New Zealand Job Exchange

2007-06-25T16:05:00.000-07:00

This is my last post to the New Zealand BLOG. I might go to New Plymouth and Kapiti Island if the fates allow but that will likely be after my access to uploading to the BLOG is gone. So after July 2nd please contact me back in Canada at:

kathy.lea@lethbridgecollege.ab.ca

Thanks for your interest in my NZ BLOG. It has been great sharing my adventures with you! Come to paradise, NZ, and see all it has to offer for yourself...don't take my word for it.

2007-06-25T16:04:00.000-07:00

Palmerston North City Library

2007-06-25T16:03:00.000-07:00

Palmerston North City Library

2007-06-25T16:00:00.000-07:00

Palmerston North City Library

2007-06-25T15:58:00.000-07:00

Palmerston North City Library

2007-06-25T15:57:00.000-07:00

Palmerston North City Library

2007-06-25T15:53:00.000-07:00

Wanganui Orchid Show - Oncidium and Zytopetalum - Lovely Scented orchids - In the Zygopetalum family the best smellers are

'Titanic', 'Artur Elle', and 'River Murray'. The last two I can attest to their fantastic smell. The flowers are larger on this variety of good smelling orchids.

The oncidium family have these great smellers: 'Sweet Fragrance', 'Fragrance Fantasy', and 'Lanceanum'. The smell with the oncidium was the best but the flowers were small...more like a spray of flowers. This is what you have to do to get blooming orchids: have a room with a drop in temperature daily, sit the pot on a bed of pebbles that have water around them but the pot must not be in touch with the water, for the oncidiums have a small fan blowing on them, give them lots of early morning and late afternoon sun but no direct sunlight, mist them every day, follow a strict feeding and starving regime, and support the flowers if you are lucky enough to progress to that stage with a proper orchid stake and clips.

2007-06-19T22:47:00.000-07:00

Foxton Beach - lovely sand dunes, wonderful sea shells and lovely peace and tranquility

2007-06-19T22:46:00.000-07:00

Kapiti Island from a distance at Foxton Beach.

There is a daily charter ferry service to Kapiti Island from Paraparaumu beach.Kapiti Island Nature Reserve is just five kilometres from the mainland with unique flora and fauna. En route to Kapiti Island you pass through the Kapiti Marine Reserve and if lucky you may see whales, dolphins and rare birds [gannets, penguins, terns and shearwaters].

2007-06-19T22:42:00.000-07:00

Foxton - deMolen working 17th century replica windmill for milling a variety of products.
Images from a cafe in Foxton with a great garden and situated in a renovated but old house. I liked the Burmese cat called Tai Chi.

2007-06-19T22:40:00.000-07:00

Wanganui River - Waimarie Steamboat - River Sites - Old Houses along the river bank

2007-06-19T22:29:00.000-07:00

Wanganui River - Waimarie Steamboat

2007-06-13T22:14:00.000-07:00

Tea party - Final images - Food, Maori Art, Hillside Gardening

2007-06-13T22:13:00.000-07:00

Wanganui East - Hillside Garden Tour

2007-06-13T22:11:00.000-07:00

Wanganui East - Tea Party-- Maori Art - view from Hillside Garden

2007-06-12T22:53:00.000-07:00

Taupo - Huka Falls

2007-06-12T22:51:00.000-07:00

Taupo - Craters of the Moon, Huka Falls

2007-06-12T22:49:00.000-07:00

Paihia - dinner Cruise
Taupo - Thai meal
Craters of the Moon, Taupo

2007-06-12T22:48:00.000-07:00

2007-06-12T22:47:00.000-07:00

Paihia - Hole in the Wall, Dinner Cruise to Falls

2007-06-12T22:37:00.000-07:00

Paihia Harbour

2007-06-12T22:36:00.000-07:00

Russell, NZ

2007-06-12T22:35:00.000-07:00

Russell, NZ

2007-06-12T22:33:00.000-07:00

Paihia - Beach - Ferry to Russell

2007-06-12T22:32:00.000-07:00

Paihia - Treaty Grounds and beach

2007-06-12T22:30:00.000-07:00

Paihia - Waitangi Treaty Grounds - Busby House

2007-06-12T22:29:00.000-07:00

Paihia - Waitangi - Sacred Maori Meeting House

2007-06-12T22:27:00.000-07:00

Paihia - Waitangi Treaty Grounds

2007-05-31T21:12:00.000-07:00

Wanganui - UCOL Library - some more shots of the work place. We actually do get work done in between tea breaks.

