Our girl in wanaka

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I think I'm getting into a rhythm with my travelling now, I spend 1 day travelling, 1 day being adventurous and 1 day being calm, then back to the beginning. 
Today was the calm day, and therfore tomorow is travelling. It really has been a very relaxed day, it started well with breakfast by the lake front, and continued with a gentle walk along the shores of the lake. 
The shore is made up of mica rich, shaded grey rock of different size, from a rough sand through to pebbles, and reaching out into the water, like piers, boulders are strewn haphazardly, the dull grey rocks are transformed by the mica which glints and sparkles in the mid day sun. As you sit on the beach and dig your hands into this rough textured broken down sandstone they come out with a chalky balm that glitters and softens. 
The walk along the bank takes me past gentle rolling hills and my first vinyard. The straight rows of vines lead inticingly up the hillside, they are covered in a white netting and look like balls of candyfloss on sticks. The few plants that are free from protection are drooping, laden with small deep purple grapes, tightly packed together so it is difficult to see where one starts and the previous ends but the texture of the colour and the depth of the shadow show just how many there are. 
I got back from my walk in the late afternoon just as a couple of showers took the heat out of the day. the hostel (purple cow) has huge portrait windows looking out out over grassy slopes and directly down to the lake, I sat by one of these windows and read my book until late, the little room was warmed by the last of the sun and I got to see the sunset out over the lake, the sky was piercing blue and the clouds shocking pink until suddenly the sun disappeared behind the mountains and all was dark. When I at last made my way back to my room the quick walk from the main building to the dorm took me outside, where I happened to glance up at the stars, the sky was so clear and the heavens so black that the infinamtesimal amount of glittering sliver specks over whelmed me and I stood for ages just looking at the cosmos, all the individual stars and clouds of lightly coloured space dust and felt tremendously happy that even though I'm miles away from home the distance between the stars and me and them and home is still pretty much the same. I went to bed with a contented smile on my face.  

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