Will write about this later. Suffice it to say, the scenery was wonderful. I have selected and uploaded some photos in a set, Easter 2007... managed to get them in the wrong order. The end is the beginning, so to speak!
One of the reasons why I have been less drawn to blogging over the past two months is that our life has become reassuringly normal, and did not seem to merit comment, and certainly not under the title, 'Sue and Rupert’s adventures in New Zealand'. We are in the final stages of nest-building in the new home; picture-hanging, curtains and lighting to be the final effort inside. The garden is an ongoing project; it is a typical 21st century easy-care city garden, lots of weed-matting, pebbles and pavers…all rather sterile. I am enjoying re-finding the soil and letting it breath again. And the birds are delighted at another source of worms. A compost bin and a wormery give a distinctly more earthy feel to the place, and I am having great fun choosing plants. Angela, who looked after our rental garden has ‘moved over’ with us, so I have a real gardener, as well as a friend, to help me. She and the owners of a local garden centre have a fine knowledge of native species, so I am hoping to create something very unlike what I would have had back home.
Meanwhile we have been off to Auckland to help Lucy and Jeff on their plot of land. Despite being in a much bigger city. (a quarter of the whole population of New Zealand lives there), they have a fair patch of native bush and a small grassy slope behind the house, as well as the usual suburban garden to care for. It’s all been a bit neglected in recent years, so plenty of scope for projects, which include a play- house in the bush and fruit trees on the grassy slope. The early mornings there are just beautiful, with the bird song dominated by the extraordinary call of the much loved Tui, so they have a good refuge from the busy urban sprawl of the city.
This Thursday Rupert and I are taking our first trip to the South Island. We fly to Christchurch, then motor to Wanaka, stopping in Tekapo on the way. Then it will be over to Haast, and from there up the west coast with a couple of nights at Fox Glacier, then one night in Hokitika and back to Christchurch…10 nights in all. I hope to get some good photos, though I suspect the grandeur will be hard to catch on my little Olympus!