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On April 27 Jody and I were invited on a nature walk on the hills surrounding Wellington by Jody's workmate, Allison, Allison's daughter and her friend. Below we are seen overlooking Wellington Harbour.   At one point my hat flew off my head down the hill, it was that windy.   New Zealand - a country that forbids nuclear energy plants and aggressively pursues alternative energy resources.
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On April 26, Jody and I had the pleasure in seeing the Coppelia Ballet performed in Wellington by the Royal New Zealand Ballet. The St. James Theater was great and we had wonderful seats in the balcony to observe the ballet along with the full orchestra. A superb performance. 
Today, our friend, Patricia Hotchins, sent us this wonderful article from Huffington Post about New Zealand. Here is the link. It shows why Jody and I love this country so much. It's entitled, What New Zealand Can Teach The Rest Of The World About Living Welll: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/25/new-zealand-living-well_n_5186920.html?ir=Healthy%20Living&utm_campaign=042514&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Alert-healthy-living&utm_content=Title 
Today, my Mother-In-Law, JoeAnn, sent us this fabulous picture of Hobbiton at dusk and I just had to share. 
On April 27, 2014, Jody and I took the ferry over from Wellington to Somes Island, a brief 30 minute trip. Following are some of the pictures we took from this beautiful nature excursion around this thoroughly protected nature preserve.     I really don't think it gets any bluer than this. Wellington from the island.  Here is the sweet little fantail that serenaded Jody and me.  Abandoned gun turret housing from WW!.     Although this is not the Caribbean, the water seems as clear as the tropics. Gorgeous colors.     Jody and I celebrated our First Wedding Anniversary quietly on Good Friday in Wellington. I made dinner and we just chilled while recuperating from over six weeks of house guests. It has been a great first year, particularly considering that Jody has had to adjust to a guy who has had to evolve and embrace a more international attitude. I'm working at it. American Exceptionalism has not been good for me. 
We had a treat last night, April 17, - a visit from Jim Raudabaugh, our mutual Sarasota Unitarian Universalist Church friend and my former fellow Democratic Club of Sarasota Board Member. Jim has been on a month long group travel journey to both Australia and New Zealand. He arrived in Wellington the day before and returns home this Saturday. His hotel was a short 10 minute walk from our home and as we had planned last year, he joined us for an evening of dinner and comparing of travel notes. A great time!   Finally, a brief window of bearable weather opportunity opened up on the morning the day that Phil and Rosanne were to leave for their return trip home, a visit to Zealandia, the local nature preserve in the heart of Wellington.  Prior to leaving for Zealandia, this was how Phil and I spent much of our downtime due to bad weather - playing on our smartphones.   All of Zealandia is enclosed by a great fence designed to keep out wildlife that is not indigenous to New Zealand. They wish to return this preserve to the state it was in before outside settlers began introducing other animals and plants. They estimate it will take 500 years. Quite a project.       Away in the distance is the dam that I stood on the top of while taking the previous two pictures to this one. The dam is over 150 years old and is an integral part of the region.  Unfortunately, this green algae is deadly to the preserve's lake and fish and scientists are taking steps to minimize it's impact.            Fortunately, Phil and Rosanne were able to finish their trip to NZ with a wonderful walk around Zealandia.
Again, while Jody worked, Phil and I visited the birthplace in Wellington of Katherine Mansfield, the great NZ short story writer who is acknowledged as the British author who had the greatest impact in the creation of the British short story. Her stories, BLISS and GARDEN PARTY, are among her best and most well known. She tragically died in 1923 at the age of 35 from consumption. She was one of the original feminists, always at odds with a conformist society and always testing the limits. She was a personal friend of D.H. Lawrence (no surprise) and was even modeled after one of the female characters in Lawrence's novel, WOMEN IN LOVE. This visit was a particular Mecca for Phil as he has been a great lover of Mansfield's stories for years. FYI, Phil and I both attended University of Maryland together in 1969-1971 and were both English Majors.    One other of Mansfield's most popular short stories is THE DOLL HOUSE which is somewhat autobiographical in nature and refers to the doll house she had as a child. The doll house was modeled after her own home. In the exhibit is an exact model of the original doll house, complete with a very elaborate interior.      I bought this tea towel for Jody as I suspect that she and Mansfield would have had a lot in common.
JoeAnn and Brendan left on April 3 after their three week stay. Three days later Phil and Rosanne, my Best Man and his wife, arrived in Wellington after spending over two weeks touring other parts of NZ, particularly the South Island. Unfortunately, their arrival brought with them an entire week of overcast and rain, the first heavy weather front that we have experienced since arriving. What a shame. We made do by attending many indoor events and had a lot of fun regardless. While Jody worked, we all went Te Papa for an afternoon museum trip.  |
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