New Zealand Sabbatical

We stayed close to Darfield during the holidays and the highlight was a long video chat with Adam and Brian the morning of the 25th. Later on Christmas day we reprised our lunch meal at Eleanor and Malcolm Campbell’s home with a main course of ham instead of lamb. Malcolm had heart valve issues in 2023 but has bounced back and is working again. He is a typical Kiwi, tough as nails, and he is putting those 2 new valves to good use

The nearby secondary roads are sometimes blocked in spots called “fords” by snow melt from the mountains or rain water run-off. The sign below announces their presence with an added temporary CLOSED sign if they are impassable. The fords, narrow roads, roundabouts and huge milk tankers all add to the challenge of driving on left side of the road.

New Years Day found us at a picnic in the nearby farming community of Greendale. It was arranged by our Darfield neighbors, Bob and Lorraine Adams (pictured below) who moved here from Greendale. The main road is Adams Road, named after T.W. Adams who is Bob’s great grandfather. TW established a homestead in 1865 and planted an arboretum we visited amidst current fields of kale and peas.

Next up is the “Alps to Ocean” mountain bike ride Jan 13-16 from Mt. Cook to Oaamaru. My best friend from medical school, Doug Reding, is leaving his Wisconsin winter to come to ride this 4 day trek with me. Dianne opted not to ride but will meet us after for fun in Queenstown. More on that in my next post.