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a kiwi family with eight kids and a grandpa
chronicle their pilgrimage from Singapore to London and beyond.....overland all the way

that was in 2008/2009....

then they kept on pilgrim-ing....2012....

then the 1,000km walk-for-water in 2014...

at the edge of the world

in Him we live and move and have our being ~ Acts 17:28
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Paris Re-viewed

September 2nd, 2012

The sun rose early, brighter and clearer on our second day in Paris – not only because of the fine weather, but also because most of daBears had at least twelve hours sleep which managed to push most of the jet-lagged fog from the brain (but not entirely we would discover at 4pm later on in the day!). We managed to get ourselves ready and rode the metro into town, emerging out of the tube under the shadow of the Arc de Triomphe. MBoy10 summed up our collective thoughts well:
”It’s just like coming out of the metro in Rome and seeing the Colosseum”. He was right, photos just don’t do it justice and it is far more impressive in real life.

Paris Arc de T Walk (7)

We almost didn’t go up, but in fact, the view from the top of the Arc was amazing – as was simply walking down the Champs Elysees to the even grander Place de la Concorde. Nothing had quite prepared us for the wide, opulent grandeur of central Paris. Baron Haussmann was on to a good thing when he redesigned the Paris city plan – it would certainly have to be the most impressive of all the European cities we have visited – perhaps not the most beautiful, or quaintest or most character-filled, but it takes your breath away with its wide, open avenues and its towering buildings (or it may have been the 300+ steps up to the top of the Arc which also made us realise jetlag still lurked in the body).

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After a break for lunch in the park (where FadaBear tried to cut off his thumb whilst enthusiastically cutting some baguettes in half with a pocket knife) we walked along the Le Seine to find the Musee de Carnavalet (the History of Paris Museum) primarily in search of the French Revolution display; a morbid fascination with the guillotine collection was not fostered as for some un-published reason the museum had decided to close this part of the museum to visitors today! Grrr. Still, the rest of the museum kept our attention for the rest of the afternoon, until we were ambushed by jetlag again and we beat a hasty retreat to the nearest metro station. Yes, I do realise that account is painfully lacking in any detail of the art and treasures but hey… I blame jetlag, and the fact that Mamabear is already asleep so I have no helper.

Charmed by Paris again, and looking forward to more. Side note: we did consume an undisclosed number of ‘pain au chocolat’ and ‘pain au raisin’ today! Ahhh, French pastries! Another reason to fall in love with Paris.

Paris Arc de T Walk (97)

Now it is 9:30 pm and everyone else is asleep. Time to follow suite … if only I can get MamaBear to write some blogs posts :-)…

by FatherBear

Posted in 2012 | 4 Comments »

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Bonjour Paris

September 1st, 2012

First impressions are so important, are they not? They often provide a clear insight into new situations and people. This time, our initial impressions of Tahiti, LA and Paris were rendered in a hazy blur due to extreme exhaustion. We had arrived in Paris at 9am local time approximately 34 hours after leaving home.  Full marks to the kids who coped extremely well with the flights, snatching a few hours of sleep in between sustaining themselves on a diet of regular airline meals, movies and video games.
Flight facts:
Number of flights: 3 (AKL – PAPEETE – LA – PARIS)
Travel time: 5 + 8 + 11 (not including transit times)
Number of meals: 5

First impressions that are distinct: Papeete was hot, humid and relaxed as only things can be in the Pacific. The local ukulele troupe welcomed us into the transit lounge after a stringent search-everything-you-are-carrying-and-even-remove-your-belt-and-be-frisked security check. Lots of bronzed holiday go-ers returning back home filled the airport. Los Angeles was another first for the children – vast, dry and flat. Security equally tight but remained friendly even when Fadabear was not able to recall any of the birthdates of the younger children under questioning (hey, if the customs agent had asked me about the older children’s birthdates I could have got full marks!). Thankfully the agents believed all the kids were ours and allowed us to pass. Then being stuck in a small transit lounge with a decidedly dilapidated rest rooms does not lead to glowing first impressions! Smells reminiscent of Cambodia! Sitting in a queue of ten-plus planes waiting for takeoff reminds you just how busy this place is.

