Oh the joys of Walking ..

On the first night of our arrival, I was going for a stroll around the property and I heard the clock chiming throughout the dusk into the evening. It then dawned on me it was too continuous, not on the hour and very loud within the courtyard, suddenly I clicked that it was a Cuckoo bird. A sound we are now very familiar with and really enjoy within the national park. We still giggle thinking back to that first night when we were amazed and looking to find the big clock making such a noise. It really does sound exactly like my perception of a cuckoo clock.

Within my first couple of weeks here, I was studiously working in my workshop and I heard the babble of female voices. It finally dawned on me that they were speaking English. I headed outside to figure out who it could be and found a group of about ten ladies visiting from England. One of the ladies is Danish and they were staying in her summerhouse for the weekend. It was amazing to show them around, I really enjoyed it. They were intrigued and thoroughly enjoyed an in depth look at my work. There was much mention of a visit to London and trips to New Zealand. We shall see what the future holds.

The Danish lady of the group also let her sister know about the exhibition. She was kind enough to take the time to come to the opening and has also visited us on a few occasions since. One of her visits she brought with her a group of 14 friends who were here to run and walk through the national park for the weekend. I once again, really enjoyed showing them around. I am loving meeting so many different people and love to see the power of word of mouth. She is hoping to take Aimee and I for a walk up the mountain which we both look forward to.

On our own walks so far we have seen many new and exciting things. One thing we have noticed most however is the slugs.. or what I like to call liquorice slugs. It is as though someone has spilt a giant bag of liquorice pieces onto the footpath.  They average 2-3 inches and I have seen them up to 5! They are an amazing rich glossy black, are ponderously slow and are therefore prone to getting squashed. As with NZ slugs these too are a gardeners nightmare .. ten fold I would think.

Oh the joys walks can bring ..