We had some basic knowledge about New Zealand the way most Americans do — through television. Our favorite Kiwi show is Brokenwood. It’s been on 9 seasons, and airs a season earlier in the US than in its home town. Apparently, it’s not as popular in NZ as it is with us Americans. The Sunday night show were episodes we had seen on a streaming service (Acorn) back home.
Brokenwood is a police procedural, solving murders by local police officers, a detective constable, detective sergeant and of course the senior (chief inspector). It is set in a fictional small town in New Zealand, but the main police station is an actual real building in a town near Auckland. Of course we drove out to get our picture taken in front of it.
In keeping with our police station theme, we then, while staying in Dunedin in the South Island (a city I really loved), did an escape room in the old Dunedin Prison. We have done escape rooms before, but never from an actual prison.
We loved New Zealand, but sadly our Kiwi worldschool module is now over. I declare it a success. We covered lots of New Zealand immigrant history and maritime museums.
Here Sophie learns about the size of a whale’s heart.
A final sail through Auckland harbor a few hours before our flight.
And goodbye New Zealand. Back home for a few weeks and then on to Europe for Module 2!
Over our years of traveling to many different locations, one specific activity we are always on the lookout for is scenic train rides. We have done scenic train rides in Japan, Norway, Scotland, and Australia. It has become a little bit our thing. One vacation we were passing through Maine and found a scenic train there.
So we randomly ran into a scenic train in the Northland area of New Zealand, near Kawakawa. Clearly a labor of love of the locals, not a lot of tourists. But it was cute.
Then, during a more serious part of our travels, I saw that Dunedin, a university town in South part of the South Island (or the “Deep South” as they call it here) we also saw they had a scenic train ride inland. So we signed up for that.
Well worth the time, beautiful views, even if it was too early in the morning for some.
We had been to New Zealand once before in 2017. I had a full-time, 9-5 job then, so we got away for about 12 days and tried to cover a few key places. We all fell in love with the New Zealand laid back and friendly approach to life. One of the kids, upon finding an elaborate playground in the middle of Wellington with a zip line said “I love this new land. They thought of everything in this new land.” And with that, we were determined to come back for a longer sojourn. Well, we all know what set that back a few years, since New Zealand closed its borders for a couple of years, but we arrived here in June with seven weeks to explore the country. (Spoiler alert: once again, it wasn’t long enough)
Once again, right I away, I noticed the lovely vistas of the country.
A few weeks in, and I had some additional observations that I did not notice the first time around. This country is huge. And there is no one in it. Now, I know it doesn’t feel like that in Auckland or Tauranga but we drove hours and hours in many directions and saw open land, rolling hills, vast farm land, forests, and almost no development. Tiny towns followed by stretches of open road.
New Zealand is basically the size of California. But its population is a little over 5 million. In the whole country. Los Angeles County alone has double that number. If you count the general LA to San Diego swath, it is like 17 million people. Three times the number of people in the whole country of New Zealand. They have like 12 acres per person in New Zealand. In California, we have like 12 feet per person. Here, in New Zealand there is so much open space and land per person that it’s like living in one enormous small town. It is a little hard to describe the vibe.
Other places are just cute, or funky, or beautiful, and in many places they make an effort to incorporate Maori culture.
All told we were here seven weeks this time. And the feeling was unanimous — not long enough!
It would not be a true narrative of New Zealand adventures without a nod to the New Zealand playgrounds. NZ has the most amazing kid playgrounds. In any and every town. Lots of slides.
Some with zip lines
And some even amazing Steampunk themed ones, in a small town on the South Island known as the steampunk capital of NZ — Oamaru.
This Oamaru playground had the weirdest circular treadmill like contraption. Fun for kids and adults! (Yes, I tried it out!)
A lot of people are wondering if Jem and I plan to be on vacation for the next two years. If only. Instead, we are basically picking up second jobs as 7th and 8th grade teachers. Jem did stop teaching his regular course load and go on sabbatical. I joke that he left his college teaching job to become a middle school teacher. (Not really that much of a joke. And not one he finds that funny). He still has other academic-related commitments, but plans to do a lot of the actual teaching during the next two years.
I am maintaining my law practice. I have a lot of experience with remote working going back more than 15 years. In 2006, I thought I wanted to take a break from the law rat race and move to Hawaii. I moved to Hawaii, but never quite left my law practice and clients. In the end, I worked remotely from Hawaii. I used to say my office was wherever my laptop and cell phone were. I was remote working 15 years before it was a thing.
So, I don’t really plan to do anything differently than I have been doing for the past 4 years, other than adjust for time zones. New Zealand isn’t too bad. Some days I might have to start working as early as 5 am local time, but generally, I can have about 4 hours a day of overlap with US business hours. Not like Japan, where I have 0 overlap with U.S. business hours. For the Worldschool part, I am responsible for overseeing Math and foreign language acquisition but I will do that in the several hours a day I will get back since I am no longer driving to school, picking up from school, and taking to and from activities.
