Akaroa and Garden Shows

This is at the garden show we stopped at on the way back from Akaroa...in NZ, "Garden Show" = Country Fair, complete with belly dancers, irish dancing demonstrations and small flexible children in poodle skirts kicking up their heels to Elvis.

And this is on the ridge road looking east towards the the coastal bays....

West Cost and Garden Shows

Just got back from a 40km trek up the Copeland River valley to Welcome Flats...what a hike and what a spot...the hotsprings there are still pristine and un-developed which meant we got to squidge around like mud puppies in the mineral laden mud and soak to our hearts content! We had a heavy rain warning that night (Saturday) so we packed up early the next morning and were on the trail by 6am! Time does not exist in nature beyond when it is light and when it is dark. We walked like deamons all the way back and shaved an extra hour off our in time...this suspension bridge was kind of freaky...within the first two feet of it several of the metal stabilizers were broken and hanging at odd angles....but what's an adventure without a little fear right?

These are the people I pal around with. Myself (of course), Sarah the bearded dwarf, Yvonne my elf sidekick, and Ally, the other bearded and corseted dwarf. This is our production of There And Back Again in which Yvonne and I played swinging, singing elves on trapeezes. I'll show you pictures of that soon. And this is in Old Queen's Theatre, the urban glorious performance space that the university obtained after street kids had been squatting in it for years. The walls are adorned with graffiti. My favorite reads, "Stefi was Hair." Was she really.



And this is Rodney Elliott, my crazy Engineer friend and I after I introduced him to Sangria. Two full pitchers of it. Then we thought it might be swell to wander around the sunny Hagley Park on our spanish boozified feet and see what kind of fun we could get up to. Alot apparently.





This is just a small sampling of the fun we found. Jaime in a puff ball. Sweet as bro.








Of course we had to take the color contrasty shots of his ridiculous maroon hair against the pretty little orange azaleas.








And this is Ian Jackson and the trusty Bugs who I get to drive to my eternal bliss. She is a 1957's VW Beetle and adorable. Ian is pretending to be a self-directed marionnette trying to put on shoes in Sumner. I found this excessively amusing.

The day I fell in love with NZ

We rode all day around the Canterbury Plain, stopped in Methven for morning coffee and ended up in Gore Bay for sunset....absolutely GORGEOUS way to see the country....The weather was completely mint and we even got to visit a meadery (yes, where they make mead)!! I would totally recommend seeing NZ on a bike in Spring/Summer. And now I am completely taken with the notion of being bike licensed as well....

My best friend Princess Yvonne
Mr. Elliott, engineer extraordinairre

Men getting ready to sea cast on the pebble beach to Akaroa




Akaroa pier, one rainy Sunday afternoon...

Well, in the meantime...a lesson in Kiwi

Yes, it's been four months since the last entry and yes, heaps has been happeneing, which is why I've been remiss. Where to even start...I've been keeping up with my mysapce blog, but that one is full of all the emotional and psychological things that I've been slogging through here, so it feels a little too personal for Rotarians and casual acquaintances...but, I'll include the link anyhow, just in case you get heaps curious.

http://www.myspace.com/crazynakedgirl

(that's an old college joke from a friend. I warned you!!! :)

For now, I'll just make a nice list of Kiwisms for your enjoyment and amusement.

"Cheap as chips"

Translation: That is very inexpensive.

"Good as gold"

Translation: Everything is cool.

"Sweet as..."

Translation: Things as they stand are fine and agreeable to me.

"Heaps"

Translation: Lots or very. i.e. "It's heaps expensive!" or "I like her heaps!"

"Cheers, mate"

Translation: Thanks heaps.

"Down the gurgler"

Translation: Things are going to hell in a handbasket.

"Rattle ya dags"

Translation: Get your rear in gear.

__

I will endeavour to include other charming Kiwi turns of phrase throughout the rest of my stay here...they usually have one or two fascinating ways of using English that I have never heard, per DAY!

New Zealand

Cloudy land of sun burnt hills,
Clutching at inverted air,
Spinning weather like Arlichino
In his patchwork suit,
Is a harbinger of balance…
A sonnet weighing the soul
As it lists right,
Then left, seeking its level
On seasons that whirl through a day,
Forcing nostrils open
To flare and contract at the scent of snow
And peonies.