Rain, rain go away!

It has been raining hard here in Nelson since Tuesday afternoon (It is now Thursday night).  At first I thought that Nelson Kiwis were just afraid of the cloudy, wet days, but I soon realized why they are so frightened of the rain.  When you are living in valleys and along rivers a little rain goes a long way.  The rain, which would be harmless in Delco, PA, has caused really bad mudslides that have blocked roads and ruined homes.  Here is a link to some pictures, but I hope to get some of my own tomorrow Flood Pics.  We aren't in any danger, but it has been awful for some Nelson residents, and Jeff hasn't had work for 2 days because of flooding of the orchards.  The rain has slowed, and hopefully will cease tonight, so everything can start to return to normal, and Summer can come!

So i mentioned before I took pictures of Nelson last weekend to give readers a glimpse of what the streets are like.  On my Flickr site there are pictures of the view from our house and views of the Port of Nelson, and all of the beautiful bodies of water that surround us, but these following pictures are of the several streets that intersect each other to form the "city centre".  (Note: These pictures are taken during a Christmas parade, the buildings, not the pirate, are there all the time)

Very cute eh?  With about 40,000 people, its sufficient.

It will be a little sad to leave this place behind.  Jeff has his basketball team and I have my yoga studio, and we've met a lot of people who we really like here.  The only thing making this place worth leaving is the promise of more beautiful things to come!  These include the 4 day Heaphy trek, spending New Years touring down the west coast, and making our way to Queenstown!  Queenstown is often deemed the adventure capital of the world, and has the second tallest bungy jump in the world.  We hope to get into Queenstown in a few weeks, and find a place, a job, and settle down for a couple of months at least.  It has been described to us as a tourist town, and "kind of like a ski town, like Veil or something".  It has affordable living accommodations for a couple, although we have been warned that most things are quite expensive there.  Apparently every turn offers a beautiful, new view.  Queenstown is located a bit south of the middle of the South Island and is on a very large lake,  Lake Wakatipu.  We hope that Queenstown offers us another side of New Zealand, because if we love it as much as living in a coastal town, we will be right at home.  If you want to see/know more this link will take you to the wiki page: Queenstown Information.

When talking to a friend from college, he mentioned a book about nutrition he had been reading, but "recommended with caution".  I was very interested considering he, knowing my background, felt like he should caution me about the books contents.  I found it at the Nelson library (score!), and the first couple of pages I realized where the caution was coming from.  The book is called "The China Study".  It came out in 2007, but I had never heard of it, and what it has to say could be quite disturbing to many.  It's core message is that a whole foods, plant-based diet can not only prevent cardiovascular disease and cancer, but reverse it, and that animal proteins (meat, eggs, milk) should be avoided.  It's hard to swallow really, but it is backed up by hundreds of peer-reviewed articles published in some of the most prominent scientific journals in the world.  It has convinced me enough to try a somewhat vegan diet, and it has been going very well so far, with switching my milk to soy products and eating meat about 1-2 times a week, and loading up on veggies.  This book isn't really about me though, it is about a message that can benefit anyone who reads it.  It has led me to some other great books, such as "Anti Cancer", written by a University of Pittsburgh student/employee.  I don't really want to talk about how it has effected me, but I do want to recommend both of these books (especially if you know someone suffering from either of these), but with GREAT CAUTION.

It's dinner time, and I'm starving, but hopefully the sun will emerge for the weekend, and we can do some more birding and hiking in Nelson before we leave!  Missing everyone and all of their delicious Christmas cookies!!!