Windy Welly

Well Wellington is certainly living up to it's windy reputation today - spare a thought for Sascha, he's about a third of the way across the Cook Straits right now and doesn't like ferries - boy is he in for a bouncy crossing...

So I've survived my first B&B guest, altho' a German gap year traveller who heard of Quakers whilst WWOOFing and wanted to find out more presumably isn't likely to be my typical guest! Thankfully I had Marion and Peter round for tea to help bail me out on the explanations front the first night. I know I've done this kind of thing (the explanations that is) countless times before but somehow being here, and also being post WGYF where so many of my answers have been thrown up in the air and haven't quite landed yet, made it feel like I was starting from scratch again.

I went exploring the Southern Walkway through the Town Belt to M&Q's yesterday and was very proud of myself for not getting lost despite not having taken the map. OK, so it is pretty well signposted and all I had to do really was walk to the top of Elizabeth Street and turn left and/or up each time I got to a junction of paths but none the less it felt like an achievement.

It's amazing walking through the bush (woods - I was quite disappointed last year to discover that bush=woods, I'd kind of imagined something more dramatic - like the set of Crocodile Dundee, you know - deserty scrub kind of thing...) , you'd never know you were so close to the city. At the bottom of my street - Moncrieff Street - is Elizabeth Street, turn left and after several games of Pacman (see earlier post!) you are in the city centre in about 3-5 minutes. Alternatively turn right on Elizabeth Street and in 3-5 minutes (depending on how fit you are!) you are in the bush. Every so often you are treated to spectacular vistas either inland or across the bay and towards the Rimutaka mountains. I'm gradually remembering all the native trees I learned on previous trips but the flowers are mostly new to me as of course it is a different time of year. There are carpets of what looks suspiciously like Wandering Jew and it quite possibly is, after all I've got Spider plants growing in the garden! The Wild Garlic is familiar though, by sight and smell.

I'm obviously not as fit as I'd thought I was as the up and down path left me decidedly in need of a sit down and cuppa before I tackled the weeding at the other end, I must confess I came back via the road which is far easier but not half as nice. However that way I do get to cut through the Basin Reserve (cricket ground). It is such an oasis of calm, bizarrely located in the middle of what is in effect a busy roundabout (or should that be 'squareabout' considering the shape?) altho I suspect the Basin Reserve was built long before half the roads surrounding it. I must say though if I knew some of the big hitters were playing I'd be decidedly wary of driving or walking around there knowing they are more than capable of knocking 6's over the stands!

Today's random observation - none of the kitchen sinks here seem to have overflows, nor does the bath which means I am having to rapidly readjust my bathrunning techniques - at Glendevon Road it took so long to fill you started it off and then went and did three other things in the meantime, knowing that if you did get distracted for too long it wouldn't flood, now not only does it actually fill quickly I also have to catch it in time....