Category Archives: Uncategorized

Michelle’s job here affords us the opportunity to take long vacations, something we were unable to do in the US. So in December we spent 20 days in Thailand. We flew to Auckland, Hong Kong, and then Bangkok, by which time we were pretty well befuddled. The drive from the airport to our hotel tookContinue reading “Thailand”

The blog fell by the wayside there for a spell. The more clear it became that this would be our forever home, the more difficult it was to find an angle from which to keep writing, as this isn’t really a travel blog any more and I wasn’t particularly keen on writing a public diary.Continue reading “Home”

For a few months Michelle has been training for this year’s Queenstown marathon, which had been scheduled for November 20. We figured we’d make a vacation of it and booked a week’s trip. About a month ago the marathon was delayed due to COVID, but we went anyway. It was a little hard to leaveContinue reading “Otago Jaunt”

Last Tuesday, New Zealand went into lockdown after a case of COVID-19 was identified in the community, the first case of community spread for over a year. There have been other cases in the interim – lots of people coming into the country test positive while they in Managed Isolation Quarantine (MIQ), and while weContinue reading “Aroha in the Time of Coronavirus”

Early September, 2019, the kids were finally back in school and Michelle and I went out for our first run together in what felt forever. A little over a mile in, we hit the north end of Pelham Bay Park, from which we had our choice of a couple paths to ramble. Michelle tends towardContinue reading “Penny’s Saga”

We arrived in Gisborne on February 22, so it’s been a bit over a month. A pretty glorious month, and I continue to be a bit overwhelmed.  In 2010-11, I spent a year at U.S. Embassy Baghdad. At that time there was a U.S. military base directly across the road from the embassy compound, andContinue reading “Of School, Surf, and Life as an Immigrant”

I hadn’t really thought to write about our second week in Gisborne, but to wait maybe a month and post another entry after settling in and gaining a better sense of things. As it happens, it’s been a rather eventful week and worth recording, I think. The kids were off to school on Monday andContinue reading “Of Middle-Aged Misadventures and Earthquakes”

The last morning of managed isolation I was a wreck, anticipating our freedom and worried over the potential for delay.  The cusp of release back into the world was too exciting for me.  The rest of the family maintained a bit more equipoise.  Strangest (for me, anyway) thing about managed isolation was the lack ofContinue reading “First Impressions”

On arrival, we received a speech from the Navy officer responsible for our quarantine facility, who cautioned us against referring to it as a hotel; it’s a quarantine facility (of course it’s also a hotel). For the first couple days of our stay, we would be relegated to our rooms, except when we were calledContinue reading “Limbo Days”

Feb 6 – 9 After months of negotiation, applications, and preparations, the day finally arrived and we were off! We stowed the mattress in a closet, did a final housecleaning, ate a quick breakfast, then packed the last of the luggage (about 15 pieces in all) into the Suburban and left our housekeys on theContinue reading “Journey to Quarantine”