Perfect day on the beach at Matauri Bay, Northland  

We flew home from New Zealand the evening of December 26th and flew into Los Angeles around lunch time the afternoon of December 26th. No, I’m not suffering from jetlag — it’s all about the international date line!  

We had an absolutely fabulous three weeks in the land of the long white cloud. Spent much of our time with my brother AJ and his family but also did two trips — one to Nelson-Tasman on the northern tip of the South Island and one to Paihia and surrounds on the northern tip of the North Island. We also spent a relaxing two days with AJ and Julie up at their new bach on Omaha Beach, just an hour north of Auckland. 

New Zealand is a fascinating country and we have LOTS to tell. So much in fact that I’ll probably spend much of the month of January posting on NZ-related topics.

But in the mean time, I’d like to point you to a set of our holiday pics on Flickr. I’m without my favorite photo-shrinking and editing software, so photos are posted in full res and without any cropping or editing. C’est la vie! Apologies to those of you with slow Internet access! Also, some are pretty fuzzy — holding out on replacing the camera ’til some time next year.

Click on the mosaic below to view the set in sequence. Once you’ve done that, clicking on the individual pics in our photostream will show the title for each, which should give you a hint as to who’s who and what’s what.

Enjoy! 

Art by niece Jaimey,
aged 6 

L to R: Julie, Dave, Daddy (AJ),
Tau, Sue, Jaimey, Mitchell

All around the Christmas dinner table,
our picture being taken, hence the “Cheese!”

Apteryx Australis 
Giclee Print by J.e. Gould

If things have been quiet here on el rancho nobaddays, it’s because we have been busy with two big decisions.

Number one, I quit my job. Without another to go to. And on purpose. Yes, I did. 

It’s no secret that while I love what I do as a technical writer, I don’t love spending two hours a day in the car in order to do it. It was time for me to find work closer to home.  And time for something new. So yesterday, Friday, was my last day in the office.

I have a history of finishing up jobs on Friday only to start a new one on Monday, with zero vacation time on hand. This time round, I’m taking a month or so off so that I can rest, work on a few things around the house and then start looking early in the year. Ah!

Having the month of December free (FREE!) and Dave having enough vacation time saved up, we also decided (second big decision) to take a good long vacation. Three weeks in New Zealand!

Yes. On the spur of the moment we decided this! Those who know us well know how we agonize over things. Well, this decision took a matter of days. Days, I say! And we are thrilled and excited.

We will spend much of our time in New Zealand with my brother AJ and his family just north of Auckland. But we will also spend a good chunk of time touring around — just the three of us – toes in the summer sand and carefree.

And seeing my brother, meeting his wife Julie and kiddies Mitch and Jaimey, introducing them to Tau, will be truly thrilling for me. I haven’t seen Andy in over twelve years. Twelve! Can you say overdue?

We leave next week. Eek! And while we are away I’ll be taking a break from el blog – but I promise to take lots of pictures and I plan to keep a journal, so we will have lots to share on our return.