2007-05-31T21:09:00.000-07:00

Wanganui - UCOL Library workplace - one of the employees had a birthday and she shouted for tea that day and what a tea it was. Sorry if I make you hungry with the photos. Some little people came by to see what their gran was up to.

2007-05-29T22:46:00.000-07:00

Napier - More of the inside of the ASB bank illustrating Maori design and other Art Deco buildings that caught my eye along with the leaded glass above store fronts and the ever exotic palm trees with old light fixtures.

2007-05-29T22:45:00.000-07:00

Napier - The Sound Shell was the scene of big bands in the 1940s, roller skating derbies in the 1950's and now for public meetings or events. It is really beautiful right on the beach with huge Norfolk Pines. The Norfolk Pines were all raised up 2 metres after the earthquake and looked like they would die but survived miraculously. The ASB bank is interesting because it includes Maori design outside and inside.

2007-05-29T22:44:00.000-07:00

Napier - Louis Hay was the architect of the Art Deco buildings I liked the best in Napier. His building is the brick one. The Art Deco buildings are characterized by zig zag designs taken from the skyscrappers in NY that were forced by legislation to be stepped back as they got taller so sunlight could penetrate to the streets below. The buildings all had features that emphasized streamlining - sleek metal, speed lines, lots of predominant upward design themes, and the loss of all the heavy Victorian and Edwardian heavy balustrades.

2007-05-29T22:43:00.000-07:00

The flower display is actually from the Library at Wanganui UCOL. One of the employees there is so talented artistically. She can just go outside the building and find lovely materials in the plantings. Getting back to Napier because so much of it got destroyed in the earthquake of 1931 [there was also a fire immediately following the earthquake that claimed 162 people] their city was kind of frozen in time and it is the Art Deco capital of the world. Bertie is a Councilman for Napier and will take you on your private tour of the region in one of the old cars from 1931.

2007-05-29T22:42:00.000-07:00

Napier - was established by a Brit who named all the streets after poets, playwrights and authors. The huge earthquake in Napier in 1931 which went on for 3 minutes at nearly 8 on the Richter scale [complete with the ground actually rolling] helped the city because it got rid of a huge lagoon and created new square miles for housing developments. Turns out that Australia, NZ and India are on one tectonic plate, and the Pacific is on another and that day the Pacific plate got underneath the NZ plate and lifted it 2 metres.

2007-05-29T22:41:00.000-07:00

Whanganui and Napier - the first four images are in Wanganui. Two are from the fashion design show of finished garments. The flower is a double camellia that honest to gosh just was lying on the ground on the public side of a neighbour's bush so I brought it to work. It was almost as big as a dinner plate so no wonder it fell off. There is a sample of the fantastic student display from Printmaking beside the first of the Art Deco buildings in Napier.

2007-05-29T22:29:00.000-07:00

Tranz Alpine - final shots. The mountains are getting lower and the sun is definitely setting as we leave the Southern Alps behind.

2007-05-29T22:28:00.000-07:00

Tranz Alpine Train - the sun was already setting but the colours looked saturated with browns and greens so I kept on snapping away. Don't you just want to get out and explore where the river goes when it trails off into the distance? or find out what is behind that mountain over there?

2007-05-29T22:14:00.000-07:00

Tranz Alpine - These are the Southern Alps whizzing by. A funny thing happened. We were going through lots of tunnels and I was on the open photographer's car and I loved the tunnels because they were warm. What I didn't realize was that after each one my face was covered in a progressively thicker layer of soot which I was totally oblivious to. Later when I had been in airport shuttles, at the YHA and interacting with lots of people I realized I must have been quite a sight. People must have wondered if I was ill or just an old fashioned coal miner.

2007-05-22T22:49:00.000-07:00

Arthur's Pass - learned later in the Christchurch Museum that there was a tremendous earthquake here in 1987 that was almost 8 on the Richter scale. Glad nothing like that occured on our trip through.

