A curve ball

Ok, blog followers.  It appears that fate has thrown us a bit of a curve. Returning to Wellington after Kaikoura, we shopped and worked hard on Wellington museums and attractions including a planetarium show on the southern skies in honor of astronomer son-in-law Paul (who recently was part of a Univ. of Texas team which discovered a new planet which may be conducive to life).

Then on Dec. 22, Claire stepped off the curb on our very steep hill and rolled her ankle.  It was very disturbing-looking, broken in multiple places and dislocated.  We spent hours in emergency, and she came out of surgery with a plate, screws and a giant cast at 2:30 a.m. Afterwards, there were a couple of days in hospital  and a veto on flying for a couple of weeks till the blood thinners kick in to reduce the risk of blood clots on the long flight home.  Kind of a nightmare.  So we must re-group. We tried not to let this incident completely ruin our merry-making. Claire would not let me post the picture of her with cast and the hat and other goodies from her Christmas cracker trying to make the best of it (prizes from the crackers included single applications of sunscreen and insect repellent btw).

Thought I'd include one of Paul and Emily and one of Anna on the rock wall though.  We skyped with some friends from home and sang carols with the Aussies, who had family visiting from across the trench and made approximations of some of our usual Christmas fare.

Paul and Emily left yesterday, and Anna headed home this morning.  Summer weather has finally settled in, warm and sunny (till next Thursday at least, when Paul and Ann are due to arrive).   The powhutakawa trees are coming into full bloom.  Here's a picture of a tree and a close-up of one of the blossoms, very pretty.

It appears that Claire and I will be returning home on January 6.  This may be the end of my New Zealand adventure, or maybe not, if all goes well with Claire's recovery.  Time will tell.  I will be sad if this abrupt goodbye is my last sight of Wellington.  But, just for fun, here's a shot of the beach on Christmas Day.  Ah, Christmas in the southern hemisphere!

Whale Tales

This is not a great picture, but I thought you might like to see the tail of Tiaki, the whale we saw on the whale-watch in Kaikoura.

The real news, as far as we are concerned, is that our kids--daughters Anna and Claire from NC and Emily and son-in-law Paul from Texas-- are visiting for Christmas. We've been having fun, in spite of the cold and windy weather.  Probably the highlight of the first few days came when we spotted a pod of orcas in the harbor.  I was too stunned to get out my camera in time for that event.  We saw tall black fins--probably six of them in all.  Enough to make you think twice about going for a swim out there.

After a few wet and windy days in Wellington, we were off to the South Island. Took the ferry to Picton, then drove our rented van to Kaikoura.  Koura are the giant crayfish, which are lobster-size.  Here's a picture of Emily eating one on the beach.  Stormy weather thwarted our whale-watching on Saturday, so we consoled ourselves with a visit to a beautiful lavender farm, a sheep shearing, and a visit to a Marlborough winery or two.

On Sunday the weather was supposed to be better, but it was still raining.  We hiked up (!) a misty mountain, then took our dramamine, drank our ginger beer and committed ourselves to a rough ride in spite of the posted warning:  High swells, high risk for seasickness.  The powerful catamaran pushed through the waves.  It was a rocking ride.  We saw many sea birds, including a number of albatross and the western petrel.  Now and then we would stop, and the captain would put down a scope to listen for a whale.  Fortunately, there were also educational videos about the sea life and whales in particular, which distracted us from the sights and sounds of those who had apparently not heeded the memo and did not take their motion sickness meds.  We learned about the kinds of whales we might see and about their movements.  Apparently, whales are drawn to the coast around Kaikoura because of a deep sea trench, like a canyon, where all of the things they like to eat, including giant squid, hang out.  We learned about how their bodies are compressed in deep water so that they must return to the surface to re-oxygenate and digest their food.  We learned about theories as to how the oil in the sperm whale's head may amplify its echo-location.  Then finally, we saw him:  the sperm whale Tiaki, in the distance and sped that way.  The guide said the whales are recognizable by their tail flukes.  Tiaki is middle-aged, around 40, so he and the whale-watchers are pretty well acquainted.  Captain Rick and the guides still seemed enthusiastic though, and for us, it was thrilling.  We headed back past the seal colony and returned to Kaikoura a little before dark.

Then it was back to Picton for the night, with an early morning sail on the Aratere.  It was probably the first time our kids had seen the sun in Wellington.  It's sparkly and stunning.  The red pohutakawa blossoms are out in force.  Doesn't seem much like Christmas at all.  It seems like a long time since we've been at home.  We miss family and friends and the usual Christmas customs.  Anna and I went down to the waterfront celebration near the big Christmas tree in hopes of singing some carols in the rain.  They were singing about Snoopy and the Red Baron.  Grown men were dressed as sheep.  Doughnuts and snow cones on offer.  As a result, I have had to download the King James version of the Bible onto my Kindle so that we can read the Christmas story.  Still glad Jesus was born and happy to have family near.  Merry Christmas everyone!

Journey on the TranzAlpine

How many pictures of a mountain do you really need?  Apparently, the answer is always "one more."  At least this is what we found on our trip across the South Island on the TranzAlpine Railway.  Our friends Tom and Janine had come to visit, and the train trip was Tom's one request.  Earlier in the week, we had visited some of our Wellington haunts.  The weather was beastly:  cold, rainy, and windy.  So we were hoping things might go better on the South Island, sometimes called "the mainland" by the locals.

I'm not sure Tom realized what the journey would entail.  Early Thursday morning we headed out to the ferry and boarded the Kaitaki for the Interislander morning sail.  Though it's only eight miles to the South Island from Wellington as the crow flies, it takes 3 hours to make the journey, due to channels and currents and rough seas.  The first hour spent getting out of Wellington harbor was pretty rough; even the offer of movies and shopping couldn't quite dispel the rolling of the floor.  Surprisingly, the second hour on the open sea was smoother, and the trip into the harbor at Picton, past the salmon farm, was lovely, all green hills and calm waters.  Then we were in the car again.  We passed through hills and hills covered with grapevines and had lunch at the Brancott winery.  About midway into the 4 1/2 hour journey towards Christchurch, through numerous hairpin curves, we came to the town of Kaikoura (where we plan to return with the kids for whale-watching). The name of the town refers to koura, which are the giant crayfish that look like lobsters and are a freshwater delicacy.  Near there, we had heard, was a path into the woods where we might see a waterfall with the possible bonus of seal pups.  Sure enough, in a beautiful spot,  mother seals were lounging on the rocks where they had been fishing.  About ten minutes into the woods on the other side of the highway we walked under a railway bridge, and there it was:  the waterfall with several seal pups, some frolicking in the water, some just hanging out on the bank.  They didn't seem to mind photos, but it was pretty dark in there, so the pictures are hard to see.  Then it was on to Christchurch.

