Hi there, and thanks for the recap of your NZ adventure! It all looks so lovely, and I want to go back, too! It's been 27 years!
How is your ankle doing? And was there any more about the "died tragically while saving a whale"? I wonder what exactly happened there. Wonderful photos! I can almost smell the lavender. :)
NZ really is lovely - at least the parts I've seen so far! I agree - 27 years is much too long between visits, I can't believe it took me mumblety-mumble years to get there to start with...
My ankle was okay after tripping on it, strangely - although maybe the pain of tearing into my skin just distracted me so that I didn't notice it in comparison!
I googled what happened to Thomas Brent Smith - there's a news report here. He was trying to free the whale from craypot lines it had got tangled in - someone had stopped his boat and told him about it, and he'd got his scuba gear and gone to help - when it lifted its tail and brought it down on him. It was filmed by someone on a whale watch boat apparently. The report says his body wasn't found though - I wonder if it has been since...
More fascinating travels! The hills of wherever look very similar to the Serra de Estrela (mountains of the stars) in Portugal. Though there, the lack of trees is all down to forest fires... And although we have fab beaches with some of the highest waves in the world (according to surfing 'records') we don't have seals, so far as I know!! I do like your blue flowers - any close ups?
I'm saying no seals but I don't really know - however, we've been to most parts of the coast and have never seen any. It will be too hot for them most of the year, I suppose, and we don't have rocky promontories or many deserted beaches. It's mostly long windswept Atlantic dunes then when you turn the corner at the southern end it's wall-to-wall tourists at most times of the year.
We do have wild lupins all over the place and I adore them but they're usually marching along beside roads, not filling whole fields!
And yes, travel and getting to know different regions is definitely cool!! Especially when you have friends who share their travels with you!!
Gorgeous! I so love the lavender fields. Saw some while in England and was totally enchanted. Oh, but seals! A whole colony of them! How great was that?
NZ is rather gorgeous! *g* I rather like lavender fields too - something about that shade of purple... though I'm also very partial to a poppy field, and really any field covered in flowers, I suppose... *g*
And hee - seals! They are pretty cool and flobbily, but I must admit it would have been even cooler to spot a whale... *g*
And more magic - gorgeous photos. The sea looks almost static in that lefthand one, and I see what you mean about the second - whatever is your laptop (or your camera?) doing to it?
Have been poking about the website of the hostel - did you have time to do any of the ukelele learning, or to find the baking box? It sounds fun.
You're not having much luck with legs, are you? If that was last week (?), then I hope it is much improved now.
I didn't manage to either learn ukulele or find a baking box, I was too sleepy when I got back that night! Another time, maybe - I wouldn't hesitate to stay there again.
My leg is much better now, thanks to my long-delayed reply, thank you! Just a few scrapes and scabs left (although my elbow has got a rather impressive looking white scar at the moment! "Ah yes," I shall say, "I got that at Perilous River, New Zealand..." - probably won't mention that it was when tripping over in the car park... *g*
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It all looks so lovely, and I want to go back, too!
It's been 27 years!
How is your ankle doing?
And was there any more about the "died tragically while saving a whale"? I wonder what exactly happened there.
Wonderful photos! I can almost smell the lavender. :)
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My ankle was okay after tripping on it, strangely - although maybe the pain of tearing into my skin just distracted me so that I didn't notice it in comparison!
I googled what happened to Thomas Brent Smith - there's a news report here. He was trying to free the whale from craypot lines it had got tangled in - someone had stopped his boat and told him about it, and he'd got his scuba gear and gone to help - when it lifted its tail and brought it down on him. It was filmed by someone on a whale watch boat apparently. The report says his body wasn't found though - I wonder if it has been since...
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I do like your blue flowers - any close ups?
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No more close-ups of the lupins, I'm afraid, although if you double-click they'll be bigger. I did think about it, but it was breezy... *g*
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We do have wild lupins all over the place and I adore them but they're usually marching along beside roads, not filling whole fields!
And yes, travel and getting to know different regions is definitely cool!! Especially when you have friends who share their travels with you!!
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And hee - seals! They are pretty cool and flobbily, but I must admit it would have been even cooler to spot a whale... *g*
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Have been poking about the website of the hostel - did you have time to do any of the ukelele learning, or to find the baking box? It sounds fun.
You're not having much luck with legs, are you? If that was last week (?), then I hope it is much improved now.
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My leg is much better now, thanks to my long-delayed reply, thank you! Just a few scrapes and scabs left (although my elbow has got a rather impressive looking white scar at the moment! "Ah yes," I shall say, "I got that at Perilous River, New Zealand..." - probably won't mention that it was when tripping over in the car park... *g*
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