Sanguine

It was a beautiful weekend, well spent wandering around the Newtown Fair and Karori Wildlife Sanctuary and digesting my notes from the field.

Wellington has much the same organization as Seattle, with a strong emphasis on the presence of neighborhoods. Newtown is next to the zoo, and ironically roughly akin to Fremont or Wallingford. Same funky-hippy feel, with just a twinge of yuppy. The festival they put on was great, the perfect combination of bohemia and international flair, topped off with great street food, which is a must for any good festival.

I'm learning how to eat out here in Wellington, because it's damn expensive. It's all about pairing small items. For instance, a roti and samosa. Roti is this delicious sweet Malaysian/Indian bread, and samosa are deep fried pockets of curry, veg, and heaven. I still haven't really tried pies here, but with my love of street food I'm told I'll be won over in a single bite. I'm looking for an introduction from a real pie shop, though - none of this convenient store rubbish.

I got rained out of a trip to Karori Wildlife Sanctuary on Saturday, but Sunday the clouds cleared a bit and I braved a trip back into the bush. The sanctuary has an amazing array of native endangered birds that are protected by a predator proof fence. It's amazingly lush and green there, and the birds are drawn out of the woods by feeding stations set-up throughout the park. It makes it easy for newbies like me to learn identification.

I can't get enough of the New Zealand forests. Parks are everywhere, and the hikes (tramping as it's called here) are amazing. I'm sure the weather will drive me inside soon, but until then I'm soaking up the last remains of summer.

I've started taking more photos, and I've posted them on my flickr page if you want to see more of what I'm talking about:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/77466043@N00/sets/72157604043892893

I hope things go well for you in the northern hemisphere, friends and relations. Winter is coming our way here and it somehow seems to make more sense to talk autumn to your springs. The tables will turn though when Antarctic blasts trap me in my house while you all run around in shorts... it's funny how the elemental differences seem so much more important with the distance.