Friday, September 5, 2008

Day as a tourist

Its nice to be a tourist in your own locality sometimes. I had the excuse today as Tamsin was visiting from the South Island (or as some Kiwi's call it 'The Mainland'). Since she left our work early this year we'd kept in touch by email and it was good to catch up with her in person and hear about all her "wheeling and dealing" adventures around the country and hear her distinct signature vocal noises.

We drove north for the day to explore Matakana and Goat Island. The rain mostly held off. We stopped on the way to gawp at the bees and taste unusual varieties of honey at the Honey Shop, and to see the beautiful pots and glass work in Morris & James and on the way back we enjoyed a late lunch in the sunny courtyard of the Leigh Sawmill Cafe.

While taking photos of the gnarled, twisted sun-whitened trees at Goat Island Marine reserve I was caught off guard by an extra fierce wave which soaked my suede rockport shoes. I managed to dry them and the one wet sock while we were eating lunch at Leigh. Later at home Zappa took a liking to my salty shoes and licked them clean.

In true Tamsin fashion, she announced that she is a "blue galactic monkey" due to the date she was born in the Mayan calendar and that this is hugely significant to know. I am waiting for her to look up what I am as I feel I must surely be a purple ballistic orangutan

Below Tamsin, Elvis the cow and some other images of the day ...

1 comment:

mariSh said...

I love the trees! They fit into my personal collection of old, gnarled trees!