offerings. pic by me.

I write this from a pool lounge in Bali in the most beautiful resort I have ever stayed in.

It is Monsoon season here & the rain has not long stopped. There is the tiniest squirrel-iest squirrel leaping from tree to tree, I have an ice cold Bintang beside me, unlimited free wi-fi and all is extremely good in my world.

And that in itself is surprising given that I put my back out (badly) the night before hopping on the plane & have been in a world of pain for much of the last couple of days. Anti inflammatories and an extreme sense of well-being have certainly done the job.

I’m not even going to pretend to do any astro today. I think the Moon is still in Libra, but to be brutally honest, I quite simply don’t care.

So, before I go dunk myself again, here is the Libra & Scorpio Xmas gift thingies- don’t forget to read the blurb for your Sun, Moon & Venus sign… oh, and the pic is from an earlier trip here- I am yet to upload any photos.

Libra

Some balance would be lovely, and a lot more lovely leisure time… perhaps someone gorgeous to feed me grapes (or chocolate) while someone else does my nails as I languish on a fabulous chaise longue in something very fashionable. Failing that designer shoes, jewellery & bags always go down well…but nothing too loud & tasteless please.

Suggested NY Resolutions:

This year I will make a decision. This year I will think more about what I want & less time thinking about what you want, or might possibly want. This year I will not leave waiters tapping their pens against their notepads as I go through the menu one more time. What do you think about that?

Scorpio

Total control.

To all those people who think that I want thigh high black leather boots, whips, handcuffs & various other types of power tools or lingerie- enough already. If you really knew me & loved me, you would know what to buy me without my having to say. This is a test.

Suggested NY Resolutions:

This year I am going to let some of my grievances go, rather than just go cold. I am going to smile sweetly when someone upsets me & rather than adding their name to my list, I will forget all about it. That is unless they do it again…

Pic by me

Warning: This is not an astro post- in fact it has nothing whatsoever to do with anything astro and everything to do with a travel post.

Wellingtonians have this joke. It’s about the weather- as most things Wellingtonian are.

In fact you are reminded about the weather from the minute that you land, if not before if there happens to be a southerly blowing (you get an awful lot of landing for your money at Wellington Airport). Perhaps it is the wind farms (that generate enough power to service the city) that you see from the air on your approach? Perhaps it is the sideways view of the runway on a particularly blowy day?

It will certainly be the assortment of wind sculptures as you leave- the Madonna bras (these conical shaped wind indicators), the giant needle (that balances seemingly impossibly like one of those 1970s bird dipping into your drink things that you absolutely never want to see pointing downwards), or the spinning squares, or the spinning smarties. The local rugby team aren’t called the Hurricanes for nothing!

Anyways, the weather is important. Which brings me back to the joke. Complain to anyone in Wellington about the weather and you will invariably get the reply “you should have been here yesterday, it was perfect then…”

Wellington Harbour. Pic by me.

Last weekend, we must have arrived yesterday- because we had a whole weekend of yesterdays. Bright blue sunny skies, clearer than you can imagine clear skies to be. It seems to be bluer down here, brighter somehow.

For us, flying in from an unseasonably warm Sydney, the temperatures were still cool, but for Wellingtonians, it was perfect Spring weather. Shorts and t-shirts even. Hmmm.

Lolling on beanbags at the pub. St Johns- an old ambo station, now a gastro pub on the Harbour. Pic by me.

But then this is a city which is built around a beautiful, yet hazardous harbour, has incredibly steep streets that can only be (sensibly) reached by cable car or in low gear and has some of the best food in New Zealand.

Wellington from Brooklyn Hill near the Wind Turbine. Pic by me

Not as internationally cosmopolitan or activity based as Queenstown or as business and financially orientated as Auckland, Wellington is one of those towns where it is difficult to get a bad cup of coffee- unless you make a mistake and venture into a Starbucks.

Maranui SLSC. A Table with a view. Pic by me.

It is also one of the most active cities I have ever visited. It is easy to keep fit here- the hills make sure of that. On a sunny day they (the hills, that is) are full of people walking, running and cycling- and mostly uphill. Why? Because they can.

