words are everywhere and used commonly by Māori and non-Māori alike. Kia ora (pronounced ki-ora) is heard everywhere and is a phrase with many meanings: a welcome, hello, thank you, a general greeting or acknowledgement of another person. Aotearoa (OW-tay-a-RO-a) is the Māori name for New Zealand. Te reo Māori was an oral language before the arrival of European settlers, so all the written words are transliterations and are pretty straightforward to read/pronounce.We will share more common Māori words and phrases as we learn them!
  
  
• There are over 100 Māori iwi (tribes), though many share similar cultural traditions. It's clear that Māori language, customs and culture are integrated into everyday life here in a way that's very different from the dynamic between indigenous peoples and mainstream North American culture. I'm looking forward to learning more about the language and history of New Zealand's indigenous Māori people.
  
  
• If you closed your eyes and didn't know where you were, one of the first giveaways that you're in a very different part of the world is the birds! A New Zealand history text we are reading quotes Captain James Cook, one of the first English settlers of New Zealand, writing in his journal and commenting on waking up on the ship that is anchored not far from shore and hearing bird calls that reminded him literally of "heavenly bells chiming of every different pitch". Being here now, we can understand! Even on random city side streets I keep stopping to listen to the chorus of bird song, with tunes and calls that are completely unfamiliar. Admittedly I know next to zero about birds and ID'ing them... but this may be the trip that changes that. Because of New Zealand's geological history and when the islands split off from the super continent Gondwana millions of years ago, there are no native mammal species and no natural predators for the many many birds that call the islands home. New Zealand has one of the most biologically diverse and unique habitats for birds anywhere in the world. We are excited to see some of the iconic NZ bird species that are threatened in the wild, including blue penguins, albatross, and of course the famous kiwi!
  
  
• This is not very profound, but it's an obvious difference: they drive on the left here, and it really messes with you at first. It's like reprogramming your brain...and throwing out everything you've learned over 20 years of driving. I am proud to say I survived my first attempt behind the wheel today and it was weird! There are other funny quirks that are a function of New Zealand's British history...like the eggs in the supermarket being kept not in the refrigerated section but on a random shelf. That one always gets me for some reason!
  
  
• Dunedin is really gorgeous! It's right on the coast, at the end of a long harbor that separates the mainland from the Otago peninsula which juts out into the ocean and is known for its wild coastlines and natural beauty. The city feels like a cross between Vancouver, Edinborough and Berkeley. It's spring right now, and the hillsides are deep green and trees and bushes are covered with blooming flowers. The city is full of beautiful parks and amazing playgrounds and even has a "town forest belt" surrounding it. At the same time, it has a vibrant and diverse urban center, aided by the presence of the well-regarded Otago University which draws students from across the country, region and world. 

International travel always comes with unexpected challenges, and this trip has been no exception. The biggest challenge thus far is that the house we were going to rent here in Dunedin for 6+ weeks did not work out. When our friends Jono and Julie Ryan met us at the airport on Saturday (who had picked up our house key a day earlier for us) they informed us that, in their opinion, the house we intended to rent had some major issues stemming from lack of maintenance and other things that made it unsuitable for us to live in. Having discovered the state of the property while we were already en route, Jono and Julie amazingly sprung into action and contacted their church and friend networks around the city to see if they could find a temporary place for us to stay. The call was answered by their longtime friends Dr. Murray Rae and his wife, Jane. Murray is a theology professor at the University of Otago in Dunedin and they live in the most beautiful late 19th century home overlooking the bay, with a whole independent upstairs that they reserve for their children and family when in town.

After taking us first to the Rae home where we could get the boys settled, Julie took Abby and I to the property in question where we both quickly concurred with her assessment. We made the difficult decision about 2 hours after landing in Dunedin that we needed to walk away from the rental agreement: an agreement we had been planning on for months. This was also made more difficult by the fact that our agreement with the owners (who are currently on sabbatical in Germany) included use of their car. Though it was the right thing to do, it was definitely a massive leap of faith as backing out of occupying the property meant that we didn't have any place to live permanently as well as no car. It truly felt that we were being held up by the lifeboat of connections and relationships here whom we had never met, really, ever before. And boy, has the New Zealand spirit of welcome really embraced our family. 

After making several inquiries, we found a place close to the ocean beach as well as to our new friends, Jono and Julie and their two boys, Luca (age 11, who's Avery's favorite) and Daniel (age 13). We move into this new house on Monday. In the meantime, we are staying with Murray and Jane, who among other things, have cooked us dinner every night(!) and let our wild children run around their house and beautiful garden. We also managed to find a rental car at a reasonable price (the country is still recovering from 2+ years of borders being closed to international tourists during Covid, and we are benefiting I think from some of the lower prices as the economy tries to rebound here). 

If that wasn't enough good fortune, it turns out that Jane (who we're staying with) works as a kindergarten teacher. Kindergarten in New Zealand is more like preschool in the US; it's for kids age 2-5. Most kindergarten programs in New Zealand are government supported and all families residing in the country (including foreigners like us!) automatically qualify for up to 30 hours a week for free(!). Serendipitously, there happens to be an opening for Soren to attend the kindergarten where Jane is a teacher, about a 5 minute drive from our new rented house. We visited yesterday and the place is like a children's paradise! They have a huge outdoor play area where kids can basically run free, with play structures and sandboxes and climbing trees and strider bikes and resident pet rabbits and chickens, not to mention the most wonderful array of building toys and games and books and activities set up inside. Ok, I may be a little jealous that Soren gets to spend time here! 

That's it for now. More soon!

Abby

first day in Dunedin

checking out Macandrew Bay Beach on the Otago Peninsula and building sand castles

beautiful blooming tree and awesome old school slide at the park at the top of the hill near the house where we're staying

Exploring Glenfalloch botanical gardens just outside of town

plenty of fun to be had at Soren's new kindergarten

the view from our current living quarters...not too shabby!!!

as long as there are trains, Soren will be happy anywhere!

view down the hill into central Dunedin and the harbor from the area where we are staying, up in the hills

we traveled in (relative) comfort on Air New Zealand

View of St Clair Beach in Dunedin, a 2 minute walk from the house where we'll be staying starting next week