Welcome Back To The Olympic Peninsula! And SNOW

It has snowed twice already in 2024 here. (I managed to miss the BIG week of snow in January) I woke up to this–the forecasters said sun all day. THE PNW forecasting job would be a great one. You can be right less than 50% of the time and still keep your job! It is very difficult to forecast here because we are the first place all weather disturbances hit first. Then they more predictably flow across the US. The snow is pretty, but I prefer to go visit IT on my own terms. Living here mean usually I can drive just 10-30 minutes and be in snow all winter.

Where’s the sheep?

We went to two of the largest sheep stations with 3000 sheep each. I was supposed to photograph the operations. However two days before we got there they had sold off ALL but 3 of their sheep (2 pets from last year and a new pet called “Lucky”). So all we had were these hillside views. Apparently the whole herd had their lambs 3 weeks earlier than usual. Like many herd species, the whole group had their babies within days of each other. It’s a mechanism to keep as many babies safe as possible against predators.

My husband holding “Lucky” 4 months old when all her brothers were sold off to market.

Welcome to New Zealand

After a 3 day crossing from Australia we arrived at Milford Sound. WE had to wait for 3 hours outside the sound because it was so fogged in. When we finally entered there were literally HUNDREDS on waterfalls because it had been raining.

So all the brave souls ran to the forward deck with their rain gear on.

Unfortunately it never cleared off and this was as high up the mountains as we could see. I was bummed because I was looking forward to seeing the soaring Mitre Peak.