I love the produce in New Zealand. Christchurch has a number of green grocers (another thing I like about the city), often going by names like "The Funky Pumpkin" or "Grower's Direct" or somesuch. This time of year, all kinds of fruit and vegetables have been harvested, and are available. There are cauliflowers, broccoli, and apples, to be sure, but there are more delicious (and exotic, to my Canadian palate) things to be had. Feijoas, yellow kiwifruit, persimmons! They all grow in NZ, and are ripe and delicious when they make it to the green grocer. We bought (yet another) giant bag of perfectly ripe persimmons today. It won't last long in our house!
It was beautifully sunny yesterday, so we went to the beach. I'm trying to get to as many of the local beaches as possible before we leave, so we took the opportunity to knock another one off the list. We went to Woodend Beach - a nice sandy beach with dunes, but it had lots of wood scattered throughout. We spent the day running around, playing the sand. We found the partially decomposed head of a small shark - Aya thought it was very cool.
There is SO many surfing opportunities here. Every beach seems to have a decent beach break. If I was more of a surfer, I would definitely consider moving here - there is surfing everywhere, and almost no one is out there! There are many surfers living in Christchurch, but there are many kilometers with beach breaks.
One of the strangest things about NZ are the men's haircuts. The Mullet and the Rattail are both VERY common! And guys are not wearing them ironically... Everywhere you look, there's a guy with a hardcore, full-on, mullet. I'm still not used to it!
We's like to send out greetings to all our Canadian friends! We miss you all, and with a little luck, we'll see you soon!
Trent.
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
May 5, 2011
Here in Christchurch, we are well into the Cantabrian Autumn. The weather has cooled off, the frequency of showers has increased, and the trees are all shedding their leaves. Still, we are regularly rewarded with summery days, as was the case last weekend. It was a balmy 22C in Christchurch, and Aya and Rowan were keen to go to the beach, so off we went to the beach at Sumner so they could splash in the waves.
Every time we go to Sumner, we think how much fun it would be to live there. The ocean and the undeniable texture that it lends to seaside towns is very much in evidence when you visit Sumner, from surf shops, to cafes, and sand-caked children. While surrounded by multimillion dollar homes perched high above on the surrounding hills, Sumner itself seems low-key and relaxed. Surfers are almost always present in the beach break at Sumner, and last weekend was no exception. Perfect meter-high beach break had drawn several surfers to the ocean.
Aya and Rowan LOVE the ocean. Regardless of temperature or season, they both love to head down and splash in the waves. Aya, in particular, has inherited her father's love of water, and will happily play for hours in the surf and tidepools.
It was also interesting to see how much damage the earthquakes have caused to Sumner. Many houses are underneath the cliffs of volcanic rock that ring Sumner, and several had been crushed beneath enormous boulders displaced by the tremors. Tragic, to be sure, but it also makes one wonder why they were allowed to build in those sites in an earthquake-prone country.
I finished another manuscript this week. It's based on my MSc work (years ago), and is entitled something like "Factors controlling the distribution of a torrential stream invertebrate: Are top-down, bottom-up, or hydrodynamic factors most important?". I re-wrote most of it in the last two months, and now its nice to have it finally completed.
The heat is FINALLY back on at the University, making Shelley MUCH more comfortable at her work. The boiler infrastructure at the University was somewhat damaged, so there was no heat to campus for several weeks. Its back on now, thank goodness!
Anyways, I should get back to work! We should be heading back to Canada sometime in the next 2 or 3 months, so with a little luck, we'll see you soon!
Trent.
Every time we go to Sumner, we think how much fun it would be to live there. The ocean and the undeniable texture that it lends to seaside towns is very much in evidence when you visit Sumner, from surf shops, to cafes, and sand-caked children. While surrounded by multimillion dollar homes perched high above on the surrounding hills, Sumner itself seems low-key and relaxed. Surfers are almost always present in the beach break at Sumner, and last weekend was no exception. Perfect meter-high beach break had drawn several surfers to the ocean.
Aya and Rowan LOVE the ocean. Regardless of temperature or season, they both love to head down and splash in the waves. Aya, in particular, has inherited her father's love of water, and will happily play for hours in the surf and tidepools.
It was also interesting to see how much damage the earthquakes have caused to Sumner. Many houses are underneath the cliffs of volcanic rock that ring Sumner, and several had been crushed beneath enormous boulders displaced by the tremors. Tragic, to be sure, but it also makes one wonder why they were allowed to build in those sites in an earthquake-prone country.
I finished another manuscript this week. It's based on my MSc work (years ago), and is entitled something like "Factors controlling the distribution of a torrential stream invertebrate: Are top-down, bottom-up, or hydrodynamic factors most important?". I re-wrote most of it in the last two months, and now its nice to have it finally completed.
The heat is FINALLY back on at the University, making Shelley MUCH more comfortable at her work. The boiler infrastructure at the University was somewhat damaged, so there was no heat to campus for several weeks. Its back on now, thank goodness!
Anyways, I should get back to work! We should be heading back to Canada sometime in the next 2 or 3 months, so with a little luck, we'll see you soon!
Trent.
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