Flying in to Paris – glimpses of fields and towns that brought back fond memories of our time in the motorhomes. Charles de Gaulle airport – a rambling and tired terminal that stretched for acres, an arrivals board that was bigger than the large screens at Eden Park and listed dozens of flights due in just a couple of hours. Walking to our hotel/hostel through parts of Paris that don’t make the tourist brochures – graffiti,, rubbish and narrow streets.

Despite extreme tiredness we decided to head into the Basilique du Sacre Coeur to catch a glimpse of the city from the lookout point. The charm of Paris is evident as we walk through Montmartre and Place du Tertre.

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However, it soon becomes clear that jetlag has a firm grip on littleBears and enthusiasm quickly wanes for the sights of Paris. Not even the distant view of the Eiffel Tower can raise a smile. No surprise, and given it has been over 48 hours since anyone slept properly we decide to hit the metro back to the hostel. Find Wally in the picture below – he is the one with a smile (ps – he ISN’T there! These are just the six faces of exhaustion. The Eiffel Tower is behind them and they can’t muster energy enough to care).

Bonne nuit Paris et merci bien.

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we’re off

August 30th, 2012

ready to go_09

insert airport or passport photo later perhaps

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Let The Walk begin

August 29th, 2012

One day to go. Everyone’s chomping at the bit to leave.
Just left with Boring Jobs like cleaning shoes, trimming nails, treating hair with ti-tree oil to repel prospective nits in hostels, cleaning the freezer, emptying the fridge, baking a last batch of bread rolls, vacuuming the van…

ready to go_08

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packed today

August 28th, 2012

There we have it.
Ten packs, ten pairs of shoes, ten sets of clothes to be worn on Thursday.
Nobody is allowed to touch anything until then.
Nobody.
Nothing.

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We’ve been asked what we’re taking…telling you won’t take long.
For each person:

TO WEAR
2x shorts
1x longs
3x tops (combination of short and long sleeved)
3x undies
3x socks…no, we changed that to 4x this morning
2x bras (not for the boys)
1x thermal top and long johns
1x light gloves
1x sunhat
1x Keens sandals
1x flipflops
1x fleece jacket
1x raincoat

TO SLEEP
1x sleeping bag liner
1x pillowcase

TO CLEAN
small microfibre handkerchief towel
toothbrush
deodorant/baking soda
hairties
black sack (for putting packs in and keeping bedbugs out at albergues)

TO EAT
small bowl that will double as a mug Mongolian-style
plastic knife and teaspoon

TO RECORD
journal
pen and pencil
passport
pilgrim’s passport

Then we have a few communal items:
* string shopping bag and light cloth bag for baguettes and camembert
* a few hydration baldders
* a few toiletries and a roll of toilet paper
* a few medical supplies
* a laundry (sunlight soap, multi-size plug, 10m cord, 50 nappy pins)
* muslin cloths for washing and drying dishes
* Camino guidebook and a sheet of paper with Spanish phrases
* coloured pencils and watercolours
* UNO, pass the pigs, letter dice, Monopoly Draw, felt pieces
* electronics: camera, laptop, GPS, phone and attendant chargers
* 2x ball of wool and 1x circular knitting needle and one set Pacerpoles for MamaBear
* folder with important papers
* money

Travelling light has its advantages….there ought to be no trouble fitting our carry-on gear in the overhead lockers. This is it, for all ten of us:

ready to go_11
Gotta take a bag of snacks Just In Case; dried fruit, nuts, homemade cheese&chilli crackers, and for some inexplicable reason, eight tiny packets of pop candy.

In fact, the only complaint being heard this morning as we packed was that the bags were too big and baggy. That’s a far cry from our last trip when we ended up buying a trolley to drag the electronics bag along, and there was an entire pack devoted to winter gear, and the nappies, oh the cloth nappies. No nappies this time!

And for you crafty friends, how do you like my hand-embroidered Little Red Riding Hood carry-bag? Perfect for French sticks and lunchtime grapes, don’t you think?

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Yes, I made it. And I love it. It’s nice having some hand-made-y stuff to go with the Big Brand Name backpacks and shoes.
Actually I made the pack covers too – complete with snazzy French seams…and lots of the clothes, and most of the socks, but none of the undies!

