Week 19 ORR.

It seemed strange not to be driving down to pick up either Danni or Jonny but as they are still away we are not seeing them until Monday. Jodi has posted some photos on facebook and it looks as if they are really enjoying their first time in the snow. I am so pleased as Danni was not keen on going so it's good to see her smiling face in the photos.
Friday was a beautiful day so we spent the afternoon walking along the beach at Goat Island which has become one of our favourite places. We remain fascinated with the shags who are still nesting there, some with fledglings in the nest and others sitting on their nests. The parents are busy flying backwards and forwards, swooping in to land gracefully at the side of the nests on the delicate branches high in the Pohutakawa trees. They must have more sense than we credit them for as nesting on the edge of a marine sanctuary must provide them with an abundance of food.
It was low tide so we were able to walk along the beach as far as the pile of rocks which then blocked our way.

Another beautiful day dawned on Saturday, chilly at first but then the bright, warm sun soon warmed things up. I went into Warkworth in the morning to do some shopping. Matakana had the usual,Saturday mini traffic jam due to the farmers market. Julie has said to us that the weather here can provide 4 seasons in one day and in the supermarket I remarked, to myself, that one can also see 4 seasons of dress in the same day. There were people wearing real winter clothing - coats, wooly hats and boots. Others in shorts with t shirts or sweat shirts. Some young girls, like Danni, wore shorts and woolly tights. As for footwear or not it seems that anything goes from bare feet via jandles (flip flops), sandals, boots and wellies. Wellies with shorts seems to be popular with a large proportion of the men!! I have always noticed that a lot of New Zealanders walk around in bare feet and today was no exception as I saw 2 people in the supermarket in bare feet. I well remember remonstrating with Danni when she first started school and telling her that she should wear shoes but she said lots of us go to school in bare feet and I did indeed see many children entering the school shoe less.

In the afternoon we went to Tawharanui . Tawharanui is not far from here as the crow flies but by road it takes about a half hour, the last 6kms of the drive on a hilly unmetalled road. 
"Set on a remote peninsula, Tawharanui Regional Park boasts some of the Auckland region's most beautiful white sand beaches, rolling pastures, shingled bays native coastal forest and regenerating wetlands.
The 588-hectare park is New Zealand's first integrated open sanctuary (mainland island) where farming, public recreation and conservation of native species combine. The name Tawharanui refers to "the abundant bracts of the kiekie vine". The iconic Anchor Bay is named after the anchor of the Phoenix, a vessel wrecked on the Tawharanui coastline in 1879.
Tawharanui Regional Park is also an Open Sanctuary, where native plants and animals including kiwi can live and breed successfully without the threat of predators.

We walked along the beach at Anchor Bay and I even took off my socks and trainers and had a paddle. So much to see on the beach, rock pools, interesting rock formations and geology. The sky was cloudless until in the distance we could see a  long white cloud which gives New Zealand the name of "The country of the long white cloud". The sea was flat and calm out in the gulf and we thought that it would have been such a good day for going out fishing on the boat, As we sat on a rock looking at the stunning views and thinking how lucky we were we noticed several birds that looked to be swallows. Always a welcome sight back home in the spring but here we were in New Zealand in the winter. We watched a man walk down to the sea carrying a canoe surfer and then watched him as he paddled out to catch a few waves - he made it look so easy! When we got home I googled swallows in NZ and they are apparently welcome swallows who made their way here from Australia in the 1950's. They first nested in Northland but have since spread over most of the country. Unlike their relatives in Australia they do not migrate. They are considered to be native birds as they made their way here themselves rather than being introduced.

