A new perspective of our house

Ian went for a rather strenuous walk up the hill opposite where we live. The view from up there is pretty amazing, as I'm sure you'll agree.

To give you some idea of roughly where we live:
See the road on the left? We're at the top of that.

You can see the harbour entrance in the distance and almost the airport.

Today is also the first day of summer (officially). And it certainly feels like it!

The power of Mother Nature

One of the reasons we moved to NZ was for Mother Nature (MN). Our trip out here in October 2009 showed us what she could do and almost how perfect she could make things.

Of course, MN has since showed us her ugly side. Just before we moved to NZ in September 2010, Christchurch suffered a major earthquake. I remember some of our friends asked us if we still wanted to make the move after that.

It did some damage, but wasn't devastating. Then on February 22nd 2011, she gave them another one. Less severe in terms of the Richter Scale, but it somehow did much more damage than the first. We had already booked a weekend in Christchurch over the winter, so we didn't let it deter us.

But we saw first hand what ugly MN can do:

And in this photo below, you can see rows of bluebottle flies, all dead inside a shop that hadn't reopened.

So of course you curse her and wonder why she could do such awful things. Seeing Christchurch like this, with streets cordoned off and roads and pathways still cracked, it makes you thankful for what you have.

Then she'll show you her wonderous side. The one that makes you remember exactly why you came here in the first place. And there are many of those.

A few weeks before our trip to Christchurch, we'd had a lazy morning at home and then decided to head to Lyall Bay for lunch. Word had come through that some dolphins had been spotted in the bay. Now, we've seen dolphins there before, but never tire of seeing a few of these mammals frolicking in the surf.

We pulled over where a few other people were stood and watched a small group of three or four dolphins playing directly out from where we stood. We took some photos and were getting ready to leave when we realised everyone else was looking towards the bay, further inland.

Then we noticed that the water looked like a washing machine. Odd, we thought. It was a pretty calm day. Then it dawned on us that we were watching a VAST pod of dolphins, who had, for some reason, been drawn into the fairly shallow waters of the bay but had just turned and were heading back out to sea. There must have been hundreds of them. Truly amazing. The photo does not do the sight justice.
And similarly, we recently took a trip to Motueka, on the edge of the Abel Tasman National Park. We took the car over as we were camping and enjoyed a couple of days away from home.

On the way back to Picton to catch the ferry, we decided to take the scenic route. After all, it was a glorious day and we had plenty of time. This route takes you along the Queen Charlotte Drive, skirting a number of the beautiful bays around the Marlborough Sounds.

We decided to stop off at a vantage point to get some photos of the scenery. While we were doing that, we spotted another pod of dolphins, this time much smaller, swimming along the coastline below us. This pod even included a couple of calves, who were keen to show off their swimming and jumping skills.

Blissful and serene. And reminds us why we're here. Thank you MN. Love A&I

John Key's New Zealand Prunciation Guide

Annalie's parents can probably testify to how true this is!!

For the rest of you, here's a guide to NZ pronunciation from the Prime Minister (not really!)

Nothing to do with kiwiland

We have celebrated another milestone today that is nothing to do with kiwiland. We met a decade ago to the day.

Blimey! Where'd all that time go?!

Well we certainly haven't been wasting it! This is what we've worked out we've had or done over the past 10 years:

Jobs: Annalie - 5, Ian - 18
Homes: 5 long term, including temporary accommodation, 12
Countries lived in: 3
Continents visited: 5
Cats: 2
Dogs: 1

Either we get bored easily or just have itchy feet!

We've got 2.5 years until we make our 10th wedding anniversary so you've got to wonder...what else can we do in those 2.5 years?!! That's a quarter of the time we've been together so far. There's plenty of scope ;-)

NZ from the air

Our flight from Nelson to Wellington was on a beautiful, clear evening, affording us some lovely views of the scenery.

Below are a selection, including views to d'Urville Island, the Marlborough Sounds, Makara wind farm and Wellington harbour in the distance.

It just provides a different perspective on the country.

A beach birthday

Being November children, our birthdays have always been pretty miserable weather-wise. Usually it's raining. Or cold. Or both. Until we moved upside down.

November is now firmly in the Spring. But with us being in Nelson, the weather was better than normal for us.

We were very lucky to be meeting up with Alison, a friend of Andrea's (Annalie's sister) who moved to NZ two years before us. Annalie and Alison plotted a day out at Rabbit Island, so after a leisurely breakfast, Alison and her family picked us up and off we went.

Rabbit Island is a leisure area just outside Nelson with a fabulous beach, some free barbecues and plenty of open space to play in. We took some food and drinks and chilled out for the afternoon, soaking up the sun and enjoying the company of some new-found friends.

As you can see, Ian's birthday was a stressful affair...

Happy birthday Ian

There's no better way to start your birthday than with a good feed.

So Annalie duly took Ian off to a funky cafe in the heart of Nelson that had been recommended.

Lambrettas, as the name suggests, is themed around the Italian scooter, with a few relics and artefacts dotted around.

The breakfast is also a work of art. Although it didn't stay this way for long...

It must be cold here

Despite the reputation as being the sunniest place in NZ, we've found a certain local craze a bit confusing.

There seems to be a local sport of "dressing" trees and other street amenities in woolly jumpers! It's been chilly here but not that cold!

The centre of the universe!

While in Nelson it seemed rude not to visit the so-called Centre of NZ. It is so-called because it is the location of the country's first trig point. The actual geographic centre is figured to be about 55kms south west of here!

The stiff climb up certainly helped to work off breakfast!

But the views are worthy of the title of the Centre of the country. With the sight of the Tasman Bay, Boulder Bank, the Port and Nelson itself. Not so much Middle Earth, but possibly the Centre of it ;-)

You can take the girl out of Rochdale

We're on a quick visit to Nelson to continue our exploration of our new country.

We decided, courtesy of Grab One, to take a tour of the local Stoke brewery, and bring home a take home pack each (not a bad deal at $13 each!).

We're on the other side of the world, but it sure does feel a lot like home...