A tale of two cities - city two - Auckland

Two days after we got back from Christchurch we left home and headed for Auckland - driving this time. One flying trip was enough for me. Auckland had that buzz about it that you expect to find in a big city. That buzz that I thought was missing from Christchurch. Hopefully that buzz will return to them soon.


We stayed in the suburb of Ponsonby, just far enough out of the central city to be away from the sky scrapers. But close enough to have these views.

In an amazing suburban apartment.

With views looking out over Ponsonby to the sunset. We were just far enough away from the main street not to hear the traffic, but close enough to enjoy the best chip shop, the beautiful cafes and the very interesting people.

Lots of cool houses to "Oh look at that one" over.

I nipped out in the morning for a stroll to take some snaps of interesting stuff.

The church window is the only daisy I noticed, I am sure there were lots more I just did not see them.

There was lots of lovely food. So lovely my son had double helpings of crepe and had to be dragged away still asking for more.

The reason for our trip was to see some dinosaurs in the Walking with Dinosaurs spectacular. And it was a spectacular. And it was really worth it - our youngest found the whole experience amazing. I don't think he has ever been that quiet, ever.


And just to finish it all off we passed this caravan at the side of the road on the way back home. I wonder if it had had its tyres pinched!

A tale of two cities - city one - Christchurch

Last week we spent a few days down in Christchurch, visiting my eldest son. When I got home and downloaded my photos there were none of Christchurch itself. I did not feel I could take any snaps of the city, it just felt wrong. There is definitely a strong atmosphere in the city, an attitude different from any city I have visited before. So different from our last visit. This was highlighted by the fact we had a trip to Auckland two days after our Christchurch trip. The atmosphere in Auckland was the normal big city atmosphere, so different from where we had just come from.
On the first day of our trip to the South Island we had a drive down to Ashburton. I pretty little Kiwi town. With an interesting little museum and gallery. In the museum was a display of honey pots. I used to collect them, but they are very rare here, making them expensive. I only enjoyed collecting them when they were cheap.

Peter and the giant salmon at Rakai.

The bunch of air force personnel above are most of my family, the middle one is missing and replaced by the eldest's girlfriend. We were on a visit to the Air Force Museum at Wigram Air Base. When you go through to the cold hangers you can borrow a coat to wear. They look like they just escaped from an episode of Dr Who. The boys really enjoyed there trip to this museum, in fact they managed to spend almost three hours there. Not so much fun for Catherine and I, but well worth the visit. I would recommend a visit if you get a chance.

The exhibition of a house in war time was interesting. I really loved the colour of the hydrangea wallpaper.

Above is a parachute silk wedding dress, one of the more interesting things there.

Due to the volcanic ash clouds we had to fly really, really low on the way home. Way to low for comfort in my case. But the view of the snow capped mountains was stunning. Almost distracted me from my over worrying at the flying malarkey.

That secret project

My eldest son will be 21 soon (where did all those years go). I made him a quilt as part of his birthday pressie. His nickname at school was Scotsman, so I thought he would appreciate some tartan. Thanks to my mum for sending over the fabric.

Amazing what a little bit of ash does .........

Half way around the world a volcano throws out ash. Causing havoc to airlines from here to there. Making the most amazing moonrise,

moon set and

fiery sunsets.

Crafty projects

You may be wondering why I have not been posting any crafty posts recently. There are two reasons. Reason number one - is I am working on a secret project, you can see a little glimpse of it above. Reason number two - is I have been using up all my crafty creativity over here.

Some more winter garden colour

The quince is flowering at the moment. As the last rays of the sun fall on it in the late afternoon, it looks like there is a fire in the heart of the bush.

Limes

From tree to basket -

from basket to plate.

Vintage bargains

On my lunchtime walks through Napier I like to wander around the op (charity) shops and junk shops. It is amazing how many I originally wanted the picture above for the black frame and cream mount. The picture itself has kind of grown on me, I think I will leave it there for a while.
How could I resist this pair of dotty lovelies. I wish I had spotted them a before my birthday party.

More sunset.................

Beautiful sunset, looked almost as if a huge red planet was sliding past us.

Today's daisies and some extras

Here are a few of the daisies that are flowering in my garden at the moment.

The dual images are inspired by one of my favorite blogs at the moment, Fryd. I don't have her knack for taking amazing images yet, but maybe one day.

I could not resist including these other extras. Not daisies but amazingly beautiful, especially for bursting into bloom in winter.

Its hard to believe its winter

Yesterday was an amazingly sunny, warm day - 21 centigrade. Hard to believe that its already 5 days in to winter.
The little oriental magnolia at the front door is confused. It is still hanging on to its autumn leaves, but its spring flowers are starting to pop out.
These pretty starry shaped narcissus look so cute. But don't be fooled, don't go to close and do not ever bring them into your house. Why? They stink, they really, really stink. I think I could describe the scent as a cross between cow yard poo smell and the smell you get from somebody who has a really stinking blocked up snotty nose. Cow poo snot. Not something you want to scent your house with.

Another Ahuriri sunset

We enjoyed our eating out experience earlier in the week so much we decided to go back. Takeaway pizza this time and lots more sunset.

Shafts of golden light.

Glowing horizons.

Floaty wisps of pink fluffy clouds.

Reflections.

And as we ate our pizza

We watched the skies grow dark and the stars start to twinkle. Heavenly.