Anyways, to the tourist bits. Obviously the cable car. I have posted pics on that before. The only (sensible) way to get to the top of the Botanical gardens and a wonderful view- the alternative involves a buns of steel buttock clenching, thigh burning climb. At this time of the year the gardens are full of spring bulbs and simply glorious.

Mount Victoria is the main panoramic view, but also venture up Brooklyn hill to the wind turbine. Just magic…but icy when a southerly is blowing.

Pic by me

If you are into movies, Peter Jackson has done more than anyone else to put Wellington on the map- to the extent that Wellington is now referred to lovingly as Wellywood. His studio is located in the suburb of Miramar (which itself is worth a visit for the art deco Roxy Cinema and some pretty cool cafes) and is where they are currently filming The Hobbit. He has come a long way since the days of the rather feeble and completely cringeworthy Meet the Feebles.

There are a few tourist companies that run Lord of the Rings tours around Wellington to see where key scenes of the trilogy were filmed. Most now include a visit to Weta Cave where you can get a behind the scenes look at what goes on in the studios. In case you are wondering, a weta is like a cross between the biggest cockroach and the biggest preying mantis in existence. Australia might have the greatest conglomeration of poisonous things, but New Zealand has the giant roach like creature. Something more to be proud of.

Pic by me.

An unmissable is Te Papa Tongarewa- Museum of New Zealand. Maori culture, history, a Marae (communal meeting place), the earthquake house, plenty of interactive stuff for kids & a colossal squid. Oh, and the bits of Pharlap that aren’t in Australia. Pharlap was arguably Australia’s most famous racehorse, but was bred in New Zealand and died under suspicious circumstances in the US. This all happened back in the 1930s, but he was so revered that his heart is in Canberra, his hide in Melbourne & his skeleton in Wellington. Poor bugger. Oh, and the conspiracy theories still rage.

There are always new rides and exhibitions, so always something new to see. Just don’t leave without paying a visit to Te Papa Store. Some amazing shopping opportunities there.

If you have access to a vehicle, take a drive around the coast. Places like Makhara Beach have a desolate wildness, while Scorching Bay and Seatoun are well worth a look-see.

Driftwood at Makhara Beach. Pic by me.

Also within easy reach is Martinborough in the Wairarapa wine region. Regular readers of this blog know that I am partial to a glass of decent grape, and there is plenty to be had here- with most of the wineries within cycling distance of the town…I know, because I’ve done it!

All this aside, the reason I visit Wellington in September/October most years is simple- WOW.

The World of Wearable Arts Award Show, to be precise…but WOW is so much more descriptive. Not a fashion show, not an art show, not standard theatre, WOW defies description in a bladder busting 2 hour no intermission, no commentary, no speakies spectacular involving music, dance, amazing stage design and, this year, a bit of opera, ballet and some sheep and gumboots. Did that come out the way it was meant to?

Naturally the focus of the show is the award entries. And these are pretty cool. Wearable arts made from suntuff roofing material or cable ties or sheet metal. There are always a few plastic bag entrants, but this year there was also an amazing dress crafted from eggshells that had been individually died reminiscent of an impressionist painting. Another had been made from horse hair, whilst the highlight for my 13 year old daughter was a man wearing little else but a strategically placed bouquet of flowers and a fig leaf on a body stocking. That’s 13 year old girls for you.

My Scorpio hubby doesn’t do fashion, theatre or art, so was understandably reluctant to accompany us this year…but is now a convert. The comments “not just for chicks” and “so much to look at” were heard to leave his lips.

Check out the website for more information and show previews. Follow the links to see some pics of the winning entries. Just amazing. If you are interested in going next year, you do need to plan ahead as the 2 weeks worth of shows sell out quickly in March.

And as for shopping? I’m not a huge shopper, but Cuba St has some really cool little out of left field boutiques and gift shops. One of my faves is Abstract Designs- I love their pressed metal wall art and bowls. The Old Bank Arcade also is worth a look, as is Featherstone St for fashion. Just wander… and, with some luck, you will also arrive yesterday.

Cuba St, Wellington. Pic by me.

“WOW is a place where reality is suspended and where imagination gives wings to dreamers”

Suzie Moncrieff, WOW Founder.

