s e v e n i s a j o u r n e y

Had our first earthquake — a 4.something, followed by a handful of 3.something aftershocks. I slept right through them all, but Stephen felt them.

Stephen’s parents were here for the weekend. Saturday, we drank a lot of wine over in the Wairarapa (known for its pinot noir), accompanied by absolutely gorgeous weather. Sunday we trooped around the Karori Wildlife Sanctuary, which is a big chunk of bush practically in the middle of Wellington that they’ve surrounded with “predator-proof” fencing. So they are gradually introducing a lot of the rare birds and critters that otherwise are only living on off-shore islands. Saw kaka (like big parrots) and weka (sort of a chunkier, flightless pukeko) and weta (like enormous cave crickets). Very cool ! Part of the sanctuary has clay that looks very similar to ours, and a lot of the same plants that are coming up in our gullies, so we can get an idea where our little patch might theoretically be heading.