i still support NZ
To mark three months since the earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand and two months since the highly successful Blog4NZ effort I decided have Sunset Sunday return to New Zealand once again. My first one, in March, was Lake Waikaremoana, New Zealand during the Blog for New Zealand effort.
And again, just as in the first dedication, I needed to ‘dial up’ a friend for an image, a guest post, because I have yet to visit the country.
Yes, it’s on the list. I’ll be there. Soon.
So, to find another New Zealand image I asked my friend Marie to help for a second time. .She was happy to share a sunset memory from Punta del Este, Uruguay earlier in the year, and now she shares one from Tauranga on the North Island of New Zealand.
Enjoy her words…
My friend, Rob, set me up with his Kiwi parents when he heard I was making my way across the North Island of New Zealand. I resisted — What did I want with someone else’s parents? — but was quickly overruled by Kiwi hospitality and all that. So, it followed that Mr. and Mrs. Smith rescued me from smelly Rotorua and kidnapped me to their home in Tauranga, a place unknown.
Safely ensconced in someone else’s home, Mr. Smith raved about Tauranga’s sunrises and sunsets. When he asked me to take in the sunset with him, I felt strange. This was Rob’s father, after all. However, I warily obliged, and was treated to one of the most stunning sights I’d ever experienced. The sky morphed into a rainbow of color radiating off the nearby bay.
In silence, in the company of Mr. and Mrs. Smith, I experienced one of most lovely displays that Mother Earth had offered in my many travels. To my delight, we repeated this exercise each morning and each evening, the vision just as astounding each time. Tauranga with the Smiths? Most definitely.
-Marie
Happy Sunset Sunday
Marie Elena Martinez is a freelance travel, food, and lifestyle writer for such publications as The Wall Street Journal, Newsday, the Boston Globe, the Miami Herald, and Women’s Adventure Magazine. You can read her around the world adventures form the last five years on her blog, find more on her website, and through her tweets at @mariesworlds.
