Tarawera take two

seven of us went to Lake Tawawera for the weekend, we had stunning hot sunny days, a great place to stay and plenty of food and wine...

these are the beautiful Tarawera Falls and a crystal clear stream...



we had a swim in the lake as it was a scourcher of a weekend...

Tracey taking a paddle...

a weary Michael in the holiday home after a grueling mountain bike ride with Tanya, Jon and Trev...

relaxing in the Polynesian Spa on the edges of lake Rotorua, from left Trevor, Darren, Tracey, Tanya, Jon and Michael...

stunning Puriri Moth which we found in the holiday home, this one is not even fully grown...

early morning mist on the lake was a good sign for sundays half a day fishing expedition with Trevor and Tracey...

for some unknown reason I was the star fisherman of the day catching seven rainbow trout!

I was very excited as you cannot buy trout in NZ if you want to eat it you have to catch it! This one has gone in the freezer for us to throw on the BBQ Chrsitmas day as trout is a real treat...

Trev caught the biggest fish of the day...

Tracey and her prize catch...

lessons in gutting and cleaning...

ride em cowboy

At the weekend we went to Claire's western themed 30th birthday party...

Michelle (red hat) & Aaron

Lauren (pink hat) & jason

Claire ( with 30 glass)

Me & Clint Eastwood

wavy hair day

I had my haircut yesterday and the hairdresser curled it so I came out looking like 'i just stepped out of a salon!'

Xronia Polla - Mixalis

It is Mixalis name day today so we went to Auckland Botanical gardens as it is such a sunny amazing day...

saw some sculpture in the park... and some baby geese...

and some bright blooms...

finishing off with a lunch time beverage at Sale St bar which has a fab outdoor deck, thats Aucklands Sky Tower in the background....

and we voted as its the NZ elections and Mike got to vote for his own Party as they are registered!!!

two Aussie jollydays

We had two jolly days with Dicky & Louise in Brisbane for my birthday... you cannot imagine the excitement when we found the birthplace of the Dickster - DICKY BEACH!!!

us at a table and a kookaburra in a tree in the Botanical gardens...

Brisbane CBD from the river...

strange lizardy thing at Noosa Heads National Park - Sunshine Coast...
the path and beaches at the beautiful Noosa heads National park...absolutely one of may favourite places I have been and lucky me this was our 2nd visit....

we did have a swim in the bright blu sea, the first Aussie dip ever for Louise & Dicky





Enjoying my Moreton Bay Bugs for lunch at Noosa village, there had been a 3 year gap beween Moreton Bug Meals...too long!!!

Louise cuddling up to a Koala...

Kanagroo time...the real Aussie experience

baby bird

Spring has well and truly arrived with this little fluffy 'silvereye' baby bird perching in our tree outside the bedroom window...

we then had a beautiful rainbow appear over the garden

snow

I had a work trip down south this week and finally got to see some snow...NZ has had a bumper ski season but is thawing out now it's spring.

This is Lake Wakatipu in Queenstown.


We got caught in a snow blizzard between Invercargill and Dunedin.
Yesterday was about 19c so spring is an interesting time in the south

Amazing drive throught the snow topped mountains between Queenstow and Invercargill which is the farthest south city in the world...I think!