I found a poem the other day that I have fallen in love with. I know it seems a bit pretentious to be reading Shakespeare but I've never read all the sonnets before so I decided I would, and stumbled across this beautiful poem.

Sonnet 27
Weary with toil, I haste to my bed,
The dear repose for limbs with travel tir'd;
But then begins a journey in my head
To work my mind, when body's work's expir'd:
For then my thoughts (from far where I abide)
Intend a zealous pilgrimage to thee,
And keep my drooping eyelids open wide,
Looking on darkness which the blind do see:
Save that my soul's imaginary sight
Presents thy shadow to my sightless view,
Which, like a jewel hung in ghastly night,
Makes black night beauteous, and her old face new.
Lo! thus, by day my limbs, by night my mind,
For thee, and for myself, no quiet find.

It makes me think of how it feels when someone you love first goes away. Constantly thinking of them and how much you miss them does get exhausting after a while.

My fellow traveller departs...

My darling Kate leaves for the UK on Monday. I won't see her again until some time in October - probably around the 10th. That means there are roughly 140 days in which I will not see Kate. Twenty weeks. I'm sure I'll be fine, but I'll still miss her!

I'm taking my little brother with me to New Zealand for the first two weeks of my trip. I've never been travelling with Steve before so I'm looking forward to lots of play time for just us - we'll no doubt spend much time where he is trying to show off his muscles and how much further than me he can run, but that's okay - I can proudly think to myself how much smaller my feet are than his... that's about all I've got I'm afraid.

We're going to go hang out with our uncle, Andy, and his two boys, Jack and Sam, in Christchurch. Andy is the young uncle, he's my Dad's baby brother so has never really been perceived as a "scary elder" type person. Steve is keen to go 4WDing with Andy - my last experience of 4WDing in New Zealand I was convinced I was going to die, so I'm not quite as excited as Steve. There is a photo of me somewhere having a calming beer in an attempt to wipe the previous hours experiences from my memory... Hopefully we'll also see our great uncle Frank who lives in Timaru, and Shirley and Dugald (also great of the grandparent sibling variety) in Christchurch.

I really like Christchurch, I think it is a beautiful city. If I ever moved to NZ I reckon Christchurch is the only place I'd consider living. I know people think it's small and quirky, but I like that. And I love that crazy fountain in the gardens! The one with dragon like creatures that are meant to be dolphins. It's called the Peacock Fountain and it truly is ugly I suppose.

After Christchurch we head up to Auckland to hang out with more relatives up north. Steve leaves me there and I head off to Toronto...