We went to the WOW show here in Wellington last night and WOW it definitely was. It had everything from a wedding cake comprised of heaps of brides in toilet roll dresses and chiffon to opera singers to ballet dancers to chooks and sheep dogs and, yes, even sheep on the stage. There were outfits made entirely of cable ties, metal and eggshells. Dresses constructed from horse hair, roofing material and weed matting. Some incredible shoes, amazing stage sets, and the usual half naked tribal tatt. All finished off with a homage to the 1970s Kiwi picnic with pavlovas and sausage sangers and men wearing shorts with long socks and sandals.

Anyways more on this, and Wellington in general, when I get home and have a chance to download my photos.

This morning my friend and went for a 5km run along Oriental Bay. The sun was shining, the water was gleaming and we finished off with breakfast on an old tug boat on the harbour. It doesn’t get much better than that. My friends’ husband topped it though with a lazy 47km run to get to the coastal town where we were having lunch. Hmmmm.

On the blogs last week, not a whole lot, and it will take me too long to link back to everything, which, after a day spent in the sun drinking vino in great company I can’t really be faffed to do, so just go on a bit of a tour around & see what you can find.

The Moon is currently in Scorpio, so if you are that way inclined, emotional experiences may be a little more intense than usual. It will be in Sagittarius tomorrow, so moods should lighten somewhat for Sunday.

The Sun and Jupiter are joined in a supportive earthy trine. Abundance is possible, but only when goals are broken down into small digestible pieces. Bit like my run this morning- song by song by song.

For now, I am jatz crackered ie knackered, so some proper astrology when I get back. For now, a couple of photos from the route I “ran” this morning.

Our running track around the bay.

Driftwood. Pic by me.

OK, Jupiter is retrograde, so officially my wings should be clipped. But I didn’t tell the Universe and instead I am shooting off tomorrow for a long weekend in Wellington, New Zealand. For US readers, New Zealand is just a 3 hour flight across the “dutch” for us Aussies. Close enough for a long weekend, but well and truly worth a much longer visit. I love it. I love the landscape, I love the people, I love the accents, I love the culture, I love the design, I love the WOW factor. I even get off on the fact that NZ has real weather. And, whilst it pains me to say this, especially at Rugby World Cup time, there is nothing hotter than a line up of All Blacks in full flight or doing the haka. Do I get my Aussie citizenship revoked for that comment?

I have a very good friend over there, and whilst it is a long way to go for a good wine and a chinwag, I am multi-tasking and combining it with the WOW show as well. What is WOW? Completely indescribable.

Officially, it is the World Of Wearable Arts Award Show (the link will take you to last years winners), but that is where any predictability ends. It is a bladder busting 2 1/2 hour show (no intermission) full of creation. Dance, theatre, costume, art, fashion, a little kiwiana, a little drama. It can be avant garde, it can be fantasy, it is pure escapism. It is creativity gone completely mad…and it is a money spinner with all 2 weeks of shows usually selling out within hours. Pisces in a nutshell.

Anyways, there will be no posts over the weekend- unless I can con some internet time out of someone, so check out my post on Wellington from the last WOW visit…

The photo I used in this post was taken on a remote piece of coast just outside of Wellington at Easter this year.

Flinders St Station

OK, up front, this is not an astro post, although I may pop an astro reference in somewhere…perhaps…This is more a “what Jo did on the weekend” and “oh look, a photo” post, so if you are after what is happening in the skies, tune out now and come back later.

My daughter (previously known as Five Foot Something, but now, at her request, to be referred to as TTM- Taller Than Me) has a heap of planets in Aries (Sun, Mars, Mercury, Saturn), has the constitution of an ox and rarely stops before she falls down. With all of her Aries and a rather quirky Venus in Aquarius, TTM is not a princess or a girlie girl, so endless shopping is not her deal. I don’t do mall shopping either, and far prefer alleys and lanes and arcades and strip shops than malls all full of the same high street brands.

So, what do two girls that aren’t really into conventional shop until you drop do in Melbourne, a city renowned for its’ shops? Sure we did some shopping- mostly as a by product to exploring the lanes & alleys and arcades. We caught up with an old and very dear friend who I had lost touch with over the years. We ate lots (2 visits to Grossi Florentini Cellar Bar for fabulous pasta & flirty Italian waiters), we walked lots, we saw lots and we talked lots.