2007-05-22T22:47:00.000-07:00

Southern Alps from the Trans Alpine - I took these shots from a special open car. It was quite breezy and you had to brace yourself to take the photos but not get knocked over by the vibration of the train.

2007-05-22T22:44:00.000-07:00

Greymouth - Trans Alpine Train

2007-05-15T22:55:00.000-07:00

Greymouth - This is where I caught the Trans Alpine back from the west coast through the Southern Alps to Christchurch. It was my birthday so I picked out some small pieces of jade and had a Maori artist make holes so the jade pieces would become rustic earrings.

2007-05-15T22:54:00.000-07:00

Pancake Rocks, Palm Trees Along Coast - Again the action of the ocean on the limestone over time was to carve the rock into a series of pancakes. I really liked that the hills and cliffs were covered with palm trees. The bird hangs around tourists hoping for a handout. I don't know what kind of bird it is but it was big like a turkey.

The mail box was an antique in Greymouth and the renter strangely enough came out of the house when I was taking the picture. Didn't he help me the next day find a hike I wanted to go on when I went into a food store to buy some picnic items and who should help me but the man with antique letterbox from the day before!

2007-05-15T22:52:00.000-07:00

Punakaiki Blowholes - the action of the ocean over eons of time has created holes in the rock into which at frequent intervals sea water in the waves shoots up like a rock and blows out. Everything is moist and fluid. I found the tableau of colours and textures really beautiful. It was also very loud with the roar of the surf and the blowholes but calming. Whatever your problems they are small in the big picture of things.

2007-05-15T22:41:00.000-07:00

Irimahuwhero Viewpoint - on a clear day you can see the Southern Alps from here. I love that the sea is a different colour depending on your angle of view. I also find the NZ flax plants really interesting and massive. Doesn't the coast look green and moist and misty? It would be difficult to have a picnic on the beach however because there is no easy access with the cliffs and rocky outcroppings.

2007-05-15T22:40:00.000-07:00

Tauranga Bay - Cape of Foul Winds

Seals have always felt safe here because it is rocky and difficult for boats to come close. Its also rich in sea life. Captain Cook came here in March of 1770. This is all part of Kahurangi National Park.

2007-05-15T22:39:00.000-07:00

Nelson - Centre of New Zealand - nice plaque and nicer views. Found some lovely oranges that had fallen on the public side of the fence right around tea time which was a nice surprise. Really enchanted by Queen's Park in Nelson. It was designed around 1900 and was built to delight. It has a Victorian feel and made to encourage strolling and meeting people and slowing down.

2007-05-15T22:38:00.000-07:00

Picton and Nelson - the palm trees are in Picton and the other three shots are taken from the magnetic centre of NZ in Nelson. You have to hike up a hill which provides panorama views.

2007-05-15T22:29:00.000-07:00

Picton, NZ - this is where our Magic Bus let off passengers who needed to take the ferry back to the North Island. Lots of seals on the shoreline. Picton gave me a feeling of energy and vitality and it seemed beautiful and exotic.

2007-05-15T22:28:00.000-07:00

Kaikoura - the woman who spoke to us and told us when the captain was going to fire up the engine so we had better sit down, also told us when the whale was going to go down to the bottom and give us a photo op to capture the dorsal fin. She was so good we got to trust her and when she said take the picture now we did. If the whale looks big and close he was. These were all male whales. The females are 33% smaller and can't take the cold NZ water. They live around Sri Lanka.

2007-05-15T22:26:00.000-07:00

Kaikoura - Whale watching - it looks calm but we were really thrown around by the waves. I deliberately did not eat lunch and I was glad. We saw three sperm whales - Little Nick, Tiaki, and Tutu. This is a Maori enterprise to take tourists out and look for whales and it was a combination of high tech and just watching over the water for the water spouts errupting from the whale's blow hole. The people doing the guiding really cared for the whales and told us what to do to fight the Japanese harvesting of whales for so called scientific purposes.

2007-05-15T22:06:00.000-07:00

Doubtful - Final Parting Shots --- goodbye perfection. I left it beautiful for everyone else to come and enjoy when its your perfect day.

