Good Morning Sunshine

Here are the cows getting a morning feed in front of our house. Saves Phil from doing the mowing. Phil is loitering around on the verandah.

Each time I leave New Zealand seems to increase my sense of belonging to my recently adopted country. Upon my return, the sight of rugged coastlines and ancient volcanic peaks stirs feelings of familiarity and comfort. Flying in to Auckland, the rolling green hills smile up towards me as I glow with pride for what is now my new home. The oceans waters flow through the estuaries and bays like the life giving blood in my veins and I realise this land is now part of me.
But it is my love for Australia which will stop these feelings becoming all encompassing. My admiration and bond with New Zealand will continue to grow, but can never replace the years of witnessing the stunning beauty of the Australian landscape. The rugged ranges, endless beaches, lush rainforests and immense deserts are all ingrained in to my psyche. It is what I grew up amongst, it is what I have travelled through extensively, and it is what has shaped me.
So as I move between the two countries I find a gentle balance. There is the homeland which has given me so much and so many memories and will provide so many future opportunities yet to be revealed. Then there is the place of my present, providing me with nourishing and formative experiences, building on what Australia has already provided. As for the future, we can never really know what lies ahead. One thing I do know though is that I have been blessed to have had such rich opportunities to live in either of these amazing places.

“The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.”

Misty morning on the farm.

Cruising right along......

There is a terribly old cliche "Time flies when you are having fun". Not very eloquent or original, but I can;t think of a more suitable way to explain my absence from my updates here. For the first time, I have skipped a month without posting anything, not even a picture! So, to make up for this I am going post a video each month for the rest of my time here. A recent birthday saw an new ipod with amazing video abilities appear in my bag of technological gadgets. While I am still figuring out how to use it like an expert, it does take decent videos without to much intervention from me. The 'cow' video a few postings ago was an example. So, stay tuned for more snippets of life here.....
Apart from being slack with the updates, life is good. I have been trained on the bird section here, which everyone knows is my passion, so I get to do one weekend a month. Not a lot, but enough to feel like I am still maintaining all I learnt about birds while at Adelaide Zoo. The rest of my time is still divided between the chimp sections and all the other primates. At home, we have been out hiking a few times but looking forward to winter snow so we can go snowboarding again. Today is the end of daylight saving so it will be darker earlier, another milestone towards the changes of season.
OK, a quick update, but more to come soon. I need to keep my audience happy don't I............

Not a great deal has been going on lately. It is nearing the end of February, the second month of the year....almost one sixth of our way through 2010! As a teenager I heard a lot of older people keep talking about how time flies as you get older, as well as the classic ‘Where has the year gone?’ comment, but I never really understood these points of view, so I never really believed them. After all, time can go no faster now that I am 40 than it did when I was 20, right? But somehow, with the magic of experience and wisdom in hand, it does. So when I say ‘Not a great deal has been going on lately", it makes me wonder where has the time gone and why don't I have anything to report? Time does really does fly....
If I break it down though, of course I have been busy and not wasting precious time. The daily routines of life in New Zealand have been circling me and creating a whirlpool of energy and events which remain important yet unremarkable at the same time.
One big event that was remarkable was a recent visit from my mother and my oldest niece, Chelsea. They came over to NZ for a week and we went sightseeing and exploring and just spending time together. Another interesting addition to my weekly routine is I have taken up Spanish again, as part of an advanced group for conversation practice. I have been talking to myself in Spanish for years, hoping to retain some of the years of University study sweat, but it is nice to be able to speak to others again.
What does the future hold? In less than two weeks time we will be submitting ourselves to yet another tranquil tropical isle. This time we are off to Niue for a week. Niue is a tiny island with one flight a week, relatively undeveloped and ignored as far as tourism goes - no plush resorts, noisy scenic flights, roaring jet boats, big markets or the western crowds which blight most of the other marketed pacific islands. After our time in Niue, we have a few weeks back at work and then I am heading back to Australia for a 3 day residential school as part of a course I am studying this year. Coincidently it will be at my old work place, Adelaide Zoo.
So, that’s the report so far for 2010. Time really is flying…….