A little about myself...
I am a Kiwi, a New Zealander. I was born in Christchurch (South Island, NZ) and grew up on the Canterbury Plains with the Southern Alps always in view. I like to claim those mountains as mine, but of course they are not, except for the looking. And growing up on the Plains, I find myself best suited to flat ground rather than aspiring to any scansorial activities. Just looking is perfectly fine by me.
Now for the nitty-gritty. This is no autobiography, and much will be left to the reader's imagination. As mentioned elsewhere, it is true that I am female. I am married, have one young adult son, and we are owned by one elderly lady cat.
The following is a potted profile of Judah:
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Favourite authors: C.S. Lewis, George MacDonald, Rosamunde Pilcher, Barbara Taylor Bradford, John Grisham, Tom Clancy
Favourite composers: Beethoven, Bruckner, Grieg, Mendelssohn, Mozart, Rachmaninov, Sibelius, Tchaikovsky
More favourite music: George Gershwin, Billy Joel, The Irish Tenors, Country Music
Favourite movies: Schindler's List, Duel, The Gods Must Be Crazy, Flying High, The Godfather, The Firm, An Angel at my Table, The Lion King, The Lord of the Rings, The World's Fastest Indian
Favourite TV programmes: Fawlty Towers, Keeping Up Appearances, Yes Minister, Yes Prime Minister, Antiques Road Show, FBI Files
Favourite colour: Blue (if you had not already guessed... and still blue if you did!)
Favourite food: Oranges, Thai cuisine
Favourite drinks: Water, Starbucks Verona coffee (double strength, black, no sugar), wines - NZ whites, NZ Reds, Australian reds
Hobbies: Making quilts, beadwork, needlecrafts, reading, writing, gardening, computer graphics (repairing and restoring old photos), attending NZ Symphony Orchestra concerts, international travel
Favourite quote: "With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world". (Desiderata)
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For those who like to see photos of family pets, to the left is our elderly lady Pusscat, now a tad tired and somewhat arthritic but still with the loveliest gentle affection for the three humans to which she lays claim.
Puss has had some adventures in her time, coping with her humans. The youngest one earned a few cuffs 'round the ear, but never a scratch - not even on Puss waking to find herself dressed in two pairs of paper gumboots one day. Highstepping around the room did not remove them, but a ray of sunshine came to the rescue, bursting a balloon right beside her. A vertical takeoff left them behind, and we saw no sign of her for the rest of the day.
Misfortune with a supermarket plastic bag had her tumbling blind down the stairs on another occasion, frantically ricocheting off the walls of the hallway, and trembling in fright under the bed. The chicken-flavoured crisps were regarded too dangerous to tempt after that.
Nowadays Puss is far more sedate, a dignified lady who would not approve of my disloyalty here. And with that in mind, I had best discretely move on.
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and NZ, where I live...
New Zealand consists of 3 main islands in the South Pacific Ocean (the North, South, and Stewart Islands) covering an area of approximately 268,000 square kilometres making it about the size of the state of Colorado, USA. The country has a population of just over 4 million people of mainly European, Maori and Polynesian descent. For all its small size, NZ is a land of contrasting scenic beauty which makes it unique in the world - high rugged mountain alps, low plains, fiords, forests, thermal wonderlands, glaciers, tranquil lakes, roaring rivers, and ocean beaches all within a short distance of modern towns and cities.
Sumner Beach
Photo used with the kind permission of Sumner Bay Motel
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Sumner, Christchurch
Some of my happiest childhood memories are of the long hot Christmas/summer holidays where we grew up on the beach at Sumner, a suburb of Christchurch, swam in the surf, played in the caves of Cave Rock, hunted for crabs and other small sea creatures in the pools around Shag Rock, made castles in the sand and collected masses of shells.
In the photo to the left one can see the city of Christchurch (known as "the most English city outside England" for it's Gothic stone architecture and beautiful gardens) in the distance, and the Southern Alps further beyond.
The photo to the right shows the expanse of beach with Cave Rock, a wonderful place to climb around with interesting caves to explore below.
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Sumner Beach
Photo used with the kind permission of Sumner Bay Motel
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Wellington is not only NZ's centre of government, but the cultural capital too - home to many museums, theatres and arts festivals, including Te Papa (the Museum of NZ), the NZ Symphony Orchestra, the Royal NZ Ballet, and the biennial Festival of the Arts.
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Facts About Wellington
Population (including urban agglomeration): 425,000
Warmest month: February (17°C average)
Coldest month: July (8.7°C average)
Average daily maximum for mid-summer: 20.3°C
Average daily minimum for mid-winter: 5.9°C
Average annual sunshine: 2025 hours
Average annual rainfall: 1270mm
Time zone: GMT +12
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The city has a vibrant café culture and many ethnic restaurants.
Situated alongside Wellington Harbour, surrounded by natural beauty, from the central business district it is only a quick drive to find stunning countryside and rugged coastlines.
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The prestigious Conde Nast Traveller Awards have given top position for best country in the world to New Zealand for its stunning scenery, clean green image and reputation as a safe haven. This was announced in Britain on Monday night, 5 September, 2005. OK, so it's "old hat" now, this being 2008.
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As frequent international travellers we have seen many beautiful places in the world. One of our favourite destinations is the USA where we have driven extensively throughout 48 states.
But as most travellers will tell you, it is always good to be home again.
Kiwis have another name for New Zealand. It is, very simply: God's Own Country.
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