Christchurch is not quite itself these days, of course.  Two earthquakes in one year have taken a toll, and the city center is still closed.  Construction fences are everywhere; the cathedral is gone; and the red zone is still a couple of miles in the center of the city.  There are still aftershocks.  139 people died, and though the scale is not that of 9/11, people are still traumatized.  It was an unknown that Christchurch was even on a fault.  After driving around a little and indulging in some Indian food, we headed back to the motel to prepare for an early start.

The southern alps are magnificent.  Maybe I should just let a few of the pictures speak.  Tall mountains, some with snow on top, turquoise river, pink, purple and yellow lupines, a lake.  At Arthur's Pass, we took pictures of a cheeky green kea who came to visit.  In addition, we shared our railroad car with what appeared to be a family reunion worthy of Bollywood (lots of laughter, dancing and singing) and a philosophical couple, consisting of a Welsh man and his South African wife, who were eager to exchange views on lifestyle and culture with good humor.  It was an enjoyable all-day journey from Christchurch to Greymouth and back.  Greymouth has had its own recent tragedy too.  Shortly after we arrived in New Zealand there was an explosion at the Pike River mine, which took the lives of 29 miners.  We only had an hour in Greymouth before the return to Christchurch began, but we did our best to stimulate the local economy in the gift shops there :-).

The next morning we visited the Christchurch Botanic Garden, outstanding for its roses and huge, beautiful trees.  We also visited the Canterbury Museum, where we particularly enjoyed the Antarctica exhibit and mind-boggling costumes from the World of Wearable Art.  Then it was back in the car and back to Picton, where we visited Eco-world, an aquarium and rehab center for orphaned or injured little blue penguins.  We saw two little female penguins from situations where parents had two eggs, then rejected the smaller baby.  They were adorable, swimming and diving and calling.  One was very "stroppy" and kept evading the net when it was time to be returned for her nap.  They were about two weeks old and will be returned to the wild at eight weeks.  We weren't allowed to take pictures for fear of stressing the fish (no eyelids).

A long ferry ride and a short sleep followed.  John took Tom and Janine to the airport at 5 a.m.  Anna and Claire are due to arrive tonight at midnight, then Emily and Paul on Tuesday.  It's a rich time with these visits from home.  We are loving sharing our life here with family and friends who are coming to visit.  And with you too.

Low-key Christmas prep

This is not a great picture, I know, but it gives you a little flavor of the Christmas preparations around here.  It's a big wire Christmas tree that lights up in various colors and swirly patterns at night.  At the bottom you can see the red letter boxes (like the old British ones) where little kids are lining up for a direct conversations with Santa, who must be somewhere remote, like at the North Pole or in the nearby Chaffer's Dock apt. lobby, eating one of Martin Bosley's famous bacon butties, served up at the Sunday morning market.  (They smell great, but we are stuck on the crepes, made by a guy with an authentic-sounding French accent.)  Anyway, parents are lounging around on these yellow, green and blue beanbag chairs while the kids are waiting to transmit their wish lists to the jolly old elf.  I could have used a beanbag back in the day when we were waiting on the girls, at least one of whom had such severe Santaclaustrophobia that she would never talk to him, even after all of that standing in line.

Christmas seems a little lower key around here in general, with tales of barbecues and the beach rather than baking turkeys and huddling around the fire.  I have a little bit of ambivalence about this.  I kind of like not having Christmas quite so "in your face" all the time.  But I am going to miss some things, I can tell:  like the meeting's Simple Christmas craft-making day, caroling, and the Christmas Eve night candlelight service especially.  I hear there will be some carol-singing on the waterfront though.

It's been quiet.  John's colleagues had their Christmas "do" at a restaurant Friday night, complete with Christmas crackers.  We all had paper crowns and little gifts from inside.  By far the favorite were the little men that looked kind of like Spiderman which stick to windows (or beer pitchers) then sort of climb down.

  On Sat. we bought a tiny Christmas tree and cooked burgers with a couple who will be leaving to go home to Virginia in January.  While we were sitting outside, we experienced a quite perceptible earthquake (5.7) which was felt from Picton (north tip of the South Island) and which broke some windows on the waterfront here.  It felt kind of like being on a train that was starting, then stopping.  The earth just kind of rolled.  It lasted about 20 seconds, just long enough to think, "What the...?"  Maybe the locals know what it is right away.  Anyway, that's quite enough for firsthand experience for me if anyone's listening to my druthers.

Tom and Janine are due in tonight at midnight.  After four (!) days of sun last week, it's supposed to rain pretty much the whole time they're here.  The fridge isn't working.  Some kind of Murphy's law thing....

Days of ducks and roses

It's been kind of quiet the last ten days, so here's one more pic of Patti and the ducklings at Taupo.  After Patti left, we had to get ourselves together--cleaning house and doing a little cooking.  Most Kiwis wouldn't know it was Thanksgiving, but we would.

  Last weekend we helped a new friend from meeting with a gardening project and renewed connections with meeting folk and a few other friends.  This week's highlights included meeting with my writer friends and visiting Roxy Theatre in Miramar, home of Sir Peter Jackson's studio and the Weta workshop,  Sir Peter's been kind of busy this week.  In addition to working on filming the Hobbit,  he has bought the Bats Theatre downtown, saving those playmakers from financial ruin.  The Roxy is an old movie theatre he had also bought in Miramar.  He kept the original facade but re-did the inside art deco, with a beautiful wooden bar and lovely lighting.  The large rocking chair seats are leather; it smells good in there as a result.  The only slightly odd touch is a statue of Gollum in the lobby, just like the one at Weta.  Here's a picture of John with that one.

