Blogs from Lake Tekapo, South Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 4

A slightly shorter week between games for us, with only 6 days to tour some more of this amazing country. We set off for Twizel (pronouced Twyzel), hoping to see some Maori cave art, but unfortunately erosion had caused the area of rock to collapse, which is a dreadful shame. We are planning on visiting another area when we visit Roturua on the north island though. We had planned to stay in Twizel until we met up with a lovely welsh couple whilst viewing Mount Cook and they said that we should visit Lake Tekapo a few kilometres north as there was an observatory which was worth a visit and the area was amazing. So we changed our plans and shot off there instead.......and boy were we glad we did, as we finished up going on ... read more

New Zealand day 3 Aaaahhhh the serenity- how’s your serenity? Ours is great thanks- on the shore of LakeTekapo...bit bloody cold, but in a park again (electricity for the heater & Rays breathing machine). Keep saying we will venture out into the ‘camping’ but have yet to find a place that is suitable.....and warm. Funny that- it is autumn after all. And speaking of autumn- damn it is beautiful- yes the weather/temperature is ‘fresh’, but the colours of the tres as they change & drop their leaves is beautiful...stunning really. This morning we woke to.....no rain- bugger me.......that was a new one! It was a bit misty/overcast, but nothing that a few hours of shopping couldn’t fix. Went to a craft shop or two, tried on some merino wool products- price tag to match. Had a ... read more

After some much needed sleep last night, Evan and I were up early to visit a local retired art teacher and Maori art advocate. Gavin was an incredible, incredible wealth of experience. We were welcomed into his home freely, and the moment we walked in we saw it: The living room table was completely covered in his beautiful instruments. The first few minutes were just filled ith Evaan and I picking up the instruments and admiring their beauty. The culture places a huge emphasis on decorating their instruments with meaningful carvings. Most of the instruments we saw were beautiful carved with figure of the Maori gods, or depictions of some of their legends. What really impressed me most about Gavin was his interest in interplaying the Arts and Nature. What inspiried this study mostly was the ... read more

I was still tired this morning, so I didn't do anything but laundry. I gave it two hours' worth of drying in the dryer, and it was still only damp-dry, so I've hung it on a clothesline. I haven't used a clothesline in thirty years, but I think I still remembered how to hang the clothes to best advantage. I finally found some postcards with the Church of the Good Shepherd on them which will serve as Christmas cards. I have mailed them to those friends and family who are not reading my blog. I figure those who are know where I am and what I'm doing better than a Christmas postcard could tell them. ... read more

The stargazing was everything I could have hoped for. They lent us free winter coats, and they had one big enough for me. In fact, mine wasn't even the largest size. It fit *over* my winter-weight windbreaker. I was very, very layered; ordinary underwear, silk underwear, clothes, jacket, winter-weight windbreaker, and winter coat. But I needed every bit of it in the northerly wind on that mountain. I was comfortably warm, but never hot, except on the bus travelling up the mountain to the observatory. My $80 bought two full hours of stargazing time, plus half an hour each way of transportation. I got back to Tailor-Made Tekapo well after 1 a.m., completely disrupting my sleep schedule. (I'd been getting to bed by 7:30 or 8 and to sleep by 8:30 or 9.) They were ... read more