Posted in 2012, preparation | 4 Comments »

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a long night

August 27th, 2012

passport photo passport photo-shoot for the baby – 2008

Now it’s only three days until we leave. Well, that’s how it was supposed to be.
You see, last Wednesday we attempted to complete the final formality – paying for the US visa waiver, which we are apparently entitled to as Kiwis.
After typing in pages of details for each one of us, providing credit card details, and hitting the APPLY button, we received an AUTHORIZATION PENDING notification. Talking with friends at dinner that evening, they seemed surprised – having just been to the States, they had gone through the same process, and they seemed to recall it all being instant. The obvious reason was that this was a large group that for some reason required special checking, but my brain went into overdrive…..and I suddenly realised with a sinking-stomach-feeling that I had checked the passport requirements for France, Spain and England (because we were aware that the mother and children passports would expire just five months after the end of the trip), but we hadn’t checked for the US. A quick online search revealed that, indeed, for entry to the US one’s passport must be valid for six months beyond your intended stay. The European countries are not so strict – valid is good enough for them.
“Don’t worry about it,” FatherBear sagely suggested.
Heeding his advice, I tumbled into bed and tried to go to sleep.
But my brain does not switch off until the Worst Case Scenario Plan B is in place. So I worked it out.
I would ring the embassy in the morning and find out the chances of being denied – we could not afford to wait for the possible 72 hours that this decision might take to be made through the official channel. If there seemed any chance of refusal, I would start filling out nine application forms for new passports. We would not faff round taking our own photos – we would pay someone to do them FAST, choose a long-suffering friend to witness them all and hopefully have them couriered to Wellington by the end of the day. That would give Friday, Monday, Tuesday for the speedy (and expensive) applications to be processed…and hopefully returned to us by Wednesday. Then we could pay the US again, redo all those questions (but now have to state that we had once been denied), in the hopes of receiving an immediate authorization (unlikely given the last bracketed statement). Yes, it would cost a hundred dollars for the photos, more than a plane ticket just for the passports, and require a second payment for the visas, but there would be a slim chance that it might all work out and we could still fly on Thursday. Indeed, we might not even know until Thursday morning, but there would be HOPE.

I went to sleep, only to wake frequently and tell myself that I could do nothing about it so there was no point being awake. Finally, when it was not too early to be up, I stole into the study and turned on the computer. No confirmation email. Ah well. At least it was not request denied! Hope remained.

At breakfast we explained the situation to the children. There were some forlorn-looking faces stretched around the table. And then there was Micaiah.
“We’ll just have to ask God for a miracle,” he informed us.
There wasn’t time for discussing the theology of God-as-Santa-Claus, there wasn’t time to lead by example in giving thanks in all circumstances, there wasn’t even time to ask for a miracle….not wanting to prolong the agony unnecesarilly, FatherBear was quick to inform them that even before we had whispered a prayer, God had answered and the miracle had already been worked. While I was checking emails, he was logging onto the site itself, punching in our group code and discovering that while we had been tossing and turning the night away, someone was approving our applications.
We gave thanks.

Of course, there’s every chance that on our way back through LA, we will not be allowed to leave the airport, but missing out on Santa Monica is far preferable to missing out on the whole trip!