We were missing family and friends a lot this week, so it was helpful to make our gratitude list, which included many of you.  We invited our neighbor, Vanaja, a pathologist who ethnically Malaysian and who is getting ready to move back to Australia, and our friend Mary, who is a Kiwi but has spent the last 45 years in the States, over for our approximation of the Thanksgiving feast:  no turkey, but chicken, John's curried sweet potatoes, some sort-of-similar-to-the-usual stuffing, broccoli, cranberry apple stuff (frozen cranberries located at Wellington's parallel to Whole Foods, Moore-Wilson), and pumpkin pie, which required buying and roasting a whole pumpkin from the market.

Mary had lent me a book about the painter, Rita Angus, which I had read as a part of my quest to know more about Kiwi artists and writers.  If any of you are interested, I also recommend stories by Maori author Whiti Ihimaera, especially, "A Game of Cards," as well as the work of Katherine Mansfield.  Don't think she would have been an easy person to be friends with, but she certainly had a gift for description.  I would also recommend the movies "Boy," about a boy living on a Maori marae and "The Orator," NZ's foreign language entry (in Samoan) about a dwarf descendant of a Samoan chief.

Today is election day in NZ, and the newspapers and TV have been abuzz with the contest.  Their system is a bit different from ours, which they call "first past the post."  They currently have something called MMP, which seems a lot more complex, by which they try to represent a spectrum of interests.  Whether or not to keep it is one of the matters being decided too.  As I understand it (imperfectly), people can vote for the system, for a candidate in each race, and for a party.  There are seven parties I know of:  National (currently in power--rather mainstream conservative), Labour, NZ First, the Maori party, the Mana party, the Greens, and ACT.  If a party gets over 5% of the vote, they will have seats in Parliament, and coalitions will be formed.  Elections are held every three years (which people complain is a short cycle), but their campaign season is limited to five weeks before the election (enviable).

Since we are not voting, we've just been enjoying the sun.  So today we visited the rose garden, which was all in bloom.   Tonight we plan to see a British movie, and tomorrow we will have one more Thanksgiving celebration with the other American docs out in Paraparaumu.  Then it will be time to get ready for our next set of company.  Tom and Janine are coming December 4.  We are really looking forward to it!

Honey and Hangi: Waitomo and Rotorua

Wow.  It's been a busy two weeks.  Our friend, Patti Hughes, has been visiting from the U.S., and we have had a grand time showing her all of our haunts and introducing her to our friends here in NZ.  Since her arrival, she has eaten whitebait fritters, has learned how to order a flat white (coffee) and has ordered Malaysian food at the right degree of heat from Monsoon Poon.  We have walked through the Botanic Gardens and past the Beehive (Parliament) in nearly gale force winds and spent days in which, as the weather forecast had predicted, "rain, sun, and wind have all thrown their hats into the ring."  We've visited the Weta Cave, the Quaker meeting and markets, nature preserves, and museums and have shopped in all kinds of weather.  One of the highlights was a seal coast safari where we visited the wind turbines atop the ridge, then rode in a four-wheel drive down a winding path through a game farm where two ostriches protected an egg,  then finally down to a wild part of the coast, complete with a leaning lighthouse and a few seals hanging out, while most of their compadres were on the South Island for breeding season.  But probably the most exciting part of our time with Patti was our trip to Rotorua and the Waitomo Glow-worm Caves.

It was a long drive, but the scenery was spectacular.  Patti said the green hills reminded her of wrinkly Shar-peis, with a snow-capped volcano in the background.   We saw a prawn farm and watched blue-green water cascading down Huka Falls, and bought various honey-related products at the Honey Hive. We stopped on the way to take pictures of Lake Taupo, and were greeted by a peeping flock of seven black-striped ducklings, who followed us everywhere, finally distracting them to keep them from stowing away in our car.  Maybe they wanted to visit Rotorua.

Rotorua is home to a couple of Maori tribes and is a hotbed (literally) of geothermal activity.  It is famous for hot springs and geysers.  Steam rises from the lake, and hot pools bubble.  There is a pervasive scent of sulfur.  After dinner at a Middle Eastern restaurant called Abracadabra and a walk through the bubbling landscape, we went to bed, then headed out the next morning for the Waitomo Glow-worm Caves (wai=water, tomo=hole), arriving in time for our 10 o'clock tour of the Ruakuri Cave, named after a Maori chief's encounter with two dogs there.  We spiraled down and marveled at the beautiful rock formations, listening to the drip of water.  Others were tubing in the freezing black water below, and we occasionally got a chance to wave down at them or at least at their head lamps shining in the dark.  No doubt about it though, the glow-worms on the walls and ceiling of the innermost dark passages were the most spectacular part. Our guide explained that they are really larvae who suspend themselves by something like spider web and glow to attract food.  But, even so, the sight of them as we walked through Ruakuri, then glided silently through Waitomo in a boat, was like a starry sky.  Amazing.  Unfortunately, my picture-taking skills do not extend to recording glow-worms, so those of you who want to see them will have to check with Patti.

The next day we decided to check out the Thermal Village Tour, where representatives of two tribes of Maori still live and work.  Our guide, one in a long tradition of women who are charged with passing on the history of the people, walked us past bubbling pools,  answered questions about the community's meetinghouse and history, then waited patiently as we took pictures of erupting geysers before ushering us to a cultural performance with singing, dancing, and the teaching of a few Maori words.  Only after we returned to the Visitor Center did we begin to appreciate the honor and tradition of these women, who have guided such illustrious visitors as Eleanor Roosevelt and Queen Elizabeth.  Two tribes merged to live in Waka Village after a disastrous volcanic eruption in 1886 destroyed one of the communities, along with the legendary Pink and White Terraces which once adorned the mountainside near Rotorua, now submerged in  water below.  The terraces were made of silica and shone pink and white in the light.  They held pools of blue mountain water, where people, both Maori and pakeha, came to bathe in healing waters.

In keeping with that theme, we decided to visit the Rotorua Museum and Government Gardens, where many pakeha came in earlier times to "take the cure" offered by hot springs.  Some of the museum exhibits featured the baths and rugby (of course), but the most interesting were those about how the Maori came to NZ, traveling by canoes with sails woven of reeds, from somewhere called Hawai'ki.  All Pacific Islanders trace their roots to this story.  No one knows the literal location of Hawai'ki.  Sometimes it sounds as if it's a mythical place, since it is also where souls return after death.

