GATHER ON THE SHORE

---

My 21st birthday was everything I wished it to be:

A gathering of friends and family, all of those I love.

A place that I hold dear, a beach, some sand, a lovely little bay. 

A day of adventures, exploring the rock pools, setting up a make-shift tent from sheets, and a sandcastle building competition.

And a tonne of really great food: sausages cooked on a bonfire, fruit and cheese and crackers, and of course a huge pavlova cake drenched in berry coulis, (and a little bit of sand). 

---

---

After the cake, there were fireworks and big hugs and a few goodbyes - because I was leaving in only a few days to France, to study abroad.

While I was studying overseas, I held the memories of this gathering very dear. 

---

PRIMROSES

“Together let’s wander to gather primroses”

Primroses always remind me of the flowers in old Disney movies - those that are draped by little birds in a woven cloak around Snow White's shoulders; and those that grace the path that Bambi walks upon; and those that fill the world of Alice's Wonderland with colour.

They seem impossibly bright and cheery. And for that very reason, they make me smile.

QUEENSTOWN

THE COLOURS OF QUEENSTOWN

Most people visit Queenstown in search of adventure. They go for the bungee-jumping, the jet-boat-riding, and the luging. They go for the skiing, and the parachuting, and the horse-back-riding in the countryside. The whole town is abuzz with people, always searching for adventure. 

Yet, my visits to Queenstown have always been of the calm, slow variety. My time there has been spent in many a snowboarding shop or skate park, waiting on my brother. I have also managed to fit in a lot of ice-cream eating, and endless amounts of time spent wandering about the town, aimlessly following my family on some errand or other. For a few years, Queenstown was like a second home, as my ever-changing family decided to relocate to the hills above the lake. 

I also liked to spend my time there on the shores of the lake, skimming stones, climbing the gnarled trees and watching the buskers and slack-liners and the parachuters. Sometimes we would go for a bike ride around a trail that was dusted with autumn leaves, or go out for fudge in pretty little Arrowtown.

These were all calm days, nothing-much-to-do-days, filled with noise and colour.