2007-05-08T22:54:00.000-07:00

Doubtful Sound, NZ - Captain Cook was "doubtful" that he could change the rigging quickly enough before crashing to tack back and forth through the tight bits so he named this Doubtful Sound and again its a fijord and not a sound. I have to say this was favourite of the two sounds. It was more wild, more varied, longer, rougher at the sea end and had dolphins, huge dophins! and seals. We also had a moment of silence where the motor got turned off, everyone on the boat [300 plus people of all ages and nationalities] was quiet and no pictures could be taken. We just listened to the waterfalls, the birds high up on the mountains and the ocean out in the sound. It was magical.

2007-05-07T22:51:00.000-07:00

Lake Te Anau - the hike was really fantastic --- groomed tracks, no fallen trees, temperate forest beauty, silence, and hidden jewels of lakes...paradise.

2007-05-07T22:43:00.000-07:00

Lake Te Anau - I stayed here to specifically see the Te Anau Glow Worm Caves which were really interesting. But I also enjoyed hiking around the Control Gates dam. It was fantastic and I had a picnic lunch in where the fly fishermen were trying their luck. The prize is brown trout. I like the pontoon planes and the helicopters ready to take tourists anywhere their cash will take them. The mushrooms were large and colourful...probably highly poisonous.

2007-05-07T19:16:00.000-07:00

Milford Sound - Last Shots - think I must be fascinated with those mountains because I'm always thinking about food and they look like meringues! How many perfect days do you have in your life! This was one of them.

2007-05-07T18:48:00.000-07:00

Milford Sound - Water everywhere! Salt water and fresh water mix in the fijord and a tradesman on another trip several weeks later said he was building the dock where our boat took us on and dolphins came right up to the carpenters and were curious about all the hammering. We did not see dophins in Milford but we did see seals which are in the first picture appearing as brown blobs.

2007-05-07T18:27:00.000-07:00

Milford Sound, NZ - Captain Cook mistakenly called Milford a "sound" when in fact it is fijord. That means it was carved out by glaciers as opposed to the action of the ocean working over millenia on the mouth of an estuary. The most amazing thing happened while we waited for our timed passage through Homer Tunnel on the Milford Road. A lone bagpiper complete with kilt and all the regalia was piping to assembled groups. Little children tried to run up to him but he was so high up on a ridge and they were all trying to beat the clock they never reached him. It was so other worldly to hear just the sound of the bagpipes in the wilderness valley.

2007-05-06T22:54:00.000-07:00

Milford Sound, South Island - we had astoundingly good weather and I defy anyone to take a bad picture here. The scenery is stunning. I had the hard task of wolfing down my deluxe vegetarian picnic lunch that I pre-ordered while trying to get all the awesome pictures I could between bites.

2007-05-04T17:25:00.000-07:00

Wellington - Final Shots of the Harbourfront

2007-05-04T17:04:00.000-07:00

Wellington - Te Papa - Wellington Animal Rights Protest - There were about 50 police officers and 10 protestors outside of Te Papa. The meat industry was celebrating 125 years of the meat industry in NZ. The protestors gave out pamphlets opposing animal cruelty and environmental destruction. The green van and trailer were an exhibit on the fourth floor. The last shot is of skyscrappers on the Wellington skyline.

2007-05-04T16:50:00.000-07:00

Wellington, NZ - took the Tranz Metro into Wellington and enjoyed the harbour. There are big naval ships docked there and you can rent kayaks and explore the harbour on your own from the water side. The day I was there the swells were quite high and I was glad to be on land.

2007-05-04T16:37:00.000-07:00

Wanganui, NZ - Opera House - UCOL graduation - I was entranced with the korowai gowns which represent the farming area where the Maoria family originates from. Now the cloaks are made out of chicken feathers but they were made out of native birds in the past. It was also fabulous to experience the karangas, where members of the audience sang out to the graduate and the graduate would reply in song always acknowledging the singer and taking pride in their culture.

2007-04-17T22:55:00.000-07:00

Queenstown - Gondola - Views from the top - a tourist asked to take his picture so I thought what the heck and had him take mine. I was sure glad I did. This was another of my crazing hiking adventures that goes amuck. Anyway it turned out well in the end.

