The Drive to Wellington, New Zealand

I am finally getting to my last few pictures of my journey across the north island of New Zealand. The day had low clouds obscuring the mountains with patches of drizzly rain.

I went through several towns that looked like this with just a few older buildings on each side of the street. It felt a little like dropping into the past where life moved at a slower pace.

This is Kapiti island, just off shore from Paraparaumu, it is a protected native forest so there is no outside plant or animal life allowed.

Heading into the Wellington area, looked so much like California. Maybe that's one of the reasons why I was so drawn to New Zealand, I have lived in California more years than any where else.

I swear this could have been near where I used to live in Los Angeles.

I know parts of northern California that look just like this.

My last day in Wellington was spent going to Zealandia, the Karori Wildlife Sanctuary. It is a plant and animal reserve that is being restored to all native species.

Tucked in the branches below is a Tui or Parson bird. It has a lovely song and is also a fabulous mimic.

Some more lichen and moss.

This tagged lizard is a Tuatara, I was so excited to see one of these off the side of the path on our walk through the preserve. It was a pretty good sized lizard, probably 18 inches head to tail. They are considered a living fossil since they were around with the dinosaurs. New Zealand was unpopulated by humans or mammals for millennia, until first the Maori's arrived about 400 years ago then the European settlers in the 1800's.

I had a layover in the Auckland airport before heading home. I grabbed some lunch and finished it off with a lemon meltaway biscuit and a flat white served in a porcelain cup, not a paper to go cup like we so often have in the US. I think it is good practice; to stop, sit down and drink a beverage, instead of always doing it on the run, I am going to try to do that more often.

Mixed Media Painted Fabric with the Rose City Quilters

The Rose City Quilters of Palmerston North booked me to come to New Zealand to give a lecture at their Quilt show, judge their quilt challenge (yikes, that was out of my comfort zone, not that giving a lecture is but at least I have done that a few times) and give a workshop.

These courageous gals pushed themselves out of the box to do some crazy painting with printed paper images and multiple layers of paint. Ignoring the composition of adhered printed images but looking for interesting visual textures in paint, color and image to capture imagery in a secondary composition painted on top of the previous layer of paint is not necessarily an easy way to work. It is contrary to ones usual mode of creating imagery, but it is fun and it is always a surprise to see what happens in the process.

Tea time! Breaking for tea each morning was my favorite ritual in New Zealand and I think we should adopt it in this country, maybe we would all be a little less stressed.

Sue, took to this method like a duck to water, what glorious color!

I wish I could have stayed to see the results after everyone went home and quilted their fabric. The stitched details add so much interest to the final piece.

Thank you Rose City Quilters for such an amazing opportunity!!!!!

Palmerston North, New Zealand

Erilyn, my host in Palmerston north lives on 3 1/2 acres with her own mini farm with a fruit orchard, flock of sheep and a clutch of "chooks". One of the first things I wanted to do the next morning was to meet Erilyn's sheep.

What a beautiful face.

This is my friend Casper, who I think was ready to come home with me,  doesn't he look like he's smiling?

Erilyn, who has been spinning yarn since she was 19, gave me this gorgeous huge skein of yarn that is a blend of alpaca and romney wool. What an incredible gift, I will treasure it. Next, to decide whether to dye it or not and then what color if I do.

These are Erilyn's "chooks", they didn't like to hold still for photos from people they didn't know.

Erilyn told me about her neighbor who raises alpacas, I love alpacas! so she took me over for a visit before the workshop on Sunday.

This is a one week old suri alpaca, its fur felt and looked just like silk.

What a face! such character. Also a suri, you can see the way the hair hangs in silky strands.

A lovely Peruvian alpaca.

How can you not fall in love with those faces?!

He also had a few black and white dairy cows. I saw a lot of these in New Zealand.

Grazing alpaca.

Later in the day Erilyn drove me up into the hills above Palmerston North to see the lovely view.

A goat tied to a fence by the road.

Farmed deer for venison.

Then back at the house, a cute little hedgehog wandering across the yard for an early evening stroll. I was amazed that I could get quite close to it.

A fiery sunset to end the day.

The Road to Palmerston North

The Rose City Quilt Guild of Palmerston North was responsible for booking and bringing me to New Zealand to give a lecture and workshop for their Quilt show. So I was very excited to start our drive south to meet the people who made all this happen.

One of the first stops Erilyn and I made on our 5 hour drive south was at Haka Falls. The water is the most gorgeous aqua blue deepening to teal as the river widens into a deep pool.



We had a variety of skies and weather as we drove south, from blue skies with fluffy clouds, to overcast and gray skies, then rain and rainbows, to low lying clouds obscuring the tops of volcanoes and then again to beautiful blue skies.

Obviously the pot of gold is right under that tree.

We drove through long expanses of countryside occasionally driving through small towns, where throwing a gum boot can be a big enough event to warrant a large corrugated metal sculpture as you drive into town.

We also stopped at The Wool Company where I bought a couple warm possum/merino hats and gloves.

It was a gorgeous drive.