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nearly ready

August 21st, 2012

On Saturday morning we were not yet ready to leave. The TO DO list was of marathonic proportions.
Now there is only one thing that really really has to be done – pay the US for the privilege of being on a plane that touches down on its soil. Even if you don’t leave the airport, it will cost you US$14 to land. The good thing is we are thinking we might make it really worth our while and get out of the airport. Even though we have had our flight times for months, it was only last night that we went online to work out how much time it will take to get from here to there and how much time we’ll be waiting anywhere. And it appears we’ll have quite some time in LA.
If all goes according to plan, our flight up to Paris takes only 34 hours. We’ll arrive at 9 in the morning, and even though everyone will be feeling like it’s midnight the day after missing a night’s sleep, we’ll encourage them to stay up and come to the local Carrefour to find a petit brie. On the other trip we were enamoured with the enormous rounds of brie that cost only 5 euros and we’re looking forward to the next one. We are also a little nervous about it all as we have other memories of Carrefour supermarkets. One memory is good – we walked out of Carrefour in Calais and discovered an aeronautical acrobatic display overhead to celebrate 100 years since Bleriot had crossed the channel. But other memories predominate. After driving round and round and round following CARREFOUR signs that led nowhere on many many many occasions, we are left with a still-lingering feeling of desperation that we will never find the supermarket. Many times we didn’t, despite the signage that declared one was near. This time I’ve already seen it on googlemaps, I’ve already looked at the streetview. I’ve printed out the directions of how to get to it from our hotel (which funnily enough are incorrect!) Surely it will be there. We’ll find out. We’ll buy French food. Then we’ll take the metro to Montmartre and hopefully keep everyone awake with the awe of being where Picasso and van Gogh and Dali all hung out until we feel like the sun should be rising (as it will be in NZ), but in reality it will be setting in Paris.
If that goes according to plan, we’ll have a little more faith that the return trip might not be the horror story it could turn into.
When we wake up on our final morning in England, we will know that it will be eighty hours before we settle into a bed again! Writing that now, it seems so silly. Crazy even. But lots of adventure will happen in those eighty hours. We’ll deliver a canalboat back to the wharf, we’ll take a train to London, we’ll have a last day seeing last-minute things there including taking in evensong at Westminster Abbey, we’ll take an overnight bus back to Paris, we’ll fly 12 hours to Los Angeles……and yay, when it’s midnight the day after the night on the bus (according to our body clocks) we’ll touch down on American soil. Only it won’t actually be midnight – it’ll be early afternoon local time and so we’ll hop on a bus or a train or something and do something. Coz we’ll have nine and a half hours to do it in, and we don’t really want to just sit in the airport. Not when it’s cost $140! Most of the kids think we should go to the beach. A couple are voting for Hollywood. We’ll see when we get there. Then we’ll fly another nine hours to Tahiti, wait another nine hours and then there’ll be a final flight to get us home.

And we’re nearly ready for it. Rob still has to go to work every day and I need to finish knitting one mitten. But apart from that and eating up the rest of the food in the freezer and washing the sheets one last time and having haircuts, we’re ready. The tickets are all booked, walking tour directions printed out, chicken carers organised, backpacks filled, sandals worn in, cheapest accommodation found, museum opening times recorded, commitments cancelled, euros purchased, journals chosen, camera batteries charged……..yes, there’s just that payment to be made to America, and we could go.

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when others think you shouldn’t

July 25th, 2012

Someone out there thinks we are being irresponsible parents forcing our kids to go on a big walk.

We’ve only heard this second-hand……if we had been told directly we would not have defended our position. We would have thanked them for their concern. While we would have acknowledged that this kind of trip is certainly not for everyone, we would possibly have been able to make the Concerned People feel a little more comfortable by showing them that the children are under no duress. In fact, when we mentioned the disapproval to the children they were the first to cry out, “You’re not forcing us to, we want to do it”!! Of course it is true to say that the youngest members do not have any choice about staying home. But they did enter the discussion about what trip we should do. (And you know what? I’m of the opinion that ANY proposal presented with enthusiasm on the part of the adults is likely to be embraced with excitement by the short members of the family – at least, this has been our experience.) In this instance, the older children were offered the option to remain behind, but they elected to join us.
Now if the critics could spend a little time with us, they would see that our whole family is quite accustomed to walking. We do a lot of it, and what’s more, we enjoy it (except for the eldest son, but even he agreed to come and did not vote against doing the Camino).
At the weekend we donned packs and headed for the hills. According to the website information we had, it was meant to be a 206m hill; it turned out to be nearer to 500m of climbing UP UP UP…..and the same down again. When the website writers noted “steep and slippery after a few days of rain” they could legitimately have added “or even on sunny days in winter”.

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We trudged and slipped and slid up and down, taking Grandpa (in his own words) “to the end of my physical capacity”.

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What was supposed to be a two hour jaunt, allowing us to get home in time for lunch, turned into a bit of an epic marathon – the last stragglers did not emerge from the bush until after 2pm, and the lunch was still sitting at home in the pantry!

