Heaps And Heaps Of Water

Dec 20, 2008

Or more correctly written, “‘Eaps an’ ‘eaps of wootah.” Yes, I’m down under, in New Zealand, and there is a ginormous amount of water here. As a result, I’m extremely jet-lagged (though international business class is pretty nice to sleep in). But I’ll try my best to write this as coherent-ly as I can.

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What I nicknamed The Turd (pictured above), is said to have been an ancient fort and defensive position for the indigenous people of New Zealand. We hiked up its side along a treacherous set of stairs and walkways. About halfway through, Sammy lost his visor hat to the swirling twirling New Zealandish winds. We spotted it a few (twenty) feet below the path, but it was too far out of reach. Oh well! So we continued the path, only to be greeted by a mock-Māori statue and a hazard sign, accompanied by its friend, Deadly Jagged Fence.

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We continued our walk along the beach, while I found miscellaneous bits of the beach worth remembering. Among them were various shells, crabs, rocks, massive waves, effervescent green algae (to which I was strangely attracted), a WII memorial, a mysterious blue chair, a duck, a comical chicken, a bird skeleton, and something I carved in the sand. Here are some pictures of those.

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And by the way, my first impression of New Zealand after exiting the airport was.. I’M IN LOVE WITH NEW ZEALAND’S TREES! They are so cool, and a bit eccentric. And the other thing is, they’re everywhere. Coming from Chicago, we see trees, especially since I’m lucky enough to go camping once in a while (and frequently visit Michigan), but nowhere near as many as there are here! You cannot look anywhere without seeing another tree, bush, fern, or amazing flower.

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We ended our beach trip and retired to our new home for the trip. Its conveniently located on top of a 45 degree (or something) angled hill, hundreds of feet up. Ouch for my legs.

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| Posted by Spencer on Dec 20, 2008

8 Comments

Danny
Dec 20, 2008 at 8:16 AM

Oh my God, those photos are AMAZING–keep it up, I want to see everything. Your house looks so cool, why are we not there?? And I am totally in love with those ducks. I can only imagine what your mom’s reaction is to the spectacular flowers and trees considering how she bursts into hysterical joy every time she sees the dirty decaying flowers near LAX when you come here.

It looks like you’re on a different planet. Be careful of the aliens!


 
Sarah
Dec 20, 2008 at 3:44 PM

What gorgeous pictures! If you don’t mind my asking, what kind of camera do you use?


 
megan Lundberg
Dec 20, 2008 at 6:06 PM

Welcome to New Zealand. We live in NZ – in Auckland, its a great place to live. I recommend you check out some of the hiking trails in the Waitakere’s, go to Waiheke Island, Bethells beach, swim with the fish at Goat Island – there is a cafe there in Leigh that hosts lots of great musicians called ‘The Leigh Sawmill’. So much to see and do – have fun. We have our tickets to Seven World’s Collide and we can’t wait!
Megan


 
mairi
Dec 20, 2008 at 6:40 PM

Love those beach shots, Spencer, just gorgeous! And that sugar shack perched on the hill? I bet there are some amazing views to be had from the windows. Can you hear the surf at night when you fall asleep?
Have fun!
Mairi


 
Spencer Tweedy
Dec 20, 2008 at 7:25 PM

@Sarah I use two primary cameras: a Canon PowerShot A75, and a Leica something or other. I got the Canon when I was nine, in 2004 I think. And the Leica used to be my dad’s, but he gave it to me when he realized he never uses it.

@Megan Yeah, we’ve been hiking quite a bit so far. There’s a great waterfall that we went to. Its beautiful here! It really reminds me of California but its too tropical to be in the states. Thanks!

@Mairi Thanks! Yeah, our house has some pretty amazing views. The surf, unfortunately, is too far away to hear.


 
Marcia Goethe
Dec 20, 2008 at 8:29 PM

Hey Spencer,

This is Marcia and Kevin in Chicago. We are looking at your pictures of New Zealand and it looks like you are having a great experience there. Great unique shots, pretty flowers. The house looks unique, too. Your writing is intelligent beyond your years. Tell your Mom and Dad hello, too. Happy Holidays! Marcia and Kevin (Cheese wallet!)


 
Spencer Tweedy
Dec 21, 2008 at 12:24 PM

YES! Cheese wallet!!!!!!

Thanks,
Spencer


 
Spencer Tweedy's Blog
Dec 22, 2008 at 9:22 PM

[...] left for the beach. We found a cove located past some rocks, in between what I mentioned before as The Turd. Its an oceanic pool (aka hole with some salty water in it), created by a circlet of rock and sand. [...]


 

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