Easter Weekend

Easter weekend has been quite relaxed so far. My football was postponed on Friday due to the preceding week of rain so we were able to head out for a walk. Kaitoke was the chosen destination. We had lunch at a picnic table in the glade where a lot of the filming of Rivendell was shot for the Lord of the Rings movies. Since our last visit there has been some new information panels and posts installed and there is a large archway being constructed as well. Looks like it’ll be a good spot to come back to for some more photography once the arch is completed. Alayna sat on the table for her lunch, happy to sit in the sun.

After lunch we did the easy loop walk with Alayna installed in the backpack. Before heading into the forest proper we stopped to put some warmer clothes on Alayna and then had a little modelling session on the pipes for the old waterworks. Alayna’s hat and cardigan were knitted by her Nana and did a good job of keeping her warm.

Over the bridge, stopping to look at the full brown flow below swollen after the recent rain, and then into the forest. It didn’t take long for Alayna to fall asleep so we walked quietly through the trees. There were a few other people around as well doing the same track so it was never completely quiet but Alayna didn’t notice.

The final crossing was over the Kaitoke swing bridge and Keryn got some photos of Alayna and I heading across. Back at the car Alayna was still fast asleep if looking uncomfortable. I unfortunately woke her by dropping a lens cap on the ground.

On Saturday we had a morning at home before heading into the city. There was another signing event at the Weta Cave which I wanted to attend so off to Miramar we drove. Weta was releasing a book dedicated to the design process behind the creation of Smaug for the Hobbit movies and there were three Weta Digital staff who would be signing. We arrived early so I joined the small queue and Keryn took Alayna for a walk to a nearby cafe.

As usual those signing were friendly and happy to chat. In attendance were Joe Letteri (Senior Visual Effects Supervisor), Myriam Catrin (Senior texture Artist) & Eric Reynolds (Animation Supervisor).

With books signed (I had our Hobbit book with its ever growing collection of signatures) we then drove to see Catherine and Paul at home in Newtown. Catherine was cooking up some pikelets when we arrived and shortly afterwards we’d all sat down to have a nice afternoon tea. Kim, Thomas and nearly 3 Jemima turned up a little later and got to eat those pikelets that remained (I was very restrained). Catherine and Jemima made lego animals as Alayna rolled around on the couch and we learnt about babies kneecaps (which are present but only formed of cartilage for the first few years).

At home we quickly got some dinner prepared (thankfully we’ve got a good stock of frozen meals at the moment) and then I headed back into the city to attend a Mark Gee photography workshop at Carter Observatory. Mark Gee is a respected photographer specialising in astrophotography and in conjunction with the Observatory he has been holding a series or workshops where he explains the ins and outs of photographing the night sky. This workshop had already been postponed once due to bad weather and we didn’t get the best conditions for seeing stars once we got outside to put to use some of our new found knowledge. Still we tried a few things and I’m keen to head out again chasing stars in the near future once the clouds and rain have departed.

Sunday has been largely a day at home. We did head into Porirua for a spot of shopping but had forgotten that nothing is open on Easter Sunday so were home quickly. Keryn has been sewing for most of the day getting the quilted back prepared for attaching to her crochet zoo play mat. Alayna is getting better at keeping herself amused and to assist with this I set up a play-pen come fort in the living room that she was safe to roll around in while playing with some of her toys.