Happy new Year belated

Hi everyone,
I don't actually have much of an internet access these days, seeing as it requires the going to town 30 km away and/or being there when the library is open, a.i, not often, so please excuse the silence for those who are used to receiving emails too regularly, and i AM totally thinking of you and miss you (those whom it may concern will recognize themselves...)

Here is a batch of random pics of stuff I've been dong lately..

On my birthday I left Okato with Paul and his dog for a little tour around some of the North island with his truck. We also had a sweet bike in there to go on little day trips :o)
Naes!!!!

2010, Day 1
Artichokes are so pretty!!!
Went to play capoeira at Parihaka Peace Festival (totally awesome, more about it some other day...) http://www.parihaka.com/

Ate some hangi, which cooks in the ground long enough to make it nice and tasty




Saw some funny signs

Knitted a new lopapeysa (...) :D

And went swimming
Hope you're all good!!!

Meira myndir frá Taranaki, Nýja-Sjálandi

He he.. a graceful piece of expression from the Okato Butcher on subject Xmas.. much as I and my twisted sense of humour enjoyed the pun, I wonder what my chickenbuddy made of it.. looks rather sceptical I'd say, hey??

(NB: maybe I've been here too long already, I already started saying "ey" - the local equivalent of "mate" in Oz- at the end of every second sentence..)


As you may have noticed, I enjoy taking pics of flowers at the moment, and because I think they are rather beautiful (the flallas, not the pics) I would just like to share them with you. Because after all, Christmas is all about sharing, ey?
Little starfish I found on the beach on Christmas eve. Yup, I went swimming, and it was NICE! (and wet)

The sheepbuddy (friend of Comrade Chicken) I was sheepsitting


Mount T.

This time it's real..

A Merry Christmas to all of you people I love (or even random strangers)

Special thoughts go to my family, everyone so far away..

Taranaki

Hey peoples!

I really can't be asked to write anything right now about what I've been doing recently, so here are at least a few pics of Taranaki, the area I'm hanging out in at the mo. Let's just sum up the last 2 weeks in a few words: weeding (+ scratching, thanks to tradescantia fluminensis) It may not look like much to you, but the mountain on the right side of the fence is the stuff I've been pulling out of the ground this past week or so.

... mowing lawns , baby-sitting various people's children, which is very nice since I hadn't been exposed to small children for a looooooooooong time, playing capoeira (yay!) thanx to Josh and Hannah and most recently eating a lot of chocolate (sjit, Xmas is almost gone and done with, what excuse will I be able to invoke next?)

Hannah eating a deep-fried equivalent of a mars bar AFTER a fish n' chips BEFORE our last roda. Note the twinkle in the eye. :o)

(Anecdote: did you know there is such a thing as deep-fried pizza?) Summer is here, so there are loads of flowers everywhere....

The beach at Komeni Road. (black sand, like in Iceland)

The countryside on the way to Okato

still on the way to Okato

A spider. The pic is not photoshopped. This week I found out there is such a thing as webless spiders.

Mount TaranakiA possum trap. The inscription made me laugh though (warrior kill trap? ) ..Stony River

Mount T. (again) The rolling hills on the way to Katikara eco-community where I spent a while in a (as said) kind of eco-community- slightly messed up to my taste, but in a nice setting..

On a lighter mind-blowingly funny/perplexifying note, this is a sign one can see in the local petrol-station.

Just in case you felt like taking your fish for a stroll and stopping by to have a pint of petrol on your way, please bear in mind that it is a foolish, foolish thing to do.

I really don't tire of photographing it. It dominates the whole plain.
Mangatete stream, next to Pip and Rich's, where I'm staying now . It's just perfect and cool to bathe in on a hot day, and believe me it's hot, mamma mia!!! ..

Tonight was our last (and awesome) roda for the year, in Pukekura park.. would be nice if we made it a habit :o)

Over the holidays (cause yeah, it's Summer here, so of all the weird things, apart from having the night-sky upside down and seeing Orion tilted on his head all the time, I also experienced my SECOND "longest day of the year" for 2009 yesterday) since we have no capoeira classes I might go and check out the area around Rotorua, but it's as of yet undecided.

The only sure thing is I'll be house-sitting over Christmas. House-sitting, que dis-je... I will be house, but also calf, sheep, and chicken-sitting for some people around here.. Nice :o)

So bye for now, the chicken is calling....