Mr. Green gets ready to leave...

Mr. Green, who usually lives in Ms. Randall's class at Britannia Elementary, gets to spend the month of February in New Zealand. Penny, who volunteers in Ms. Randall's class, is Mr. Green's travelling companion.

The place in New Zealand that Mr. Green is going is called Bethells Beach.

First, however, is a fourteen-hour airplane trip from Vancouver to the New Zealand city of Auckland, which is the biggest city in New Zealand (about 1/3 of the whole population of New Zealand lives in Greater Auckland), but it’s only about half the size of Vancouver (what we call Metro Vancouver).

New Zealand is on the far side of the International Dateline, an imaginary line that runs down the middle of the Pacific Ocean. When it’s Thursday in Vancouver, it’s Friday in places on the other side of the International Dateline. When we talk to our relatives in New Zealand, it’s tomorrow there, but three hours earlier!

That’s why, when Mr. Green leaves for New Zealand on the afternoon of February 1^st, when he gets off the plane the next morning, it will be February 3^rd!

Luckily, when he comes home, he leaves on February 28^th and gets home just four hours later on the same day (even though the flight takes 14 hours!).

After Mr. Green gets off the airplane in Auckland, it takes about 1½ hours to drive to Bethells Beach.

Some things will be pretty surprising right away.

First of all, when it’s winter here, it’s summer in New Zealand. Canada is in the Northern Hemisphere, the top half of the Earth when you look at a globe, and New Zealand is in the Southern Hemisphere, the bottom half. When it’s winter on the top half, it’s summer on the bottom half. When it’s summer on the top half, it’s winter on the bottom half. So when Mr. Green gets off the plane, it will be hot!

Also, in New Zealand they drive on the left-hand side of the road instead of the right-hand side. And the driver of a car sits on the right side of the front seat instead of the left. It’s scary on the drive home from the airport because you keep thinking “Yikes!” when cars are coming toward you in the right lane. This also makes it very dangerous for a Canadian pedestrian. You really have to pay attention so you don’t get run over, because you automatically look to the left first before you start walking across a street.

They even see different stars in the sky at night!

When Mr. Green gets to Bethells Beach, he will get to see the ocean and a huge, beautiful beach.

He will also get to see a stream that flows from a giant fresh-water lake surrounded by sand dunes for a couple of miles down to the ocean. The water in the stream is warm and the bottom of the stream is soft sand, so you can walk the whole way from the lake to the ocean in bare feet without stepping on anything sharp!

Mr. Green will also get to explore a huge cave in a big rock wall at one end of the beach. That dog is "Chach" and he's actually quite a big dog, so you can get an idea of how large the cave is.

There are some interesting creatures in New Zealand. Maybe you have heard of the flightless Kiwi bird? They also have the stick insect and the praying mantis. Here's a stick insect.

You, and your parents and your friends, are invited to join Mr. Green as he goes on adventures in New Zealand.

If you want to, you can “follow” the blog and make comments and ask questions. Ms. Randall can also give you my e-mail address if you'd like to e-mail me.

Mr. Green's itinerary...

I'm taking Mr. Green to the North Island of New Zealand for the month of February.

New Zealand is a small country, with two parts, a north island and a south island, and it is located off the east coast of Australia (which is an enormous country). It is located on the Tasman Sea. Maybe you have heard of the Tasmanian Devil. That is an animal that lives in Tasmania, which is also on the Tasman Sea.

Here's the Tasmanian Devil cartoon character.

The real Tasmanian Devil is much more cuddly looking. It looks more like a cross between a little black bear and a guinea pig.

Where Mr. Green is going first is called Bethells Beach. It's an amazingly beautiful beach just west of Auckland, which is one of the largest cities in New Zealand.

Here is a photo of Bethells Beach. Actually the beach closest to you in the photo is called O'Neill's beach and the beach in the background is Bethells Beach. If you look very closely at Bethells Beach, you will see a cave in the rocks at the far end. When I'm there, I'll take a photo of Mr. Green in the cave.

Here is a map of the world showing where we are ... and where Mr. Green and I are going. It looks like it's about as far from Vancouver as a person can get!

And one other thing, New Zealand is in the Southern Hemisphere so the season is exactly the opposite of what we have here. When Mr. Green and I are there in February, it will be like August is here, warm and late summer.

Here is a photograph of New Zealand, taken from a satellite. It's hard to tell in the photo, but there are two islands. The split is about halfway down. A very expensive car ferry goes from North to South and back again.

Here is a map that just shows the top half of the north island and where Bethells Beach is. See that big island off to the east? That's called Great Barrier Island, and we are going there just two days after we arrive in New Zealand.