Tuesday, February 14, 2012

A Beautiful Buzz

Just when I thought that living here couldn't get better, something comes along that makes my grin even wider! Last Sunday I went on a 90 minute helicopter trip around the top half of Rakiura - wow, what a blast.

Google map of our route
We started from the Fern Gully heliport and flew west to Mason Bay, then up the west coast to land on West Ruggedy Beach (see red arrow at top left). The 45 minute stopover went amazingly fast, then it was back in the air to fly a bit further north over East Ruggedy Beach then inland to fly over Hananui/Mount Anglem, the highest point of Rakiura. From there we went out to the east coast by Christmas Village and made our way back down to Halfmoon Bay.

Take a look at these pics...

Lift off

Flying in to Mason Bay - Ernest Islands on far left

Looking north from Mason Bay
Whenua Hou/Codfish Island on left

Part of the Ruggedies

Coming in to West Ruggedy Beach
West Ruggedy Beach

Back in the air coming up to East Ruggedy Beach

One of the tarns on Hananui/Mt Anglem
Hananui - the highest point on Rakiura

Coming down the east coast

Glorious bays coming in to Halfmoon Bay at top
Look at that water!

Halfmoon Bay below, Paterson Inlet at top
I am so lucky to live on such a fabulous island - can't wait to do the bottom half!

Sunset on Paradise!



Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Another anniversary

Another milestone yesterday; 40 years since I got my first fulltime job. There has been a lot of water under the bridge since that day and I'm very grateful for the skills that I have learned from all my jobs. I'd love it if I could experience all jobs in the world; surely we'd be a lot more tolerant if we knew what others go through in their work lives?

We had a day without rain on Monday after 20 days of showers. Great to have the water tanks topped up again and mud puddles on the drive. A big surprise was seeing three different-sized kiwi footprints one morning - looks like Mr & Mrs Kiwi have a baby.

The prints were clearer in the morning but I was on the way to work
and didn't have time to go back for the camera
January wasn't quite as summery as December. It was fine and warm for the first week but cooled down considerably afterwards. Rain fell on 24 of the 31 days although I only got wet once thanks to the Weather Gods who are very kind to me. Here are the stats from the http://obanweather.southlandnz.com/ website:


I had a visitor yesterday when I got home from work. What do you reckon this is:




Its body length was between 15-20mm and it had feathery antennae and had wings that opened out as it fluttered down.

I haven't got on top of the blackberry and it's now flowering and starting to set fruit. Maybe I'll have it under control next year but in the meantime I'll enjoy watching the fruit ripen.


Have a fun holiday weekend!