2007-04-17T22:49:00.000-07:00

Skyline Gondola Walk - Queenstown, NZ - I should catch the clue when the hike says "skyline" I better not take it. But ever the intrepid tramper I got over my skill level and was more afraid to go down than to keep on going UP. I kept telling myself that once I got to the gondola I could cheat and take it down. Lucky for me that the trail turned into a road and the fear factor disappeared and I didn't need to take gondola down.

2007-04-17T22:45:00.000-07:00

Queenstown - South Island - NZ - does this look surprisingly like Switzerland? There were hang gliders everywhere. It looked so easy but I wasn't tempted.

2007-04-17T22:37:00.000-07:00

Mt. Baker - South Island - NZ - Not to be deterred by being seated on the wrong side of the plane for pictures and beside someone soundly sleeping, I found an empty seat on the right side and clicked away the NZ alps from the plane window. The water is that lovely blue green colour we're so familiar with in Banff.

2007-04-03T22:45:00.000-07:00

Upper Hutt - Swing Bridge - I wasn't a bit apprehensive about crossing over a deep gorge at the end of tramp. You can see the swing bridge in profile and then as I saw it crossing over. The other bridges are just foot path bridges over streams to give you a glimpse of the deeper canopy portions of the tramp.

2007-04-03T22:42:00.000-07:00

Upper Hutt - Parting Shots of Valley- its hard to leave Nirvana. I wanted to work in a train trip to Wellington to see Te Papa so I had to tear myself away.

2007-04-03T22:34:00.000-07:00

Upper Hutt - Birch Vale Dam Valley- it was so beautiful and serene in this valley. The birds would fly from the canopy on one side to the canopy on the other and their songs would echo off the valley walls and the lake below. You just had to stop and listen and take in the moment.

2007-04-03T22:24:00.000-07:00

Birch Vale Dam Upper Hutt - this is the view from below the dam where it is a mossy world. The first image gives me a "Lord of the Rings" feeling.

It was such a place of tranquility and peace.

2007-04-03T22:15:00.000-07:00

Birch Vale Dam Upper Hutt - this is the reward after 3 or 4 hours of tramping on the Cannon Trail. You get to this serene lake caused by a dam on one of the tributaries of the Hutt River. The dam looks to be from the 1930s and it causes the water to cascade over and then generates mist which promotes moss.

2007-04-02T22:51:00.000-07:00

Upper Hutt - Loved the creative letter box made out of one solid piece of wood and with the number for the house cleverly chiseled into the wood. The elephant ears plant also known as spoon lily is in a protected alcove because they do get frosts in Upper Hutt. To go south in New Zealand is to get colder which is the opposite to North America.

2007-04-02T22:49:00.000-07:00

Upper Hutt - Zen gardens and chickens - The chicken came out to greet me and carried on a conversation with me. The garden had Zen features and a bonsai tree plus a water feature and a stone wall made out of round rocks. It really captured my imagination.

2007-04-02T22:44:00.000-07:00

Upper Hutt - Sweet Cottages - You just know people have invested their hopes and dreams and bought a little spot beside the river on the hillside and hope to watch the world pass by from Camelot.

2007-04-02T22:37:00.000-07:00

Tramping Upper Hutt - The winds turned my sturdy British brolly into mincemeat and the constant rain showers were a problem but the trail was a dream being groomed, wide, thoughtfully marked, no dropoffs to death on any side, and intelligently designed. There were cute cottages with proverbial rose gardens in bloom.

2007-04-02T22:29:00.000-07:00

Atakarawa Forest - Upper Hutt, NZ- Cannon Point Trail - I've given you an image of the start of the tramp, then an idea of high up the trail takes you and the trig point from which you have an excellent vantage point to take pictures IF if it isn't raining which happens often. This river was the background for some shots for the movie Lord of the Rings. The water is clean and there were lots of anglers later in the day. The tramp was nice in that it was a loop so you didn't have to repeat half and were rewarded with the most beautiful section at the end and it was downhill.

