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.