Close ups from South Island

I quite like close up photos involving interesting textures and colors.  All of these are taken using natural light in natural conditions.  I didn't rearrange or manipulate the items, just got up close and clicked.

Flying Fox (Zipline)

The kids had fun on a zipline next to one of the beaches.  It was a first solo ride for Evelyn, though Jonathan or Mark held on to the rope to make sure she was safe.

Little India

Our last night on South Island we went out to eat at Little India in Nelson.  It was a feast!  We ordered

Vegetable Samosas, Onion Bhaji, Boti (chicken) Kebab, Barra (lamb) Kebab, Tandoori Chicken, Chicken Coconut Korma, naan flat bread (plain and garlic) and three kinds of basmati rice (plain, with peas, onions, and spices, and with cumin seed).  We ate and ate and still had leftovers for the next day.

Fair Isle

 

Over the Easter break, I had some time for a project.  I tried to learn a new kind of knitting called fair-isle.  It is stranded style knitting from the British Isles.  I have done lots of Scandinavian knitting, which is similar, but it was fun to learn this new way.  Blocking the hat is a funny technique.  You soak it and then put it over a dinner plate to dry.  It is autumn here.  I’ll call it the Autumn Tam.

The Sounds

 The Sounds on the north section of South Island are stunning.  We took a ferry to get back home to Wellington and the trip was so beautiful.  We caught the ferry in Picton.

This photo shows the map of our drive to get to Picton from Havelock.  We got to stop in a few of the scenic spots and hike in the bush on the way.

The "sea bands" helped Julia, Mark and Evelyn survive the trip pretty well.  Anyone who is familiar with Julia's motion sickness will know that means a lot!  I am so relieved we have found a remedy to help her.

Jonathan is made for the sea, just like he is for about any outdoors activity.

Back home to Wellington Harbor.

Nelson, New Zealand on South Island

 

We spent one full day exploring the town of Nelson.  

Claudine was able to find the fibre cooperative, yarn and local fabric store.  We have a tradition in our family that we frequently get Christmas ornaments to remember our family trips.  They seem to keep the aura of many happy memories with them.  This time we found a hand-felted spotted kiwi bird.  It is also light and won’t break!  

 

 

One of Claudine’s favorite spots were a local yarn shop  called “Cruellas” and had its own line of yarn made from locally grown wool and alpaca; sheep dot the countryside everywhere we drove.  They also had their own line of patterns all knitted up, so customers could try a style before making the commitment to purchase the project (highly unusual, even incredible!).  She exercised restraint and purchased only one small skein of locally grown, spun and hand-dyed New Zealand Merino Artisan Lace in the Wedgewood color way.   

The fabric store had unique fat quarters with New Zealand birds on them.  Evelyn picked out the pukeko as her favorite.

An interesting stop was seeing the jewelry store where the “one ring” from the Lord of the Rings was created.  They had a very kind staff member there that told us all about the ring types created for the movie, showed us the prototype, which they still own, and explained how rings of many sizes were used for filming different sections.  One of them was HUGE!  She let us hold them and try them on.

(Yes, we had permission to take photographs.)

 

Evelyn and Julia loved the bead shop filled with many treasures.  They were convinced we needed to purchase the entire store and ship most of it to Stephanie Magleby and the other section to their dear Judith Jespersen.  They still pick up things in every store we go into and sigh, “oh I wish Judith could see this,” or “I wish I could bring this home to Judith.”  They really miss you Judith; you are their big sis.  This is the heart Evelyn wanted to take a picture of to show how much she loves you!

 

Mark’s favorite stop was the glass blower, Anthony Genet.  He runs flamedaisy glass design, and is a wonderful artist.

Sculpture Garden

Everywhere we drove in the Nelson area, there were studios, galleries, artists and signs of a strong arts community.  Right next to Abel Tasman Park was a fun sculpture garden.