We stopped over in Paris last night. It was a bonus to find ourselves wandering along by the Seine, past the amusing gargoyles of Notre Dame with time to visit two favourite shops, the most fascinating bookshop, Shakespeare & Company, and the best scarf shop in all the world, Kazana.
This morning we took a walk over Pont d’Austerlitz, through the Jardin des Plantes and on to the Mosquée de Paris. A lovely end to a nourishing week.
For those who have been followers of canddaway.com since we were travelling in New Zealand, you may remember there was a referendum in December 2015 to choose a potentially new national flag from a shortlist of five designs.
The winning design (above right) was due to be pitted against the current flag (above left) in a second vote this month to decide which would be New Zealand’s national flag moving into the future.
Well the promised second referendum has taken place today and the status quo won by 56.6% to 43.2%. An interesting article on referendum outcomes ran in the online Guardian today. The issue remains topical for the UK as we face the vote on whether to remain in the EU. The question is will the status quo win the day in that vote?
Our last full day in New Zealand began at Eucharist in Christchurch Transitional Cathedral. We left there to search out a labyrinth built out of the bricks of a nearby church destroyed in the 2011 earthquake. We walked in thanks and hope and weeded the path as a gesture of solidarity.
We say goodbye (e noho rā) to all we have met on our travels here and leave with deep gratitude for all we have received.
Our last few days in New Zealand have included a search for a labyrinth beneath the low cloud hanging in the mountains north east of Akaroa, and a second encounter with Little Blue Penguins.
We found the Southern Lights Centre labyrinth and walked as the rain grew in strength. A simple path of white pebbles with random, beautiful, inlaid coloured stones.
Today we discovered the penguins’ ‘rest home’ near Christchurch Airport. These lovely creatures are beyond rehabilitation but receive compassionate care at the International Antarctic Centre. We had encountered Little Blues at night in the wild so this chance to see them close up in daylight was a bonus and enabled us to learn more about their lives and behaviour.
New Zealand keeps giving.
The river was in full flow as we took a walk in the post rain freshness. It was lovely to encounter a red admiral butterfly, an Australasian crested grebe and a flock of local sheep.
Watching the washing go round in a tiny launderette in Akaroa. Three days of solid rain mean there is no easy drying on a line.
Not quite as conducive to stillness as the meditation group yesterday, held in a white wooden hall up the next valley, but there is something about contemplation that is possible anywhere, even a launderette.
Held safely within this tiny silo, with time and space to rest and reflect, it is no surprise that night dreams and day thoughts reveal to the conscious mind the significance and richness of hospitality – offered in sometimes the smallest and simplest of ways by this land and it’s people.
Another visit to the Cardboard Transitional Cathedral in Christchurch two days ago revealed the icon of welcome and generosity we have already met several times on this journey.
The questions this archetypal image poses for us may be something like:
We said goodbye to our friend from Australia at 3.30am this morning at Christchurch Airport and, after a little more sleep, drove to the Banks Peninsula to a place called Little River.
We are staying in a converted Silo for the next few days. A curious, wonderous space from which to explore the local bays, walking tracks and bike trails.
Already we have heard new song from the feathered inhabitants of the bush in which the silo graciously sits. Just lovely.
For our family, friends and followers…
Kia hora te marino
Kia whakapapa pounamu te moana
Kia tere te karohirohi i mua i tu huarahi
May the calm be widespread
May the ocean glisten as greenstone
May the shimmer of light ever dance across your pathway
We left Abel Tasman two days ago and drove south west around several mountain ranges and over the Lewis Pass until we reached the alpine village of Hanmer Springs.
After a comfortable night in a B&B where we cried our way through the film ‘Billy Elliot’, we continued south east towards the Pacific Coast and our destination of Akaroa on Banks Peninsula.
It is good to have landed for a couple of days in this lovely place with its subtle French influence.
canddaway's Blog 