Susan's First Few Days in NZ

It's been a lovely week spending time with Aunt Susan and showing her around. She has always wanted to come to NZ, ever since she saw the beautiful landscapes in Lord of the Rings, and now she is finally here. It is awesome to see how delighted she is with everything she's getting to see and experience, and how much she loves being in such a beautiful place. It is also great to spend time talking and catching up and learning more about her life.

We have been unlucky with weather since she's been here, with lots of cold, rainy days. But we've enjoyed reading and watching movies when it's been raining too much, and have gotten to do lots outside when the rain stops.

During her first two or three days, we strolled around downtown, introduced Susan to Sushi Ninja (our favourite restaurant), walked through the lush life of Pukekura Park, and of course took Holly to the beach. I have posted pictures of all of these things over the last year and a half, so I didn't take more, but it is always great to spend time in these places I love.

Just a few days after Susan got here, the temperature plummeted down to 4C (39F), which is deathly cold for here. I complained about it all evening, and then realized the next morning that it was so cold because there had been a big snowstorm on the mountain! I still don't like the cold, but how beautiful is the mountain with fresh snow on it?!

I was so thrilled with the snowy mountain (after it being snowless through the summer months) that I took Susan down to the Coastal Walkway where I bike to work, to get some great views of the mountain, and to enjoy the sunny (but still cold) evening.

Of course, the letdown of pictures means that the mountain looks tiny in the background, when it felt big and close in real life.

I never get tired of the views of the mountain through the Te Rewarewa bridge. I love it every time. Susan loved it, too!

We walked a bit further down the trail and onto a small beach, which was lit up beautifully in the evening sun. Susan's raincoat, which is usually reddish purple, was lit up bright red as the sun was setting, and I thought it was so pretty!

I gathered some shells while Susan explored. The beach was full of interesting things that had washed up after all the rain we've gotten lately.

The sunset was particularly beautiful that evening, and I felt like NZ was putting on a special show for Susan, who was so ready to be appreciative of its beauty.

The next day, we went to Whanganui to visit some of my friends, and as a pitstop on the way up to the big mountains in Tongariro National Park, where we were going to do some hiking.

We stopped at Kai Iwi beach, which is one of my favourite NZ beaches so far (and where I often used to walk with Kirsten and Holly).

We found this awesome little hut that someone had made out of driftwood. It was surprisingly sturdy and architecturally sound, and looked like it had been there for a while.

We also found this charming sculpture, which included some ingenious balancing and a very thin fishing line to hang a rock so that it looked like it was floating. What a generous artistic donation to further beautify a beautiful beach.

Susan and I had sushi for lunch at my favourite sushi place in Whanganui - two sushi places in three days is about a zillion times more sushi than one normally eats in Kansas, so lucky for Susan that she has enjoyed it!

After lunch we met Kirsten for a walk around Virginia Lake, where she got to see lots of pūkeko, which continue to be my favourite NZ birds. (For pictures of pūkeko at Virigina Lake, look at my post "Virginia Lake Birds with Dad" from April 2014). We had a great time talking with Kirsten during the walk and then over tea at a cafe by the lake.

Next, we headed up into the mountains for a great day of tramping (hiking), which I will post about next week.