2007-04-02T22:19:00.000-07:00

Upper Hutt - NZ - Tranquility Homestay - I was so lucky to find this place on the Akatarawa Road north of Upper Hutt which is a suburb about 45 minutes by train north of Wellington. This is on a rural road right beside the Hutt River and the tramping trail was very close to my accomodation. Birds were attracted to the fruit on the trees in the yard. One of the owners was a real Coronation Street devotee so I learned that Mike Baldwin in the series has just been killed off.

2007-03-29T14:48:00.000-07:00

Wanganui - School of Design - I enjoyed a lively staff meeting with the faculty and took the opportunity afterwards to take pictures of the art on display and the building itself covered with ivy. In order there is a lampshade made out of old men's ties, and earrings made out of gem stones and featuring a special NZ wood.

2007-03-25T22:53:00.000-07:00

Wanganui National Park - parting shots of the valley where the Atena Skyline Hike took place. The Rural Mail Delivery man enjoyed stopping for frequent pictures because its a glorious view.

2007-03-25T22:48:00.000-07:00

Pigs in Wanganui National Forest - while big trucks and four wheel drive vehicles trundled past two separate sows were suckling their young right beside the road. The only reason the two mothers and their piglets moved off was because I got out of the van and took their picture. These are not wild pigs but domesticated pigs.

2007-03-25T22:45:00.000-07:00

Atene Skyline Walk - So I did manage to open up my camera and get some spectacular images from the ridges even though I was anxious. You could see light rain showers coming your way from far off but they blew over and the sunshine came back.

2007-03-25T22:37:00.000-07:00

Atene Picnic Area - Like the men in WWII under deprivation and having to make fast time in difficult circumstances, all I kept thinking about was making it to the picnic shelter because by that time I was half done and surely the last half couldn't be worse than the first half. Anyway when I reached the picnic shelter I was more than half through the alotted time so I had to eat while I walked. You can't say that the walk was not beautiful. Look at the native lowland forest of tree ferns and vines. I kept expecting Tarzan to leap out at me. I never did see the blue duck that birdwatchers are always hoping to spot.

2007-03-23T17:18:00.000-07:00

Atene Skyline Hike - occasionally there would be breaks in the heavily forested tramp to look at the river valley below. I agree with publicity that says the slopes are steep. Towards the end of the tramp on narrow ledges with intimidating drop offs either side and wind gusts, I had to use positive self-talk to walk forward. Sometimes even when the scene was breathtaking I could not or would not open up my camera because I was afraid looking down I would lose my nerve. I did wonder many times why I had paid to go on the tramp. While the rock I was walking on appeared to have beautiful sandstone shapes eroded by the forces of the river, I was just concerned by all the bits on the trail that were missing.

2007-03-23T17:04:00.000-07:00

Atene Skyline Hike - I started off like the "Last of the Mohicans" not making a sound in the forest, being light of foot. Because I was so quiet, I startled calves and young goats browsing on the trail. I actually set off some stampedes as I came quickly and silently from behind the young animals. I would curse the fallen trees on the trail but came to be thankful because they stopped the browsing animals from being an issue. I actually found a group of 8 big calves pretty intimidating. Can you see how enticing the forest is and how it would be the perfect place for Lord of the Rings to be filmed?It was actually filmed on the South Island near Queenstown. But the 2004 movie called "River Queen" was filmed on the Wanganui River. It tells the story of an Irish woman's search for her kidnapped son who was taken by her Maori lover in the 1860s to be raised by his people.

2007-03-23T16:43:00.000-07:00

Wanganui National Park - encompasses the wild upper and middle sections of the Wanganui River which you can see was very brown from all the rains and runoff. There was actually a lahar, or mudflow at 11 am on Sunday March 18th, causing the tephra dam at Mt. Ruapehu to burst. That was fortunately the day after I did a 7 hour hike at Atene. You can see that the hike was supposed to take 8 hours so I did it in record time. You walk in a circle so you come out at a different entrance seven hours later. I had a Rural Mail Delivery contract person drop me off and pick me up seven hours later.

2007-03-13T21:54:00.000-07:00

After the Hike Beverage - a beer after the hike is the tradition and this is the inside of a frontier bar in NZ. The walls are covered with trophy heads. I would rather have the animals alive. We just finished our drinks and a van of 50 tourists arrived. We were so lucky!

