July/August Chronicle

Pumpkin soup.

Morning sunshine is legit.

Knitting a jumper for my favorite T.V. program.

Taking the kids to the park turns out the be not the best idea.

Got to fly in a helicopter.

Proof.

A fun view of Auckland. I'm glad I got to see it this way.

So glad for the sun. It warms my soul.

I liked the texture I saw.

Afternoon sunlight through the window does me good too.

Texture. Different background.

The days are now getting longer. Thanks, Baby Jesus.


That is all for now. Maybe another chronicle soon.

Here. A present for you.

So, the girl was cleaning out her beside table-drawer and as we were talking, she said, "I found some mints. You can have them." They were identical to the tin I had bought a few weeks back. Almost full too.
She should've cleaned earlier. I would've saved like, 3 dollars or something. Have I complained on here about the price of things in New Zealand?
(my blog editor doesn't recognize Zealand as a word. It suggests "Zeal and" instead.)
Well, at least I have enough tins to last me twice as long.


The Knitting Manny. Coming soon. And my obsession with containers, will it end? Or am I doomed to carry empty jars in my suitcase forever? "It'll be useful someday, right?"

Going as Far South As Ever Before

Or, "If there was no gravity, I'd've fallen off the Earth."


I may or may not have done a dance when I saw I had 8 subscribers. Thanks, guys!


This is the last of my South Island photo-journeys.

Takitimu Mountains. Important in the Maori legend of the creation of New Zealand.

The most south-western point of the NZ highway system. The sun shone over the incoming rain.

As I wore layers and layers of socks, my blisters healed in two days.

Day four gave me THIS little gem. I was so pleased.

Thanks, Invercargill. This is how I feel about you when I have to walk around the hostel to get to the shady alleyway car park because the gates are locked.

But after the rain comes the rainbow.


Forget Land of the Long White Cloud. It should be Called Land of the Brightest Rainbows Ever. How do you say that in Maori?

Typical south New Zealand farmland scenery.

Grass tussocks down south.

I think here is where the filmed Fantasia. You know the part where Mickey is a sorcerer and is conjuring up waves. You don’t know?


This part.

Running to get a self-portrait.

And there we go. As close to the South Pole I’ve ever been.

Well, THIS is as close as I’ve ever been to the South Pole.

On the other side of the crashing waves was this scenic landscape.

Chilling at Nugget point.

Windy up there, but pretty incredible view.


Little Nuggets.

Check it out!

Looking up.

Looking down.

Looking tired.

Central Otago landscapes. No big deal. NBD.

I think at this moment, God was finger-painting with clouds.

The Remarkables. North side!

 The morning I left, this treasure greeted me on the way to the airport.

The end.

Happy Birthday, America.

This one's for you!

That One Time I Slept on a Boat...

This is the second of my three photo-journeys in the South Island.

I took a trip north of my moose-hunting expedition to explore Milford Sound. I had to cross a mountain range to get there.

The only way was through a tunnel that was made using hand-picks during the World War II era.  The inside looked as dangerous as it sounded.

I was happy to be able to see this on the other side.  As I was going through the tunnel, a large bus was driving towards me, and it seemed that he was inching towards me ever so slightly.  What you don’t realize is that there was about four inches of extra space in the whole tunnel.  I kept sucking my gut in to help the car squeeze through the gap.  I thought I was going to die.

I arrived at the ship minutes before departure.

That white dot is another three-story cruise ship dwarfed by the sides of the mountains beside the fiord.

We had a clear, rain-free day, with a chance to sail straight toward the sunset to see the sun disappear over the Tasman Sea.

The setting sun lit up where it touched the fiord’s walls.

The setting sun in the first time zone.

Watching the sea waves roll along, silently bobbing us up and down.

The next morning, we had the chance to see the fiord up close, in kayaks.

I was super excited. My gloves got soaked through.

The fiord, and our ship, in the morning.

Thank you, Real Journeys, for this opportunity.

Look at the reflections in the water.

Stirling Falls are as tall as Niagara Falls.  The mountains just dwarf it.

The bottom part of the falls. The Maori name has to do with a water bird.  An apt description of the mist, I think.

Saying goodbye to the fiord.

Before I had to return through the tunnel, I got to stop in a moss-covered forest,

and catch my breath before going through the tunnel.

I made it safe out the other side and got to see some snow blowing off the top of the mountain. Christina, I think, is her name.

Heading back I stopped by Mirror Lake.

The End.