The Cold Country...

Well we all know it's New Zealand AK and I went to, but I'm worried that if I say trip to NZ there'll be an expectation of beautiful NZ scenery photos, and I didn't have time (or weather) to take any! And now you're wondering why butterflies? Bear with me...

The actual reason just the two of us went was to look at schools. Not for a few years yet, but we were told now was the time to go and check it out. We had a nice girls time hanging out in the departure lounge, and travelling the 4 hours to Christchurch. It was also cool to catch up with old friends Mess and Vicky... on the plane ...oddly we didn't see them in the departure lounge. But the one thing about the Nadi departure lounge is it is wonderfully big and full of shops, easy not to see someone. Here's AK waiting with our stuff...

We're not sitting by the shops of course. We are however off to the left of the cafe. Eagle eyed people may have noticed I'm reading that great book. This is the same scene 8 flat whites later... 

Yes I am kidding. But it's interesting how the colour of the seats changes after so many coffees? Anyway here's 2 shout outs:-

Great Service eg 1... We checked the price to take a rental car from Christchurch airport to Dunedin. Only 24 hours rental, we chose the smallest size cars, and we priced all the main brands all of which operate out of the airport... Then we reeled in horror at the price! (this was the week before I might add). So we emailed good old Ace Rentals, who we have actually used 5 times before. Why didn't we call them first? They don't have a Dunedin office. The result? I won't name actual prices because the comparison is so much more effective. ACE fitted us out with a nice tidy little (older but pretty decent) toyota Nissan (edited to correct that) sedan which went like a train (and was bigger than the size class we had been looking at). As there was no one way option we would have to keep it and return it to Christchurch when we flew out 6 days later. The price for this was..... (drum roll)..... NZD$158 less than the one day option with the other companies!!! This included unlimited mileage, insurance, and a nice set of chains in case it snowed! Ace...

The bad news was there was a southerly coming through and it was likely to snow. We took off for Dunedin and the school open days (after dropping off the camera at the camera doctors in ChCh), and of course stopped at the other unlikely place for good service:-

Great Service eg 2... the KFC at Timaru! We don't know what it is there, but they are always smiley fast and efficient. Fantastic. This place is so popular the carpark has a traffic light, and if you are going through on Sunday nights you'll see why...(KFC drive through traffic jam... despite how fast they are!).

The school were simply amazing. In Fiji we don't have a lot of facilities (even KFC is only in Suva, 3 hours from where we live), but I honestly had to pick my jaw up off the floor when I saw the facilities at these private (integrated) schools in my home town. I'm not going to say their names, suffice it to say they're fabulous, relatively cheap, and quite hard to get into so I don't really want to say too much more about them incase everyone tries to apply the same year as AK! At one school AK took off in their spacious amazingly stocked library (and I think tried to hide so she could stay longer) so we took her to the public library, which (when you go to the schools over here) was an immense treat. Here she is lost in the teen section. There's kinda a red cast, but the lighting was quite red...It was very cool.

It was great to catch up with friends and be home... but cold! Phew! We wore all our jeans, thermal underwear, and our fab merino wool jumpers and jackets, but it was still cold. They build houses cold down there too. My sister's place is one of those beautiful villa houses, but they had the right idea... they had us in a nice smaller room heated with a big open fire. Here's the view from where I sat... that's right, beside the fire...(note they are just like Bahrageous (side bar) and have a bird thingy)

My brother in law showed us a very funny clip on you-tube. Remember that saying "Sing like No-ones listening"? Well that wasn't the case for this entrant in Bulgarian Idol; well not now more than fourteen million people have seen her singing "Ken Lee"...

 

Infact Gary that was so funny we should all give you a big hand for sharing... how's this?

There's a kinda red cast, but it was a very red rug... oh never mind... So with the cold southerly sleety snowy blast the best activities were indoors and we had a great time, including visiting the Museum, which is always great value, but now has a huge tropical rainforest! who knew! Despite it being 3 degrees celcius outside it was 27C in there, and 70% humidity. Just like Fiji! Lots of cool butterflies to look at, but a tad too hot when you're wearing jeans and boots etc... Climate. Sometimes if you flit from country to country like a jet setting butterfly you just cant win...Luckily we don't get to do it often I guess.

We'll end with a quick comparison. My brother back in the cold country, and T back here have both been gardening. Rhys' garden is just great, please consider he is standing by the compost area and it's the middle of winter. And T is just starting. But he has grown some tomato plants from seed... Some people say T is very like Rhys when he was little, but I can't see it. I can see from his expression that Rhys is about to say something brother-ish; so again sorry no beautiful NZ scenery shots. But I'll try and find some for next time, and at least I've left you back in Fiji, rather than in the cold...

Comments

[sarah]

I love the airport and library photos! What lens do you use? (I'm assuming it was a wide angle?) You should post your photo recipe every once in awhile--I'm always curious how great photographers get their shots. (Ok, that's purely for my benefit and maybe you don't want to share your secrets!)

And thanks for the post the other day with the info--very helpful! My latest issue? Tackling manual mode with a lens that doesn't seem to want to go manual... fun. ;)

[Taco]

The pool is GORGEOUS!!!

[meg]

Thanks Taco and Sarah! Sarah I have NO secrets. You'll be pleased to hear the butterfly ones are near sooc (straight out of camera) with the D70 (an old tired one at that). I use full manual exposure settings, but I almost never use manual focus! I will edit the post and add the stats for those photos, just not today...

[laminar_flow]

Are those water stains on the ceiling of the airport lobby?

[meg]

Yep, and I did not add those in photoshop...

[Heidi]

Those butterfly shots are beautiful!