It’s good to be home.

St. Paddy’s Day, Nelson style, originally uploaded by Mister Wind-Up Bird.

Janelle and I spent a leisurely afternoon at the charming Freehouse, a pub in a tiny church, complete with peaceful garden and huge yurt tent.

cycling through Nelson wine country, originally uploaded by Mister Wind-Up Bird.

Meghan and Aaron join us in Picton, originally uploaded by Mister Wind-Up Bird.

You know why New Zealand feels like home? It’s because all the same people are here! We hung out with (brother) Tyson and (brother’s partner) Gillian in Wellington, where Tyson’s doing an internship at Weta Digital. And then in Picton, we were visited by (friend of the kommune) Aaron and (former roommate) Meghan, who are cycling around the South Island. Just before that, Janelle hopped up to North Island to visit her parents, who flew over from Australia, and once we ship the retina-ready version of a certain iPad app, Hendrik will meet up with his dad, visiting from Germany. It’s a chain of “You’re going to New Zealand, huh? You know, I kind of wanted to go there…”

Picton Marina in the Morning, originally uploaded by Mister Wind-Up Bird.

Hendrik and I headed out from the marina yesterday to spend the day hiking the Queen Charlotte Track. This is the marina that morning, where we set out the the trailhead by water taxi. Hard to believe the previous day there was a storm that stopped pretty much all sea and air traffic on the Cook Straight.

Though once we started slogging through the mud and broken trees, it became a bit easier to believe. Beautiful hike, though.

Cook Straight, originally uploaded by Mister Wind-Up Bird.

We have migrated back to South Island, taking up accommodations in Picton, not too far from our previous base in Nelson.

Embassy Theater, originally uploaded by Mister Wind-Up Bird.

I’ll give this to Wellington: it has probably the best movie theater I’ve ever seen. The Embassy is a lovingly-restored 1924 movie palace of tiles and dark wood fixtures, with sweeping staircases, plush leather seats, a cafe, and cocktail lounge. You can buy movie tickets at the bar and take your drinks into the theater where they rest elegantly on the side-table arm rests. Civilized.

I would seriously consider moving to Wellington just to see all my movies here.

The similar, but smaller, Roxy is also fantastic. They do movies right in Wellington.

A Million Little Pacmans, originally uploaded by Mister Wind-Up Bird.

Spotted at a low tide crossing on the beautiful Abel Tasman Coast Track.

Self-Portrait (with Sheep), originally uploaded by Mister Wind-Up Bird.

Our Home in Nelson, originally uploaded by Mister Wind-Up Bird.

We’ve moved on to Wellington since, but this was our awesome home/office in Nelson, NZ for a couple of weeks.