You just can't beat it

"I have heard of it blowing a gale, and half a gale, but if ever it blew a gale and a half it is doing so at the present moment." - Lieutenent Best.

Let me tell you a little something about my city: Wellington, New Zealand.

Because of the funnel effect created by the close proximity of the north and south island's mountain ranges, or what the Maori once called the "river of wind", Wellington is notorious for its wind. Every now and then, that wind is a southerly that makes its way up the country with remnants of Antarctica on its tail. Sometimes it rains, and we all know the city is often not the nicest place to be when it rains, let alone when that rain is travelling sideways, lashing your entire body, no matter how hard you try and cover up with jackets and boots and scarves - and don't even bother with an umbrella.

The wind actually nearly prevented Wellington from becoming a city at all. Before the early nineteenth century, people found it extremely hard to put down roots here, and it wasn't until British sailing ships found sanctury in its harbour that it became an attractive option for colonial settlement.

"Yet even as the raw township grew into a thriving metropolis, there was always that sense of living on a fault-line, of frail wooden houses clinging to hillsides that might throw them off any minute." - Wellington: Biography of a City by Redmer Yska

However, us Wellingtonians have a little saying that gets us through the harsh winter winds and sideways rain: "You can't beat Wellington on a good day."

And you really can't. I would challenge anyone not to smile when the sun is out in this amazing city.

And although today we've had some pretty intense wind, grey skies and a bit of rain, this is what it looked like this time last week, on the last day of winter:

Hello? Spring? Are you there?

Ever get that feeling at the end of winter when you're just so fed up? You're sick of jumpers and socks and scarves and boots. They all feel itchy and uncomfortable and heavy and you just want to walk around naked. You're sick of being cold. You find yourself longing to feel sand under your toes, a cotton skirt floating around your legs, the warmth of the sun on your face; to hear the sound of cicadas, the sizzle of the barbecue.
A couple of days ago I was so desperate for spring that I spent my walk home from the train station searching for a sign, any sign of it, and I found a tiny blossom peeking through on an otherwise barren tree. I went to take a photo of it last night, but my battery died, then I went to charge said battery and my charger died, so I can't use my camera right now, which is a little annoying since I've been without it for weeks as my sister's been using it and there are so many things I want to capture right now, but never mind, out comes the credit card for a new charger - I can't be without my camera this close to spring! So the photo above is not mine, it's from here.
It's. Just. So. Close. I smelt it in the air yesterday when we were treated to a rare day of sunshine after weeks of rain and grey skies, and I've decided that I'm over winter. It's time for spring! Seven days to go!

A chilly place called home

Wellington, you can be so nasty and cruel sometimes, sneaking your icy fingers into the tiniest gap in our clothing. No matter how hard we try to cover up, to shield ourselves from you, you still find a way in. We rearrange our scarf and you sneak down our neck; we pull our collar up and you creep up from the ground inside our wool coat; we pull our coat closer and you slip through the gaps between the buttons; and before we know it, we're at work where we can be warm, at least until our stomach starts to grumble, then you meet us at the door. Then, for no reason at all in the middle of an otherwise miserable day, you part the clouds for us and that blue sky we see so rarely at this time of year frames you, our city, just the way we like it and we ignore the icy fingers and forgive you for another day because, wind, hail, snow, rain or shine, you are our home.

Come on SPRING!

Dear Mother Nature,

The snow you gave us on Monday was great. We had a lot of fun making snowmen, having snowball fights, taking beautiful photos of the snow and having an excuse to sit on the couch all night and watch movies, but seriously, we are all over these freezing cold temperatures, the rain, and the miserable grey skies.

My feet have not been warm in about a week, the front lawn is a bog, my car refuses to start most mornings and stalls at every intersection, and I can't show off my new haircut because it's too damn cold to not wear a beanie.

So please give us a good spring, and bring it soon. We all can't wait to get outside to go for bike rides and long walks, swim in the sea, eat icecream, wear sunglasses, go on random roadtrips, and laze in the grass reading a good book.

Yours sincerely,
Frozen

This is where I live!

So today I went on a little adventure on some country roads around where I live and ended up stopping the car every five seconds along this one stretch of road on my way back to take photos of the beautiful mountains sprinkled with snow, which I can also see when I drive out of my street on a frosty, blue-sky morning - what a way to start the morning :)

I drove over the hill and could see the mountains in the distance...

And then I was greeted with beautiful snowy mountains, which I snapped through some lucious green trees

 And there they were, right infront of me.

Even though I don't plan on living here for much longer, I do love driving on country roads, appreciating the very best this beautiful country has to offer.