I had assumed that New Zealand followed the North American convention/dates for seasons, simply with opposite seasons, so following the equinoxes it would be Spring by around September 23rd this year. However, turns out I was wrong. Spring is already here! Rather than use a constantly changing date (though only by a few days either way), the Kiwis and Australians simplify things and simply have each new season start on the 1st of the month of the equinox. So I’m about 8 days behind in realizing all of this. Always said I was a bit slow in the head.

The weather has stayed wonderfully warm and sunny, and today I went on a hike up to the site of an old Maori Pa in the nearby area of Ohiwa.

The views were well worth the 30 minute hike. On my way up I took a short detour to a ‘Glowworm Grotto’. It actually was a neat spot, with a small waterfall and a large tree growing horizontally at the top of the cliff.

I just took their word that there were glow worms since I wasn’t about to wait until dark to find out. Either way, the picture would have looked like this if I had stayed:

The Pa site was my ultimate goal anyways, and was well worth it. Small peaks seem to reward me quite nicely while the big mountain peaks frustrate me greatly.

Like a lot of hiking paths, as you can see in the last picture this one had sheep crossing the path as it is actually in farm land.

I then hiked down and rewarded myself with ice cream. All in a days good work. What would this world be without ice cream? A sad, sad world.