In addition to this exhibit, there were beautiful paintings by a painter named Charles Blomfield, who was the most famous painter of the pink and white terraces on the mountainsides.  There was a film, with surprising special effects-- loud noise, seats shaking as if one might actually be experiencing the destruction wreaked by the volcanic eruption which sent the terraces tumbling into the sea and caused many deaths, destroying the home of the Maori who lived there.

That evening we had another cultural experience, called People of the Land, Beauty of the Night.  We stood on the banks of a stream, while Maori warriors came paddling down in their waka.  Then we enjoyed the hangi, a feast of foods cooked by the geothermal pits in the ground--delicious roasted meats, potatoes and sweet potatoes, with NZ wine and a few other dishes added in (like pavlova).  We were seated in language groups, so we chatted with other Americans and a lone Frenchman at our table and were later led
 in song by a Dane.  After dinner, we went on a night walk through the Rainbow Springs nature preserve, where they incubate and protect hatching kiwi.  In addition to the kiwi, there were a number of other birds, along with tuatara and a few fish.

The next morning, it was back to Wellington.  But first, we made one more stop to see the redwoods near Rotorua.  We returned, tired but happy.

Computers, Quakers, and Rhododendrons

Apologies to all of you blog-followers wondering about the whereabouts of your NZ blogpost of the week.  We had a computer meltdown and lost all of our files and are just now back up and running.

That did not stop us from pursuing our travels last weekend though, and an amazing weekend it was.  We traveled first to Whanganui, where we stayed at the Quaker settlement and then to the Taranaki Garden Festival in New Plymouth, a couple more hours away.

Whanganui (the "wh" sound pronounced as an "f" by the Maori) or Wanganui (just like it looks) is a lovely river town on the west coast,  and is also the name of the river which runs through it.  It was a site of violent clashes between the Maori and pakeha in earlier times. Now it has a charming downtown bordering the river, with art deco touches and an art-y feel.  There are riverboat cruises, an extremely interesting and evocative small museum and the Sarjeant Art Gallery.  We visited the museum and admired its collection of Maori wakas (large elaborately carved canoes), beautiful greenstone and bone ornaments, musical instruments and artifacts of Maori life from earlier times.  Also, an impressive array of taxidermy birds, animals and mounted insects (including many colorful butterflies) and lovingly displayed items from life in earlier times.  Downtown, we sampled Thai and Indian food, watched glassblowers at work, and considered (but resisted) buying beautiful glass items we might break in transit.

We experienced warm and wonderful hospitality at the Quaker  settlement.  Originally the site of a Quaker boarding school, the 20-acre settlement is now a community owned by NZ Yearly Meeting.  Settlers lease their homes and participate in the community in various ways. The settlers have a weekly business meeting where they deal with the logistics of living together Quaker-style and have a weekly shared meal, which they re-scheduled so that we could join in.  They raise gardens, sheep, chickens, bunnies and ducks.  There is a beautiful free-standing quiet room in the round with a central skylight where the light pours in where there is meeting for worship every morning.  They also host groups and seminars, most related to Quaker social concerns.  We felt very fortunate to spend time with Michael and Merilyn Payne.  Michael is the architect who designed the settlement in its current incarnation.  They showed us around, gave us tea, lent us books, encouraged us to harvest lemons and grapefruit from their trees, and offered stimulating conversation.  They are dedicated to eco-sound living and have been lifelong activists in the Quaker world.  Current projects include encouraging purchase of solar cells Michael has made as carbon offsets for travel and the harvesting of a grove of mature pine trees he is making into extremely beautiful simple coffins which can double as standing bookshelves till they are needed :-).

On Saturday after meeting for worship, we headed to the Taranaki region around New Plymouth for the rhododendron festival and garden tour.  There were 60 or so gardens, and we only had time to visit a few.  This is a picture of Tupare, an English style garden with an arts and crafts style house, where I could have easily spent the day exploring.  Next we went to Pukehara Park, which had many lovely spaces, including waterfalls, numerous ferns and other native plants, and red bridges spanning waterways.  Our next garden was a tiny Japanese one at a little house in the suburbs, where an older Japanese man explained the tea ceremony and showed us a picture of Mt. Fuji, comparing it to the view out the window of the majestic NZ volcano, Mt. Taranaki (or Mt. Egmont among the pakeha).  Next we had tea and cake under the trees at the simple and lovely Hirst Cottage, home of one of NZ's prime ministers in the early 1800's.  The guide there encouraged us to visit Putekei, partway up the mountain in the rainforest.  There the rhododendrons were on full display, gigantic, colorful, and fragrant. I finally had to take the camera away from John.  Rushing back to make it in time for the shared meal at the settlement, we stopped for just a few moments at Chriesi Wald, a very quirky home garden in Patea.  Created by its tiny, elderly resident, Rudi Milesi, it was a series of 12 garden rooms filled with sculpture, strange artifacts, and live birds.

Computer traumas aside, it was a great weekend.

Mt. Bruce

This is a picture of koru, or fern fiddles, one of the Maori symbols for rebirth or new life.  I took this picture after we drove up into the Wairarapa (twisty turn-y mountain roads, like W. Va. pre-turnpike, then hills, sheep--see picture #2) at the Mt. Bruce Wildlife Center where we went on Saturday.  There were numerous rare and protected birds, like the hihi, but probably the most sociable was the kaka, who let us come pretty close to the front of the center to take this picture.

 Also on tap at the wildlife center was (ugh) eel-feeding.  Kids helped with this, and I listened to the lecture about how crucial eels are, when it comes to cleaning rivers and about their amazing life cycle (Their heads become bullet-shaped and their eyes huge when, at age 35-100, they travel long distances through a deep sea-trench to spawn and their offspring, eaten here as whitebait and becoming glass eels, then elvers, come back up into rivers to do their work), but I have to admit, I still thought they were kind of scary and gross.  These were six-feet long and had been biting each other and the large trout who also live in the river.

When we left Mt. Bruce, we drove back through wine country, and stopped in a quaint little town called Martinborough, known for its sauvignon blanc.

