Posts Tagged ‘New Zealand’

happy st. patrick’s day everyone! i won’t be celebrating with corned beef and cabbage, but i will start today off by sharing some photos of green things around me.

i hope that your st. patrick’s day is full of sunshine and greenery!

may you live a long life
full of gladness and health,
with a pocket full of gold
as the least of you wealth.
may the dreams you hold dearest,
be those which come true,
the kindness you spread,
keep returning to you.

pretty evergreen

reusable shopping bag from new zealand

hartford whalers rugby shirt

elsie's green eyes

red sox hats

wild chives in the yard

our screen door - sounds like a camp door when it slams shut

my neighbor's awesome green car

reusable shopping bag from 08-08-08

my marmot jacket

who doesn't need a rugby shirt from an irish pub in hong kong?!

reusable produce bags from new zealand

peace flag in the back yard

for the first few weeks of our time together in new zealand, we stayed in a beach town called new brighton. it is just a short bus ride from chirstchurch city centre, and is a great place to unwind.

just off the pier there, is an amazing man named peter donnelly who creates amazing artwork in the sand! he rides his bike to the beach, and makes beautiful and breathtaking artwork in the sand. we were able to watch almost the whole process one day AND chat with peter himself!

he never plans out what he’s going to draw, he just comes to the beach and draws whatever comes to him. it was such a cool thing to watch!

some of these photos were taken by kevin, the first day we went to see him. the second bit of sand art was created by the time we got to the beach, so we didn’t see peter that day.

if anyone is in the norwalk, ct area – tonight there will be a screening of the short film ‘sand dancer’ about peter!

photo by kevin - peter's bike

many more awesome pics here!

way back in november when we were still on our grand tour of new zealand, kevin and i stayed with some extended family in the auckland area. on one of our days there we took the bus from their house down to the city, and then took a ferry over to devonport.

devonport is home to the devonport naval base, home of the royal nz. navy. there are tons of little antique shops and cute cottages, not to mention devonport chocolate which was pretty amazing. however it was pissing down rain and a miserable day.

we opted to take a bus tour of devonport when we arrived, and it was well worth the money!

auckland from the devonport shore

more pics here

larisa (my coworker) and i took a nice trip out of town a few weeks ago and did a 2 hour horseback trek. the owners are lovely folks, and all the horses are former race and rodeo horses. these horses live to run, and they love racing each other in empty paddocks.

we had a great day, and lovely views!

they look so calm waiting for us

pretty horses!

a few weeks ago i was lucky enough to take a little drive out to akaroa with some of my friends. it is a cute little village by the sea that was settled by the french way back in the day. there is a very fierce french history here (we just missed the french festival by a few days!) i plan on going back later in the trip – and can’t wait to do a little bit more exploring.

akaroa harbor

click for more photos

i have been spending an inordinate amount of time in the botanic gardens here. its so nice to be here in spring! i am missing fall at home, but i’m enjoying all that the gardens have to offer me here!

eucalyptus tree

more pretty flower photos

i am back, and loving the ice again. sorry it has taken me so long to get anything up – due to my deploying straight to christchurch and then coming straight to the ice i had to wait to get the laptop screened by the awesome guys in IT and have it set up for winter wireless in my dorm (sooooooo much better than the dialup i used last time i was here!)

But wait there’s more…