Remote working for me is really no different than for anyone else who has embraced a nomadic remote working life. We look for rentals that have work spaces or hotel rooms with a separate room for me to do calls or meetings as needed. Sometimes I really luck out and my workspace is fantastic. This one this summer had an ocean view.
So did the place we stayed in after that:
Weirdly, both locations this summer were across the street/next to churches. Something Sophie picked up on right away: “Why are our houses always next to churches?”
Our third rental of the trip had this across the street:
Weird. I don’t think New Zealand has that many churches, but we just ended up next to some of the few ones they do have. Very pretty ones to boot; at times I felt like I was back in Europe.
Hi. This is Amalia. It’s been a while since I was here. Anyways I’m gonna talk about some pictures, I guess.

This photo was taken I think 6 years ago. This was at the skyline in New Zealand, Rotorua. If you’re wondering what Sophie is sitting in, it’s called a luge. Looking at this photo is bringing back a lot of memories. I was so happy and energetic back then :0. We still have that jellybean plush, Sophie has in the photo on her lap, at home. Sophie looks so small too, like 💀.

Our mom said we should recreate the picture so we did that. The place is a lot different but that would be expected since it was years ago. Not only has the place changed but we have also changed a lot as-well. Ok that sounded really cringe please ignore that. As you can tell in the photo I’m wearing my beautiful Dodgers cap 😌. I literally wear it everywhere. To be honest Sophie hasn’t really changed that much. Still as energetic as always.
I’m also wearing my school uniform jacket in that photo ♥️. I love that jacket <3.

This photo was a couple hours later when me and Sophie went to zip-line. I was gonna do it from the start but I didn’t want to go alone so Sophie decided to go with me because our parents were too scared lol. Even though I am terrified of heights, I still did it and it was pretty fun. As you can tell in the photo I did not take off my hat 😌. My final words before I went on the zip line was, and I quote, “If I’m gonna die I’m gonna die with me hat.” You might think I was overreacting, which I probably was, but it was seriously terrifying. It was so high up and if you fell you surely would not survive.

This is the photo of the zip-line. I realize it doesn’t look that high but trust me, that’s only ‘cause of the angle. Absolutely terrifying but at least I was with my hat 👍. Oh and Sophie.
Many, many years (decades!) ago now, I visited a friend in Vienna. We went to a place I knew nothing about called the Hundertwasserhaus. Very interesting I thought at the time. Obviously memorable since I still remember it more than 25 years later. Since that trip, I had mentioned that “famous” architect Hundertwasser to friends and colleagues. No recognition of this person. So, I thought, I guess he was just a local Viennese architect with one unusually designed building.
We arrive in New Zealand, motorhoming our way North of Auckland through Northland and what do I run into, but a Hundertwasser Museum! What?? How did this guy who as far as I know only did a building in Vienna also have this museum in the middle of semi-rural New Zealand (in a smaller town called Whangārei) and yet no one I know had heard of him?
Hundertwasser Art Center in Whangārei
Turns out, like many an American and European, Hundertwasser had it with the rat race and moved to New Zealand, near Whangārei, in the 70s to get away from it all. He became famous here and they eventually built an art center honoring him, about a decade after he died in 2000, based on one of his designs.
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THEN I learn, he has a famous building in New Zealand built while he was still alive — a toilet. Yes, really, there is a public toilet in the small town of Kawakawa that he designed. So, this leg of travel became the Hundertwasser hunt. We went out of our way to stop at Kawakawa (I just love the name of that town) to see…a public toilet. We plan to be in Vienna this fall for a few days and the Hundertwasserhaus will be on the must-see list!
The twins turned 12 this summer on the road, and, echoing the lament of kids with summer holiday birthdays heard around the world, they were sad not to have their friends available for a birthday party. We try to have fun trips planned for them on their birthday, but honestly, yes, even in this family, one can only have so many Disney birthdays (last year we did Disneyland Paris, for example).
Because we were in New Zealand, a day ahead of the US, they actually got two birthdays, New Zealand birthday and US birthday. For this birthday, we decided to do something one of the kids had long asked for — rent a motorhome and go “camping” / road-tripping. We rented the motorhome the day before their birthday and drove to a nice campground chain, the Top 10, which is basically New Zealand’s KOA.
We took a pleasant, though muddy, river walk/hike for their NZ birthday, headed toward the town of Whangarei.
We saw the largest flock of ducks just hanging around this river on the walk to Whangarei…with one little pigeon adopted by them among the flock. Can you spot it in the first picture?
I wonder how this pigeon ended up in a family of ducks. Our walk ended up in the “town basin” of Whangārei where we had a birthday meal by the water.
Two of us ordered fish and chips and the consensus was that it was among the best we have ever had, including various places in England! It’s easy to forget, given the lush forest vistas, that we actually are at the ocean here.
The next day, for the US birthday we went climbing in the treetop canopies. What amazing ropes courses and programs with zip lines and challenges.
We learned a new term – flying fox. Flying fox is what they call zip lines here. At first we thought it was just this Adventure Forest that called them that but then we saw them advertised in other places that way.
This locally owned Adventure Forest ropes company is a labor of love, and has been for sale for over a year. The owner is looking to retire, after having opened and run the business for 16 years.