The next day was meeting and a movie before the All-Blacks finally succeeded in holding on to beat the French in the Rugby World Cup.  Joy abounds in the land, and there will be a victory parade here in Wellington tomorrow, which will shut down the town for most of the afternoon.  The sunny weather which had been promised for the holiday weekend (this was their Labour Day) never materialized.  Yesterday we drove up the Kapiti coast for a walk along the coastline at Queen Elizabeth Park, where we saw a pair of tuis in a tree.  Later we had brunch at a cafe in Paekakariki,then home in time for me to swim.

Have been spending some time hopeful that we can work out a visit from Paul and Emily.  Also really looking forward to Patti's visit, beginning next Tuesday.  

Musings

This is a picture of some sand art from the Diwali festival on the waterfront on Sunday.  We really didn't partake that much of the festival, unfortunately, because we were hungry and tired and the lines were too long, but we did get to see this sand sculpture which was part of the celebration, so I thought I'd share.

For me, this was not so much a week about seeing new things; it was more about listening and reflecting.  We went to hear two of the concerts of the NZ Symphony Orchestra which were part of their Brahmissimo series (all four Brahms symphonies and some other works on four consecutive nights).  My long-suffering husband also accompanied me to a lecture by a woman Australian process theologian entitled, "Seeking the Sacred in a Multi-faith World."  Nothing too new there, but a good synthesis.  Probably the most memorable quote for me was one from Ravi Shankar in which he intimated that in interfaith conversation we are seeking to create "harmony" by listening for common values and "playing our own instruments" as well as we can.

Actually, the highlight of my week was meeting with two other women who are also trying to write short stories and reading a little of our work to each other.  The mutual encouragement is great;  plus, we reflect about our perspectives on life here and in the U.S.  Partly in response to the lecture, I have been thinking about NZ spirituality.  These new friends kindly let me offer up my theories, without taking offense, and gave some feedback.  Though I have sometimes heard Kiwis say they feel they are a secular society, I do find that they have a deep spirituality in their feeling of connection to the earth:  to the land and the sea.  Though the roots of this among the Maori seem very clear, as with other indigenous peoples, the sense of connection and the need to care for the earth and all of its creatures seems widespread among those of European descent (pakeha) also.  At least more so than in the U.S.

Perhaps that is one reason why people in general seem so distressed in the past week's environmental disaster.  The Rena, a cargo ship carrying hazardous material in addition to its own fuel, struck the Astrolabe reef in the Bay of Plenty and is leaking oil.  Local people are frustrated that assistance from the government seems slow and are taking it upon themselves to begin clean-up of the beaches and are attempting to rescue and clean the birds and seals who are now covered in oil. Sounds pretty familiar, doesn't it?  Sad to think that this kind of disaster seems to be becoming more and more common.

On a lighter note:  the All-Blacks prevailed over their arch-rivals the Wallabies in the semi-finals of the Rugby World Cup.  (Some say rugby is the true religion of NZ.)  So the AB's will play France in the final match next weekend, and there is great joy in the land :-).

I did do a little exploring between showers this week.  Took a long walk and ducked back into Te Papa for a dry respite.  Talked with John about the NZ history exhibit, and we went back to view it this weekend in more depth with special interest in the section devoted to Maori history.  We were able to take off our shoes and go into the Maori meetinghouse that is part of the exhibit, and it was quietly powerful and awe-inspiring.

  Another day I was on my way back from the library and had the camera, so I took this picture of the boatsheds at Oriental Bay.

Got drenched multiple times and caught cold during the week, so we took things a little easy over the weekend.  We did visit the Weta cave, home of Lord of the Rings, in Miramar, just down the road.  Sadly, I had left the camera at home, so I did not get a picture of John with Gollum, but I plan to remedy that in the future, when Tom and Janine visit.  Stopped at Maranui, the surf club in Kilbirnie (where John works) for lunch.  I had a fab sandwich of roast pumpkin, feta and rocket (arugula) with pesto on spelt (yum).  Walked away from town to Karaka Bay Sunday afternoon to enjoy a period of sun and enjoyed ice cream on the waterfront. Was cheered by talking with Anna and Claire about their birthday celebrations and by good emails from a number of you.  Feeling better now and ready for the week ahead.

Rain and sun

It was a rainy week in Wellington till yesterday, which meant I stayed in a lot, baking cookies, playing the guitar, working on my writing assignment and attempting to read the collected stories of Katherine Mansfield (who was born in Wellington and could hardly wait to get to London where she wrote, mostly about life in Wellington, throughout her short and colorful life).  I did try to slip out between major storms to swim, volunteer at the hospital, eat lunch with friend Ronis in Island Bay on a particularly stormy afternoon, and to spend a day with Cynthia, a woman from the meeting, who tried to help me understand how the arms of the coastline relate to parts of town by driving me out along the coast where we stopped for some amazing chowder, then into town to poke around a second-hand shop (I'm missing the New Garden bazaar) and up to a wind farm atop one of the hills.  (If they can make wind power anywhere, it should be here.)  The first picture is a view from atop a hill near a windmill, while this one is from above the rose garden at the Wellington Botanic Garden during the sunny part of the week.

We were invited over for curry on Friday by our neighbor, Vanaja, a pathologist at Wellington Hospital and cooked for guests at our little apt. on Saturday evening.  Since Saturday was rainy, we spent a chunk of the afternoon indoors at the Maori art market in Porirua where we saw beautiful wood-carving, interesting paintings and beautiful jewelry made out of bone, paua, and NZ greenstone.  Here is a picture of John and friends from outside the market.

Sunday was a beautiful sunny day, so, while we had planned to go to a movie, we had to stop by the Botanic Garden for lunch and to take in the tulips pictured here.  The other picture is of the rose garden from above.  The movie was "The Orator" and is the NZ foreign language nominee for an Oscar this year, because it is in Samoan and stars a Samoan dwarf. Beautiful scenery, interesting culture and story.

This weekend was the quarter final for the Rugby World Cup, and downtown Wellington was turned into an expanded fanzone.  Australia beat the Springboks (S. Africa), and the All-Blacks of NZ triumphed over a plucky Argentinian team here in Wellington, while France beat England and Wales beat Ireland in Auckland.  In spite of ourselves, we're getting into it, and watching games live on the Maori TV network.

New foods:  tamarillo (also called tree tomato, but different) and feijoa (tropical fruit originally from S. America but grown here and made into juice, jam, muffins, etc.)

