Lambing season begins, and the first semester of “Ewe”-niversity passes away…
(sorry, I couldn’t resist.)
So the semester has wrapped up! It has certainly flown by! And now, how strange for us as northern “hemisphere-ians” to be facing Spring-time in November and the prospect of Christmas in Summer!?
We’ve never included any photos from around the university itself (at least, I don’t think we have) so here are a few from the last couple months… so you can enjoy the recent foliage: (a note: I wrote this before adding some photos – I’m having trouble getting some we wanted to post to show up; these don’t really show much of the campus, unfortunately…)
(The banks of the Leith.)
Running through the campus is the River Leith. There are lots of trees scattered throughout the open areas, which I like… there are a couple giant Sequoias which, though not GIANT in the true sense of the word (like California or Washington’s), nevertheless remind us of the northwest. I don’t have any pictures of them, but just how the cherry trees in these photos line the river, about a dozen horse-chestnuts line it downstream. (I know they’re horse-chestnuts because Chrissy told me which were which once, the white and pink chestnut tress, and since then I’ve always associated the white with Galdalf’s horse, Shadowfax… I’m not good with the names of trees or plants.)
Exams were interesting. They space them out over quite a long stretch of time so that lectures ended October 13th, my first final was the 19th, the second was November 4th, and the third was this past Friday, the 10th! On the one hand you have loads of time to study, but on the other, loads of time to forget! Although, I think I managed to make good use of my time and felt pretty confident during the exams.
So with finishing Friday at noon, in celebration, we headed back out to the albatross colony. Well, much to our disappointment, the viewing is restricted right now as the mating season is finishing up, eggs are being laid, and they don’t want folks up too close to things. So the fellow at the desk said we ought to come back in two weeks for the best chance to see them. Anyway, we went out to the car park, which is sort of down the hill, effectively behind the nesting area, as they nest on the sea-side of the head, and decided to walk down along the cliffs – there’s always a chance that you may see one coming up from the ocean to land. WELL, after an hour and 45 minutes we lost count after seeing upwards of 25 albatross in flight!! We saw them coming, going, and just doing loops over their nests. It was AMAZING! But the cherry-on-top (or I should say, “cherries-on-top”) was the four that actually swooped down over our heads! One came so close (and scared us both so bad) that I was stunned and couldn’t lift the camera and take a picture. We both sort of let out a shout as he came up from behind us and was no more than six or seven feet away! It really made you feel just how huge they are – his body, stretched out, was the size of either of us, and his wings were massive! This shot below is one of those fly-by’s…
Oh, I almost forgot… as it is spring-time, our landlord’s sheep have just had their lambs! Here are a couple pictures:
Occasionally we can hear their little baaa’s from our house. They all run and play together, like a bunch of little kids! It’s so funny to watch…
Now that school’s out we’re planning to do a bit of travelling. There’s so much to see… we’re looking forward to it. We’re hoping to track down some of the “Lord of the Rings” filming locations as there are numerous on the South Island – we’ll be sure to take plenty of pictures!
We appreciate your comments and are glad you’re enjoying this (though it’s been scant the last couple months!) We’re happy to be sharing these things with all of you…
~Andrew & Chrissy
Maybe that’s why they call them “flippers”…
So last Saturday, Chrissy and I went to the farmer’s market at the train depot in town. It runs from early in the morning until 12 or 1 every Saturday. There’s quite a variety of things you can get there, from fresh vegetables to specialty teas, to raspberry bushes, to Russian cookies, fresh lemonade, monstrous hot dogs, a mocha, a white-chocolate & raspberry muffin, soap, or exotic (aka. moldy) French cheeses! And it’s not that large… just a little of everything. (Yes, I had the hot dog and the mocha (not a wise combination) and Chrissy had the muffin and a cup of tea (much more sensible).)
Unfortunately we don’t have a picture from it, but perhaps one of these weekends we can get one. However, the anecdote for this particular message happened on the way home afterwards…
It was a beautiful day (coming on Spring here) but verrry windy. Nonetheless we stopped at a dock along the water on our way home to enjoy the view. We walked down to the end and sat with our feet dangling over the water. Chrissy had on her flip-flops (jandles, as Kiwis call them), so she took them off and set them next to her so they wouldn’t blow off her feet. Well, (and I’m sure you can see where this is going) the wind gusted a nice ol’ gust and lifted them right up off the dock, through the air and into the water! It was pretty funny so, of course, I laughed. However, Chrissy’s reaction was far more serious than I expected… she clutched the dock and shuffled forward a few inches like she was about to jump in. She said, “ooh! I was just thinking to myself this morning how this was the most comfortable pair of sandals I’ve ever had,” and other things to that effect. I said I was sorry but that it was pretty funny watching them sail through the air. She agreed, but was still rather sad looking, sitting there helpless as her poor flippers swam away with the current. (She thought the better of jumping in as it is not QUITE Spring, only getting there, and the water is in fact still icy cold.)
We watched them go for a while until, finally, the wind actually started pushing them towards the rocks, further down the road, along the bay. So with my footwear still in tact and secure upon my feet, I walked down the road a ways to see if I could catch up to them.
Chrissy, helpless on the dock.
So as I got closer to where they had floated, Chrissy was directing me from a distance, waving her arms and pointing me to precisely where they’d come ashore. And, at length, after looking a bit (black sandals blend in with dark stones) – lo! there they were!
So I brought them back, saturated and salty, and Chrissy was overjoyed!
This picture here will give you an idea of how far they floated…
Far enough.
Needless to say, they’ve been dried out and Chrissy’s been ‘jandling’ about in them ever since… (By the way, they’re Reefs, in case anyone in advertising or marketing is watching. And we accept check or cash.)
~ Andrew & Chrissy
The Adventure in New Zealand 