World Famous in Palmie

Palmerston North has quite a few events that are 'world famous' here in Palmie.... The Sakura springtime festival at IPC is one such event, and this year the weather has smiled for the cherry blossoms and the multicultural crowd drawn to see them.

And just like they do in the parks of Japan..... people pose to get their photos taken under the blossoms.

And tomorrow there is another legendary Palmie event... the St James Gala Day. Let's hope the sun shines for them as well......

Walking from Le Puy to SJPP- YouTube

Here is a slide show of some of my photos taken while walking between Le-Puy-en-Velay and St Jean Pied de Port, along the Chemin de St Jacques. I left Le Puy mid-April, experiencing some snow in the early days, then 30+ degrees by the time I reached Conques a week later.... I was very happy when I arrived in SJPP late in May, and am still amazed I did it!

My Camino in Spain -Youtube slideshow

I have been making various slideshows of my Camino photos, and this one is of the route I walked along the Camino Frances. It starts from St Jean Pied de Port in the south of France, across the Pyrenees, then along to Santiago in Galicia in north-west Spain.

The music you might find a bit repetitive and not all that interesting.... but I have been experimenting using Garageband and I am only a beginner ;-) (We all have to start somewhere!)

Moana Roa beach

One of the things I realised doing the Camino was that a major 'love of my life' is walking outdoors ;-) And I have just joined Forest & Bird to do some more of that.

This morning I joined a group to walk at Moana Roa, down Parewanui Rd from Bulls. We walked in the sandy area just inland from the beach, until we reached the estuary where the Rangitikei River arrives at the sea. The great thing about going with F&B is that there are real experts who tend to go with you. Today our leader, Viv, was someone who had a lot of knowledge about coastal plants. She pointed out the native convolvulus (pictured).

She also knew a lot about where katipo live. She searched under a few likely looking small logs, and pointed out some nests to us. Then someone, using what we had just learned about their habitat, turned over another small log.... and hey presto, we were viewing a real live katipo, complete with a bold red stripe on its back! You can find out more in this local DOC report, and on the Te Papa website

And Viv also had a photo of a banded dotterel so we could look out for them. It wasn't long before we saw one.... though they blended in superbly with the stones and dunes. You can see a wonderful photo of one on this website.