Saturday, October 18, 2008

Tramping about

Tramp: (v.) hike

Upon hearing that the "tramping" industry in New Zealand is one of the main draws for tourism you could easily get the wrong idea. And, given that Nelson did not get the scholarship that we were hoping would provides us with travel and living expenses during his PhD, the title of this post may cause some alarm. Don't worry mom, tramping hasn't become our source of income, it's just a hobby for now.

While being at "home" in Wanganui was nice, it didn't last long. We are off to Taranaki for a few days. Nelson will take a course on small-scale energy production and Dani will (hopefully) finish a paper or two. Then we will take a "tramp" on Mount Taranaki, a dormant volcano. There is still snow on the mountain this time of year, but the weather looks like it will cooperate and give us a few nice days.

Before we head out let me give you a glimpse of the explosion of flora that occurred in our back yard while we were away at the Ecoshow. Everything is in full-bloom here. It reminds me of Pedal Power Farm in late June, just gorgeous. The borage and brocolli must have grown 300 mil since we left (about a foot for you non-metric folks).




A Quiz: Can you name this flower?

4 comments:

Lisa said...

Oh, Oh I can, I can name that flower. I'll let someone else have a go though! It is sooooo nice to see my garden in it's spring explosion. Thanks! I am yearning to get back to it now. Enjoy your tramp on Mt Taranaki, looking forward to seeing you soon.

Kristen said...

I'm pretty confident that that is the spiky pistiled New Zealand milk plant.

DoulaMomma said...

not sure what anything is except beautiful!

The Eco School said...

I'll give you a hint... It is something many of you have in your kitchen at this very moment.