The Gardening has Begun

This afternoon we made the most of the sunshine and started work in the garden. Planting out the hanging basket...







The herbs and strawberries were planted last week and we already have flowers on the strawberries so hopefully not long to wait for the fruit.





We thought it apt to have wine barrels as our planters...unfortunately they were delivered empty but the smell of red wine is still quite over powering! We just have to decide what to put in them all now. The tomatoes and spinach plants are in the pots behind.




Two of the plants have already been bought though - a bird of paradise and a pohutakawa bush, so getting those in is the next job.

Spring is Here...so a Trip to Waipu Cove

This weekend we made the most of the glorious weather and headed north to Waipu Cove for an afternoon fishing and a night away of relaxation. We also used it as an opportunity to celebrate nearly 3 years here.





Although the water was pretty cold, it was just about bearable to wade in up to your knees, the rogue higher waves weren't much fun however... Royston versus seagull to get the first fish.





As the change of light came, so did the fish and we both had some success reeling in a few kahawai, a couple of which were keepers so came home with us for the smoker.





Although not the best place to be for sunset, the sky was still pretty spectacular.






The weather the next morning was similarly beautiful and the surfers were out in force to take advantage of the sunshine and big waves.

A Day in the City

Today we headed over to the city to use our free tickets to the National Maritime Museum. An interesting place with examples of the old boats used in the South Pacific.





There was a wide variety of boats there, including this from the Olympic gold winning (1972) eights rowing.






Outside were their operational boats, including the Ted Ashby which we went on back in April.






For lunch we took advantage of Harbourside's winter special of two courses for $25, the restaurant was nearly full so many others also thought it was a good idea.

In the afternoon we went to our first World Premiere for a film called the Land of the Long White Cloud. The Kiwi director was there to introduce his film - a documentary based on Ninety Mile Beach during the Snapper Classic fishing competition earlier this year. A fascinating, and at times funny, film, with the fishermen asked all kinds of random questions. This picture is taken from the promotional material taken at the time of the competition.

Mid Winter Do

This evening was my work's mid winter do, the theme this year was a flash back to the 1970s and 80s. Fancy dress is encouraged so I trawled the second hand shops and $2 shop to find my 80s outfit and accessories. Craig went for the punk look.







Dean went the whole hog and "blacked" himself up and went all reggae. We all had a great time dancing to the old hits, and had a good feed of an Indian banquet.

All Blacks Roadshow

Every year the All Blacks travel around the country to meet the fans and today they came to the North Shore. It was an opportunity to celebrate last night's great win over the Aussies. The event was hosted by Buck Shelford, the most successful AB captain and an old North Harbour captain so a popular figure on the Shore.



We were fortunate to have two of the pin ups of the All Blacks squad as the visitors today, unfortunately none of those that played last night were able to attend, but people were pleased to see Richard Kahui and Rudi Wulf (the latter a member of the North Harbour team).



They presented the North Shore mayor Andrew Williams a signed shirt thanking the North Shore residents for their support over the years.





The All Blacks then participated in some of the side games showing the children their skills.

Our New Home

We are now settled into our new house, the move went very smoothly helped by this lovely hamper of food and wine and bottle of rum given to us by the real estate agent.





It hasn't taken too long for Charlie to settle into his new home, and he thinks the nice rimu table we bought for the laptop makes a lovely place to sleep...





Here are some shots around the house first of all our bedroom.







The great galley kitchen which looks out over the garden.







The lounge which goes out to the small deck at the front of the house.






And the dining room which leads out to the large deck area and garden.






This lower grassy area of the garden we hope to develop over time and make this a nice sitting area with shade sail.






And the large deck, we just need warmer weather now for plenty of BBQs and entertaining.

A Temporary Addition to the Family...

This weekend was spent down in Taupo visiting Anna & Tim with the main aim to buy a piglet for them to raise and then share out the resulting meat. We purchased him from a local farmer where Anna & Tim bought their current pig from and brought him home squealing in a sack.



It didn't take him long to run around his new pen and Tim had him eating scraps by the end of the day. We have named him Rashun after the bacon flavoured crisps you can get in NZ! He is part wild pig so hopefully will have a nice gamey flavour to him when we come to eat him.



Anna & Tim have also recently got 20 female goats for their two male goats they already have, so once the pig was settled we spent time feeding all of them.





There is still an area of the old woodland to clear and Tim has built a big fire pit to speed up the process. So despite the freezing temperature in the evening we sat outside around a roaring fire.





It didn't take long for the fire to take and Tim added more wood throughout the evening. Don't think too many people would have spent the evening outside in Taupo.





Not too sure how hot the fire was but the beer bottles we threw in melted and it was still smoldering in the morning.