Winter is coming and other revelations
I love animals. All kinds of animals…fluffy ones, weird ones, even some feathered ones. But frogs and spiders…they do not count as animals, do they? Whatever your answer is to that question, I must insist that I’m not a fan.
Imagine my surprise when, once landed in the land of the long white cloud, land of the “no natural predators”, we found spiders. Not poisonous ones. At least, not very posionous (one of my Kiwi friends have been to the hospital on account of a spider bite once, but she is still alive). What even is this, New Zealand?
I’m sure that all of you know that we also recently experienced our first cyclone since arriving, as it was all over the South African news. The storm never managed to reach us, though it did bring a lot of rain and wind, as well as more spiders and a frog, which we found on our porch the next day. I was quite sure that said frog and millions of spiders were illegally blown in (border patrol!?), and am now fearing for my life with what is no doubt colonies of these things about to take over New Zealand.
Bring on the chill
Dramatic intros aside, the most significant thing about Cyclone Cook, as it was called (although it was later decided that it was not worthy of cyclone status), was the almost sudden change in weather. I started to believe that someone, somewhere was making up fictional accounts of New Zealand weather as cold and rainy. Until now, we have had beautiful sunny days, some even too hot to handle, and scorching temperatures. As we are starting to discover, however, people most probably were talking about the New Zealand winter.
While beachy summer days make way for deceptively sunny, biting cold weather, we are stocking up on soup ingredients, baking essentials, hot chocolate and wool courtesy of those soft merino sheep in the mountains on the South Island.
We are embracing winter, even excited for it. Excited to experience the magic of the New Zealand winter…where you can enjoy coffee on the beach in the morning, drive 2 hours to go skiing on the slopes in the afternoon and then soothe your sore muscles in natural geothermal hot pools.
“Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire: it is the time for home.” -Edith Sitwell
3 things for the next month
As mentioned above, we are into full winter prep mode. There are a few things we still want to check off our to-do list though, and we will be trying to fit them in between work and life.
For the next month or so, we are looking forward to:
1. The low travel season
In general, New Zealand is not too jam-packed. The past few years however, have seen an influx of tourists. This coming month, we are looking forward to exploring the tourist-y spots close to home without thousands of people around.
2. ANZAC Day
The 25th of April is ANZAC Day in New Zealand. It commemorates all New Zealanders killed during the war and also honours returned servicemen and women. The date itself marks the anniversary of the landing of New Zealand and Australian soldiers – the ANZACs – on the Gallipoli Peninsula in 1915. We will be attending the sunrise event at Mount Maunganui with coffee and blankets in tow.
3. Exploring Rotorua’s geothermal wonders
While it sounds a bit ominous, Hell’s Gate is one of the country’s most famous thermal attractions, including mud pools, geysers, hot springs and the Southern Hemisphere’s largest hot-water waterfall. We will be soaking in one of the mud pools and no doubt will be smelling like sulphur for a few weeks after that.
