Patience, Concentration and Motivation

BritMumInNZ

All these virtues were met with reward on Sunday.

Patience was Charli waiting a year to grow the 110cm minimum height requirement to go on the simulator rides at Te Papa museum; The Deep Ride and The High Ride. On Sunday morning the tape measure did not lie. It revealed the extra Weet-bix in the morning had successfully assisted with those all important extra millimetres. Charli was so excited and Sophie was so pleased for her too.

Dan went on with her, whilst I kept Sophie company, and they were not disappointed. Charli said The Deep Ride was fun and she learned a lot.

    From ‘Our Space’ at Te Papa:
    ‘Around 80% of New Zealand’s territory is under water. But more people have travelled to the moon than have explored the depths around the Brothers underwater volcano.

    Almost two kilometres deep in the Kermadec Arc, the Brothers volcano is one of the most spectacular hunting grounds for underwater volcanic activity and weird deep-sea critters.

    With renowned scientist and adventurer Dr Cornel de Ronde to guide you, join the hunt for deep-sea black smokers and erupting volcanoes from the safety of our deep-sea vehicle simulator.’

And The High Ride left Dan shaking and sweating, whilst Charli was high as a kite on adrenaline. At the end of the ride the operator said, ‘Well someone really enjoyed that ride!’ and Charli piped up, at the top of her lungs, ‘Yeh! That was ME!’.

    From ‘Our Space’ at Te Papa:
    Imagine the most exciting clips from the Our Space media bank.
    The thrills of extreme sports, free running, flying foxes.
    The nostalgia of trundling over cattlestops, sliding down grassy hills.
    Clips that ride back in time.
    Clips that go all around and under New Zealand.
    Now imagine you enter the Wall and live these scenes first hand.
    That’s the High Ride.

After the thrills and spills we enjoyed surveying the weekend events surrounding the current Formula One exhibition. The girls sat in a racing kart and Dan picked up a leaflet, discovering that for children, age six and up, there are racing karts and clubs to join (he was enthusiastically egging Charli on for a weekend spin on the track!). I am betting on getting my first gray hairs before I turn forty at this rate!

They also sat, with amazing concentration (second virtuous act of the day), for half an hour or so designing their own race cars as part of the F1 design competition. For their efforts they were each given a smart pull-back racing car (which Sophie then delighted in letting rip across the foyer nearly tripping up a few passers by – we quickly retreated to a quiet corner!). Charli’s interesting feature was a lollipop steering wheel – presumably to give the driver sustained energy and concentration with a sugar rush high as the car spins around the track. Sophie called her car, ‘Whale Car’ as it was able to go under water.

After such a fun morning we headed off for a Yum Cha lunch, followed by ice-cream, before heading home feeling quite soporific. The weather had turned to overcast with the outlook of rain and it was hard to motivate ourselves to do anything, though we knew that a good walk would sort us out. After two week’s of sun and no rain down on the coast the garden was hanging out for a downpour, but we didn’t know what to do with ourselves. We muttered the word ‘walk’ half-heartedly, but it was Charli who really took the word and put it into action. With trainers on she flung open the front door and said, ‘Come on!’. We walked down the hill looking at the track running up the other side of the valley with foreboding. There was a mean southerly blowing through the valley, but we knew we’d be sheltered in the bush.

Here is where the virtue of motivation came into play. Charli and Sophie strode up the track, leaving Dan and I in their footsteps, hearing the occasional call of, ‘Come on Mum and Dad!’. We’ve often told them of all the three or four day tramps we’ve done around New Zealand and how one day, when they are old enough, we’d take them – but we have also admitted that by the time they are strong enough we will probably be trailing behind – rendezvousing at a later point at a hut for the night.

So, we pulled ourselves up the hill, with Dan wondering when his post soccer legs (from the day before) were going to ease up. But, after ten minutes or so we felt that euphoric lift that fresh air and exercise never fail to bring and our bodies fell into rhythm with the contours of the land. By the time we reached the top (and were reunited with the howling southerly) we felt truly alive and the post lunch lethargy was long forgotten.

