Pictures

Second Day of Our Family Trip

January 18, 2021 // Esther Filbrun Leave a Comment

The second day of our trip dawned cold and clear, and by breakfast time, there was sunlight coming through the trees, so we soaked that up while we ate—a breakfast of fried eggs, bread and condiments, and granola (muesli) for those who wanted it.

We were on the road by 10:30 or so, and our first stop was Cave Stream. Dad and my oldest brother walked through there four years ago, but this time all the boys and my oldest sister wanted to make the trek, so they did that. While they were underground in the freezing, sometimes waist- or a bit higher water, Mom, my baby sister, and I walked the trail on top and enjoyed the gorgeous scenery!

I admit it. I took far too many pictures while we were driving. But I love mountains!

Looking up toward the Torlesse (?) Mountain range, down the Broken River valley.

It was such a gorgeous area!

My brothers at the cave opening, where Cave Stream runs out to join the Broken River.

Dad and my oldest sister also went through the cave.

The Broken River, downstream.

Cave opening where my brothers came out.

This is the kind of area I’d love to live in, except for the fact that it’s so remote!

Lunch break.

After lunch, we went to Castle Hill, where my brothers had fun climbing the gigantic rock outcrops. I carried my baby sister up there, hoping she’d fall asleep, but she ended up staying awake until we got back to the van.

Meanwhile, Mom and I got to do a little exploring in the area—that was beautiful! I love how rugged it is and seeing the mountains in the background.

My brothers were quite exhausted by the time they got back! They aren’t used to quite such strenuous work most of the time!

Switchbacks on Porter’s Pass.

Baby sister was tired!

That evening, we stayed the night with friends, ones I lived with for six weeks this past May/June. It was lovely to catch up with them again!

The next day, Mom and I went to a used book store, and my brothers went to an aviation museum. Post coming soonish, hopefully. 🙂

First Day of Our Family Trip

January 2, 2021 // Esther Filbrun Leave a Comment

We’ve had a delightful family trip so far! We left fairly late Monday afternoon, and got up to Arthur’s Pass in time for a quick hour’s walk before we needed to set up for the night. I’ve been wanting to show the Devil’s Punchbowl Waterfall to the family for quite a while, so that’s what we did. I counted the steps on the way up—401 one way, not counting all the parts of the path that were not steps either up or down! Needless to say, we were all a bit puffed by the time we got to the top!

But the views…just gorgeous! This is from when we were heading out to the road to the pass.

Heading up the Arthur’s Pass Viaduct…a gorgeous, sunny day!

The Devil’s Punchbowl Waterfall:

After climbing up to the viewing platform, all of us children went on to the base of the falls.

Brothers in the rainbow. 🙂 Baby sister wasn’t very impressed, though, and wanted to go back to “Mum, Mum!”

My wonderful parents!

Baby sister had fun climbing down some of those 401 steps by herself!

View down the pass valley—this is the Bealey river.

Enjoying the sunshine and company at the end of the walk.

That evening, since it was cold out and the sandflies were attacking, we all gathered in the back of one of the vans on Dad and Mom’s bed and played a game of Ricochet Robots (a recommended game, by the way).

And thus was the end of our first day of traveling. The next were fairly eventful, as well—perhaps I can take time to get some more posts together about that!

Tuis! …and a Bellbird

January 1, 2021 // Esther Filbrun 2 Comments

Well, I’ve been writing a good many blog posts in my head, but haven’t managed to get any onto digital paper yet. Perhaps this one will make it there—we’ll see!

Life has been full. Full and wonderful.

My job working with a disabled girl finished at the beginning of November, and aside from a few trips, I’ve been home ever since. Three people in our family have had medical emergencies in that time, one requiring a three-night stay in the hospital (!), so my time home certainly hasn’t been dull! But there have been some beautiful moments, too.

And one I’d like to share with you today is…the tuis!

Two years ago, the New Zealand native flax bush just outside our dining room window bloomed. We had a profusion of birds come through that year to suck the nectar—tui, bellbird, wax eye, sparrow, starling, just to name a few. It lasted for about a month, and it was the most lovely experience to have the birds feeding within a few feet of where we stand at the windows!

A year ago, I was disappointed that the flax bushes didn’t bloom (still don’t know why; do they have a biannual schedule or something?).

But this year, they are blooming again! And for the most part, the tui have been harvesting them. We have seen the occasional starling, sparrow, or bellbird come through, but the tui have been far and away the most common. Sometimes, we’ll get up to three at once out there, but generally only one. If there are two fairly close together, one or both end up fluffing their feathers out and giving the other a good scolding, which in turn generally sends one or the other away in a hurry!

Notice the orange increasing on their heads as the season progressed? That’s when the flowers opened up more, and the pollen was released.

And then I was able to get a couple pictures of a bellbird!

Here’s a picture of two of them fighting about who gets to stay to eat (even their fighting language is musical, though).