New phrases:  "have a think"= ponder
"good as gold" = enthusiastically yes
""headless chook"= chicken with its head cut off, also used to describe Sarah Palin
"stonky chimney"= unstable after earthquake
"gobsmacked"= shocked and appalled
"gutted"= totally gobsmacked
"Yip" or "yis, yis"= yes
"flash"= fancy

So that's where we are on learning to eat and speak Kiwi.  Still enjoying ourselves for the most part, though I am struggling a little with not being home for Anna and Claire's birthday this week.  Really looking forward to some visits from home.  Keep that email coming y'all.

Ups and Downs

This is a picture of Kapiti Island, a bird sanctuary off the coast.  You have to get a permit to go there by ferry, and in spite of its proximity, bird-watching there is an all-day trip.  We plan to visit with Paul and Ann when they come to NZ at the end of December.  But for now, we are just admiring the island from afar.

  Last week had its ups and downs.

 Ups:  beautiful sunny weather, good emails from a number of you, skyping with Patti and with Tom and Nancy Lassiter, spending time with new friends talking about reading and writing, a jaunt along the Kapiti Coast,  and getting some side trips planned with the help of the i-site staff in Wellington's civic square. ( Plus, everyone was in a good mood because the All-Blacks are winning!)

  Downs:  breaking my tooth by biting enthusiastically into a hunk of chocolate-covered hokey-pokey (toffee) and having to go to the dentist, and spending a day with no internet after it went out just as I was skyping with my good friend, Lynne.  I know that some of you will be disappointed that there are no pictures of me looking like one of the Beverly Hillbillies, but I hid out a bit during that phase and had no intention of recording those moments in pictures.  Tim, a nurse who works with John, hooked me up with his dentist, a woman who was kind and gentle (They take turns working till 9 pm here--how's that for being service-oriented?) and restored my smile.

A social worker I met through one of John's work dinners had revealed that she had recently returned from a creative writing course in Scotland.  We talked some about reading and writing at the dinner, but I was pleasantly surprised when she called to offer to take me up the Kapiti coast to Paraparaumu (just like it looks: para-para-oomoo) to talk about writing.  So we spent a sun-drenched afternoon on her (Maori) friend's veranda, reading a little of our writing to each other and talking about New Zealand and America.

On Friday my Australian friend, who is probably my "best mate" here asked if I wanted to "go for a wander" up the Kapiti coast again with her and her sister-in-law, so we drove on narrow, twisty roads through green hills dotted with sheep and along a beautiful coastline and stopped for coffee in Parakaekariki.  Ronis has an instinct for finding the best coffee places, and this one was charming, with an apt. overhead, a sleeping yellow lab, and a talented barista. We walked out on the black sand and waded a little in the freezing cold water, then stopped in the village to dawdle in a couple of tiny shops where artisans made beautiful things out of pouanamou (NZ greenstone, much harder than jade) and paua shells.  Considered the menus of the local establishments for future reference too.

Probably my big accomplishment of the week was planning a few trips for our much-anticipated time with visitors Nov.-Jan. with the hardy staff of the Wellington i-site.  You go in with your list of what you want to do and roughly when and take a number. They make calls to transportation hubs (ferries, trains, etc.), hotels and attractions.  They know things like when places are closed for maintenance and what is a reasonable rate.  When you're done, you hand them your credit card and they hand you an envelope with all of your trip reservations and details. All of this at no charge.  Pretty awesome.  They are young people with perfect equanimity too.  While Khy was working on my details, I watched with admiration as Nick, in the station next door handled an indignant French family, incensed there was no place in Wellington to park their camper (on a weekend with three rugby games and a Navy exhibition), and an octogenarian in a three-piece wool suit and fedora who began the conversation about making a mistake in reserving his accommodation by saying, "I was in WW2 you know,..." with equal aplomb.  I think Nick may have called almost every B&B in Wellington before finding a one-night stand for this gentleman and giving him his card and saying, "Come back and see me tomorrow.  I'll be working on this."  These people could easily be chaplains!

This weekend we took a short trip to Days Bay  and walked along the beach as a sailboats raced out in the bay, then broke for lunch at a cafe auspiciously called Chocolate Days.  We hosted a couple who came briefly in a position like John's and have now returned to stay and our new friend, Mary (she of last week's pavlova).

Now the rain has returned and is settling in for the week, with winds "freshening" (translation:  wet with wind chill).  Oh well.  I guess it can't be sunny all the time.

Rugby and Art Deco

Words that rarely go together.   But those are the influences that shaped our week.

Friday night found us boarding the waterfront shuttle to join 30,000 others for the U.S. vs. Australia game, which was part of the Rugby World Cup.  Though the U.S. Eagles apparently have a lot to learn about rugby, we thoroughly enjoyed the singing and the cheering and the trash-talking accompanying the event.  A number of Kiwis were cheering for the Americans too, since the Wallabies are their big rivals and their predicted opponents for the final when all is said and done.  The U.S. team did score one "try" for five points, but they were quickly overwhelmed and outclassed.  Almost against our will, we are beginning to pull for the All-Blacks.  It's contagious.

Saturday morning we headed out towards Hawke's Bay on our first trip of any length outside Wellington environs.  After passing through beautiful hills and tiny towns we were on the edge of the Manawatu Gorge in rain and deep green.  Unfortunately, the Gorge was closed due to a "slip" (landslide) and we found ourselves in kind of a "no way to get there from here" situation, befuddling our GPS, which then tried to send us all the way back to Wellington.  A bit frustrated after circling a while, we crossed a narrow one-line bridge to seek respite at the aptly- named Across the Bridge Cafe, which offered hearty vegetable soup and venison burgers and gave us time to re-think.  Found another route and finally made it into Hastings, a lovely town near the gannet colony at Cape Kidnappers and home to our friends, the Dansies, when they lived here.  At the NZ Olive Festival, held at the racetrack, we scored some locally-grown olives and lavender/rosemary soap and pondered what it might be like to take the apprentice-jockey lessons offered there.  The other apprenticeship on offer was one in fruit propagation.  Hawke's Bay is one of the areas known for winemaking but is also considered the Fruit Bowl of NZ, where most of the berries and other fruits are grown in summer.

