A note.

"Alienated from nature, human existence becomes a void, the wellspring of life and spiritual growth gone utterly dry. Man grows ever more ill and weary in the midst of his curious civilization that is but a stuggle over a tiny bit of time and space." - Masanobu Fukuoka

Mmm...

Why New Zealand doesn't need nuclear energy

 Russell and I went exploring around Wellington a bit on the few, beautiful sunny days we've had here.

If you look closely at the picture above, you can see the snow capped peaks of the South Island on the horizon!

So it seems that Wellington is on par with places in the South Island on the "windy as hell" scale. 

We paid the wind turbine in Brooklyn a visit and found it fascinating. The wind turbines they erected are old and outdated, but one turbine still provides enough electricity for 80 households! These things are quite intimidatingly huge.

 Sigh...we do live in a very pretty place.

Russell and the turbine

You can see the "wind farm" in the distance

time warp..

I just realised that our blog still uses South African time. It is now the afternoon of the first day of January, 2012 here in New Zealand and yet our blog site uses South African time...one day behind. Must be because we created it in SA. If anyone knows how to change it, please let us know!


A Quote I found in a book I'm currently reading:

All man's honours to man are small beside the greatest prize 

to which he may and must aspire- the finding of his soul, his spirit, his 

divine strength and worth- the knowledge that he 

can and must live in freedom and dignity- the final realisation

that life is not a daily dying, not a pointless end, 

not an ashes-to-ashes and dust-to-dust, 

but a soaring and blinding gift snatched from eternity.

- The Prize, Irving Wallace, 1964

Ah yes. 

We are now in 2012. 

 

I am sitting in our living-room watching the mist slowly enveloping the fairy-green hills next to our hill and listening to the rain puttering on the windows; here on the first morning of 2012.  

It is hard for me to believe that 2011 flew past so very quickly! We had so many personal achievements, blunders, heartaches and joys...it was a very special year and one that we will always remember as the year that we took the leap and challenged ourselves with a new life.

This picture was taken in Cape Town... Actually, I believe that it was the last picture of us in Cape Town before we left on our journey. We went to a Greek Party with our friends Cristina and Leonhart that night. I was dressed as Persephone, Russell as Hades, Cristina as Demeter and Leo as Dionysus. 

May everyone have an absolutely magical 2012. 

Christmas in New Zealand

Our first Christmas in Wellington.

We spent a very special evening with Cristina, Leo and Angelina.

Russell and I found a free-range and ethically farmed turkey that we stuffed with dried fruit and herbs and roasted for 5 hours. It was delicious!

Cristina really made an effort to “Christmas-a-fy” her living room and we all felt very content amongst candles, Christmas lights, throws and pillows.

Russell and Leo pushing in the garden 

The Christmas cooks

 Leo and the turkey...

 A feast if ever there was one!

 Poor Angelina had a nasty fall off a trampoline on Christmas morning, but this did not dampen her spirit in the least.

 Ah yes... "Bluey", the inflatable whale. He of course had to blown up there and then, and so, was passed around the room leaving everyone a bit out of breath!

 Leo made this jewelery box for Cristina himself. Isn't it beautiful?!

"Bluey" is now a whale. Angelina and I thought we'll give him a try...

We ended the evening with an engaging game of 30 seconds which Leo brought us all the way from South Africa. Such fun. Just look at our friend Cristina's Italian-description hand below... It is true that Italians can't speak without their hands...

I love it!

Our new home.

Sigh.

We finally finished cleaning it and arranging it in a way that works for us.

We absolutely love it.

The office

We like our living-room best of all. The bare walls are definitely calling for some art. We were thinking of printing some of the best photos from our travels on canvas and hanging them here...

We had a few beautiful days here in Wellington. You could almost say it feels like Summer!

Something I've noticed here is that, if anything gets left alone for a while, nature just takes over here. These flowers are claiming back a bench overlooking Island bay. Fairytale pretty.

Sitting among the flowers...

Spot the interesting balcony on this house?

We had a house-warming dinner with dear friends last night. They love our new home just as much as we do and it was wonderful to share our happiness with them over a steaming dish of homemade lasagna...

"Content" personified...that is me. 

A lovely evening: