Today was my last day in National Park, and I was lucky enough to be up early and enjoy a gorgeous dawn. There was the tiniest sliver of moon visible when the clouds cleared briefly. On my walk to the coffee cart I heard a helicopter flying back-and-forth, I wondered it was some kind of…

Today was the second summer solstice I’ve had this year. Since I’m in the southern hemisphere the seasons are reversed and today is the longest day. I think I could definitely get used to this! This morning I took the local shuttle to Whakapapa Village to do some hiking. My first stop was to the…

I started the day watching a beautiful sunrise from the comfort of my hotel room. Today I hiked the Tupapakurua Falls Trail. On my walk to the trailhead, I passed the National Park volunteer fire brigade station where there was a large sign thanking the employers of the volunteer firefighters – nice!  The trail started…

I started the day with a final walk around the Orakei Basin near Courtney‘s house, this time early in the morning as the sun was rising. It is such a wonderful neighborhood, and I even found a free little library there! David dropped me off at the train station for the next leg of my…

I’ve had a lovely weekend hanging out with Courtney and her family, not doing much but getting out for walks and sitting around drinking coffee and talking, it’s been very relaxing. Scarlet, their cat mashed her presence known from time to time. It was warm enough tonight to have dinner out on the deck. I…

Talking with Courtney this morning I learned a lot about tax responsibilities of US citizens living abroad. Taxation is based on citizenship not residency in the US (apparently Eritrea is the only other country that does this) and children of US citizens are automatically considered citizens for this purpose (even if there have never lived…

I’ve been keeping my eyes out for funiculars!  The Wellington cable car is the most famous funicular here, but there are literally hundreds of privately owned ones that people use to get to their houses that are up steep hills. The cars are very small and the rail they go on is often very steep! When…

I am heading on the train to Auckland tomorrow, so spent a good part of the day doing laundry and pulling together what I needed for the next week and putting everything else in bags to go to Annemarie’s while I’m gone.  I did manage to get out for a little bit as I wanted…

The day started with the sound of tuis calling as dawn was breaking. I left the window open last night because it was so warm, and when I looked out, I could see a light rain was falling. Since it was still quite warm outside, I opened the door and enjoyed the scent and sound…

Today I went for a wander around Victoria University, otherwise known as Vic Uni. I got there via the cable car from Lambton Quay, the upscale shopping district in Wellington. We went through several tunnels that had lights flashing different colors on and off, it was pretty cool (the kids on the cable car agreed…