Geraldine

Somebody said I should go to Geraldine. I don't remember who said that, but there was a certain amount of emphasis on it.  So, June 17, early-ish.  Sue and I got into the Vitz and trundled off to Geraldine.  She drove this time, as I planned on rubbernecking. We went back to the Raikara river where Mike, Sue and I have visited last spring. Although it was officially winter in this place, the weather was a lot gentler than it was when we were here in the Spring of last year (October/November 2010).
En route to our destination we went past Mount Hutt.  The circle at the top of the mountain is the ski bowl.  Sadly the weather has been so moderate this year, there has not been enough snow yet to begin the skiing season which is, by now, several weeks behind. It seems to me that this ski hill is to Christchurch what Whistler is to Vancouver. 

Driving down the road, Sue pointed out that the little clod of dirt near the centre line was most likely a hedgehog.  Heaven.  I have looked frequently while travelling in the British Isles for even a glimpse of one.  There wasn't a lot of traffic, so Sue did one of her famous 'U-ies' while I was walking on the side of the road to get a close up view.  Thankfully only a couple of cars went by in the five minutes it took for the tourist to get her fill and photos of the imported wild life (New Zealand has only one mammal native to the islands, that being a bat).  A few days previously, I had mentioned to a New Zealander that I was hoping to finally see a hedgehog this trip--good thing I had, as the person told me not to touch one without gloves on as they had ringworm.   Although the traffic was quite slow that day, it seemed a good idea to get this little fellow off the highway, so we stamped our feet at it and he rolled into a ball.  The picture below is not Sue playing football with a hedgehog but trying, ever so gently, to roll our DLF (Prince Caspian in C.S. Lewis series) to the green verge.

I took one more picture of this little one after it had been moved to safety.  You can see its eyes and nose beginning to peek out, wondering if the monsters had departed yet.

  We did make it to Geraldine.  The sun that had been shining brightly in Darfield was not quite as evident in town.  It is an older town, and not particulary large.  Apparently there are a great many scenic walks in the area.  We did find one that was my speed along the riverside, and walked that for about 40 minutes after doing some theraputic browsing and having a bite of lunch.  I have permission from Sue to publish this, her official birthday picture for 2011.  She is beginning to hover on the edge of her second childhood, having just  recently completed the first.

 Here are some examples of flora currently blooming in Christchurch during what would be the seasonal equivilant of mid -December. On the left is a bush called Wintersweet.  It generally blooms a little later in the winter, but I have heard that there is more than one variety or/and the winter has got them badly confused and this is far too early.  It is quite pretty; all the little balls will flower after it is picked and it has quite a lovely perfume. It is reminiscent (honestly, no pun intended) of a muskier hyathinth smell.  The odour  is very strong up close, but not particulary noticible from more than a couple feet away.


                                                                                         Meanwhile, at the church in Darfield there were some snow drops blooming like mad the day we went to Geraldine.  They were still there last week when we walked to market.

Finally, here are not slugs or some alien ova, but a vegetable called yams; not like any other that I have ever eaten. A vegetable similar to the North Americans yams, is what New Zealanders call kumaru; these veg to the right are what the natives call yams. According to directives from the folks here, I baked them. They don't take as long to bake as a potato the same size, but to my taste buds, they have a very similar texture, and just a slightly different taste.  They are beautiful to look at in the store but, sadly, as soon as they are cooked the colour fades away leaving them a washed out orange shade.  They are eaten with their skins on.