Living in New Zealand: The Kleptomaniac Weka

Click to see options for using the image

Wekas are birds I have only seen when tramping or on the West Coast. They are about the size of a chicken and can be just as damaging to a vegetable garden, so I guess it is lucky we don't have them in Lyttelton.

Living in New Zealand: Nature Reclaims Things Quickly on the West Coast

Nature takes over. Click to use image.

Helping out at my friend’s place on the West Coast, I was reminded how rampant nature is over there. The mild, wet climate means things grow even faster in a country where the intense sunlight means things grow like crazy. The native bush is full of tree ferns and nikau palms and the temperate rainforest is ready to move in once buildings are left vacant.

The koru. Click to see options for using the image

One of the New Zealand artists who used the symbol of the koru a lot in his work was Gordon Walters.

https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2017/11/21/62092/reclaiming-the-koru

Living in New Zealand: There Are Good Independent Breweries Here and One of Them is the West Coast Brewery in Westport

West Coast Brewery (Click to see options for using the image)

If you are a beer drinker, you can't go to Westport without stopping in at the West Coast Brewery. It doesn't make the sweet dishwater that passes for beer with the big NZ breweries and it is still independently owned. If you want to taste the beer, you can get it straight from the tap without getting a “flight' of beers served in fancy glasses that disguise the fact you have paid good money for sips of substandard beer.

And at $18 dollars for a pack of six beers of your choice, it's worth taking a few away.

Part of the range of West Coast Brewery’s beer

New Zealand Garden Diary: Growing Sunflower Seeds to Feed Birds

Growing your own bird seed (Click to see options for using the image)

When the weather gets colder, I will be buying seedy fat balls from the Lyttelton farmers market to hang out on the bird table I made. I also put out seeds, grains and water. But in the meantime I am happy to let the birds fatten up on the sunflower seeds from the heads I saved. I think next year I will grow a lot more sunflowers as I love the look of them and I love watching the birds.