Nature Girl I'm Not

Yesterday's adventure of the day involved taking the bus (!) to the Karori Wildlife Preserve, which consists of no other wildlife than birds. There are some hints of seeing the elusive kiwi bird, which is a potatoey-looking creature with a long, straw-like beak which is just adorable.
But kiwis are endangered, shy and I think nocturnal so I didn't come across one. Basically I just walked around trying to asborb the fresh air and all the beauty of the plants and trees that sprang up on either side of me. The problem, I discovered, is that I'm just not that much of a nature girl.

Don't get me wrong. I appreciate nature. I think it's lovely and the air smelled sweet and the plants were exotic and there was a picturesque pond. And I discovered that there's a weed or herb or something called a Wandering Jew. But honestly, my whole goal there was to burn off some calories with exercise, get in a little local flavor and be done with it. I'm sort of a "be done with it" kind of person, I realized. It was also incredibly windy at times. Just getting to the reserve meant walking from the bus stop along a sidewalk that dropped off into a cliff on one side, and I was a tad nervous about being blown over. I even called up hubby at work to tell him if I didn't come home that night it was because I fell off a cliff.

Back to the naturey part. So it was lovely and I'm very glad I went, but even at the time I could hear my clunky boots stomping around at way too fast a pace (the same stompiness that apparently has caused more than one person to think I'm a lesbian. Seriously.) I tried to slow down my pace to fully take in all that was around me, and I was rewarded by the sight of two birds cuddled side by side, fast asleep. That was sweet.

But really I wanted to get home and read, which I did after hitting up the grocery store for taco salad ingredients.

Today I decided that I should just keep it city oriented, so I kept it simple. I wandered over to the gym around noon, went to the used bookstore and exchanged one trashy novel for another, and then went back out later where I read aforementioned trashy novel over a leisurely lunch. It was bliss. On the way back I got my eyebrows waxed, which involved a nice conversation with the waxer. She's a Colombian biology teacher who moved to NZ for her husband, and now owns a beauty salon. She was very cool, and I have to say it was nice to have a conversation with someone. I've been a little isolated here, although it has caused my hubby and I to have in-depth conversations more frequently than usual, which is a good thing in itself.

I am excited though, because V, one of my closest friends from New York is coming to visit tomorrow. She'll be here for two weeks, which should give us ample time to travel around the North and South Islands. I haven't spent that long traveling with anyone since backpacking around Europe 10 years ago, so I'm a little nervous that we'll start grating on each other after a while. But we're adults, and we did find each other to be great travel companions on a trip to Puerto Rico years ago. Back then I was a little less interested in sightseeing and generally being active, so I think she'll be pleased with my desire to be more active this time around. One of our favorite shared memories is the time that we took a bus somewhere in Puerto Rico, she got off the bus at our stop, looked back, and realized that I was still sitting in my seat, fast asleep with my sunglasses on. Oh yes, and we still giggle about the doorknob falling off the balcony in our hotel room, but that was one of those "you had to be there" moments.

Well, it's Friday night here in Wellington. I'd like to go out tonight to see some rowdiness, so hopefully hubby is up for it when he gets home from work. However, we also have the latest episode of Battlestar Galactica, which is seriously, seriously tempting.