MCG on game night

We also did the Zoo for the baby hepaflunts (elephants), football at the MCG for the crowd and the excitement (and the footballers), and the theatre (Love Never Dies) for the culcha and the spellbinding spectacular-ness …and that’s just for starters…

Speaking of spell-binding, I segue almost seamlessly into Spellbox. Indirectly this place is responsible for this blog. Years ago (Spring of 2006 to be precise) I saw Melissa at The Witches House branch of Spellbox. A very wise witch, she predicted that some pretty weird stuff was going to happen for me, things that my defective radar had failed to recognise before that time (although she says that my Pisces intuition knew it all but was too busy putting my fingers in my ears and going lalalalalala).

At that first visit, she also talked about Uranus in Pisces and how that would be messing with my idea of stability and life as I always assumed it was. Later that year when the weird stuff came to pass, what she had said about Uranus and these things called transits stuck in my head and a general but uninformed interest turned into a serious study on things astrological. I saw Melissa for a reading again this trip…and all I am saying about that is it was veeeeery interesting!

If you are into tarot (or Wicca), Spellbox is the place to go. The readers are all great, but different readers will suit different people. My 2 favourites are favourites not because of what they say, but because how they say it resonates with me…

Sadly the little piece of amazingness that was The Witches House in Little Bourke St has now closed, but the original in the Royal Arcade remains jam packed and now carry a lot of the charms, tools and herbs that were previously sold in Little Bourke. If you want a reading, book ahead, as the diary fills up quickly- especially on a weekend.

In the same arcade as Spellbox is Koko Black. This is a chocolate salon which defies taste description. TTM loves their “chocolate martini” (ie mousse in a martini glass). I generally stick to skim flat white coffees and some of their single estate dark chocolate.

State Library of Victoria

This weekend was meant to have a bit of an educational bent as well. TTM is seriously considering doing Visual Art (VA) as one of her electives going forward. Whilst she loves the doing of it (Aries Sun), it has been suggested by her teacher that perhaps she should spend a little more time in looking at it or learning about it. Hmmmmm.

With Mercury conjunct Saturn in Aries, TTM doesn’t really like to spend a lot of time in contemplation or thinking about the underlying reasons the artist did this or that- let alone what influenced their thinking. As far as she is concerned, the output is the only point of interest. The trick is to get things into her brain without her knowing that she is actually learning it.

A really cool light sculpture installation thingie

Rather than suggesting a visit to a gallery and provoke an eye rolling session, we did art the accidental way- sort of like when you sneak grate a couple of zucchinis, a heap of carrots and various other vegetables in to the “bolognaise” sauce to go with the spaghetti as a way of getting some extra veg on the plate and making 500g of mince go across 4 meals for 3 people.

Street Art in Gertrude St, Fitzroy

We hit Fitzroy for funky fashion and design, artists markets and street art and the State Library for really cool light installations and photography. Enough movement to stem the boredom of the most active Aries mind and enough interest and off beat humour to stimulate that Aquarian Venus of hers. Some may say I am a manipulative bitch, I like to think of it as using my Piscean talent for “spin”. Given how amazed she was by the set and costume design at the theatre on Friday night, that outing also qualified as accidental education.

and again...

Melbourne is absolutely full of stuff like this- pop up vintage markets at Melbourne Central, light shows in Swanston St, projections in Gertrude St, piped dog training instructions in Swanston St (still not quite sure what that is about) and the tribal music that follows you across the bridge on the cold walk to the MCG. It was all this accidental type of art that she was talking about and wondering about. I am such a responsible educationally minded mother…

Hu Tong Dumpling Store

Finally, a Melbourne post is not complete without a dumpling mention, and this visit the dumplings were from Hu Tong in Market Lane. The Xaio Long Bao (and yes, I know the spelling changes…steamed Shanghai Pork Soup Dumplings) are just incredible. The key to these is to have dough which is delicate enough to release all the amazing juices in your mouth in one bite, yet stable enough to keep them enclosed for that crucial few seconds between chopsticks and tongue.

Dumplings

Check out also a post I wrote last year about Melbourne with a few of my favourite places. The link is here. For now, some more images…

and one from Rose St (Off Brunswick St) Fitzroy

Melbourne Eye