It’s been a lovely experience the past month to get to watch these beautiful birds so close-up. This is one time I’m thankful we have great big bushes fairly close to the house!

The Last Four Weeks…

June 10, 2020 // Esther Filbrun Leave a Comment

…I’ve been away from home! And today, I finally have a little time to sit down and say “hello” for a bit!

I’ve had a very full month this past month—I planned to go help a mother after her surgery, but plans got changed (common story at this point, anyone?) and I didn’t go after all. I was very thankful to be able to stay with my family during our lockdown—we made some great memories during that time!

But then, as soon as lockdown was over, plans quickly came together and they were full steam ahead! So I’ve had the privilege of getting to know a family with seven children over this past month, and by now, we’re all good friends.

I’ve been enjoying the opportunity to do a lot more cooking—something I’ve noticed before in situations like this! I’ve found that I don’t cope well when I don’t have a menu to follow (but then, I’m not so surprised at that!), but I’ve also found that I love making things up. Last night, we had a meal inspired by Chow Mein, Cabbage Roll in a Bowl, Egg Roll in a Bowl, and Chicken Noodle Soup for tea. That was yummy, and I had fun figuring out which elements of the four dishes I would use, and which I wouldn’t!

We’ve enjoyed playing a good number of games different weekends. Two of the weekends since I’ve been here, I’ve spent elsewhere—visiting friends either north or south of where I am currently staying. That’s been really good, especially since we haven’t even had the chance to visit for the last few months! I’ve loved being able to reconnect with people like that.

My days are very full, but probably one of my most favorite times is my early morning drive over (I’m staying about 7 min. away at the grandparent’s place). Early into my time here, the sun was rising around 7:30 am—just about the time I was heading over for the day. The family lives in the hill country part of Canterbury, close to but not quite right underneath the mountains. It’s a lovely area—I’ve always loved the hills and mountains, and watching the golden beams of sunshine play along the tops of the mountains is just the most gorgeous sight ever! Often, too, when there’s been a good frost overnight, everything is glistening in the morning light. It’s beautiful.

The days are getting shorter, though—we’re only about 10 or 11 days out from the shortest day from the year—so lately it has been darker and darker when I take off in the morning. Likely, it will probably get to the point where I will be leaving in the dark as well as getting back in the dark, but that’s alright! I can enjoy the sunrise, anyway. It’s a lovely time of day.

In all, I’ve had a good time here. I’ll likely be here for several weeks yet, and I’m looking forward to learning more cooking skills and spending more time with the parents and children. I’ve already read one book (Owls in the Family by Farley Mowatt) aloud to them, and I’ve just started reading Star of Light by Patricia St. John out loud as well—that’s been very fun!

What things have you been enjoying doing lately?

Arthur’s Pass – January 2020

May 2, 2020 // Esther Filbrun Leave a Comment

Today, I’m bringing you the final installment of the tramping pictures I took while taking walks with some friends back in January!

I have decided that mountains are my most favorite terrain. Ever. Even if I end up with burning legs after walking nearly 18 km (11 miles) or so in them in a day. They are so gorgeous! So, I apologize for the number of pictures in advance. I couldn’t whittle the number down further.

We left fairly early that morning, bound for the mountains about an hour and a half away. Part of the route we took went past Lake Brunner, so we drove down around to have a look at it. The lake was so beautiful that morning! Though I’ve gone past there many times, it was actually my first time going down to the beach!

Only one brother accompanied us this day. I convinced him to pose by some of my favorite summer flowers—tiny red ones that are scattered all over the West Coast! Then it was on again, up to Arthur’s Pass. We stopped at the information center there before starting our walking for the day, so we could take pictures of the large maps they had and could plan our routes better.

After that, we took off up behind the old information center, and walked the (very short) Millenium Track, to an overlook of the Avalanche Creek Falls. I love the plaque they have on a rock at the viewing platform! What a wonderful verse to put up there, although I wonder how many people catch that it’s actually from the Bible, and talking about the Lord!

The beautiful Avalanche Creek Falls! We climbed up to the base, because why not if you’re there anyway? I found out later that Arthur’s Pass chapel is built in such a way that when you sit in the pews, you get this same view. What a lovely reminder of God’s awesome glory! I don’t think I’d ever get tired watching waterfalls.

On our way back to take the car around to the base of the walk to the Devil’s Punchbowl Falls, our next stop, we were serenaded by this beautiful bellbird’s song!

Then, around mid-morning, we got to the Devil’s Punchbowl Waterfall track! It’s not long, but it’s arguably one of the most taxing short walks around. It’s easy at first, but then you hit the stairs. I counted 389 in all on the track (and that was one-way), and at least 100 of them are straight up in a row.

But it’s worth it—SO worth it!

This waterfall is 131 m/430 ft tall, and while it isn’t the tallest waterfall I’ve ever seen, it’s pretty impressive. We walked up to the base of this waterfall as well (even if it isn’t recommended…we found out later that sometimes large boulders come crashing over these falls! 😮 ). It was cold down in the basin under the falls, with the mist swirling around and the sun not yet there to warm the area up.

