Day on the Green - Crowded House Concert

A beautiful afternoon/evening for a concert at Villa Maria winery. Supergroove provided the main support act and entertained the crowd with their unique mix of rock, jazz and rap!

Then the headline act of Crowded House performed all their hits.

Warriors v Sea Eagles

A beautiful evening tonight for the pre-season league game between the Warriors and Sea Eagles at Harbour Stadium. Royston got to meet Warriors legend Steve Price before the game.






A good crowd of over 15,000 were there to help fund raise for the Christchurch earthquake, and watched a tightly contested game with the Warriors slightly ahead at half time 6-4.






Manly Sea Eagles fought back to a slender victory 14-12 much to the disappointment of the crowd. Here's hoping the Warriors have a better season when it starts next week.

An Early Morning Fish at Mahurangi

This morning we were up at dawn to head north to Mahurangi Regional Park for Royston to have a fish. A beautiful morning and the snapper were biting, unfortunately they were a little too small to keep.

Blues v Crusaders

I was lucky enough to win 2 free tickets to see the Auckland Blues play the Canterbury Crusaders in the opening round of the new Super 15 season at Eden Park. We were given great seats in the top tier of the new south stand.

A good crowd of about 32,000 turned up for the game, and we were treated to many All Blacks playing for their teams. Crusaders had the best of the first half and went in 19-6 at the break.

But in the second half the Blues fought back with lots of pressure and the backs playing a good running game.

The tries then came, including this one by Tony Woodcock, and the Blues got a close win 24-22 and the majority of the crowd went home happy.

Central Otago Wineries

Being in Central Otago and liking our wine we had to make the most of all these fantastic wineries in the region... There are several areas prolific in vineyards, first stop was the Bannockburn region and Mt Difficulty wines - the view from the tasting room back down the valley.

The next stops were along Gibbston Valley which follows the Kawerau Gorge. At Gibbston Valley winery we did a fantastic tour which culminated in wine tasting in the cave - this contained barrels of Pinot Noir worth several $ million!

Chard Farm was the next stop and our favourite winery. A hair-raising drive to get to it with a sheer drop down the gorge!

Amisfield is one of the most famous wineries in the area with the tasting room in this beautiful stone building.

And just across the road was the beautiful Lake Hayes. A fantastic long weekend away...we will be back :o)

Queenstown Gondola

Back in Queenstown, as the weather was so good we headed up the gondola to get the great views back down to the town and lake.

This is the view down to the road to Arthurs Point and where we were staying.

And a video showing the panoramic view.

The Drive to Glenorchy

Today we headed north from Queenstown to the head of Lake Wakatipu and the small township of Glenorchy. There were several stopping off points on the way giving great views over the lake, first was Wilsons Bay.

The view at Bennetts Bluff was stunning, a snow capped Mt Earnslaw and the Mt Aspiring National Park.

Once at Glenorchy not much to see apart from a boat shed!

But the views from the wharf back down the lake were stunning.