Comet McNaught put on a beautiful show, and we had front row seats from our own deck. To get even better views, we walked up the hill behind our house last week, which was packed since the local astronomy club and lots of neighbours were braving the winds and enjoyed the sight with binoculars, telescopes and the naked eye. From the comfort of our own home, I have made a few photos.
Last Saturday, it was a year ago since I’ve defended my PhD thesis on a nerve wrecking Friday, the 13th of January. And a year later, I’m on the beach at Lyall Bay, paddling in the water and not thinking about anything else than catching a wave and avoiding jelly fish.
The Cook Straight separates New Zealand’s North and South Islands. Ferry services operate across this treacherous stretch of sea, apparently even in extremely nasty weather. I’m feeling sick even just watching this from my comfi chair… (thanks Wellingtonista)
[youtube]l6TAGK86WfE[/youtube]
Lots of surfing last weekend, and I had some of my best rides ever!
We didn’t expect much in terms of swell on Saturday - we couldn’t see because the ocean was hidden by dense fog - but we took our boards out for a paddle in Lyall Bay anyway, because it never hurts to build some arm muscle… It was glassy with about 1/2 ft of swell, and we managed to catch some very small waves and had a lot of fun.
On Sunday, the south coast was flat as, but there was a brisk northerly blowing so we decided to try our luck at Titahi Bay. It was messy and windblown, but there was about a foot of swell. We had tons of fun, there were lots of surfers out there and I suddenly got everything right and had some of the best rides ever.
When you’re learning, your abilities often seem to increase with jumps rather than gradually. After performing at more or less the same level for a while, something in your mind ‘clicks’, everything falls into place and suddenly you’ve advanced miles. That’s what I experienced yesterday.
I suddenly got everything right, most importantly, I finally got my bottom turn right! By staying low on the board during takeoff, I was able to push the board through the turn to increase my speed, and before I knew it my board was speeding down the line, slotted in the upper half of the wave. By stepping backwards and forwards on the board I maintained proper trim and rode a few waves all the way to the beach.
I was so stoked I couldn’t stop smiling for an hour! Can’t wait to go out again, which will be today, after work, I hope…
Our local surfshop called today to say that our boards were fixed already. Hurray! They did a great job, so big thanks to our favourite local surfshop Reefside!
Summer appears to have finally started - rain was forecast for the entire week, but metservice had changed its “forecast” for yesterday - after the fact, but who cares. Anyways, we’re having warm, sunny and calm weather for two days now and everyone is enjoying it to the max. Lifeguards have something to do at last now that Wellingtonians are roaming the local beaches, and cafe courtyards are filled with jandal and teeshirt wearing people. I had a great swim in Lyall Bay yesterday night, it seems that the ocean is getting warmer every day.
As always, our sunset was a spectacular sight, red skies and a purple bay. Check out the pictures!
Hi everyone, and a happy new year to all of you! We haven’t posted to our blog since christmas, because we’re still not connected to the internets at home. Fortunately, things are really quiet at work, so I’m writing this post from the office, while trying to look busy…
So, what have we been up to? We’ve had our first christmas and new year’s in summer, although the weather has been less than spectacular. Well, I guess you could call the coldest December in 60 years spectacular, but you know what I mean…
We were going to celebrate new year’s at a bach (a traditional kiwi holiday home) with friends, on the west coast north of Wellington. We tossed a mattress, chilly bin and some clothes in our van and off we went!
But not before we added some essential accessories to our car: hawaii leis and our hula girl, transplanted from our old Volkswagen camper:
On our way to the bach, we made a few stops. First up was the world’s most modern dutch windmill, De Molen in Foxton! After fifteen years of planning, development and building, an actual, working, full scale dutch windmill was completed in the year 2000. The windmill features a shop that sells dutch treats such as speculaas, and a variety of flours produced by the mill. It was amazing to stand on the windmill’s platform, speaking dutch to the millers and looking out over the flat scenery - almost as if we were in Holland. But not quite: the palm trees were a bit out of place…
After this memorable visit, it was time for us to move on to our special friends Graeme and Joan in Wanganui. We had a great time at their place last year during our travels through New Zealand and we talked about our intention of moving to Wellington. It was so great to see them again! We had a nice dinner with plenty of wine and a good night, and the next day we left for Waikawa, to the bach.
The bach was packed, lots of people came to Waikawa and we spent our time going to the beach, playing street cricket and touch rugby, or one of the million games everyone brought. We brought Koehandel (Cow trade) which was an instant hit. Sleeping in our van was very comfortable, it’s a great car! The beach was nice, but the weather wasn’t - due to the cold southerly winds.
A kiwi new year’s wouldn’t be complete without lots of barbie food, so Cedric brought his barbecue and grilled food for everyone.
On new year’s day we drove the 2 1/2 hours back to Wellington. The cold weather lasted for a few days, but after that it became fine. Pōhutukawa, or New Zealand Christmas Tree as they’re also known, are flowering around the holiday period and these beautiful trees grow everywhere in Wellington.
While the sun was out we even went for a swim in Island Bay. It’s so nice living close to the beach: Just walk down in togs (what are togs?) with a towel, jump in, freeze your tits off and walk back. It’s great!
Hi, we're Will and Gert. In September 2006, we moved from Utrecht, the Netherlands to Wellington, New Zealand, exactly 18,558 kilometers away, as the crow flies.
We arrived on 9 September 2006, 12:20pm
© 2007, Feestpaleis.net
