The perfect days are scarce (maybe once or twice a year) and so I savour every moment of them.
Today the grey and torrential rain has lifted (if only temporarily) and bought a welcomed patch of sunny blue sky. Waking up to see clear skies after a monstrous storm gave me that "it's going to be a good day" feeling. The morning was spent catching up with a good friend who is soon off to have overseas adventures. She bought home-made brioche and we painted, drew and talked for hours.
I know that the clear skies are only temporary (the rest of the weeks forecast rain, rain and a bit more rain) so I decided to go for a good long walk to absorb as much sun a possible. There is a local domain that I have been meaning to check out and today seemed like as good a day as any.
Straight away I felt at peace. With the sound of traffic slowly fading away as I walked deeper into the city forest along the muddy, skinny track I found it hard to remember that I am only meters away from the main road. There were hundreds upon hundred of tall trees soaking up the sun, numerous little streams, a bunch of rickety bridges, and incredible fungi.
Since it had been raining (a lot) the last few days it was pretty muddy and I had to be careful not to go for a slide down a few steep banks. I noticed a patch of sun poking out through some dead trees, beyond that there was nothing but green grass- a giant clearing! Standing in the middle, surrounded by a ring of trees on my own was quite magical. By now you couldn't hear any cars or see anything other than green. I had found a secret place.
I plodded on and it wasn't for another 15 minutes until I crossed paths with someone else - a trail runner. Not long after he had zoomed by, two barefooted kids followed. (On a side note, I love that it is totally acceptable to not wear shoes wherever you like in NZ.) Then no one else...at all. As I walked through numerous spider webs and kicked a couple of tree roots I found some incredibly huge and colourful fungi! I love fungi (as I have previously said and painted)
Since it had been raining (a lot) the last few days it was pretty muddy and I had to be careful not to go for a slide down a few steep banks. I noticed a patch of sun poking out through some dead trees, beyond that there was nothing but green grass- a giant clearing! Standing in the middle, surrounded by a ring of trees on my own was quite magical. By now you couldn't hear any cars or see anything other than green. I had found a secret place.
I plodded on and it wasn't for another 15 minutes until I crossed paths with someone else - a trail runner. Not long after he had zoomed by, two barefooted kids followed. (On a side note, I love that it is totally acceptable to not wear shoes wherever you like in NZ.) Then no one else...at all. As I walked through numerous spider webs and kicked a couple of tree roots I found some incredibly huge and colourful fungi! I love fungi (as I have previously said and painted)
After emerging from the forest back to the reality of cars and noise, I was farewelled from my incredible hour long nature walk with this afternoon sun...bliss!
- Rhiannon
It was a great morning - the most productive day I've had in ages! Wow your nature walk looks like it was AWESOME! Love your photos - thanks for sharing them. :)
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