Kia ora Aotearoa

There once was a land down under,

The South Island of New Zealand, a wonder.

With mountains so grand,

And glaciers so grand,

A natural beauty that makes one ponder.

Travel is therapy.  A fact I had forgotten until I travelled again recently. To a place right next door, but seems like being on a different planet itself. 

The wonderful islands of New Zealand.

Now I might be biased with my limited time on the ground, but the South islands of NZ was awe inspiring. I was expecting to see geography and vegetation similar to what is found in Australia, so was shocked to see a place closer to Europe. This makes sense, the islands are further south, closer to the south pole, and that was having an influence on the weather down there. It was snowing around Queenstown, even as the ski season was coming to an end. And rocks and trees was unlike what is seen in the southern part of Australia.

It took a while to get used to the waves on the beach , on lake Tekapo. Yep, the lake is so large, largest in NZ, that it behaved like a small sea . There were constant waves on the shore , usually only seen at a proper sea-beach. And the water was super cool.

Summer's out !

I think we can officially say this, Victoria's summer's out, until December this year. Just checked the accuweather forecast , and the temperature is not expected to cross over 27 for the next 3 months. And I still don't know they can do it this accurately ( they are pretty much spot on), but they usually able to predict temperatures months ahead, with a variance of 3 degrees ! So that's it, we never had a summer last year. We sort of just drifted the low 30s for about 5 days in all of Feb, and off we go to a wonderful autumn !

Which just brings back the old realization: how  time flies ! This time last year, the world was just starting to realize that 2020 won't be the fun and games everyone expected it to be. Australia was still a month away from its first official lockdown. At this point, we were still getting our morning runs and noon beach trips. Australians were still planning their international holidays, and international students were still coming into the country. 

And by all means, the worst may be over here, but it has definitely not ended. Australia officially rolled out their first vaccine shots this week, and best estimates say it will be till October until a sizeable chunk of us get them. And just like in every cucumber country, there are fierce anti-vaxxers here as well; who would rather get the disease over sacrificing their irrational beliefs.

Technically, it is better for our species to let these people by. You know, evolutionwise.

Victoria has just voted to extend its state of emergency till December this year, to have that level of caution. Hopefully this will rein in the more adventurous folk, by levying heavy fines for rule breakers. 

The La-nina is still around, and it is expected to bring gloomy weather, with overcast , cloudy skies and long rains. Friendly reminder, rain is always good. Yes, you need to carry an umbrella, but at least you will have water round the year to grow those avocados. But the chilly, cloudy skies is a bummer, and a reminder that harsh winters are just around the corner.

Times up. Time to go find that missing glove and raincoat. Have a chilly good day !