Recently, I had the great pleasure of welcoming  friend and fellow author Courtney Schafer and her family to both Christchurch and New Zealand.

Courtney and I have known each other through our books and social media for some years, including through the BookSworn authors’ group, and met up in person in Sydney last year—which I blogged about here.

Courtney & me.
Photo: C Schafer

So when I knew Courtney was going to be spending some time in Nu Zild, checking out our skiing, climbing, and ice-skating scenes, I was delighted to be able to offer the hospitality of Chez Helen while she and her family were in Christchurch.

Since it’s the bleak midwinter here, the weather was suitably inclement a lot of the time but we did get to brave the cold and spend some time on Christchurch’s Brighton beach.

Atmospheric…
Photo: C Schafer

It was a moody sort of day, with the sun struggling to break through the clouds, which were hovering low over the nearby Port Hills.

Sea, haze, & the Port Hills

But as always with that sort of weather, what we lacked in sunshine was more than made up by atmosphere.

The adjoining ocean is the part of the Pacific known as the Southern Ocean, the Maori name being Te Moananui a Kiwa: the Great Ocean of Kiwa. Next stop due eastward is the Chatham Islands and after that it’s South America or Antartica, depending on the direction one points one’s nose (so to speak.)

During the time Courtney was in Christchurch we also managed an evening out with some of the city’s SpecFic writing community, which was doubly nice since the local crew haven’t gotten together for a while.

I guess the chance to (unashamedly) geek and compare notes with fellow authors is just always good, irrespective of whether they are local friends or visiting from the far side of the world. 🙂