Views from Mount Victoria

Mount Victoria is a 196m (643ft) peak that is basically in the middle of downtown Wellington, and therefore right off the harbour. Christophe and I started walking up and down some of the trails on it when the weather warmed up, and then sometimes throughout the summer, we hiked all the way to the top. There are multiple lookouts, so that you can see in every direction, to various views of the harbour and bays off of it, to the hills on the other side, etc. 

(Note: I actually took these pictures months ago, when it was still summer. For a while there, I was averaging more than one blog-worthy event per week, and so my posts were getting increasingly inaccurate chronologically. I think it's worth giving each one its own week, and now that I'm often at home studying te reo Māori (language) all week, I'll get back to posting about things right after they happen soon enough.)

The combination of the vibrant blue of the water and the deep red of the Pōhutakawa trees is wonderful. This is looking towards the middle of Wellington Harbour, with Matiu Island in the middle.

Here again is Evan's Bay, which I had been so confused by when I saw it from the Brooklyn wind turbine. It ends at the airport, which is that brown, house-less space between Evan's Bay and Lyall Bay, which is on the other side.

You can also see Moa Point sticking out and creating the division between Lyall Bay and Tarakena Bay (where we went swimming in December, at which point it became one of my favourites).

Here you can see the north end of Miramar, which sticks out into Wellington Harbour.

This, obviously, is looking towards the city. Isn't it beautiful? I love that we live in a beautiful city, surrounded by beautiful countryside (and mostly water).

And just out from the city, directly into the harbour.

Looking all the way across the harbour to the east, you can see the Rimutaka Range, which has peaks from 700 to 940m (2300 - 3080ft). We've never been there, but perhaps we should some day.

I feel like I am continually stressing the point that Wellington is surrounded by interconnected bodies of water. I don't think I will ever get used to that, but hopefully you can forgive me when you remember that I come from Kansas, where one is solidly surrounded by hundreds of miles of land. I mean, the closest significant body of water is Lake Michigan, which is 1015 km (630 miles) away! So being a water person, you can understand why Wellington's list of bays and harbours, let alone its intimate relationship with the ocean, is a source of deep satisfaction for me. And so Christophe and I hike to the top of Mount Victoria and appreciate it from all angles, and life is good.

Karori Park

On a sunny summer day, J and I went for a walk in Karori Park. It is just down at the bottom of our hill, but we hadn't actually explored it before, because if we wanted to go for a walk, we tended to head into Makara Peak Mountain Bike Park. However, we've gotten a bit frustrated with the necessity of jumping out of the way of mountain bikers in said park, so we decided to branch out. 

What you see of Karori Park when you go by is this broad expanse of grass, on which people are often playing cricket. We stopped for a bit and watched a girls' team playing, and J explained some of the rules to me. The most exciting part was that I learned what a "bale" was, which is important to me because a cricket bale features prominently in some of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy books, and I never could figure out what they were talking about. Turns out, they're little conical things (somewhat similarly shaped to a bale of hay) that sit on top of the wickets, and the batsman is trying to keep the bowler (pitcher) from knocking them off. I feel better about the world now that I understand this, although the rest of the game still eludes me.

Behind the park, we discovered a dog exercise area that consists of a much less manicured series of paths and clearings. If only we had a dog. (We want to adopt one very much, but our flat is a no-dog zone).

We decided to exercise ourselves instead, and had a lovely walk.

I never get tired of strolled through the woods.

We found this interesting trail leading down the side of the hill, and decided to try it. It rapidly became unreasonably steep, but as neither of us could stomach the idea of climbing back up to find a better one, we made our way down until... the "path" ended and we discovered that it was not a trail at all. Fortunately, it didn't end far from an actual path, which we were able to rejoin.

We have not had a very sunny summer. In fact, many Kiwis are asserting that this is the winteriest summer they've ever experienced, as it has been fairly cold and rainy more often than not. So this beautiful, brilliantly sunny day was something to be particularly thankful for. I'm glad we spent it exploring this surprisingly lovely area.

