The last post

Our time in the Galapagos is nearly over, only 3 days to go before we get on the plane for the first of some long hours flying to get back to New Zealand. We have packed up the computer and I will farewell this blog ...

Los Gemelos

On Sunday we took a taxi up to the highlands to visit Los Gemelos - twin sink holes just off the main road. The kids discovered to their delight they provided the ideal site for an echo, so yelled, screamed and yelped at the top of their voices and laughed at the resulting sound.
We followed a track winding through the scalesia forest with moss covered branches, hanging lichen, ferns and bromeliads, giving it a mysterious and delicate fairy tale appearance. We had hoped to see the vivid red vermilion flycatcher amongst the trees but instead rounded a corner on the track to find ourselves being quietly hissed at by a short eared owl sitting on the ground. We silently watched it blinking it's incredible yellow eyes for a while before leaving it to sleep again.









So nice to be amongst the green forest after being in the dry lowlands.
























The owl blended in so perfectly with it's surroundings.

Pony, pony

Our broom has been doing a little more than sweeping the floor lately. It is a pony and is taken for gentle walks around the house and gallops along the patio outside. This is all accompanied by constant cries of "pony, pony". Pop we miss the lovely wooden hobby horse you made back in New Zealand......

Amigo a de playa

Another afternoon at the Directors Beach. Digging for treasure....
But today we were joined by a friend from the sea.



Usually we share the beach with a few marine iguanas. It was nice to sit and watch the sealion rolling around in the shallows for a while before disappearing back out to sea.

Those Finches

There are 13 species of finch in the Galapagos, with names such as the large ground finch, medium ground finch, small ground finch, cactus ground finch and so on. They come in shades of mostly grey and brown with variations in beak shape and size, and all look quite similar. Living in the National Park means we have large numbers of birds around our house. They do however consider our house to be part of their territory and come inside on a daily basis. Most will scavenge for a few crumbs and find their way out the door again but they frequently need rescuing when they go into the front porch or one of the bedrooms. The other day we had four in the house at once all trying to get out. The ones in the bedroom sat on the mosquito net over the bed and managed to deposit several droppings onto our pillow cases. I took them off, washed them and hung them on the line to dry. One of the finches favoured spots to sit out in the garden is the clothes line. When I later took the dry washing in I noticed fresh bird droppings on the clean pillow cases.

House and Garden

The garden, all in pots so daily watering is required.























I love the patterns these spiders weave in their webs, I don't know how they change the colour of their thread though.



















Yes this is still my laundry, outside in the company of lava lizards.








Felix's school work table is a popular place. The dining table has become the lego table as we eat all our meals at a little table in the porch area. We watch the geckos hunting moths on the insect screens there at night.






We wouldn't grace the pages of any house and garden magazine but it's our wee home while we are here. I just had to grow something while I was here as I missed being able to harvest fresh organic vegetables from our garden. Grant bought some compost from the council which proved to be a little complicated as he had to show them his passport before he could purchase it. He certainly had a good workout on the way home with it loaded in the bike trailer. We planted lettuce, tomatoes, zucchini and capsicums. The lettuce germinated in less than 2 days but didn't turn out to be that nice to eat, even the finches won't eat them. The tomatoes are fruiting now and they are actually pretty awful, very tasteless which we put down to the variety as the plants have grown well. The zucchini have produced very little and again were very bland, unlike the kings seeds variety we grew in southland. The capsicums have turned out the best by far, we have already eaten a number of sweet, crisp ones and I still marvel at how well they are growing outside, the climate here is ideal for them.
Have included a few photos of the house, we have done our best to make it feel like home. The lino on the floor is pretty terrible and it always looks really dirty, which is partly the colour and partly that it probably is grubby! Hard to keep floors clean with so much indoor outdoor living and 3 children in and out with bare feet. The floors in the kitchen and bathroom are white tiles which if you combine a tiny bit of water and some dusty feet turn very quickly into a bad look. We share our house with huge numbers of ants, they are everywhere. Locals call one of the species crazy ants as they are very small and run around very haphazardly. The kitchen is also home to a lot of cockroaches that come out to play at night. Even though the house feels small we are lucky compared to what some people have here.

Matariki

As part of our celebration for Matariki we have been making stars. It is hard for us to imagine the cold of winter back in New Zealand while here. As the solstice approaches there is no noticable seasonal change for us, although it has cooled off a little.
We are learning a new song for matariki too...

Kapo kapo nga whetu
Hei whaakaaro ki a u
He rangi o te ao
Penei i te taimana
Kapo kapo nga whetu
Hei whaakaaro ki a u
(twinkle twinkle little star)

The kids have decided to go shirtless rather than wear painting shirts, easier clean up they tell me.

Colour in my day

colour
Originally uploaded by kiwikidsx3

Recently I had started to think my surroundings were all green and brown. The green of the cactus and brown of their trunks, the heaped mounds of saltbush and the brown dust. So for one of my artists dates ("The Artists Way" Julia Cameron) I rode into town on my bike to capture some of the colours of the streets.

Beautifully happy

Small things make life beautiful and sustaining....
Last evening Rata was riding her bike at the back door when her chain came off. It was getting dark, the mosquitos were coming out and we were about to have dinner, so we couldn't fix it straight away. The next day Grant fixed it for her and she was so pleased she thanked him and exclaimed she now felt "beautifully happy". Sometimes the smallest things can make us feel good.
I wish you all some beautiful happiness in your day.

One blue bucket and a beach

Monday afternoon found us once again at the beach. This time it was the Directors Beach near our house, so called for the house just behind the beach, provided for the director of the Charles Darwin Research Station. It is surrounded by the usual tangle of salt bush and poison apple trees. I did think it would be a nice place to live but there are no proper fences to stop our wandering 2 year old and it was never an option anyway.
Ingredients for an hour or two of fun at the beach : 3 happy kids and a blue bucket.





I think the photos speak for themselves....