The Traveling Kiwi

there seems to be a theme emerging for May, with the sunshine and showers the drops of water sparkle like jewels on the bright green leaves.

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A dear friend of mine, who is an amazing photographer, is doing a photography project where she takes a photo everyday, with a different theme every month. It has inspired me to try something similar for myself. I need to decide a theme so I will start on June 1st. But for now I am going to just take some random photos of things that I notice.

Like this double rainbow out the window after the torrential rain on wednesday, or the evening light through the water bottle at the cafe last night. My challenge is to break out of my normal style and see though different eyes. This is going to be fun.

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We have discovered Seward Park just a few minutes drive from here and its now a favorite outing with Hana in the mornings. Three miles around this 300 acre park with an excellent coffee and a constantly changing visita is the perfect way to wake up. Starting froma view to the south of My Rainier depending on the weather you get to see Mercer Island, then the I90 floating bridge and Seattle.  Thank goodness people had the foresight back in the early 1900’s to create these beautiful natural spaces – you would never be able to get agreement today to annex such stunning waterfront for public enjoyment. Its one of the few spots left of old growth forest 200-250+ years old. When Seattle was settled the forests here were over 1000  – 2000 years old.

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Spring sprung early in Seattle and its been just lovely, the brisk days, blue skies and blossoms and the chance to gloat while the rest of the country is still shivering in snow storms. Just last night a blizzard hit Fort Collins and Denver and we have woken up to 55F and sparkles of sunshine on the water. A couple of weekends ago on a particularly nice day I took my camera and visited Kybota Gardens, Georgetown which is a funky old part of Seattle and then Pikes Place market downtown. An eclectic mixture of photos emerged see what you think.

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Well we are finally back in Seattle for a while. We left Fort Collins in the snow taking the road less traveled to Steamboat Springs. In fact it was so less traveled we didn’t see another car heading the same direction as us for over 130 miles. The road followed a river of ice along a gorge the over two 10,000ft passes, ice and packed snow slowed us down so we could enjoy the scenery and the wildlife. We encountered a herd of big horned sheep  in the middle of the road, licking the salt, they moved only far enough for us to pass and immediately went back to licking the salty ice. Our second wildlife encounter was an eight legged moose also snacking on the salty ice.  We reached Steamboat Springs safely , surprisingly quiet with very few people shopping or skiing this was the prefect time to visit. No skiing for us but we take the gondola up Mt Werner for a lovely view. Traveling on to Seattle the road was clear but patches of dense fog slowed us down and we finally arrived yesterday morning. Looks like we will be here for now looking for work and celebrating the season with friends.

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I have always been fascinated with the Moeraki Boulders, strange spherical boulders found only on this one part of the coast outside Oamaru. The boulders have been exposed through  the erosion of the cliffs and are obviously some sort of natural phenomena, although theories abound as to their other worldly origin. They have an almost soccer ball hexagonal pattern and a gold color inside. They beach was crowded with tourists so it was difficult to get some good shots without people in them so we stopped again on our way back from Dunedin and took some more photos with the tide in and the darkened sky. You may note that the same boulder that has an unknown figure bursting from it in a later photo has a wave crashing over it.

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With a couple of days of predicted rain and cooler temperatures for Christchurch we decided to head south and see if we could find some sunshine. A journey I had not taken for over 25 years, it bought back many memories and was surprisingly unchanged. We stopped for lunch in Oamaru, a place that in the past had only ever been a town we drove though on our way to Dunedin. This time we spotted a steam train and left the main road, we quickly found ourselves in a delightful Victorian town, almost a twilight zone moment as we wandered the streets seeing only people dressed in victorian costume. If is wasn’t for the cars we would have stepped back in time. The blond stone buildings showcased the local stone, as we walked into town the same stone was used for the banks and other imposing facades. Just out of town we saw a sign for a penguin colony but we were too early for a tour so we kept driving towards our next stop along the coast. The train sign is the one used for all the railway crossings, Joe decided that Thomas the Tank Engine must have come from New Zealand.

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I love Birdlings Flat, its a bleak stoney beach on the east coast of the South Island just below Banks Peninsula. The tide brings stones from all over the world and you can find agate, petrified wood, jasper, chalcedony, rhodantite, garnets and all sorts of serpentine and unidentified yet fascinating rocks that have been tumbled by the ocean into smooth shapes. I went to this beach many times as a child to hunt for agates at the tides edge and eat savaloys(weird red kiwi sausages) toasted on a bonfire in one of the caves when the weather got too wild. The continental shelf is very short here and the waves crash hard on the beach with a rip that can grab you by the ankles and  drag you out in minutes, or at least thats what we were told and we believed it. As each wave receedes you can hear the rumble and rattle of the stones grinding on each other and if you look closely you can see stones leaping about in the sea foam.

This trip was with two cars full of family and the nicest sunniest day of the year. We wandered the beach filling our pockets with special stones and then lay in the sun while the nieces and nephews built a driftwood and seaweed monument to the occasion. Absolutely delightful time and the only reason we left and continued on to Akaroa was lack of food and the siren call of Akaroa fish and chips.

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