Walking Women

I have noticed a rather wonderful thing in downtown Wellington.

You know these guys who tell you when you can walk across the road? Well, in Wellington they've gotten an upgrade.

Take a look at that! I noticed this a while ago, while walking near parliament. I just thought it was neat that it was a woman instead of a man, but actually, the story behind it is even cooler than that. The woman is Kate Sheppard, who was one of the leaders in the women's suffrage movement here. She and her fellow suffragettes succeeded, helping to make NZ the first country in the world to grant women the vote, way back in 1893 (a full 27 years before the States).  These lights in the parliamentary precinct are to honour her and raise awareness for women's rights.

You can read more on the Wellington City Council website:

http://wellington.govt.nz/your-council/projects/pedestrian-crossing-lights/green-woman-pedestrain-traffic-lanterns

Also, I just learned that Kate Sheppard is on the $10 bill!

I also noticed awesome walking women down on Cuba Street, where a lot of the nightlife of the city is found. Not knowing the story of the other ones yet, I was just pleased to see another female figure, and J immediately said it looked like a transgender person. I though that was a lot to extrapolate from a silhouette, but he was totally right! These lights, at intersections along Cuba Street, are to celebrate a transgender woman named Carmen Rupe, who was an LGBT activist, a stripper, a humanitarian volunteer, a brothel keeper, and HIV/AIDS activist, among many other things. 

(Side note, while learning about her, I learned that prostitution is legal in NZ, with the intent to make it safer and better regulated. I will have to learn more about that situation).

Carmen was a big hit on Cuba Street and an influential resident of Wellington, and I think it's wonderful for her to be honoured in this way. You can read more about Carmen's lights at this site:

http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/82903376/Carmen-Rupe-traffic-signals-set-to-light-up-Wellingtons-Cuba-St

I think that this is inventive and fun way to celebrate important people in Wellington's history, and there are plans to do more, so I look forward to seeing them.

Locks of Love Donation

As many of you will know, I grow my hair quite long, and then cut it short to donate it to Locks of Love, a non-profit organization that makes wigs for children with long-term hair loss. You can read more about them here. I've been doing this since I was about 14, and the last several times, I have included my children in the project. If my count is correct, this is my seventh time donating my hair to Locks of Love. I only have strong memories of doing it five times before this, but I'm fairly sure there was a sixth, so I'm thinking this is my seventh. I am completely sure that this is my third time doing it with my children, as those have been the much more awesome and memorable times. My goal in having the children be a part of the process is to help them to develop empathy for people who have no hair (or are facing any other illness or difficulty) and to help them see that small, everyday decisions we make can have a positive impact on the world. I mean, it's just hair, and it doesn't really matter, but we can actually use insignificant things it to be kind to someone. I'd like my children to remember that.

This is what my hair looked like most days. I do not actually enjoy having long hair, and having it in plaits meant that I could largely pretend that I didn't. 

This is what it looked like on the rare occasions that I put it in a ponytail and allowed it to be curly - directing said curls into a semblance of order by twisting them with my fingers after washing my hair. My reaction to my decision to wear it like this instead of in plaits is extremely predictable:

1 minute in: "Wow, this looks amazing! I'm so lucky to have such pretty hair!"

3 minutes in: "Ugh, it almost fell into my food/work//toothpaste/face."

5 minutes in: "What was I thinking?"

The rest of the day: "This is so not worth it. It's so big and long and everywhere!"

Hence, this is not a common look for me when it's this long. Anything up to about 5 or 6 inches shorter than this is okay, but this is too long, and is only allowed because it makes for a better Locks of Love donation.

For the week before the donation, I straightened my hair so that it would be smooth and manageable, so that the children could "help get it ready" by brushing it, clipping it up, etc. The main goal was for them to actually experience what the hair that we were going to donate was like, because given that my hair is always in plaits at work, they don't really know that it's long and thick and perfect for wigs. But now they do.

I'm noticing now that I apparently couldn't be bothered changing out of my pajama pants for this photo. Oh well. The point is the hair, not the pants. Notice how my hair is past the small of my back - how did it get so long?!?

