Taranaki Weekend - The Sunset

Mountain view at one side of the house. Sunset over the ocean view at the other side. Who could ask for more.

Taranaki Weekend - the Beach

After a 5hr drive getting to walk on a deserted beach was luxury.

The first time my feet had been in the Tasman sea on a black volcanic sand beach.

There were rockpools to paddle in.

Amazing patterns in the sand.

And a very happy locals.

And a few not quite so friendly locals. If you look closely you can see his/her eyes peeking out.

Taranaki Weekend - the Mirrors

All accommodation in New Plymouth was booked up. We had to stay in a batch in Opunake. I was concerned about what we would find, there were not a lot of photos on the booking site. This time we were in luck the batch was the best we have stayed in so far. It had such a great atmosphere. Lots of light, comfy beds, brilliant shower and lots of really interesting mirrors.
Nearly every room had one. I liked the one above best I think.
And loved the one above in the lounge.

Taranaki Weekend - Getting there

This weekend Fleetwood Mac were playing in New Plymouth. We were some of the very lucky people that got tickets. Peter, my eldest, my youngest and I set off to make a weekend of it. It is a 5hr drive over to Taranaki, with a slight delay at road works, to admire the wind turbines. We also stopped in Palmerston North for a bit of Christmas shopping, some lunch and a very needed toilet break. Unfortunatly not much Christmas shopping was done when I found a clothes shop I like had a half price sale.

As soon as we left Palmerston Peter started asking. Can you see Taranaki yet (Taranaki is a volcano set in very flat land). No we said. Can you see it yet. No we said. Can you see it yet (Peter was quite keen to get a view of the mountain). Oh is that it over there. Hmm maybe. Oh no that is Ruapeho and Tongario over in the opposite direction. Can you see it yet. For goodness sake, I said, its probably behind the clouds. So we all looked up, the clouds moved and we could see it peaking at us, like a view from a Japanese picture. This was the last glimpse we got, it was shrouded in clouds the rest of the journey.
Later on after a really brilliant walk on the beach, we came around the corner, the clouds were gone and there it was again in its full splendour.

It is difficult from the photo to get the full scale of mountain. If you look closely you can see the cloud layer. Below is the view from the deck of the house we were staying in, with the sunset changing the snow to pale pink. I think we were very lucky to see this view, usually the mountain is shrouded in cloud and hidden.

Now this is more like it ..........

My brother sent me a lovely box of Christmas goodies, which included mince pies and brandy butter. Now this is much better than boxes of leftover groceries. The best bit is this huge peice of goats cheese. I love goats cheese. And so far I have not found any really good goats cheese here in NZ. There must be some around somewhere. So again thank you Bryan, your gifts are really appreciated.

Not once but twice

My youngests class went to camp this year, it was his first school camping trip. To raise more money they raffled off the left over groceries when they came back. I was persuaded to buy 3 tickets. I was very shocked when we won second and third prize. We now have two boxes of leftover grocieries. Which includes the largest tin of spaghetti you have ever seen. My youngest wants us to sit down for tea and all eat the large tin of spaghetti, hmm I think I will save it for when he has a dozen or so friends over for tea.

Now if you have any ideas of what we should do with all these lovely groceries please leave a comment.

Where my wild things are........

In the heat of the afternoon its nice to go to the air conditioned movie theatre. Today we went to see "Where the Wild things are". Not what I expected, and not a movie for little kids. It was strange and slow and beautiful. I did not really understand the film until my youngest explained it to me, he got the story straight away, and made the pieces just fall together for me.

Would you believe my two wild things fought too get there picture taken first. The wild thing below looks just a little bit odd.

Summer is here and Christmas is on the way

1st of December and Summer is here. While I was cooking tea it started to get very,very dark. I figured it would be a good idea to feed the guinea pigs now, before the rain started. It was very, very still and very, very hot. The clouds seemed a little confused and were rushing around in circles, I know the feeling. I was caught in a dilemma feed the guinea pigs while it was still dry, or rush in and get my camera to take a picture. You don't get any prizes for guessing what I choose. I got the picture, then the giant drops of rain started to hit the ground. I dumped the camera with one of the kids, and ran to feed the guinea pigs and get the washing in. By the time I got back to the house I was soaked and the thunder had started. Next the wind hit, it seemed to be coming from all sides at once. My youngest ran about in the wind and rain having a great time. I was very tempted to join him, but the tea needed to be finished off.