The walk took us an hour, beginning to end, and we were so impressed with the girls striding it out with such stamina. Thanks to Charli’s motivational spirit we all felt immensely alive and refreshed. We got home before the rain descended and tucked into a hearty dinner of home-made, gourmet burgers and salad.

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9 thoughts on “Patience, Concentration and Motivation”

  1. What a wicked time you guys had….I am so jealous!!! Though maybe not of The High Ride 😉
    Good job Charli on motivating the oldies – the pictures of your walk are beautiful!!!

      Thank you! Though the photographs would have been much more beautiful on a bright, sunny day – however, they do show the real atmosphere of the day – very wild! It’s actually walking in weather like that which makes me feel more alive sometimes – must be the senses on full alert for what’s going to be thrown at the body next – wind, rain…

  2. Whow…what a fantastic time you have been having !!! Well done for having a walk after all the other fun things. The pictures of the racing cars are fantastic and love the ideas….a lollipop steering wheel and a whale car…what imagination you have !!! We love the picture of you both standing by the height chart…..maybe we would go on the Deep Ride but think Grandma may miss out on the High Ride !!

      Go on Grandma, you’d love it! 😉 x

  3. Ooooo, I want a lollipop steering wheel! Lol, so cool. Kyla loved that ride too 🙂

      Yep, I gave that lollipop steering wheel a lot of thought too – though decided it would get terribly sticky! Would have to have special gloves to hold the wheel with and be able to replace the lolly exterior at frequent intervals!

  4. Mac did his first two day tramp- one day in one day out- in the Orongorongos Rimutaka Forest Park at 4 carrying a backpack with his snacks, rain and sleepwear in it. It was for a birthday party for one of his brothers friends- 12 kids, 4 adults, spag bol and a chocolate cake. We slept in one of the huts on the other side of the river and tramped out again the next day. Since then the boys and us have walked quite a few of NZ’s awesome tramps and day walks something we really miss doing.

      Wow Tanya! That’s absolutely fabulous! I can see Sophie managing that at 4, as she’s been a keen, strong walker from early on. Baby number 3 will have to find his or her legs fast to keep up with the older ones! I simply love that idea for a birthday celebration – really unforgettable. The walks here really are breathtaking and Dan and I used to plan all our annual leave around long weekends and fitting in as much tramping as possible. We are very excited about sharing our passion of New Zealand’s great outdoors with our children.

  5. It’s adorable that your daughter waited to grow tall enough for these rides! The things we adults take for granted!

    I’ve been on both those rides and, since I’m just a kid at heart, I loved them both. Especially the ‘High Ride’. I took my nieces to Te Papa and took them on these rides, but I might head back without the nieces as an excuse…

      Children are a great excuse to sing and dance in the middle of the day without anyone calling for the ‘men in white coats’. I would have loved to have gone on the rides – but I’m pregnant, so will have to be patient. Glad you enjoyed the rides and hey, who needs an excuse!

  6. It sounds like you had a fun packed day. I just love the thought of Charli organising you all for a walk and then both of them striding onwards and upwards urging you to follow on. Talk about role reversal. Our boys like going out for walks but get a bit fed up that us oldies can’t walk as fast as them. Vytas and Romas take great pleasure in running up some of the steepest bits of the cliff walks and waiting for us to make our steady way up.

      Yes, that was always like my sister and I waiting for my folks. Now it is Dan and I making a slow, steady ascent, whilst our young ones run up a 45 degree angle without stopping to take an extra breath! Sarah x

  7. I love your stories about your girls growing up and how you work together as a family. There is nothing like a good walk to clear away the cobwebs. JT x

      I can feel a regular Sunday walk post coming on. These days it feels like the girls are taking us for a walk – not the other way round! They’ll soon be saying, ‘Walkies!’ to us as we struggle to move our bottoms from the comfort of the couch and the Sunday newspaper!

  9. wow sarah, you peeps have such a wild and adventurous existence!!! love all the foodie bits and the family spirit at your place. it’s raining here this arvo – i want my sunshine back! mwah X

      Wishing you more sunshine soon!

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