New Car

Our new motor...a Honda CRV.

Winery Tour at Ascension Vineyard, Matakana

This evening we headed north to Ascension Vineyard for this year's winery tour. A smaller venue than Villa Maria where we have been for previous years making for a more intimate concert in a lovely setting amongst the vines.

First act for the evening were Midnight Youth who got the crowd rocking with all their hits.

Then Opshop continued the mood doing a fantastic set and getting the crowd up and dancing at the front.

Then finally Brooke Fraser for a more sedate ending to the evening. A wonderful evening of fabulous weather, great music and very quaffable wine!

Around Lake Taupo

Today we explored several bays around Lake Taupo where we had not previously been, first stop Two Mile Beach for a fish and chip lunch.

We then headed around to the north of the lake and the flash suburb of Kinloch with it's marina and beautiful homes.

The next stop was Whakaipo Bay, the beach was pretty much non existent here due to the high rainfall we have just had, so couldn't really venture much further.

Taupo Visiting Anna & Tim

For the Auckland Anniversary weekend we headed down to Taupo to visit Anna and Tim. They have a new addition to the family, Dusky the cat, with another human addition due in a couple of months time.

Their house always seems to have something new and the deck is now almost complete, just a few more boards to go down and the BBQ area to be finished. A real sun trap for them.

They still have several goats including a rather stupid one who keeps getting his head stuck in the fence, so Tim has come up with a preventative measure!

Australian Open, Melbourne

As I was in Melbourne for the week working at Head Office, I took the opportunity to go to the evening session at the Australian Open. General admission meant I could wander the outer courts, making the most of the evening sunshine. The first game was to watch the Argentian David Nalbandian play. Unfortunately he retired hurt so could not see a full game but did get a good view of the cityscape from my seat.





Next I sat on the grass watching the big screen showing the Australian Sam Stouser playing on the main Rod Laver court along with hundreds of other Aussie fans - fortunately she won!





Then finally watched Andy Murray convincingly win his second round match - the crowd was brilliant, loads of Scots cheering him on.







Had great seat here as quite a small court and close to the action.

Then headed back to the hotel by tram - view of the city at night.

Waipu Highland Games

To celebrate New Year, we headed up to Waipu with Darryl & Alistair for the 140th Waipu Highland Games. The tradition comes about as a result of the Scottish heritage of the town. The pipe band announced the start of the games.

The heavyweight competition was fierce with 8 different events for the entrants to demonstrate their strength - the first event the throwing of the 22 pound highland stone.

Other events included throwing the hammer.

And tossing the caber.

Alistair decided to enter the novice competition and had a good effort at the various events.

There were other events as well including athletics, fiddling, piping and lots of different highland dances. A full fun packed day.

Christmas Day at the Beach

A quiet Christmas for us this year, just the two of us, and although warm, not the sunny day we have become accustomed to in recent years. We still managed a trip to the beach for our picnic lunch.

We didn't venture too far from home and ended up at Rothesay Bay - a few parties in the park area but the beach was virtually empty as the water was a bit nippy! A very nice relaxing day.