Rapscallion

My Photo scholarship 2011 entry

New Zealand | Sunday, November 6, 2011 | 5 photos

Our New Zealand holiday refreshed our spirits. Aotearoa is a place of wild landscapes and perfect rural scenes, from the city of Dunedin nestled in tree-clad hills by the sea, to cute hamlets, like Arrowtown, to snow capped alpine peaks and lonely long beaches where we only met wildlife. The South Island is a land where we really had a breath of fresh air.

We cycled along the Otago Rail, tramped around Mt Aspiring through forested valleys and spectacular mountain scenery. From Queenstown we drove past Lake Hayes and Lake Wanaka before jet boating up the Waitoto River, visited the majestic glacier at Fox and heli-hiked up Franz Josef and roamed the rugged West Coast in the South Island, kayaked and walked the stunning coastline in Able Tasman, watched seals in Kaikoura, and saw the devastation of the earthquake in Christchurch.

Our gourmet specialties included roast dinner at a mountain lodge, whitebait fritters in Port Jackson, venison at Haast, muscles in Westport, paua and crayfish at Kaikoura. We enjoyed the fine wines of Wairau Valley. Our time in the "Land Of The Long White Cloud" lingers on after our return home.

I am an inveterate traveller and a naturally confident person who seeks out opportunities and enjoys challenges. I have an open mind to all ideas and suggestions. I have energy, enthusiasm and a good sense of humour.

I have strong interpersonal skills and no difficulty communicating with most people from those doing menial work to trasdesmen, academics or business people.I am confident, yet flexible. I am house-trained, perhaps even, a sensitive new-age guy. I have four children who are now young adults making their own way in the world. My interests include sports, gardening, woodwork, reading books and magazines, listening to music, travel, languages; good food/wine/conversation.