Lord of the Rings and the Siren

  I  went and rented the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. I have never watched it and I knew it was filmed on the South Island and I have read about tour companies that give tours of the actual sites where the movie was filmed. Peter Jackson is an Icon over here so I wanted to familiarize myself with the movie. It is an amazing trilogy and of course the cinematography is breath taking! Watching it on our MacBook Pro did not have the same effect as seeing it on the big screen but we still enjoyed every minute.  I let the kids watch it  and justified it by telling myself they were just learning some more NZ "culture", and hoped that it would not give Skyler and Owen nightmares (my parental skills might of been lacking in this choice). Well one can probably guess where Owen ends up sleeping after watching The Return of the King- YEP, my bed!! He was having a nightmare about Gollum. Brad was working the night shift so I happily let Owen into bed with me. Around 1 am I hear this loud siren going off in the village. I sit up in bed totally panicked not knowing what the siren meant. Was it a Tsunami warning, a tornado warning, a hurricane warning, did Mt.Taranaki erupt??? A women home alone with 3 kids, living abroad might have a tendency to let her mind wander...So I decide to look out the window and watch my neighbors. They are Kiwis and have two young kids. I was going to do whatever they did, thinking I was going to have to pack the kids up and head to the mtns. to escape the Tsunami, well they did not even wake-up!!! Not one light went on in their house, they were just sleeping peacefully. So after spying on my neighbors for about an hour, I felt the world was not coming to an end so I curled up next to Owen and feel back asleep. And found out the next day, it was the fire Alarm that the station sets off whenever there is a fire in town. So I just chuckled to myself and chalked it up to being a paranoid expatriate!!!

  We have had a goodish week here in Oakura. Just when we are getting used to $9 a gallon gas, $15 mayo, $7 a gallon of milk, $33 for a case of coke, we get hit with a $866 electric bill!! Now keep in mind this rental house has no central heat or central air. I have two oil heaters for the kids rooms and a couple of cheap heaters that blow out hot air. At night all I have going is two oil heaters so when we wake up the house is freezing and I have to turn the hot air blowers on to warm us up. We hang our clothes up to dry and we do not have a TV. I often feel like Laura Ingle Wilder, I might have to start churning my own butter!!! No just kidding, but my point is we are living so simply and loving it but then get hit with such an enormous bill. Kinda of a bummer, well get it sorted out! Goodwill dropped off a bag, and it felt good but strange to me not to have ONE item to be able to put in that bag. Less is More has been true for us so far! Even though I am starting to get a little tired of my 5 long sleeved t-shirts, hopefully it will warm up soon so I can wear my 6 short sleeved shirts I brought!!

Here are a few pictures from our week:

Lindsey started horseback riding this week, and I think she smiled the whole time!! She has a true passion for animals, and I think this just might be her thing!!

This is a New Zealand Punga, or a Silver Fern. Many Jewelers use this design  in their jewelery making. 

Cape Egmont Light House

We get some spectacular rainbows here in NZ, this is one I captured from our  living room. 

The kids love to go Starfish hunting at low tide and we have found some cool things. This is a starfish and a Sea Urchin. Lindsey stepped on a Sea Urchin in St. Johns years ago and they can do some real damage to feet if not careful. 

A couple of starfish.

A sweet find by Skyler, an extra large Starfish!!