Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Under the coastal clouds

One of the locals told me in November that the winter here is lovely but the summer is always a disappointment. I am starting to understand what she meant. The sun is up there somewhere and when it shines it is hot, but so often there are clouds along the coast and Dunedin sits under the cloud. You can see where the clouds finish, just over the hill.

I notice in the newspaper that they have just put a new temperature gauge in the city that they think will measure the temperature more accurately. Dunedin, they said, has unfairly become the brunt of unfair comment by other New Zealanders and this new gauge will help. We will see!

Monday, January 29, 2007

18C

Today when I got up the thermometer in the kitchen said 13.2C but then the sun popped over the horizon and it was suddenly warmer. It is 29 January and18C is forecast. Quite a change from Sydney.

There seem to be varying 18Cs. Sometimes it is 18C and warm and other times it feels more like 14C. I think I will become like the Eskimos who have lots of different words for snow. I shall have lots of different words for 18C.

Monday, January 22, 2007

New beginnings

I bought a piece of greenstone recently in Greymouth. For years I had thought to buying a piece of greenstone, but only now did it feel like the right time.

I bought a 'Koru' which is a circular piece. The Koru is a symbol of new beginnings and I thought it very appropriate.

Digesting the changes

If you had not guessed, the photos in my November logs are of Dunedin.
If you had asked me before I moved if it was possible to move countries in 10 days I would have said No, its not.
But it is ....... I know because I did it!

It is more than 6 weeks since I posted to this blog and I have been travelling most of the time since. I went back to Sydney and tied up loose ends, went to NZ North Island for Christmas then trickled on down to Dunedin via the west coast.

In the meantime I have had time to digest the sudden changes in my life. The decision to move was made quickly but I think it will turn out to be a good decision. Dunedin is a lovely spot and I am looking forward to starting my art course. Somehow I am not worried about the cold weather here. I think I must have psychologically decided that since it is the best place for me to be, the cold doesn't matter.