First week

Things really went smoothly at work during the first week. A very welcoming staff and open and interesting patients made for an easy transition. The weather, though the winter season has been excellent, the locals are amazed at how pleasant it is.

 This is a snapshot of the little square in Napier across from  the office.  Palm trees and sunshine on the shortest day of the year.  That's actually the most difficult thing, all of a sudden the days are so much shorter than June in Colorado. My winter sleep cycle has re-emerged.

But with the first weekend that I have settled I took off for some hikes in the hills above the coast,  I felt like I was back on the South Island with the dense  deep green foliage  with ferns and palms and mosses.

  A couple places I hiked were predator free zones, one in particular was a fenced  reserve to  raise Kiwis until they are adults and can be released elsewhere.  The songs of the birds was amazing in the reserve, Tui's are my favourite with their astounding range of songs and calls. Just one sign today.

 This Matai tree was apparently too large to be logged so it has survived its 800 or so years, the extinct Moa and New Zealand Eagle  foraged around it in the past.

 And it only took me a  week to find a brew pub, and though none of their beers were ready today they had an excellent assortment of craft beer from the North Island and I managed to get one mini growler home without dropping it. Too bad about its mate.

  And, for my wife and daughters and Sue and Brenda,  here's to women drinking real beer rather than  pretend stuff.

The All Blacks are on again tonight so the entire country is riveted on that rather than Brexit for a bit.