It seems like the perfect dream job for a professional looking for an escape from the rat race who wants to leave it all behind and move to New Zealand.
After three hours at our exhausting ropes course, we went shopping for the girls to pick out their birthday presents.
Then, we had 4 birthday cakes (2 each for each birthday), and of course more presents.
Snorkeling, diving and tropical waters is not the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Japan. But Japan has tropics and this trip we wanted to go visit tropical Japan, since it is pretty far away and difficult to get to during a normal “highlights of Japan” trip (especially when any Japan trip requires several Disney days). So this time, we scheduled almost a week in Okinawa. We flew ANA from Tokyo and they treated the girls very well, giving them little gifts, such as this cute ANA badge:
We landed in Okinawa (Naha) and I was instantly confused. I thought I was back in Hawaii. But with more Japanese-like structures (tall residential buildings, a monorail and of course left-hand driving cars). For the few days we were there, I did indeed often find myself thinking I was in Hawaii and I had to remind myself I was still in Japan. This disorientation made sense, once I thought about it. The obvious similarities are the weather and island living. Steamy, tropical, check. Flip flops everywhere, check. Shoes off at the door, check. But beyond that, Okinawa has a significant American influence going back to World War II. Americans have been living in Okinawa for decades. For a long time, it was an American possession, and it was returned to Japan in the early 70s. The U.S. had a large military presence there for decades, much like Oahu. Japan was a staunch U.S. ally during the Vietnam War and much of that support came at Okinawa. Hawaii is an American island that has a significant Japanese population and influence. Okinawa is a Japanese island that has a significant American population and influence. Essentially, Hawaii and Okinawa are cousins. In some ways Okinawa and Hawaii are much closer culturally than Hawaii and say, Kansas. There is a lot more English spoken in Okinawa than the rest of Japan.
One of our highlights in Okinawa, before heading out to the Kerama islands, was a nice meal in a restaurant across the street from our hotel. Our waiter had the best English, and I don’t want to stereotype or profile, but he looked half American to me. I also don’t remember much from that night, I must confess. I ordered something called an “Okinawa Mojito.” I have no idea what was in it, but it knocked me for a loop the rest of the evening. Everything is very, very vague after that. But luckily we took some pictures of the food.
The Okinawa Mojito that almost leveled meDelicious Taro ballsA fish dish we ordered that was the whole fish, bones and all, that were allegedly edible
We only had two nights in Okinawa proper (Naha city), and most of it was spent recovering from (in addition to my Mojito) our very busy four cities in seven days that was “Japan, Week 2.” The hotel had a very nice swimming pool and laundry facilities, so we spent most of our two days hotel bound, which is what we needed. On day three, we took a 45 minute ferry ride and headed to a place that, well, feels to me to be most remote place I have ever visited — the Kerama Islands. (I define remote as something that is off the beaten path, not developed, takes several modes of transport to get there, and is tiny and barely populated. 15 years ago, I would have added no cell service or wi-fi but now even the most remote places have cell service and internet.)
We spent three nights on Aka Island, the smallest of the islands with any development, though honestly at one mile across, it has almost no tourist development to speak off. There is a port, a few guesthouses, a super market, and that’s about it. I chose it because it was the island the guidebook said you could manage entirely on foot. (The other islands needed a bicycle or motorcycle, neither of which is that doable with the kids and suitcases)
Aka was essentially raw nature, with gorgeous scenery.
And very friendly locals, as usual, happy to help you out. There are some weird things, like the fact that they built a gorgeous bridge between islands that connect 200 people to the island of 50 people.
We walked across the bridge just to say we did it (since it doesn’t really go anywhere touristy, we walked over it and back)
The island also had some feral cats and deer, both of whom liked the beach (or maybe the cat was just fishing).
The scenery was stunning. We loved snorkeling just off our breach.
We saw some really good fish and coral (like this starfish), but uncannily, the first fish we saw was a humuhumunukunukuapu’aa — the Hawaii state fish! The connections between Okinawa and Hawaii are underwater as well.
Amalia and I ran into a 6-foot eel just swimming at the surface. Biggest sea snake I have seen free swimming. Previously, when snorkeling, I have seen eels safely in their caves. I was pretty freaked out. Amalia was more excited than freaked. We didn’t have the camera, and I am not sure I would have paused to take a picture anyway.
Lots to see in this area and we only hit one tiny island. Too soon, our time there was over and it was time to, finally, head to the place where we had decided to establish as “home base” for this summer — Sapporo. We really covered a lot of ground in three weeks! [Train rides in red, plane rides in purple arrows]
This country is quiet. Everyone is quiet in public. I assume in private as well. Walking down the street in broad daylight, airports, buses, restaurants, trains, it is as quiet as a U.S. library or funeral. The loudest children in Japan are mine. And I am doing everything I can to help them learn the “when in Rome” … but I am 7 years too late teaching my children to whisper and be quiet, especially when they they are excited, upset, or hurt (they are at least one of these things about 80% of the time, -Jem). The best we can do is tell them, and we have, is “shush – don’t yell; you can sob quietly.”
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