Christmas in New Zealand

So I have to admit, I was a bit worried about how I'd react to Christmas down under. I had just spent 5 lovely months with dear friends and family in Oregon, and all the pre-Christmas events had primed me for a nice foggy, wet, rainy, chilly Northwest Christmas. The thought of sun didn't upset me, just the thought of it shining upon Christmas Eve bothered me. I really do enjoy the steamy windows lit up by candles as we gather for this meal. Well I needed have been too worried as the weather in Wellington is very reminsent of holiday weather back home...


That said, we actually ended up fleeing the wet weather here and headed north to take up a very generous and appreciated invitation to join our friends Holly and Richard for Christmas at her dad's in Kaiaua. Holly is a friend from my singing group in Cambridge, MA and she happened to be here for her 8th visit to NZ. So we rented a car and did some sight seeing both to and from the holiday festivities.



Feel free to email me if you want a pdf of the map that shows things much better.


It was so touching to be included in their holiday. They even organized stockings for each of us and a few pressies under the tree. There were lots of good laughs and stories, and we were delayed by our own merriment enough that Christmas Eve dinner actually was after dark – granted it was 9:30 or so.. but perfect for me. Christmas Day dinner was even yummier. And at some point during all this fun, we went out on the Firth of Thames to do some kayaking. It was right out of one of those Air New Zealand print ads that you see so often in Outside Magazine. Greenish clear water, mellow waves, and lovely mountains across the bay... what you don't realize in those adds is that your eyes burn without sunglasses and your skin pinks in minutes with the depleted ozone layer. Even on cloudy days I've taken to wearing sunglasses – something I never bothered much with --even when I was flying-- I so hated wearing the things. But now, I can barely stand to go outside without them...