2007-03-13T21:43:00.000-07:00

Proof I was there! My favourite is the shot the tramping club insisted I get in - right beside the soil slip and the sheer drop to instant death. I had up until this time refused to get anywhere near that edge but for posterity I took my destiny in my hands. I am the speck off to the left of the slip.

2007-03-13T21:21:00.000-07:00

Ruahines - Wanganui Search and Rescue - It felt like the set of MASH. Young men and women were doing practise search and rescue maneuvres on the very steep hillside. The nurse in our tramping club knew some of the people and we had fun and excitement. When the blue helicopter took off a red helicopter showed up to evacuate the remaining volunteers.

2007-03-13T12:35:00.000-07:00

Ruahines - Temperate Rain Forest - More light spilling through the forest and a contorted tree that you know if it could talk would have quite the tale to tell.

2007-03-13T12:33:00.000-07:00

Ruahines - Temperate Rain Forest - couldn't you just picture Little Red Riding Hood coming through the clearing in the forest and skipping along the trail with her basket. The forest has that kind of magical quality.

2007-03-13T12:30:00.000-07:00

Ruahines - Temperate Rain Forest - I love how the light filters in through the tall trees and there is a canopy of ferns, moss, and tropicals.

2007-03-13T12:28:00.000-07:00

Ruahines - Temperate Rain Forest - before we got to Purity Hut we passed through this fabulous temperate rain forest. The smells were entrancing just like Tasmania -- deep piney, moss and lichen smells of a healthy, mature and nuturing forest in deep shade.

2007-03-12T21:47:00.000-07:00

2007-03-12T21:31:00.000-07:00

Purity Hut - Ruahines Mtns - The land slip shows the Purity Hut at the top of the trees to the left. It is a shiny object. The Wanganui Tramping Club reached the hut at 10:30 and tramped for another 3 hours beyond and higher than the Purity Hut. I had to call it quits at noon and eat. We just kept going Up, Up, Up and the bongo noises in my ears was my heart racing to keep up with the pace. I now know the question I should ask in return if asked am I fit and that is "have you recently been hiking in Nepal?" Turns out the group I was with were capable of hiking right up to the base camp at Everest. I was out of my league but kept up bravely and with a lot of help from the group. The leader, Dave, even lent me his walking stick which meant he had a much steeper and more dangerous descent.

2007-03-12T21:21:00.000-07:00

Wanganui Repertory Theatre - Went to the two act play called Homeland. It was about the family struggle to put an old farmer into a nursing home and then sell the farm that he has worked on and loved for fifty years. Dee Brough who is a business instructor at UCOL invited me and even though I might be prejudiced I felt she gave the best performance.

2007-03-12T12:34:00.000-07:00

Springvale, Wanganui, NZ - these are my lovely vegetable and flower gardens at the home of my exchange partner and now my home until July 2nd. I can just go outside and pick tomatoes, green peppers, carrots, spinach and lettuce. There are also roses, clematis and tropical plants surrounding the deck and herbs just beside the patio doors so when I cook a batch of spaghetti sauce I can add fresh herbs.

2007-03-12T12:26:00.000-07:00

Wanganui - UCOL - $500 flower arrangement - Pattillo in Wellington has offered our college $7,500 each year for the successful student each year for 10 years who submits the winning sculptural piece reflective of "sculpting chaos". Pattillo specialises in organizational leadership and defines itself as sculpting the rich source of creativity in chaos. Anyway the flower arrangement with the driftwood and orange flowers is offered for sale after the event fo $500. Thought you would enjoy to see such an expensive flower arrangement.

2007-03-11T21:41:00.000-07:00

Wanganui - Wanganui Observatory and Astronomical Society- this wonderful old observatory was built in 1903 and depended on a telescope built in 1858 in the UK for its great precision. The North-South axis is fixed and helps hold the tower up. It whines and grinds as the volunteers put the opening through it paces. First we observed the hydrogen clouds in the Orion galaxy from which stars are being formed. Then they knocked our socks off with Saturn and its moon, followed by the one two punch of the Southern Cross by which marineers have located the South Pole for eons. The night I attended there was a group from the Netherlands, two groups from the UK, and myself representing Canada. I loved all the electrical fixtures, the wainscotting, and the plumbing from 1903.