The management team at my current job decided that it would be better if the children themselves didn't actually cut my hair, as there have been issues with some of these children cutting their own or others' hair, and we want to be consistent in our messages that cutting hair is only for hairdressers. Luckily, one of our current mums is a hairdresser, and she generously agreed to come and cut my hair at Whare Kea. The children were mesmerized by the whole process - I wish I could show you pictures of their entranced faces, but of course I don't have permission to do that. But you can trust me that they were beautifully invested in the whole thing, and were so touchingly concerned for the children with no hair and eager to give them mine, it really warmed my heart.

As a bonus, I got my first professional haircut since I was about 14. She left it a bit longer than I was expecting, but I knew it would be shorter once I washed it and it curled up, so it worked out well.

Washed and curly... here it is! I noticed that it ended up a bit longer in the front than in the back (I think because it was parted differently when it was cut), so I trimmed it myself, as I like it to be even.

Now it's the same length all around. I don't do layers, as that will make future donations less ideal for wigs.

Sorry for the lower quality of this picture, but this is what it looks like from the back. 

I enjoy my hair a lot more when it's short, although my ideal is just a few inches longer than this, because there are a few strands around my neck that won't stay in a ponytail. In just a month or two it will be ponytail ready, and that is my favourite length, I think.

I will now return to my foolfproof plan of not cutting, trimming, or doing anything at all to my hair for the next two to three years, and allow my hair-crazy scalp to get to work producing another donation.

Beach Finds

While walking on Makara Beach (pictures in last week's post - click here to see it), I found lots of interesting things. You never know what the waves will wash up on the shore, and it is fun to walk slowly and see what you notice.

This the the first kina I've found, and I was quite excited, not only because they're beautiful, but because they're in a waiata (song) we sing with the children. Kina are native NZ sea urchins, and both the spiny outside and the patterned inside are beautiful. They are also a valued source of food, and were particularly important for Māori before Europeans came.

I know it's sad that it's dead, but how cool is this puffer fish skeleton? I love that you can see the balloon-like body and the spines.

I don't know what this is or why it is there. It has hooks at both ends and was obviously part of something, but I don't know what it would have been. (In case you can't get a sense of scale, I could probably just barely wrap my arms around it).

These big seaweed plants are all along the beach, and I couldn't help but think how much they look like octopuses (which I looked up, and is a correct plural of octopus). 

When I stopped to look at one closer, I realized that when they dry up, they are very hard and brittle. I broke off a "tentacle" and saw this amazing crystalline structure inside!

After some looking, I found a more rounded one, so you can see the inner structure even better. It's papery and thin, but incredibly strong!

I also found one that had been caught under a log, so part of it had dried in the sun, and part of it stayed wet. You can tell which side is which. I assume the wet side is also starting to rot, but it was amazing to feel how it was all floppy and had no internal structure when it was wet, and then was completely hard when dry.

It's hard to tell, but can you see that the black stem toward the left is holding up a shell off the ground? It's like a seashell flower! I don't know how this happened, or if it is intentional on the part of one or the other organism, but it's very cool, and I've never seen it before.

Very sadly, I also found this beautiful Kororā (Little Penguin) that had been killed. I felt terrible for the little thing, as it looked like something (probably a dog) had bitten its head. Then I got angry, because there are signs all over the place, on this beach as well as many others, telling people not to bring their dogs there (or sometimes just to keep them on a leash). I watch people ignore these signs all the time, and I can just imagine that someone's dog ran up carrying this poor little penguin, and the owners made the dog drop it, but of course it was too late. These amazing penguins' population is declining, and pet dogs and cats are the number one threat they're facing, which really means that irresponsible pet owners are wiping them out. I'd like to believe better of people, but the evidence is right there!

Sorry to end on a negative note, but I do think we all need reminders from time to time that our personal decisions affect the wider world around us, and we need to make sure that our impact is what we want it to be. I don't think anyone wants to kill penguins, but our behaviour needs to change.