Saturday Morning Run Through Hagley Park

I'm pleased to repot that New Zealand has had a reprieve from cyclones and Once in some-number-of-hundred Year Storms.  The days have been sunny and pleasant, and the nights clear, if not a bit freezing. I'll take it. We'll call it "summer".

Anyways, I was on a fantastic morning run through Hagley Park (my favorite place for baby duck sighting) on Saturday, and I was hoping to take lots of pictures of the fall colors. It seems that I was too late though as I found just evergreens and a lot of bare branches.

Pretty none the less.

 As I rounded the back of the botanical gardens I was surprised to find a new building by the river. It turns out that the new visitor's center opened a couple of weeks ago. Who knew?

This is what a mere $16 million looks like in building form. 

Well, apparently these two sorta famous people heard about it because it turns out they stopped by (literally for about 2 minutes) to officially open the new building.

Wills and Kate. OMG!
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I took a stroll through the new building, which has a pleasant cafe and a pretty nice little gift shop. There is also a small museum which has been done beautifully, of course, and is free, of course. I love that about New Zealand.

The rest of the building is home to nursery rooms for cultivating native and rare plants. These rooms have automatic screens that raise and lower depending on the sun, so on a sunny day like this one, the whole building has a futuristic white look to it. On cloudy days (or on the non-sunny side of the building) it has a modern greenhouse look.

In other news I survived another round of night shifts (barely) and no, they haven't gotten an easier. Between shifts I managed to get out and enjoy the cooperative weather. 

It's that time of year again!!!

The sun is shining (between thunderstorms) and the trees have leaves again... finally. What does this mean for me? Hayfever!

But what else?

Baby ducks. 

Baby ducks are the best. For those of you who've just stumbled upon this blog and haven't tirelessly scoured the last 14 months (!) worth of rambling (shame on you), you must know this: I find baby farm animals fantastic. Kittens are just small mean cats waiting to turn on you when you least expect it, and puppies are lovely but just remind me of how I can't have one. Little lambs, however, and goats and pigs and chicks... they are just the best. And ducklings may take the cuteness cake. I'm not sure.

Who let you be so cute?

We took a stroll through Hagley Park last Saturday with the sole purpose of taking a duckling tour. They did not disappoint. Neither did the seasonally confused trees. They must think they're in the northern hemisphere...

Beautiful none the less..

More importantly, more ducks:

Moms are always watching...

So tiny she can swim in the puddle!

Spring time is also great because the time changes, the evenings are long, and therefore the bike riding is prolific. Ive ridden the last 5 nights straight. It's awesome. Also, to add to the awesomeness, race season is upon us. 

The Vic Park DH was last weekend. I planned on doing it, even practiced in the rain on Saturday night- but it turned out to be the slipperiest mudfest I've ever seen. Usually I get along with the mud, but this was like Crisco greased with KY jelly mud. And the course would have also been the steepest (by far) that I've ever raced. Without the mud or without the steep I should have been in... but the combo put me on the sidelines.

Scott did brave the mud and enter the race on Sunday. He also put together a pretty solid race run, following a few issues including us racing back home to switch tires... yikes! But he managed to pull off a first place finish in his age group (Masters, ha ha.) and 14th overall. It was a crazy race to watch, with more crashing than I've ever seen before. I was thankful to be a spectator. 

View from Vic Park

Scott during his seeding run- a very slippery and steep section of trail

Scott during race run

Also Scott's race run, obviously Photo Credit goes to somebody else.

Thats my man! (Photo Credit)

Such a clear day after the rain! View of Christchurch from the top of the hills.

Unfortunately for me, the next DH race falls on a weekend I can't get out of work. My first race of the season should be the Godly Head Enduro, which is pretty much right in our backyard. I'm super excited!

Waitangi Day

I hope everyone's weekend is finding them well! We've had an awesome weekend so far... including farmers markets and making honey (!)... but you'll have to wait until my next post to hear about all of that.

This past Wednesday was Waitangi Day, an important part of New Zealand's cultural history. On February 6, 1840, the English settlers and the Maori tribe chiefs signed the Treaty of Waitangi. The point was that the Maoris and the Crown would live in harmony thus forth....

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Waitangi Day celebrations started in 1934, and it has been a public holiday (ie: no work!... unless you're in nursing) since the 1970's. Many folks see it as "New Zealand Day" where everyone just celebrates being from New Zealand. Several of my patients described it to me like this. Being on the south island, there is a much smaller Maori population, and especially in Christchurch. For us, this may lead to a smoother Waitangi Day. Every year in Waitangi (on the north island) the official festivities are held, and the events have a less peaceful reputation. Historically, it has become a day of protests and sometimes violence, instead of festivities. I heard that Waitangi Day 2013 went pretty well though. Only minor "drama", as they like to say here.

New Zelanders gather at the Treaty House
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Anyways... we figured we would try and seek out some Waitangi Day fun. After attempting to go out to breakfast on a day that the entire nation has off (fail), we headed to Hagley Park, my favorite place for spotting flowers and ducks. Hagley park is huge, and we figured if Christchurch was having any official Waitangi Day celebrations, we'd find them at Hagley.

Oddly, not a festivity to be found. Luckily we brought bread, and learned that ducks can jump.

They also become quite friendly when there's bread involved. Especially the good stuff.

So it was a day of peace making between the people and the ducks. As for the cultural experience we attempted to find... maybe we'll have more luck on the next NZ holiday, which is probably next week.

I'll do my best to take pictures of things other than ducks. But no promises.

Kodak Moments

Flower baskets donated by the Christchurch community to beautify an otherwise plain metal container wall 

Consider this Hagley Park Photo 1. Of 1 million.

Spot Scott.

Name 5 things better than ducklings.

This is our downtown park, and a place I never forgot after first visiting Christchurch.
There are some things an earthquake can not touch.