Something to smile about.

Here is a short promotional video about the city of Hamilton.

Winter is officially here. The days seem shorter, everything is always wet either from rain or from dew, and the mornings will soon be getting frosty and even colder. YIPPEE! I have been waiting for this for a long time it seems; looking forward to the winter rains, the snowy peaks and the moods Mother Nature goes through to produce this fine landscape all around me.
In less than 2 weeks, we are heading south to the South Island for a few weeks of camping and adventure. Camping in winter I hear you shriek with surprise? We have all the right equipment and look forward to the company of nature and weather along our journey. We will be fine…..hmmm.
My next journey beyond that will be back to Australia in September for the second of my residential schools for University. This time I will be spending a week out at Mt Lawson Nature Park, between Albury and Corryong, where I will be trapping and monitoring all types of flora and fauna. Much better than sitting in a classroom.
My family recently came for a visit which was great. My sister, brother in law and two nieces hired a motor home and trekked off around the North Island, while Mum came to stay with us for a week. Everyone spent the last few days here at our house before flying back to Australia again. I hope they enjoyed it as much as we did.
Other than that, all is well on the home range. Work continues to take up much of my time, so lucky I have a pretty good job. We try to get out and do walks or go camping or other interesting things on our days off. This helps keep that ‘holiday’ feeling I experienced when we first arrived in New Zealand. As they say, all work and no play………..

I have fond memories from my childhood, waking to the drumming of rain on the tin roof of our house. It’s constant yet calming sound soothed me immensely and I found it more enchanting and nurturing than anything else in life. Growing up in one of the driest regions of Australia, the sound of rain was a rare experience but rain is present in so many of my earliest and fondest memories. From modest beginnings, I found myself yearning for this enchanting and nurturing energy. Moving to New Zealand it could easily be assumed I would be getting more than I could tap in to, almost becoming blasé about the sound of rain. But even in the middle of winter when it can be wet for days, a small part of me dries up when that magic sound stops. I look to the skies, searching for the musician to begin the orchestra again. Nature is the composer and the conductor. Nature is the provider of this magic and enchantment, and each time it plays I am a boy again in my childhood bed, being soothed and nurtured into the person I am today.

Our prime purpose in life is to help others. And if you can't help them, at least don't hurt them. (Dalai Lama)