The morning was a bit exciting in that I figured out my next 3 weeks of travel plans in the South Island. The rest of the day went fairly quickly. Regan texted in the afternoon and asked if I wanted to meet him for a "mystery event" evening. So at around 4:15 pm, I was on the bus headed into town. He met me at the Courtenay Place stop. He had picked up a pamphlet at the tourist info on a "writers walk." Apparently there are little markers all over the city dedicated to New Zealand's writers and poets.
We walked down to the wharf where the first of the writers began and did our best to follow the map around the city. Most of them were fairly easy to find, albeit in some interesting locations. But a few were simply evasive, no matter how many times we circled the area where it was supposed to be. In one case, we found the exact spot, but it was just gone. All in all, we found 14 out of the 17 we looked for.
Tribute to Katherine Mansfield
A pigeon finds itself in the bad part of duck town.
Art versus reality
Beautiful barnacles
The words of Robin Hyde
The creative location for Alistair Te Ariki Campbell...
... a closer view
Bruce Mason
Sam Hunt
Bill Manhire
Patricia Grace...
... and closer.
Not exactly sure what this was... but it was big and heavy (the buoy-shaped thing, not me... yet).
Maurice Gee
Louis Johnson
Th tribute to Michael King. By the way... did you know that pigeons are the only bird that "suck"? Most birds take a sip of water then throw back their heads to let the water trickle down their throats. But pigeons actually suck up water, using their beaks like straws. Now, whether they are involved in "the sucking of trevally"... that's a whole different question.
Denis Glover
A pair of Oystercatchers catching... um... oysters, per chance?
Eileen Duggan's missing memorial
We walked to the bus stop but it was crowded and the bus just wasn't coming, so we ended up walking the hour home. We cut through Basin Reserve Stadium, location of numerous cricket games. I had been hoping to attend the recent one between New Zealand and England, but it got rained out.
The place was so quaint, complete with white picket fence.
The cricket museum
Just outside the field, this guy has decided he doesn't have to actually pay to see the games, but a balcony chair will do the trick.
We stopped to get some groceries along the way.
Penne pasta, butternut squash, mushrooms, sun-dried tomatoes and lots of garlic!
These hot crossed buns weren't nearly as sweet as I had picture they might be. They are basically a wheat dinner roll with raisins. Meant as an Easter treat, the "crossed" actually is a Christian cross, not just some piratey x-marks-the-spot type of decoration.
