Our final day in Timaru and the main reason we’d come down, Mum’s birthday. The morning was spent preparing food and getting everything ready for brunch as a bevy of family arrived. There were copious pancakes and croissants, fruit and Christmas mince pies. And then it was time for a birthday cake to be presented. […]
Strawberry Fare
Our trip down south coincided with the Waimate Strawberry Fare, a celebration of the local crop that has become a well known event. We parked at the home of Waimate legendary teacher Mary Firth (also fantastic Aunty) and headed inside for a chat. Mary produced a suitcase full of interesting things for Alayna to play […]
A summer holiday – Hamilton
We had a couple of nights in Hamilton and we spent our free day wandering in the city and later on going for a walk to visit Adam’s school. I had told Bridget about a photo competition I am looking at entering which has a theme around tea in an urban setting. Bridget though the […]
Maungatautari
Recently we had the chance to visit the Maungatautari Ecological Island, a mountain in the Waikato that has 47km of fencing to keep predators out. Our visit was quite short but we saw enough to know we’ll be back. Much like Zealandia the predator eradication and fencing has allowed a sanctuary for native wildlife to […]
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 […]
A couple of weekends
A couple of weekends ago we journeyed back to the Wairarapa and stayed with my cousin Amanda for a night in Masterton. We were over the hill for a birthday party celebrating cousin Julian’s 30th birthday. We made the most of our time starting with lunch in Greytown with Amanda and Uncle Michael. Before the […]
New Years and day one, 2008
Bridget, Keryn and I had a quiet New Years at home watching the terrible coverage of the London New Years fireworks. Patricia and Sam braved the crowds and weather to be in London for the show, and even managed to escape London in reasonable time. Earlier in the day we had all gone in to […]