With our purchases in tow, we drove just a little further to the coastal resort of Napier.  There was a wide beach with volcanic black sand, and we found Napier to be a treasure trove of art deco beauty.  The town was rebuilt  after a significant earthquake in the 1930's. The picture above is the esplanade.  Spring flowers were blooming, and the air smelled sweet.  We took a long walk to see what was open.  It was pre-season in a beach town, a little deserted on a cool Friday night.  We had dinner at a restaurant called Mint, and I had my first taste of paua (abalone).  One of John's co-workers had said it tasted "a little like licorice and a little like dirt," not a bad description.  But  with a few pieces in a dish of greens with bacon, I liked it pretty well.

The next morning we visited the national aquarium.  Highlights included pregnant male seahorses who looked as if they might burst with eggs and a walk through a tunnel of water with fish and sharks all around.  On offer was a chance to swim with sharks, but we declined.  Probably the real highlight for us was a chance to see the kiwi.  They are nocturnal and notoriously shy, and the ones in the exhibit were sleeping when we'd walked through. Things were a little slow first thing in the morning though, and the fellow at reception said he was going to feed them and that we could come with.  He turned down the lights and mixed up their maggot mush (He reports that the maggots taste like peanut butter.), and sure as the world, both male and female emerged and ran from bush to bush in the enclosure with their characteristic funny gait.  One of them allowed him to pet it as we watched.  Wow.

Next we shopped at Opossum World and looked at many beautiful objects we could not afford in the art deco galleries and shops.  The earthquake museum was closed, and we didn't have time to do justice to the honeybee farm or the Silky Oak Chocolate Factory, so we'll have to save that for another trip.  After our experience with the gorge, we decided to return through the Wairapa (Lord of the Rings country--high green hills rising between flat fields full of sheep and cows, with the occasional stand of evergreens) through tiny towns with unlikely names like Dannevirke (Viking signs with Norse greetings) as we watched the temperature drop from 18 to 6 degrees C.  It was pretty calm till we reached the Rimutaka Ridge with hairpin curves reminiscent of W.Va. pre-turnpike.  Yikes.

Finally, we were glad to be back "home" in Wellington, walking up a huge hill to have dinner with our new friend, Mary who has just moved back to Wellington after 45 years in the U.S. (Columbia Univ.)  Her townhouse has a commanding view of Wellington city, and she had made a pavlova (kind of a meringue cake that is the national dessert) with kiwi fruit.  A perfect ending to a weekend in New Zealand.

Around town

This is the our view of the bay at night.  Isn't it pretty?  You can see the lighted trees and the lights going up the steep hills behind them.  In this one, you can even see the moon and the side of John's face.

I still have trouble keeping my mind around what month it is, since the seasons are opposite our usual.  So September brings the beginning of spring here, but it's most like our March with crazy mixtures of winter and spring weather.  On Tuesday, for example, we had sun, then rain, then hail with ice that covered the streets, then thunder and lightning with more rain, then sun again.  Very confusing.

Last week John played basketball in Newtown with the grey panthers, and I went out with a new friend to a lovely waterfront cafe called Maranui, where you could see airplanes land and parasailors and boats and surfers as you drank your "flat white" (latte).  On Friday we stayed at home and watched the All-Blacks (NZ national all-star rugby team) play Japan as a part of the Rugby World Cup.  Yes, the Kiwi basketball team IS called the Tall Blacks.  But really, it's all rugby all the time now with 48 international teams in the tournament.  We are enjoying the cross-cultural hospitality and trash-talking, so we've been trying to learn the difference between a maul and a ruck and have been working on our scrum in preparation for seeing the Aussie Wallabies trash the US Eagles next Friday.  We were so engrossed in Friday's game that we totally missed the small earthquake that a number of more attentive people in Wellington felt.  I looked at a website which indicated there have been 30 earthquakes (mostly imperceptible) in NZ since Sept. 5.

Saturday morning dawned sunny and fine, and we walked downtown to the post office (This is a picture of the soup kitchen across from the post office called  the Compassion Center, and I included it just because I think it is cool.), then over to the Friends Center to get our hands in the dirt by helping weed the vegetable garden.  There were still some potatoes and garlic in there, along with a withered passionfruit, but everything else had to go in preparation for spring planting.  We were rewarded for our trouble by gaining a few mandarin oranges from one of the trees.  We have noticed that there are fig and olive trees along the streets, and have heard that people pick as they go. We have already benefited from snatching a few sprigs of lavender from bushes that grow around town to make Paul's delicious honey-lavender chicken.  Still garden-inspired after the harvest, we rode the bus through Thorndon, where the average Joe can walk in and watch the mechanics of Parliament on a week day, then through the Karori hills to a plant and bird sanctuary called the Otari-Wilton Bush where we wandered around in the primeval forest (ferns, huge trees) and amongst the beds of native plants.

Here I am at the entrance to the bush walk.  Atop the entryway is the face of the Maori god who is  guardian of the forest.

 Coming back to town on the bus, we met a woman who had just moved back to Wellington after 45 years in the U.S., mostly spent working at Columbia in NY. She said she thought Wellington was a better place to grow old and encouraged us to visit "the mainland," by which she meant the South Island.  Since it was still so sunny and warm, we got an ice cream cone and did a little people-watching.  There was a naked baby running up and downthe beach and a Muslim family wearing amazingly beautiful garments, along with the usual assortment of seagulls, skateboarders, runners, and children on scooters.  Kiwis in general seem very fit.

  Later in the evening we walked down to the "fanzone" to see who was watching rugby on the big screen outdoor TV's past Hell's Pizza (their pizza combinations are all named after sins like Anger, Greed, and Lust) and the interactive NZ in film trailer where you can view clips from NZ film history.  Had dinner at a lively Malaysian restaurant called Monsoon Poon (no kidding).

Yesterday there was a carry-in at meeting, and there were interfaith visitors who had come to meeting for worship prepared to make brief presentations on their own faith communities after lunch.  Later in the afternoon, John and I decided to make a concession to rain and homesickness for hearing someone "talk Southern" by going to see "The Help."  Our new friends Michael and Ronis (Australians) came over for dinner, and we talked about movies and our national stories and struggles.  I read the newspaper avidly and find people to be generally pretty insightful and well-informed.  One Irish wag asked if the U.S. would be invading Ireland if they didn't win their rugby game with Ireland (they didn't, but they did beat the Russians).  Sigh. Some ask us questions about U.S. policy I wish we had better answers for.

