Monday was a holiday here in Wellington and it was nice to spend the day together, especially as I had been working on the weekend. We spent the morning with Sam and Jules checking out some wedding venues in the Wairarapa. It looks like a decision has been made on where they’ll be getting married, […]
ASB Gardens Magic: Eva Prowse
During summer there are a series of free concerts at the sound shell found in the Wellington Botanical Gardens. I wanted to go to a few nights last year but a combination of work and bad weather scuppered those plans. This year there are a few artists performing on nights I’m not working and we […]
The Union Mine track
On a hot afternoon a few days back I went in search of wildlife at Zealandia. Each visit I tend to make up the route I walk, tending to target areas where I’ve seen interesting animals in the past. Recently this has meant walking the path linking the Union Mine track and the Beech track […]
Catching up on the past: Paris
We spent four days in Paris in September 2006 and had a good time. The tourist spots were all good; we went to a number of excellent museums (Musée du Louvre, Musée de l’Orangerie des Tuileries, Musée d’orsay), climbed up the Eiffel Tower, a couple of Churches (Basilique du Sacre Coeur, Cathédrale Notre Dame de […]
A summer holiday: Jerusalem
The last stop on our weeks holiday was at Jerusalem on the Whanganui River. We stayed for only one night and had a relaxing time playing cards, lazing outside and watching some of the local wildlife. In the evening we joined Sue and Margaret Mary for a short drive to a pine forest where we […]
A summer holiday: The Tongariro Alpine Crossing
An early start to a successful day. By 6am we were just about ready to start walking, preceding this had been quite a bit of driving to leave a car at the end of the crossing so Keryn and I would have transport once we were done. Travis and Sophie were only going halfway (having […]
A summer holiday: The Bridge to Nowhere
Driving west from Ohakune we made our way to the tiny town of Pipiriki to find the Bridge to Nowhere tour office. The Bridge to Nowhere is a Whanganui River attraction, a large concrete bridge built to connect a road with a remote farming community. With the collapse of wool markets and other economic hardships […]
A summer holiday: Tama Lakes
The next leg of our summer holiday took us back south, destination Ohakune. We took the scenic route through Te Kuiti rather than joining the increased traffic on SH1 and made good time, arriving at the Venture Lodge in the afternoon. Travis and Sophie were already there having retreated from the heavy rain they had […]
A summer holiday: Hamilton
With a week off we had a few little adventures planned and started with the drive up to Hamilton. We stayed a couple of nights with Dean, Bridget and Adam and managed to get in some shopping, playtime and a visit to the Hamilton Gardens. We also got to catch up with Grant, Sally-Anne, Jorja, […]
Christchurch and Timaru
Earlier this week I had a quick visit down South, taking in Bridget’s graduation in Christchurch and a day and a half in Timaru to visit my recently arrived nephew Liam. Bridget was receiving her Masters from Canterbury University and I was tasked with taking a few photos. There was a graduation parade first up […]
One Saturday
Saturday was another in a long line of sunny, warm days to have hit Wellington so we got outside and spent a few hours walking around at Zealandia. We got to see lots of wildlife, Keryn say the falcons for the first time and we managed to get dive bombed by the feisty male, even […]
Karearea
As mentioned on twitter a while back I’ve become addicted to watching the Karearea (NZ Falcons) at Zealandia. The breeding pair have one chick this year and it has recently fledged. I was lucky enough to stumble upon the chosen resting spot earlier this week and got some good photos. I’m also lucky enough not […]