Sunday was a day at home and Rob, Julie and Daniel came for a roast beef and Yorksshire pudding dinner. It seems that my Yorkshire puddings are very popular!
After they left I went over to the house where I had made up one of the beds for me. I went to sleep at about 10pm and set the alarm for 2am as I wanted to watch the men's singles final between Andy Murray and Roger Federer. When I started watching Andy Murray was 1 set up but after a good match he lost 3 sets to 1. It would have been good to, finally, have a British winner but Roger Federer has always been one of my favourites and he did play so well. I was back in bed by 5.30am and managed to sleep until 10.30 am waking up to a beautiful view of the estuary from my bedroom window.

Rob had picked Danni up at 10 am and I went over to Snells Beach for lunch with them. I then took Danni down the road to have her hair trimmed - she was so pleased to go to the hairdresser! I brought Danni back here later in the afternoon and after our evening meal I was ready for bed after my broken night the night before.

On Tuesday Danni and I were over at Rob's for 9am ready to go out fishing. It was a chilly morning but the sun was out and the sea was calm. We had a bit of a drama on the way to launch the boat at Scott's landing when the boat slid off the trailer. Luckily we were not on the main road and there was no car behind us. The boat was still sitting upright on the road and using superhuman strength Rob managed to winch it back on the trailer. Thankfully neither the boat nor the engine sustained any damage. We set off at 10am and in 20 minutes or so the boat was anchored and we started fishing. Danni had the first catch, a small Kohawai that we kept for bait. The main excitement of the day though was seeing Orcas (killer whales) on 4 separate occasions. The nearest that they came to the boat was about 50 yards I think. It was a magnificent sight, they are so big yet so graceful. I suspect that they must have frightened (or eaten) a lot of the fish as I never caught a fish that was big enough to keep and neither did Danni. Luckily our "captain" hooked 4 fair sized snapper which we took back for tea. We were back at the boat ramp for 3pm and this time managed to get back home without losing the boat! Nigel came over for tea and Rob and I took the filletted snapper down to the local takeawy where they cooked it for us. The batter was very light, the chips were good and the fish was amazing!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMxZK3XhP0Y

On Wednesday morning Danni and I went on a 2 hour ride on Pakiri beach. I had bought, online, 2 vouchers for a 2 hour ride for the price of one. A bargain as a 2 hour ride is normally 120$. Half way through the ride 5 of us took a different route to the others and had an exciting gallop through the dunes along a narrow, up and down twisty path. I was a bit concerned about Danni as I knew that she had not been that fast before but thankfully she had stayed on and was thrilled to have gone so fast!

On Thursday morning Danni helped me make up the beds in the big house as we are expecting 7 guests at the weekend.
In the afternoo we went to the cinema to see "Ted" a film for 13 year olds + so we had to embroider the truth somewhat as she is not 13 until next May. Had I known anything about the film I wouldn't have done so but she enjoyed it much more than I did. In my opinion (aged as I am) there was far too much gratuitous swearing in it but sadly it is what they are used to these days.

Week 18 ORR.

We had planned to visit MOTAT - the museum of transport and technology before picking Danni up after school at 4pm. However Danni messaged me to say that they were not at school, it being the last day of term, and could I pick her up earlier. So plan B came into action and I suggested that she may like to go to MOTAT with us. She was keen to do so and said that Jonny would like to come too so we arranged to pick them up at midday. MOTAT is not too far from where they live so it would be easy to drop Jonny off after our visit.
http://www.motat.org.nz/whats-on/current-exhibitions