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The good thing is, we know that the biggest climb we’ll be doing on our trip is 600m. That’s not much further than Saturday’s climb AND it’s spread out over a longer distance so will not be as steep AND we will not be in a hurry to get home to do chores around the house AND there will be noone coming for dinner. We also know that if for some reason we are unable to procure a meal when we expect to, we’re all able to walk on and on and on….even on empty stomachs (although, naturally, we will do our best to be prepared).
Everyone was able to walk on Sunday, and so any lingering fears that maybe we might not manage to tackle this dream were allayed. Even the critics might have been silenced, had they chanced to see us staggering down the last hill with smiles on our faces and the kids repeatedly insisting “This is such fun”! But you know what? We understand that not everyone understands us and we’re OK with that.

KareKare Zion Trail Walk_13
the view was worth it!

PS
What is written above is the truth, BUT it is not the whole truth. The whole truth would contain the story of the walk from a week earlier. It was a simple jaunt around our local suburbs, not overly far (under 10km) and not at all demanding in terms of terrain (being limited to footpaths) and about as flat as it is possible to get when you live in the foothills (total ascent of only about 100m).
At one point the youngest three decided they did not really want to go much further, and in particular did not want to climb the (very very small) hill before us, a climb they have made on numerous occasions, I might add. The two smallest grizzled, complained, moaned, whinged, wished aloud that we could have a break at the bottom of the hill instead of the top. And when we got to the top the very smallest one refused to sit down and rest. Upon completing the break, the youngest male decided that he could not walk properly due to a dreadful and sudden ankle injury….and so while everyone else went on, I waited with him until he felt able to continue. It took closer to ten minutes than five for his recovery to take effect. Unfortunately, whilst his physical recovery was complete, the Attitude-with-a-Capital-A lingered somewhat longer.
It is not always sunshine and roses when you embark on activites with children, but neither does that mean we should sit at home all the time. Growth comes for all through hardships – the kids learn to get on with it and the parents have an opportunity to practise patience!

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“If I die in the next month…..

July 19th, 2012

….you’re all to still go and do that walk!” declared FatherBear when he came home from work tonight.
Did he have a close shave on the bike? Don’t know – best not to ask!

Regardless, methinks he is starting to get an inkling of excitement.
Younger children certainly are. When we still had over a hundred days to go we wrote out the numbers on a long piece of paper and have been snipping them off, one each evening. The paper is quite short now, well over half gone.
We have read piles of books set in Spain, France and England and feel like we’re ready to know these places more personally.
Some of the kids have been busy trying out all the different French and Spanish courses available at the library. They’ve discovered that the ones which promise you’ll be a master in seventeen easy lesson are all lies. They have even worked out that none of those kind of courses are going to bring anyone to *master* status! They are looking forward to getting there and just talking. They remember how much Lao I learnt in just three weeks – I’ve pointed out that I sat down with our guesthouse owner every day and made a conscious effort to learn vocabulary and sentences and then I toddled off to the market to practise what I’d learnt. I’ve told them to learn how to say, “I don’t speak Spanish, but can I try to talk to you please?”

Yes, the anticipation is mounting and we hope no-one dies between now and then!

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winter wander

June 16th, 2012

Five years ago we headed out to Karekare, our favourite black sand wild west coast beach, on a windy day in the middle of winter.
We took the photo that has since been our trademark…

at the edge of the world

Today, again the middle of winter, and no less windy, we returned to the same spot…

Family June 2012_16_DxO

Often we were asked why we did not have a faces-showing photo…..five years ago, with children ranging from just one year old to twelve, it was tricky to get everyone looking straight at the camera, smiling and not squinting or grimacing or pulling faces and not sticking legs out to trip each other up – ack, who am I kidding? simply looking pleasant would have been good enough! So we walked away from the camera, and decided that would do.

Turns out, five years on, things aren’t too different…..
Family June 2012_25_DxO

Figuring that reducing the numbers of participants would improve the odds for a good shot, we sent the frozen girls running down the beach to warm up while we arranged the boys on an old log sticking out of the sand. Unfortunately there is not one photo that they are all happy to share! Noone wants to be the one famous in blogland for having his eyes closed or lips pursed.
But the girls, on their return, took the award for favourite-photos-of-the-day:

Family June 2012_63_DxO

Family June 2012_64_DxO

We were also asked why there were not so many photos of the parents, so here’s a start.
Family June 2012_34_DxO

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