Blown Away By Bluff

This morning (Monday), Mom, LilliAnn, and I went to Bluff.  It is the Southern most community (I think) on the South Island.  Before we left I finally had my camera downstairs so I could capture a picture of one of the tuis that hangs out in the Stantons' yard.  They are incredible birds, like parrots they can mimic a large variety of sounds.  This one has sounded like a cat, a monkey, a robot, among other things.  I can hear it from my room in the morning and evening.  It is a very cool bird.

I think the tui may have been checking us out too.

 The weather was very spotty.  It rained, then cleared up and then would rain again.  It turned out it made it absolutely beautiful at Sterling Point.  The wind has been up as high as 45 mph, so the sea was a bit rough.  I took a few hundred pictures.  It was amazing to watch the sky and the sea change colors.  Because of the rain showers drifting in and out and the sun shining through occasionally, we were able to see several rainbows.  I have not done any photo editing to the following pictures.  The colors really kept changing and they were all taken within 45 minutes or so.

Only 4810 km from the South Pole. 5133 km from the Equator.

A couple of rainbow pictures:

Mom and LilliAnn are always trying to get as close to the water as possible.  If you look carefully you can see the blue of LilliAnn's jacket through the bush on the left.

The seas were really rough and showed lots of different colors.

After hanging out at Sterling Point, and experiencing the ever changing sea and using an exciting toilet that played us music, we headed to the look out over Bluff.  We could see for miles and the scenery was beautiful.

Can it rain rainbows?

Looking towards Invercargill

It was beautiful, but maybe the strongest winds I've experienced.

LilliAnn and Mom.  LilliAnn has her ears covered because of the winds.

After enjoying the scenery we came home for lunch.  After lunch we had afternoon tea with Vi Downham, one of the ladies from church.  I stayed with her for a weekend during my first trip to New Zealand and have stayed with both her son and daughter on different trips.  She is an amazing lady. Vi was a teenager in England during WWII and survived the bombings by the Nazis.  She also incredibly kind and loads of fun.

This evening we had dinner with the Stantons and are now watching a movie.  Good times!

I know I've said this before... but this may be the last time I can upload pictures until I get back to the States.  I'll try to at least update our activities.  But I know the pictures of New Zealand are way more exciting than my writing... I have no illusions about that.  :)