20 September 2008

A Birdsong Afternoon

Today I visited New Plymouth's Pukekura Park, a botanical garden that spans 128 acres and includes various floral collections (rhododendrons, azaleas), a fernery, many beautiful birds, and a zoo. I spent 2 hours walking around the park, discovering woodland dells, smelling the flowers, thinking, and enjoying the scenery.

There were different kinds of birds all throughout the park but the Tui was the most common bird that I saw and heard! Tui are unique to New Zealand and are quite agressive. After a little research, I discovered the Spring (September and October) is the mating period, during which the Tui is particularly vocal and active. Indeed! These birds were flapping all over the place at speeds of who KNOWS how fast. Not only could I hear their beautiful song, I could also hear their characteristic rapid flapping wings!

It was nice to spend the afternoon in such a serene setting. I enjoyed being a visitor in the homes of birds, other creatures, and trees. I made sure to take a few moments to show my appreciation to Mother Earth and thanked her for the afternoon's scenery and entertainment.

For a larger collection of photographs please visit my Photostream on Flickr!

09 September 2008

See you soon!


Zach and I spent some quality time at his cottage this Labour Day weekend before he returned to Ottawa for work. It was extra special because I am leaving for New Zealand for 6 months!

Here are some pictures from the weekend. We had beautiful weather and I even went swimming, despite the fishies!









I will be a Canadian Museums Association intern at Puke Ariki and District Libraries, a museum that triples as a library and visitor information centre. My position is that of Heritage Pictorial Technician and I will be cleaning, archiving, and preparing photographs for a future exhibit. Thank goodness for my archives internship this summer!

I am looking forward to the internship but I am nervous for the flight and sad to be leaving Zach and my mom for so long. New Zealand is so far away! I will update this blog with pictures and tales of my Kiwi adventures (hopefully Zach updates too!).