Paradise enough..

Just trying .. having blogging isues 

Woo-hoo!
It worked!

These photos were taken during our Abel Tasman Coast walk.

It was fabulous.
We walked over 50 kilometres, staying in four huts.
No power.
Sleep when the sun went down.
Waking with the birds.
 Beech and manuka forests and golden sand beaches and crystal clear blue sea.

 A week after our return, two Jehovah's Witnesses appeared at my sister's door. 
Opening their Watchtower mag. they showed her a picture of Paradise,
a beautiful beach and sea and shining skies ...etc etc.
"Would you like to live there one day?" they asked.
  She threw up her hands in glee
"I was there!  Last week!
I walked the Abel Tasman Coast walk!
It was paradise!
Truly!"

It is so long since I blogged!
It feels good to be back!

Happy Christmas season everyone!
xoxoxo

A small boat dropped us on this beach, Apple Tree Bay.
Golden sands and clear blue sea.
A beautiful place of peace and quiet. 

No time to stop.
On with our packs and we are off. 

Walking the Abel Tasman Coast Walk,
through beautiful beech forest
with riroriro the gray warbler singing all the way,
along with fantails and tui.  

Zigzagging our way up hills and down into more beautiful golden sandy bays.
Late spring, we feel we have the tracks to ourselves.  

We have four huts to stay in, but there is no power
and no cooking facilities.
We carry all our food and cookers.
Food tastes doubly delicious after a long walk.
Lunch on the way and cooling off with a swim
refreshes us for the next leg of the walk.

Our first hut is in Anchorage.

nested into the manuka bush it is a perfect spot. 

The rock formations intrigue us. 

We take the beach path.
That means shoes off and a paddle, watching crabs scuttle away from us.

Another boil up on the trail. 

A swing bridge over a river.
There was a graceful seal swimming up river. 

Another hut on a restful inlet.
Bark Bay.

We shared this hut with a delightful pair of young girls from Germany,
and a young couple from Israel. 

The clear sea of the most beautiful blue. 

The view from my sleeping bag at hut number three,
Sunrise at Awaroa. 

Exploring rocks after a swim at yet another beautiful bay. 

On the way to the last hut..
and a surprise swing. 

The final hut at Whariwharangi.  

We walk to the top of Gibb's hill on the last day of our trek. 

Manuka flowers.

More than 50 kilometres walked.
We travelled back to Kaiteriteri by boat,
feeling very pleased with ourselves.

2012 has been a year of wonderful travel for me.
To finish the year with this walk
through our own unique and wonderful country
was a fitting way to end a special year.
I came home feeling fit and on a real high,
grateful to be alive on this amazing planet !

Van Dusen Gardens, Vancouver. For Heather..

We took the path
through the autumn trees
of this beautiful Canadian garden...

 to the autumn
Garden of Heather. 

A garden of rest and peacefulness,
of muted colour and quiet beauty.
There I thought of my friend,
Heather.

White heathers
for love and protection.
Wild, white heather
grows over the final resting places of fairies,
the old Celts say.
White Heather..
bring blessings of protection for
Heather, my friend,
who has lately known illness,
I whispered. 

Purple heathers
for beauty and solitude and admiration.
I thought how I admired Heather, this friend of mine,
who is wise and close to the earth and its mysteries.
How she loves the solitude of bush and sea. 

I gathered five small conifer cones
from the ground

and carried them
as I walked.

When I lingered I made small shrines
amongst the  heathers.

Five cone wishes for Heather
of
health and wealth,
of happiness and love
and one for the
abiding peacefulness of personal bliss. 

 The boat of the First Nations people,
looked ready and waiting for the next long journey..
waiting for water
and a willing crew.

I placed my five wishes
in the boat for Heather...
A journeying woman.

Five wishes
on stone steps for the climbing
of life challenges.

Five wishes on a tree
for the healing
of green energy.

Five wishes on rock for
strength and protection..

and five wishes placed for
the gift of
creativity.

Five wishes by a fairy clock
that time will befriend her, 

and five wishes on pathways
still to explore. 

So,
my walk through this
Garden of Heather
magically turned out to be
a gift of remembering
and wishing...

a walk
for a friend,
full of blessings and love.
A gift to you..
Heather,
my friend.
xoxoxoxo

Springtime.. it's the simple things:

Daisies on a green lawn.
How can a girl resist

the simplicity
of stringing them together 

in a chain of thoughtfulness. 

Daisies
in a small glass vase
picked
on a springtime walk.
How could I resist
such simplicity
and the memories.


Daisy Chains

Ruthie Walker
and me
in the greening time
picking daisies
in the spring grass
on the front field

split the stem
gently with a fingernail
and thread through the next flower

longer and longer
daisy chains
and dreaming
sunshine and whispy clouds
 across blue blue skies
dew damp grass
and daisy chains..

just fourteen
 Ruthie Walker
and me
making
dreams of what will be

Hello friends.
Look where my sister linda and I have been..
Vancouver, Canada.

Staying with Steve and Ann
in their 26th floor apartment
in the centre of this beautiful city.

We left Springtime at home in New Zealand,
but here it was unmistakably Autumn. 

We had such a wonderful time.
We visited the Anthropology Museum and loved the indiginous art.

We found ourselves in the middle of a film shoot as we explored the city. 

The city is clean and spacious and reminded us a little of home. 

Vancouver is a great walking city with lots of surprises,
like the Steam Clock.
(Oamaru .. eat your steam punk heart out!) 

We loved the water taxi ride over to Granville Island.

We spent an afternoon exploring the lovely Van Dusen gardens. 

Ann took us on a racoon hunt right there in the city. 

How surprised we were when these enchanting wild creatures
joined us on a Stanley Park walk! 

We ate pumpkin pie and pumpkin cheesecake.
and drank hot spiced pumpkin lattes .
We also ate Beaver Tails
up in Whistler!

Steve detoured off the highway on the way to Whistler,
hoping we might spot a bear, but it began to snow.
The higher we went the more the snow fell.
The bears, Steve said, would be hunkering down for the winter.
Now Linda and I live in a no snow place

so we were very excited despite no bears.
We stopped the car and played in the snow
and laughed with happiness as the soft snow fell on us. 

Whistler was a magic.
We ate Beaver Tails, hot and delicious with maple syrup.

Now eating Beaver Tails was a new treat experience,
and so too
was Bubble Tea!
I've never tasted anything like it.
Would someone please bring Bubble Tea to NZ!

Back in the city, Steve and Ann took us up Grouse Mountain.
Snow had fallen the night before. 

It was like being in a Christmas card.
Linda and I felt so blessed to be in this snowy wonderland. 

The mountain in the distance , glowing in the sunset,
is Mount Baker, USA.

Linda and I returned to NZ on Friday.
 Warm Spring is here,
green and lush,
but my head and my heart are full of happy memories
of beautiful Vancouver.
Thank you Steve and Ann
for a wonderful two weeks !

xoxoxo