August Showers bring... Rainbows!

A friend asked me the other day, "So Linz, is New Zealand beautiful?".    I said "yes", but not with a capital "Y" and exclamation points.   Yesterday convinced me that the answer now is "YES!  It's gorgeous!"

So I woke up Sunday morning and it wasn't pouring rain, so I decided to venture out on a local hike to Lake Rotokare, meaning "rippling lake".   

This lake, along with the area surrounding it, form the Rotokare Scenic Reserve, funded by the local District Council, which works hard to keep this land as a pest-free sanctuary.  There's even a predator proof fence around the reserve, and two mechanical gates on the way in!   (Holy maximum security--- I'm surprised TSA wasn't there!) :)  Anyways, the path around it was a nice lush walk.  But the birdsongs were delightful.  I think I was the only one hiking the path that morning!  Me and the birds....

This guy reminded me of a flying penguin...

And I don't recall ever seeing a swan-like bird this color!

(anyone with bird knowledge feel free to comment and educate me!)

So after my relaxing hike with the lake and the birds, as I was waiting for the second gate to open (the first one had to close completely before the second one opened)--- I spotted my first NZ rainbow!!

Yay!  I absolutely love rainbows.  It was the perfect day for them, because it would rain, then sun, then rain, then... you get the picture.

So I decided to follow a sign to another lake I had read about.  Kind of a whim decision because I did NOT have a map.  But it was then when I really got to see BEAUTIFUL New Zealand.  Check out this countryside!!

I stopped the car to inform this cow to be careful, he may get his head stuck in there like that, and we'll have to use butter or Crisco to free him!  :)

And further along my drive, the New Zealand factoid I read about came to life.  SHEEP!   Tons of them.  There *are* more sheep than people here!  10 sheep for every 1 person!!   Check it out:

They have it SO much better than US sheep, because usually they have hills of pasture to graze on, not just flat land:

Holy sheep, batman!

So I never found the right entrance to the other lake, but the driving detour was SO worth it, to see all these fellas and the beautiful farmside.

So then I visited a small town called Stratford, nothing much exciting there other that a Clocktower:

And of course, it started raining again, the sun popped out and Rainbow #2 of the day appeared!

I chased this rainbow home, and had to pull over to take this picture, my favorite of the day:

The rain and dreary weather had me feeling a bit down, so I had a hearty bowl of seafood chowder (food isn't that delicious here, so I get excited when it tastes halfway decent) and took a nap.    Woke up again to the rain, saw the sun peeking out again for Rainbow #3!  I couldn't believe it!

Rainbows are indeed breathtaking, but I'm ready for a little sunshine around here.  

 Blog posting may get less frequent now because I start work this week.  But I'm already starting to brainstorm what/where for next weekend's adventure. Everybody's working for the weekend, right?