Jam-packed

Let's see, it's hard to know where to begin to keep you caught up on our adventures.  Early in the week, we had found a pick-up basketball game for John, including some grey panthers of both genders.  All of New Zealand is abuzz with the beginning of the Rugby World Cup. (This picture is from S. Africa Day--one of the cultural festivals associated with the World Cup.) Add our plans to celebrate my birthday and the strong, mixed emotions that come with the tenth anniversary of Sept. 11, and you have a jam-packed, multi-layered week.
Since I am still recovering, I think I will offer this blogspot to guest-blogger, John:
"The weekend had a variety of goodies for us. Friday night was a going-away for one of the nurses, Tim, a sad occasion for me as he has been my principal guide to the city and region. We went to a cafe where I had slow-cooked pork belly atop mashed potatoes, yum. Saturday was the local time zone Sept. 10 so we celebrated the blessed day (Judy’s birthday) with a pancake breakfast, then headed downtown for Rugby World Cup events including a South Africa carnival with various food tents (we didn't) and live Soweto-style music (we did). After an hour of juju beats and booty shaking we went into the City Gallery and saw the second half of Oceania, this was a fine arts display, mainly from 1980-present but with a few wooden goddesses and other outstanding native artifacts from before 1900 also. One small striking goddess (fertility, I expect) from Tonga with an inscription indicating the chief had hung the goddess in 1737 following the tribe's conversion to Christianity.  Some of the modern art dealt with nuclear testing in the Pacific islands--Bikini atoll, etc.--including a long percussion piece (3,2,1) on video by a trio (From Scratch) done in 1986, eerie. Awareness risen, we moved on to the Downstage Theater for a performance of "On the upside-down of the world", a one-woman play based on the memoir ("Our Maoris") of Mary Ann Martin, wife of the first chief justice in New Zealand, and her years in NZ, changing from a NZ-naive newlywed into a disillusioned middle-aged woman forced to return to England after her husband was relieved of his post after advocating for Maori rights (esp. land rights). Remarkable performance, 90 minutes of acting. Exhausted, we crawled home and revived just enough to eat cauliflower-cheese pasta. Sunday we were out early so Judy could join the 9:30 pre-meeting singing group and I could go down and get vegetables at the market. After meeting we has a nice tomato soup with pesto at Strawberry Fare, followed by a concert by the Wellington Vector Orchestra, equivalent of the GBO Symphony, at a very downtown nice venue, the Michael Fowler Hall. The concert started with a rushed and uninspired Beethoven 5th, but improved with the Mozart Piano Cto #24, mainly because the soloist (Deidre Irons--chair of piano at Victoria Univ.)--took control. Wonderful. The final and keynote piece was John Adams 9/11 piece "On the Transmigration of Souls" (composed 2002) for orchestra, separate adult and children choirs, and tape. Wow. The piece starts out with a child's voice reciting names of 9/11 victims, and the voice is on/off, adult/child, at intervals throughout the 20 min. piece. "Harrowing" said Judy, and I agree.  (Judy:  We had thought Sept. 11 would be a hard day to be in a different country and were thrilled when the hospital volunteer office offered tickets to this concert.  It was very moving, although as we heard the names of the American dead from 9/11, I also kept wondering how long it would have taken to read the names of Iraqi, Afghan, American and other dead who have died in the wake of this terrible event.  I guess we would have been there for days if someone had tried to read them all.)

We went home after a trip through the gathering rugby throngs, highlighted by the Wales fans, one with an outstanding dragon hat, and had a brief rest before going to dinner with Michael and Ronis, the Aussie couple who are the hosts of the Quaker B&B next to the meeting house. We swapped focused life stories and had a nice meal before coming home for lights out.

The spring has officially begun (Sept 1) which means it's been warmer but also wetter and much windier. Welcome to NZ!'

P.S.  (Judy here).  Thanks to many of you for the very fine birthday greetings.  I talked to all of the girls and to Paul, who was Skyping from his observation post at the desert station of the UT telescope.  Got some lovely flowers.  Also a hat and gloves made of the merino/possum mix favored for knit things here.  I know what you're thinking, but their possums are not exactly like ours--they have long, soft fluffy brown fur and faces kind of like lemurs.  Our friend Ronis came thru with a banana birthday cake complete with candles, so I go into a new year feeling well-feted and grateful.

Seeing the sights

I may have more pictures than text this week.  The first is in honor of the World of Wearable Art festival (known affectionately as WOW).  We could not afford tickets to any of the shows, but like all of Wellington, we marveled at the pictures in the news.  The winner this year was made all of leather and looked like a horse; there was also a person dressed up as a length of spine with many vertebrae, and a fabulous dragonfish of layers and layers of Chinese silk.  To celebrate the festival, many mannequins in windows were elaborately dressed.  This statue of a naked swimmer jumping into the harbor was even fitted with a crocheted swimsuit, beanie and goggles.

This weekend we drove out to the Hutt Valley, where some of the LOTR (Lord of the Rings) scenes took place.  We had been told not to expect too much, but we thought parts of it were pretty lovely and enjoyed a wonderful Italian restaurant right off Petone wharf.  Also in Petone, we visited a funky little contemporary art museum called the Dowse which had, among other things, crocheted jellyfish and this display of wind chimes which made interesting music in the ever-present wind and looked beautiful against the blue, blue sky.  Visited the Settlers Museum, commemorating mostly tragic encounters between white European settlers and the Maori and walked out on the wharf for a view of Soames Island to soothe ourselves afterward.

Sunday we went to the upscale market at Chaffers Dock for a crepe before meeting (lemon/almond for me and ham, cheese, basil for John).  Later we went to an exhibit at Te Papa and ran into the Australian couple we are getting to know as we were eating ice cream on the waterfront, which is one of the things we do best.

Meeting a couple of women friends for coffee is on my agenda this week.  We plan to go to a play next weekend and have tickets to watch the USA vs. Australia in the Rugby World Cup (John bought tickets before we knew the US had recently lost to England 87-8--ouch!) in coming days.   I keep wishing for some of you to visit and go exploring with me.  We are having a good time, but it would be more fun if you were here too.