Deck Delights

Sorry for the late post this week. J and I took Monday off and went and spent a wonderful weekend with our friends in Taupo. I haven't had a chance to look through my pictures and get a post together from that trip, so you get this one that I had ready, but forgot to post before we left.

As you all know, reading in the sunshine is one of my absolute favourite things. NZ is perfect for it, because while the sun can be deliciously roasting, the air temperature is often cool enough that your basking remains pleasant, rather than turning into an oven situation. In Wellington, there is usually also a cool breeze, which is perfect.

In addition, our current house provides amazing views along with the sunny place to read, which results in a situation that is remarkably close to perfection.

I didn't use the deck all that much over the winter, although there were occasional days warm and sunny enough to enjoy it. But now that it's summer, some days I am barely fully awake before I'm out there with a good book and a cup of tea.

See? How wonderful this that? That particular day, you'll notice that there were lots of clouds. It was warm enough that I didn't mind the times without direct sun, but not so warm that I wasn't happy when it came out again!

I thought these clouds over the hills were particularly wonderful.

I usually start out in long pants and a hoodie, and then just take off layers as the morning warms up. I wear lots of sunscreen and always wear my hat - I don't want skin cancer concerns marring my perfect days.

One beautifully sunny morning blew suddenly away, replace by solid rainclouds and gale force winds. I ran around the house closing all the windows, feeling like I was on a ship, battening down the hatches. I was then quite entertained watching the spotted patterns appearing on the wood of the deck as it started raining.

This day was wonderful, because while there were clouds, the ones above me were not thick enough to completely take away my sunbeams, but rather just so soften them.

Look how amazing those hill in the distance look! They're the ones you can see between the middle and right hill in the picture above. Some days you can't see them at all, and some days, like this one, they're strikingly clear.

Just in case you were missing sunrise pictures, here's another one! Usually if I'm up early enough for the sunrise, it means I'm headed to work rather than out onto the deck, but I always take a few minutes to enjoy it!

Poupou Huia Te Reo

This week, I started a five month intensive course in te reo Māori (Māori language), at the end of which I will be certified as a Māori language speaker. I am thrilled to be taking this course, and even more delighted that I am taking it with six of my colleagues. It is an online course, and while it is extremely interactive as far as online courses go, face-to-face interaction and speaking out loud to a real person are invaluable when it comes to learning language. So I am lucky to have people to do that with. It also feels good to know that I work at a place where so many other people are willing to commit their own time and effort to learning this language.

The course is through Te Wānanga o Raukawa, which is a university founded by a Māori marae (cultural centre) that educates students in a way that is consistent with Māori culture and values. This course is completely free to all NZ citizens and permanent residents, and is part of the university's commitment to reviving and celebrating te reo Māori. Read more about it here.

Here is a short excerpt from the home page of my course:

Nau mai | Welcome

Kei ngā mana, kei ngā reo, kei ngā kainiwha o tō tātou nei reo, nau mai, haere mai ki a Poupou Huia Te Reo.  Tēnei e mihi ake ana!

Welcome to all of you who have elected to pursue Poupou Huia Te Reo. It is a privilege to have you studying with Te Wānanga o Raukawa.   

The lessons in the course are designed to teach the language of the home so you and your families or flatmates can share this Māori language journey together. Learning is set around the daily activities of a real whānau and popular fairy tales to help teach phrases that you can use straight away in your everyday life. 

 

Whether your goal is to gain an introduction to the Māori language or develop fluency in the longer term, we hope that your Huia Te Reo experience will contribute to your ongoing reo journey. 

Heoi anō, go to the next section, Ngā Mahi Tōmua, to begin the course. Karawhiua e hoa - give it your all!

So far, I've just done a few introductory activities and exercises, and it seems interesting and fun. It has mostly been stuff that I already know, but I think that's appropriate for the first week, and I'm sure that we will quickly get into new stuff for me, as I have so much to learn!

The course suggests that you spend 12 hours per week on activities, homework, videos, studying, etc. I already work full time and have two book clubs that I'm very committed to, as well as various other projects I work on, so 12 hours a week is a daunting prospect. However, I get energy from language learning because I love it so much, and I am finding language number three significantly easier than language number two, so it is often pretty instantaneously rewarding. I think that all those years of forcing French into my brain has solidified enough linguistic neural pathways that Māori is somewhat fast-tracked, which is fabulous.

I'm looking forward to collaborating with my colleagues on this as well. We're at various levels of competency and comfort going in, so I think that I will sometimes be providing support, and sometimes receiving it, and that will be ideal.

All that being said, I anticipate that the next five months will be jam-packed and exhausting, and am going to do my best to be gentle with myself. I know it will all be worth it, and am delighted with this opportunity, so... here goes!

Seal Adventure (The Seal Part)

As promised, this post contains the pictures of the seals, which were the highlight of our tour.

We'd been driving along the beach, and the tour guide suggested that we start looking out for seals near the water. While everything was beautiful, we didn't see any seals as we drove along, and I began to feel a bit concerned that we weren't going to see any. I shouldn't have worried, though.