Entry to MOTAT was free for the month of June which was a bonus. It is on two sites connected by a tram so we took the tram to the aircraft display site. Although not of great interest to me it was a very impressive exhibition with many aircraft and the children were quite interested in it. Nigel was much more interested and after we had had a look around I suggested that he spent more time there whilst we went back to the main site. We arranged to rendezvous at the cafe at 2pm. Back at the main site there was lots of interest for Danni and Jonny and we had a good look round before  going to the cafe for a snack and meeting Nigel. Nigel was a bit late as he had decided to walk back from the aircraft exhibtion which turned out to be further than he had thought.
After lunch we split up again to have a further look round before leaving at 3.15. We dropped Jonny off at home and were back here by 5pm. Rob came in after work and had a meal with us.
Next morning we were booked on the 10am ride at Warkworth where Danni had arranged to meet up with Keri and Sonya with who she would then return to Auckland. They were booked for a 2 hour ride but I just went for the first hour. I had a change of mount this time, I rode Flicka a skewbald, who turned out to be a good ride. I was a bit disconcerted when we had our first canter as her head went down and I thought she may put in a buck but I was told that that was just the way she goes! Back in the paddock Danni had some good jumps on Lenora before we got back to the stables and she changed horses for her second hour. I said good bye to them and came back home.
We had a party of 7 young men staying in the house who had asked Jill if they could play loud music and we had agreed that it would be OK. Thankfully I never heard anything although Nigel did but not enough to be a problem.They hadn't arrived until late on Friday night, after we had gone to bed, and didn't get up till well past midday on Saturday. It seemed that they were up until the early hours again on Sunday and were late risers again. Jill had been a bit concerned about letting the house to them but they did a good job of tidying up and took away all their rubbish so there were no problems.
On Monday I stripped the beds and washed the bedding and in the afternoon Pam came in to give the house a "deep" clean. I have kept up with tidying it up after the guests had left but felt it was time that a "professional" gave it a clean!
It started to rain heavily on Monday night and I lay in bed listening to the rain on the roof - a sound that I love to hear. From time to time I could hear the birds that nest under the eaves shifting and "grumbling" about the rain! The rain carried on throughout the night and Tuesday morning  with the occasional clap of thunder and strong winds. Then suddenly the rain stopped, the wind died down and the sun came out and we had a beautiful afternoon.
The tour de France started on Sunday and I am  able, with the use of a proxy server, to watch ITV4's highlights programme. Over the last few years I have become an avid follower of the tour and would have been upset to miss it. So, every morning, I now watch the previous days stages.
On Wednesday afternoon we made a trip to the cinema to watch another French film Cafe de Flore. One review says "A love story between a man and woman. And between a mother and her son. A mystical and fantastical odyssey on love." It was indeed mystical as when it finished we still were not sure of the story line if indeed there was one. Never the less we had both thoroughly enjoyed the film.
Thursday morning was foggy and chilly and never really warmed up all day with some rain in the afternoon.

Week 17 ORR.

We were to pick up Danni on Friday afternoon so we decided to make a day of it and visit a couple of places on the way. We had wanted to visit the museum at Helensville but it was closed on Fridays but decided to go there anyway. It was  a pleasant 45 minute drive there. Helensville is just a small town with not a lot to recommend it but very good for people watching! It was, apparently, voted one of the 10 top small towns to visit in NZ by a magazine but even I, only a visitor to the country, can think of many other small towns that have more to recommend them.
http://www.helensville.co.nz/
The toilets - here I go again about toilets- were quite special. The outside was covered in murals and the toilets themselves fully automated. On entering we were instructed, in an American voice- to lock the door and to be told that we had a time limit of 10 minutes. Then we were played relaxing music! A very bizarre experience! There were not many tempting eating places but we found a passable one in the main street and sat by the window watching the world go by.

 Our next stop was at Muriwai beach. I had been there on my first visit to NZ to see the gannet colony there and wanted Nigel to see it. Sadly the gannets were on holiday and not expected to return until August. http://www.wildlifeextra.co.nz/go/nz/muriwai-gannets.html#cr
Never the less we had a walk by the beach which is in itself a sight worth seeing unique because of its black sand caused by the iron content derived from the ancient volcanoes in the area.

