Our Confused Pohutekawa Tree

The pohutekawa tree (otherwise known as the NZ Christmas tree) in our garden is seemingly a little confused. The normal time for flowering is December and summertime, however ours has decided mid-winter is the time to flower...




The flowers are very distinctive, and it is nice to have a bit of colour during the winter.




The pohutekawa trees also attract the native tui - they are very noisy birds with distinctive bird calls. Needless to say they are driving Charlie mad and he has made several attempts to scale the tree to get to them.




So as our tree thinks it is Christmas, we have decided to have a mid-winter Christmas meal tonight - a tradition that a lot of kiwis seem to adopt.

All Blacks vs England, Eden Park

This evening we went to see England against the All Blacks at Eden Park. Slightly better weather than when we were there last year for the Australia game. Lots of England fans in the crowd (probably most of the ex-pat community here).














The All Blacks began with the traditional haka which set a great atmosphere in the stadium.






England began well and held their own for the first 20 minutes putting a lot of pressure on the All Blacks.






But then the class and experience of the All Blacks kicked in and scored two quick tries in succession. England scored a fantastic break away try - Topsy Ojo running almost the full length of the pitch. At the break it was 23-13 to the All Blacks.




Second half was much of the same, England managing just one more try, and the All Blacks two with a final result of 37-20.

The Return to Waipu Cove

We decided to have a short mid-winter break taking a couple of days off work, and headed north back to Waipu Cove where we had our first camping trip back in November 2006. As it is a little colder this time of the year, this time we stayed in one of the campsite cabins which was right next to the beach.




Waipu Cove forms part of Bream Bay and the extensive beach. Despite being June, the weather was beautiful, very warm and sunny.




Most of the afternoon and early evening was spent on the beach whilst Royston fished. This was the most successful fishing ever had so far! He caught approx 12 fish (and 2 crabs!), throwing most of them back as either baby kahawai or just a bit too small for smoking.



As the light turned, nearly every cast resulted in a fish including the big one! After a bit of a struggle he managed to reel in a 4lb kahawai - made the others he caught look a little small...














This morning we had a walk on the beach to watch sunrise before heading back home. Will definitely be back here again very soon - a fantastic place to stay and very relaxing.

Omaha Beach

As today was a glorious winter's day, we headed about 40 minutes north to Omaha Beach, the playground for Auckland's rich and famous with some stunning holiday homes lining the beautiful beach.





Royston had read it was a good spot for fishing so we tried our luck.








And with the last cast of the day - success! So we headed home and within two hours of catching the fish had been smoked!

Priscilla Queen of the Desert - The Muscial

Today we went to see Priscilla Queen of the Desert The Musical, based on the film of three drag queens travelling across Australia from Sydney to Alice Springs in a bus named Priscilla. Unfortunately we weren't allowed to take cameras in, so these are taken from a NZ newspaper website.





The show was brilliant, completely camp, with the most amazing costumes and great 70s disco tunes!



The bus was spectacular, all mechanically operated with one side opening for interior shots. Would recommend anyone in the UK seeing it when it comes to the West End.

Taupo - Anna & Tim's

To make the most of the holiday weekend, we headed down to Taupo to visit our friends Anna & Tim. Their house is now habitable which is a relief as it gets quite cold down there in winter!





They have done loads inside the house since we were last down in summer, and despite being a big house, is very cosy especially by the wood burner - a favourite spot for their cat Elmo.






They now have three chickens which are laying eggs every day.






And have also let some of their land to a nearby farmer and have 13 cows munching their way through part of the paddock.





We then had a walk through their little forest of pine trees and collected some fire wood to bring home with us.