After walking up to the Devil’s Punchbowl Falls, we walked out along the Arthur’s Pass Walking Track, hoping we could get close to Bridal Veil Falls, which is the next one along in the mountains. Unfortunately, what we didn’t realize was that you can only see it from a distance, but while we were on that detour, we did get to walk through some beautiful NZ bush!

Then it was on to the Bealey Valley Track, that runs up along the Bealey River. This river is the one that flows from the divide down toward Canterbury from Arthur’s Pass, and eventually joins the Waimakariri River, which is the main river that flows past Christchurch (the largest city on the South Island).

I love this track—probably because of all the different kinds of terrain you walk through as you work your way up to the river itself!

And then the riverbed—a jumble of rocks descending from the peaks. And you could TELL the water came from those places up there where snow still determinedly held on!

Our feet were all hot and sweaty after a morning of walking, so we decided to cool off in the river. Unfortunately, “cool off” equaled sticking your feet in for a few seconds until they started to ache to the bones from the cold, pull them out to warm up, and stick them in again. I managed to lose a sock when I was doing this, and my shoe accidentally fell in the water. I was thankful I was able to rescue my shoe before that flowed away, too! The water was rushing through here pretty quickly!

When we got back from the Bealey Valley Track, we headed back to the Arthur’s Pass village to refill our flagging water supplies and have lunch. We enjoyed lunch under the shade of some huge old trees next to a campsite, then headed for our last walk of the day—the Dobson Nature Walk, and Lake Misery Track. This is another favorite of mine; in the early spring, there are the most beautiful flowers along this walk. Unfortunately, when we went in mid-summer, there weren’t that many, but it was still lovely.

We got to see one lake with a little water in it!

I assume the whole string of little lakes in this area makes up “Lake Misery”. (Correction: Looks like I was right. I found this pictorial walk-through of the track, and I agree—visiting it in early-morning fog in late November/early December would be wonderful! Be sure to click the green arrow button in the lower right-hand corner, so you can see all the pictures. I also really want to try the Otira Valley Track now. . . .)

Unfortunately, most of the lakes were dry while we were there, but we had fun exploring the lakebeds anyway!

And I found an interesting flower on the Dobson Nature Walk on our way back. It reminds me of a daisy, but has very fine petals! It was beautiful, whatever it was.

By early afternoon, we were all fairly tired. We’d covered a lot of walks, and decided we’d had enough for the day. Pretty much everything else that we could have done was 3-6 hr return tracks, and we weren’t up to that!

So, we headed home and stopped at the Otira Hotel on our way back. There are some weird and wonderful things in there (including a stuffed two-headed duckling), but I particularly enjoyed this sign in the women’s bathroom:

In all, the Arthur’s Pass day trip was very enjoyable, and I’d love to go again one day and explore the area more. Or show other people around, who haven’t been there before. Of all the tracks we did that day, the only ones I hadn’t been on were the Punchbowl Falls Track and the Arthur’s Pass Walking Track. All of them are highly recommended, if you’re ever in the area! 🙂

What kinds of scenic spots can you get to from your place without having to drive too far? I know it’s sometimes easy to ignore those, but I think it’s important to know what there is around you, so when you have visitors, you can take them there if they like to do sight-seeing!

A Sunrise Reminder

April 15, 2020 // Esther Filbrun Leave a Comment

It feels like winter has suddenly arrived these last three days, with chilly-almost-enough-to-frost mornings, windows covered in condensation, and the warm woodfire-heated air that you just can’t beat.

It’s the season for fluffy socks, thicker blankets, outer wraps for a while in the mornings, and book reading. Lots of book reading (or at least I can dream, right…?).

We aren’t in winter—yet—but it’s been knocking on the door, saying it’s on its way.

We had our first winter storm system come through two days ago, with the cold wind blowing up from the south, rain beating against the sides of the house, and later, three or four different thunderstorms that passed over, leaving a few rumbles and more rain in their wake.

Then, yesterday morning as I settled into the couch for my Bible time, facing the westward windows looking toward the Paparoa Ranges and my favorite view at sunset, I saw this:

…and I decided that that seat wasn’t just my favorite at sunset. It’s also my favorite for sunrise, though my back is to the east.

We hadn’t gotten a lot of rain the night before (or maybe I just didn’t hear it?), but there was the most beautiful skiff of snow on the mountains—the first snow of the season. And I got to watch it with the sunrise colors playing along the peaks, before the fog from the river rose to meet the sunshine and blocked our view.

What a gift.

In this time of uncertainty, knowing that things might never be totally the same again, let’s look to the One who is certain. Our Rock.

“The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.” —Psalm 18:2

What parts of nature are you enjoying at the moment? Are you reminding yourself of some of God’s special attributes right now, too? If so, which ones?