Waitarere Forest Walk and Playboy Bunnies!!

When a new life in a new country is your fortune and you have an opportunity to re-invent many things in your life, then exercise is one of those things that I've added as a newbie!! Yep yep, previously I got only thumb exercise from remote control usage on weekends!! This Fun Run/Walk is one of those newly added exercise events in my life, but it also has an element of the old in that I've always been a bit of a nature boy!! Gimme the green, the blue, remove the cars, the structures etc, and I'm a happy chappie!!

During our residency celebrations, this event was discussed as a faaaantastic idea by many who attended the celebrations (you'll know who you all are!!) - but, as the time drew closer, one by one the little excuses started rolling in... :-)

In the end, it was Sonja and I alone who were left to enjoy this magnificent event in one of the most beautiful pine forests I've ever been in on a day which was so uniquely scarce in the Kapiti area - fine, cool, sunny, absolutely no wind - it was just perfect!! Yes yes yes - I am trying to make you guys jealous - and I hope the photos show you what a wow event you missed out on!! :-)

Just a number - yep, but I'm in!!

Also just a number, but she wwas there!!

So were many others!!

And what a beautiful day it was!! Getting ready for the 10km...

And here they are!! The bunnies! Sonja soon decided that no way were three bunnies going to beat us, so we up the pace, but the bunnies were good!! They really packed a punch - so the race was on!


Determination set the pace...

The pass! - After a long chase through winding roads, it was in the cool of the forest that new zest surged the vains and the bunnies were left behind...

Well ahead now, we cleared the thick of the forest and proceeded on our path of victory - the BUNNIES were beat!!!!

Such a joy, the whole personal victory thing!

The road ahead no longer posed a BUNNY threat!

But alas, one of the BUNNY memebers decided to pace up, leave her compatriots behind and speed through to the finish line!!

Well, it was a victory regardless of bunnies and what they did - we beat 2 out of the 3 of them, and we completed the whole 10km. And look, medals too! :-)

Residents... We are...
Now it may seem a small thing to many, but anyone who's ever tried to make another country his/her new home has had the many trials and tribulations of dealing with miles of red tape and immigration departments that treat your merits purely on the ink and paper of your application. But finally it was done and we have these "stamps" stuck into our passports that say we have been granted "RESIDENCY"

;-)


So what changed?? Not much, besides that we don't have to go back to SA in the middle of the year. And second, we can now make debt??? Not that we would just jump in and do that - thus far we are living debt free and happy, thank you.

So we are now residents of NZ, living near this beautiful city called Wellington.

Classics

Most of us are of the type that simply point and shoot when we take photos. Why? Well, life's just too short too spend an hour on one photo to get it "just right" becuase you will just feel that you can do better afterwards and by that time an hour is spent and you haven't had any fun yet!! So, if you are anything like me with a camera, you just point, click, review and click again and so on!!

BUT, every once in a while when you sit down to review your shoots some photos stand out as those arty farty types that leave you with a fuzzy feeling. Photos that capture an emotion or an atmosphere which is normally interpreted differently by different people. These shoots also need no captions as the images themselves are stories within themselves.

Here are a few of them, enjoy...

Odd things
Yeah, not just random, but some pics of things that just makes the grade for the wierd and wonderful, and sometimes downright stupid!!

They really thought they were in for the whole trip to Wanganui - JUST STUPID! They were dropped at the kennels for the weekend!!



Breaking a leg in the middle of your holidays is not what anyone can hope for, but this was just classic that he chose this remote dune to go sit down. And we really had a tough time getting him up again!!

Odd! Money Laundry over weekends when kids mess water on monopoly tables!!

Ok, Ok!! JUST STUPID. The whole drinking and driving thing; I get it!! Oh, by the way, the really odd things is the steering of this trike is done with your legs and back!! Quite tricky, but it makes balancing a beer quite easy!!!

Hot steam in Rotorua, all day, everyday!! Just wierd how this earth works!!

No. Don't ask. It's NZ, what can I say...

Bubbling mud pools!! A first for me...

One of the firsts - all iron, even the brakes which is a little string attached to the steering and a clamp on the rear iron wheel! Imagine a bump in the road!!!!

Someone actually had the time to hammer out an entire body of copper for this car!! Check out the allaborate yellow copper snake horn. If it was a 4x4 I'm sure you can convert it to a raised air-intake!! :-) Just Odd...

Kiwis and Rain Forrests

Well, I'm sure it's a known fact that the Kiwi is the national bird in NZ. It's just so sad that the little bugger is on the extinct list, is of a shy nature and tend to avoid humans and is bred nowadays in strict controlled reserves. Hense the ban on all predatory animals!! Yep, in all the time here we haven't even seen a live one!! Niel and Ilse did, at the Wellington Zoo. It had only one leg!!!! See, it was attacked by a stray cat and hence the sad tearjerking little display and story you get when vsiting the Wellington zoo!! Hence, I've not been there!!!! :-)

So, enough of the sadness. The rainforrests are amazing. This one listed here is the Bushy Park reserve where Kiwi's are bred. But we saw none when we were there. Think they were all sent to visit Santa. (We were there in December)

The estate house on Bushy Park's land. They serve a mean tea!!! :-)

This is as close to a Kiwi as we could get!!!!

Huge huge huge trees!!! The demand respect for sheer size.

Speaking of respect...you just have to respect the dedication of a serious recreational photographer!!

But it's not without it's rewards! A camera flash lights up the "silver" bottom of the Silver Fern and can turn any photographer into a queen of the jungle. Go Jane go!!!!


Tree-Huggers!!!!Can't take them anywhere!! Wonder of dit hulle Bominee is??? :-)


The atmosphere in the forrest is pretty much magic!! We all just wabted our pictures taken in this amzing piece of nature.


Tiny, Esme and Minka & Maih also felt the awesomeness of the forrest!!