Welly

The weekend in Welly was just great - very relaxing... even tho I did do rather a ot of walking!

The Governor General's house was open (only every two years - good timing) so dropped by and wandered round the peaceful gardens and discretely luxurious house. All the staff so helpful and chatty, even the police woman who stopped to chat while I was sitting on the lawn sketching a tree...!

Then it was off to Te Papa, the national museum - quite some piece of architecture and very interesting stuff in it. The most memorable thing? The Holden station wagon with corrugated iron body (I kid you not!) put together by a NZ artist. It was used for his daily travel for many years and looked surprisingly elegant.

Drinks with Kiwi friend Dougal down by the waterfront and then the treck back up the side of the mountain to the homestay: long, steeply sloping path along with 150-odd steps - and that's not counting the final 40-odd steps up the the homestay... BUT... my hosts have a bath (well, two actually) out in the garden with the most wonderful view over the city, so I sat in luxury, drink in hand, one of my hosts in the other bath, chatting and watching the light fade and had the longest bath I've ever had!!

Sunday dawned bright and glorious and my thoughts of heading downdown slipped away as I sat in the garden tinkling on the harp - a lovely tune came to me and I spent most of the rest of the day working on it.

Drinks date with Dougal early evening to admire his new painting, then another hike home. No wonder they are all so fit round here!

Am off to Tanaka and the Abel Tasman area to a homestay with very limited internet, so this may be it for a few days...