After the rain the cold air rolled in and stayed for a few days. Summer had arrived and it was freezing, well actually it was 16c, but if felt really cold. Thankfully the cold only lasted a couple of days and then the heat came back (it was 37c in the super market car park yesterday). The Pohutukawa is in bloom and Christmas is on the way.

The delights of Trellinoe Park

Hidden in the ranges on the road from Napier to Taupo is Trellinoe Park. An amazing garden created in among the forests and fields of sheep. Set among beautiful scenery.
We have been trying to visit it for years. Every time we arranged to go something would happen. Last time my youngest came down with Chicken Pox.
This time we did not plan to go. We just got up one day and I said its time we had a trip out to see that garden. So we dragged our youngest into the car, with promises of KFC on the way home, and off we went. Visiting gardens is not high on a nine year olds fun time list. I am so glad we did. The trip was fantastic, we all enjoyed it. Tramping through the garden being explorers. It was such fun.

Next time you wake up on a Sunday with nothing to do, take a picnic have a good day out. Just remember the picnic. There is a cafe there, but I would recommend the picnic, that is a whole other story, ask me about it sometime.

The Vistas of Trellinoe Park

I could not belive that one man had dug such a beautiful garden out of the Hawkes Bay ranges.

Each path invited you too explore further.

Each corner brought another amazing view.

The Ponds of Trellinoe Gardens

I was blown away by the vistas and then I saw the ponds.

Could you get a more perfect view than this.

And they just kept on coming.

The Plants of Trellinoe Park

I was too blown away by the views and vistas to take many pics of the plants. Here are a couple of the ones I did take.

Amazing bark on this acer. I just wanted to peal it off.

I did not remember seeing these irises at Trellinoe Park. Then it dawned on me that they were from my own garden.

Down at the Creek today.

It was feeding time down at the creek. The big fat old eel was coming up out of the water to take food out of my son's hand. You would almost think it was smiling.

Roses

Summer is on the way, the roses are in full bloom. After being here in NZ for 4 years, warm weather and Christmas are starting to grow on me. Although I don't think you could ever beat a winter Christmas, there is something very nice about eating Christmas dinner in the heat in the garden. When I think of Christmas here, for some reason I think of red roses. I don't know why, but one year I will manage to get my red roses in the garden flowering for Christmas.

The rose above lives in the beautiful garden of my friend Yvonne. Keriann and I had lunch there last week. I lovely relaxing break.

Daisy Update

For six months after I broke my ankle I had to take warfarin to prevent me from getting another blood clot. The side effects were tough going, I was cold all the time and tired all the time and my hair fell out.
Now the six months is up I am glad to have my energy back and my hair. The being cold side of it would have been good now that summer is here. But there is one strange side effect of taking warfarin. Not one that I had heard of before, my sense of taste was intensified. Everything tasted so absolutely, incredibly, wonderful. I thought, at first, that it was Peter's cooking. Until I stopped taking the warfarin and my taste buds returned to normal. It was a bit of a shock. No wonder I put on so much weight.
Now you may be wondering what all this has to do with the daisy. Well the answer is nothing. I just thought it was a great picture.

Bet you thought you would never see this!

Do you know what is happening here?

Where you right then? Yes, my eldest son is really taking a guinea pig for a walk. Peter bought me a guinea pig lead from my birthday. I really have no idea why he thought that a guinea pig lead would be something I would need. But I suppose it is the thought that counts. My eldest son thought he would give it a try. The guinea pig was a bit bemused and seemed to enjoy the experience.

Moving on from Daisy Hill to Elephant Hill

A few weeks ago Peter and I went out for lunch, with our friends Keriann and Ian, to Elephant Hill winery.

The setting is amazing.

And so was the lunch. Most of the food disapeared so quickly there was hardly any time to take any pictures to show you.

I managed to hold them back from the desserts almost. Lemon merangue pudding above and a chocolate something below.