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

Winter in Wellington. Dark, cold, rain. Time for a party!

On Saturday we hosted our annual darkest-day party. And this year I could even attend, I was not stuck in a boring AANZ AGM down in Christchurch! People started to show up shortly before dusk. We had a roaring fire, plenty of food and mulled wine, and the shining of many tea-lights to carry us through the dark night.

It was a “bring a plate or bottle” sort of party, which in practice means that everyone brings enough food/drink for 3 or 4 people, and there is complete overload. It was great! All up we had 27 guests, if I counted correctly (they kept moving!). Two people ended up staying the night (one who had too long a drive home, the other who was out past her restriced drivers licence cutoff), so they got a giant scrummie breakfast, too.

Now I have 3 days to prepare for my trip to Dundein next weekend for the AANZ conference. All I need to do is come up with fun material for my 50 minute talk (“alpacas- te details are in the science”) and make a powerpoint slide file to send down. Oh, and I need to pick out some very warm clothes for my trip. A huge winter storm double-tapped the bottom of the South Island last week. They are just getting airports reopened now in many places, and were talking of 2-3 meter deep snow drifts on the main roads. “Bitterly cold southerly winds” have been a common feature of many weather reports. In fact, it is what has been reportred for us in Wellington today, as we catch the edge of the latest storm that hit our southern neighbors. I am gad I have built plenty of shelters for the alpaca.