This is Tongue Point, where we stopped. Can you see the seals? I didn't see them at first, but they're there.

Here, I'll get closer so you can see better. See them now? I hope so! Look how many there are! Tongue Point is obviously the place to be if you're a seal, because there was one on almost every rock. 

I was fascinated watching them move so gracefully in the water. They spun and dove and flipped effortlessly.

This one made us laugh, lounging right in front of us, and then every so often looking over its shoulder at us like this.

This one looks so happy to me!

And this one is just like a cat, soaking up the sun. Notice how light-coloured and fluffy their fur turns when it's dry, compared to being almost black when wet.

This one was particularly magestic.

J likes to do this pose from The Life Aquatic (a movie he likes), and elected to point at the famous Leaning Lighthouse off the coast.

Here we are in seal land!

Our guide assured us that the seals were pretty calm, but warned us not to get in between them and the water, and to stay a respectful distance away. After my traumatic seal experience with Holly in New Plymouth (which you can read about here), I was not going to go too close to those seals under any circumstances! Not surprisingly, when there wasn't a wonderful but insane dog jumping on them, the seals were happy to mind their own business.

We are appreciative of this tour company, and of our guide, for this engaging and fascinating experience. We'll be recommending it as a fun afternoon for people who come to visit us, as well. You can read more about them at their website: http://www.sealcoast.com/

Seal Adventure (The Non-Seal Parts)

Between Christmas and New Years, J and I went on a Seal Coast Safari. I found out about it when I saw a deal on Grabone, and it looked neat, and excellent value for the very discounted price, so off we went!

I took lots of pictures throughout the whole experience - so many that I decided to break the post into two parts. This post will be the non-seal parts, and then the next part will be the seal extravaganza.

We started out downtown, where we met our guide and the other people going on the tour. Four out of six of them were Americans on holiday, which was pretty funny! It was the first time we were in a group where Americans were in the majority since we got here. The Americans and the other people were all nice, which was good, because we all piled into a big Jeep off-road vehicle. It wasn't cramped, but it was cozy.

This is our guide. Sadly, I can't remember his name, but he was very friendly, informative, and a confident and adept driver, even in difficult conditions.

First, we went up to the wind turbine on a hill above the suburb of Brooklyn. 

From there, we had great views over the city, from a completely different angle than the ones we get from our house or Makara Peak, so that was fun.

J is not as impressed with amazing views as I am, but he enjoyed them.

We were confused by this view, which seemed to show two completely separate bodies of water where we were expecting to see one. J pulled up on Google maps, and unsurprisingly, when you actually pay attention to where things are, it makes total sense. The closer body of water is Evans Bay, which is long thin, and divided from the rest of the harbour by Miramar. Which I did know, but in too abstract a way for it to come into play when I actually saw it.

As we headed further away from the city, out to the opposite coast, we went past this "radar tower" that looks like a golf ball. I don't fully understand its purpose, but it is very cool-looking. It has to have the golf ball, as well as the thick concrete walls around it, because the winds up at the top of these hills are so strong. Our guide told us that the previous day's tour hadn't been able to get out at the higher stops at all because of the wind. When we went, there was almost no wind in town, but even so, it was blustery up there!

We stopped at the peak of Hawkins Hill, which is 500m (1640ft) above sea level. I continue to think that is crazy, when we can see the ocean right there! If it weren't cloudy, we would have been able to see the South Island. Our guide was disappointed not to be able to show it to us, but J and I have seen it from several places in Wellington, so we weren't worried.

We drove down, down, down through the rolling hills to the beach, and then drove along the beach itself.

We saw lots of shags (cormorants), which I always love.

We splashed across several streams, and went along some narrow paths, like this one up against the steep hill.

Sometimes the tyres spun out in the sand, but our driver assured us that as long as you're confident and don't go too slow, you won't get stuck. He then entertained us with many stories of people who had gotten stuck, which was hilarious!

There was more driftwood and such on the beach at that time, as a result of landslides from the earthquake and floods in November, as well as from the higher level of the sea itself during the floods.

There were crazy, rocky places like this that we drove through. Can you imagine getting a vehicle through there? Our guide handled it amazingly, and we were jolted around enough to feel adventurous, but not so much that we were uncomfortable.

We stopped and saw some beautiful deer on a family farm. They were so calm, and not scared at all.

We fed them muffins, and this one and I became friends. The ducks were very friendly as well, but I wasn't as focused on being their friend.

After that, we saw the seals, which was completely wonderful, and about which I will tell you in my next post.

On the way back, we went past the road we'd used to get onto the beach, and went the other way along the coastline to Red Rocks. I'd heard of Red Rocks, and people had told us to go walking there, but we hadn't made it happen yet. I didn't realize how red the rocks would actually be!

There is this strip of red rocks that runs through the normal-coloured rocks, just at this one place. It is a clear-cut line, not fading in or out at all. I found it very interesting.

Well, that's quite a lot of adventure already, but stay tuned for the seals!