We are officially settled into our new home in Gisborne, New Zealand. We moved here on February 25th. It was sad to say goodbye to sweet friends in Taupo. Our six months there were up and Jared has started a one year contract at the hospital here. Gisborne is more of an isolated city in New Zealand. You have to drive through hours of beautiful but treacherous rolling hills and steep cliffs to get here. It is on the east coast, right on the ocean, and has about 45,000 residents. The hospital is quite a bit bigger than in Taupo, I'm sure Jared will share more about that soon.
The hospital has provided us with a great house in a very convenient location. For those of you interested, I included some pics. It is a new experience living so close to the ocean. I (Liz) have always dreamed of it, so it's very fun and thrilling for me. Not that I have to be in the ocean, I am actually a little fearful of it, I just want to look at it and listen to it and walk beside it. Jared on the other hand has already purchased a surfboard, so he is hoping to spend plenty of time in it being tossed about.
Downtown Gisborne has great character with older two story buildings and a neat old clock tower in the center of town. There is a nice farmer's market on Saturday mornings. I just made some walnut-fig muffins with some figs I purchased. I wasn't sure what to do with them, but wanted to experiment. They are pretty tasty. I also have a green pumpkin waiting to be roasted or maybe pureed and a line of avocados on the window sill I'm hoping will ripen soon. There are lot of palm trees and palm plants here so winter should be much more mild here. I think the coldest it gets is the fifties, yay for that.
I attended my first homeschool group event today and had a lot of fun meeting the families involved. We learned how to make felted creations with carded wool. We're excited about the opportunities to make friends and get involved here.
By the way, we have an extra bedroom in this house too, so come on down for a visit!
The hospital has provided us with a great house in a very convenient location. For those of you interested, I included some pics. It is a new experience living so close to the ocean. I (Liz) have always dreamed of it, so it's very fun and thrilling for me. Not that I have to be in the ocean, I am actually a little fearful of it, I just want to look at it and listen to it and walk beside it. Jared on the other hand has already purchased a surfboard, so he is hoping to spend plenty of time in it being tossed about.
Downtown Gisborne has great character with older two story buildings and a neat old clock tower in the center of town. There is a nice farmer's market on Saturday mornings. I just made some walnut-fig muffins with some figs I purchased. I wasn't sure what to do with them, but wanted to experiment. They are pretty tasty. I also have a green pumpkin waiting to be roasted or maybe pureed and a line of avocados on the window sill I'm hoping will ripen soon. There are lot of palm trees and palm plants here so winter should be much more mild here. I think the coldest it gets is the fifties, yay for that.
I attended my first homeschool group event today and had a lot of fun meeting the families involved. We learned how to make felted creations with carded wool. We're excited about the opportunities to make friends and get involved here.
By the way, we have an extra bedroom in this house too, so come on down for a visit!