It wasn't too far from there to get to Massey to pick up Danni and as we were a bit early we did some shopping on the way. We went to one of the many fruit and vegetable shops in Hobsonville Road which are renowned for the quality and price of their products. After that we stopped at The Mad Butcher to stock up on some meat products. The company was founded by Peter Leitch in the 1970's and now has more than 30 shops.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Leitch_%28Mad_Butcher%29
Danni was ready when we arrived and an hour or so later we were back home. Rob came after work and  once dinner was over Danni entertained us for a while with some dancing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QHVRRSRcN4&feature=youtu.be
On Saturday morning Danni and I went over to Snells Beach to visit the Wearhouse where I bought a pair of jeans and Danni got some trainers.
In the afternoon we were booked on the 3.30 ride at Warkworth and Danni managed not to fall off this time! We didn't get back home until 5.30 and Rob was already here. We were so late because Danni loves to groom and untack the ponies before we leave the stables. It's good that she understands that there is more to horses that just riding them so I am happy to hang around whilst she does her thing.
Rob picked Danni up on Sunday morning and took her back home.
On Monday afternoon we went to the cinema to see The Well Diggers Daughter (La Fille du Puisatier) a French film with sub titles. We both thoroughly enjoyed it and we were both reminded of our neighbour back home who was so much like the father, Pascal, in the film. Once the lights came up and we went outside it took a while to realise that we were, indeed, in NZ and not back home in Castandet.
Tuesday and Wednesday were at home days and Thursday we both went shopping at New World in Warkworth.

Week 16 ORR

After getting back from Auckland yesterday it was back to the car again to drive back down to West Auckland to pick up Jonny. He was ready and waiting for me and we were soon on the way back north. We stopped off in Warkworth to pick up a couple of dvd's for him and were back home before 5pm. Rob came in after work and had a meal with us.
On Saturday we went into Warkworth to do some shopping at New World and in the afternoon we walked down to the estuary. Rob came after work and stayed overnight. After Rob had put Jonny to bed with one of his dvd's I was soon in bed, with a good book, as I was feeling pretty shattered. After a while I got up to go to the loo and found that Jonny had sneaked back upstairs and was sitting on Rob's knee watching a fishing show on my laptop. It was so sweet to see them sharing time together.

Rob took Jonny back next morning and we had a very lazy day after the last week. In fact we had a lazy week altogether. We went for a walk at Whangateau harbour one day and the rest of the week we just took it easy.
So, as there isn't a lot to say about the week, I thought that I would post some photos of the flowers that we still have here despite the fact that we are now into winter. It doesnt seem like winter although we have had some cold mornings but still a lot of sunshine. When the sun is shining it floods into our accomodation and because of the huge windows it soon gets warm indoors. We are now lighting the fire each evening and some mornings but during the day it isn't necessary. The view from the house doewn't look at all wintery as most of the trees are evergreen so there are not many bare trees to be seen.

                                                         Kauri Trees

                                                         View from the deck.
There are banks of New Guinea impatiens still in flower. In the UK this is an annual but here it is perennial and it grows into large shrubs and seems to flower all year round.

On the terrace overlooking the estuary are two  Banksia (Australian Honeysuckle trees) that are producing large, yellow flower spikes each made up of several hundred small flowers. The Tuis love these flower spikes and I have watched them sucking the nectar from them. The Tui spend a lot of time in these trees and their melodious song can always be heard as they call to each other from the two trees.

                                                                      Banksia Tree

                                                                    Bansia flower spike.
Not far from the Banksia is a Glory bush or Princess flower. An evergreen bush with many bright purple blooms that seems to flower all year round.

Hiding in the shade is a small shrub that seems to be part of the Azalea family with shiny, green leaves and  bright orange flowers.

Shading the Azalea is a Cassia - Buttercup tree whose bright yellow flowers lit up this shady area from early autumn to winter.

There is a fried egg tree - Gordonia Axillaris which is a member of the camellia family flowering next to a deciduous magnolia which has just come into flower.

                                                              Fried egg plant

                                                               Deciduous Magnolia.

So, although it may now be winter here we still have lots of colour and interest in the garden and the surrounding landscape.