holidays - part one

It's the school holidays again, and we have a two trips planned - here's part one. On Saturday we got up bright and early and drove to Greymouth. It was a quick trip at that time of the morning, so three hours later we were getting ready for the first of Miss L's dances at the competitions.

L danced five times over three days, and blew us away by winning her demi-character, barefoot, jazz, jazz championship and the most promising ballet dancer under 12 years of age. All that nagging to get her to practice was worth it!

As the dancing was spread out it gave us time to catch up with friends, drive down to Hokitika for lunch, take the kids to the swimming pool and visit a local beach. I even got some op-shopping in!

With the hubby taking a couple of days off, we had a  leisurely drive home yesterday. The weather was warm and summery, so we played at being tourists.

First stop was at Punakaiki to see the Pancake Rocks. A few metres into the walk we came across a weka family, the chicks were the cutest little fluff balls. I never get tired of taking photos of the nikau palms either.

The high tide meant that we actually got to see the blowhole blowing - not something you see everyday.

The rock formations at Pancake Rocks are quite unusual, but with a low battery I didn't take many photos.

After a quick coffee and a wander around the craft shop we were back on the road. Next stop was a small beach at Fox River, which is a favourite of mine. It's featured before here.

Before we got to Westport we took a detour to Tauranga Bay to visit the seal colony. It's a short walk to the viewing area, and you can smell the seals before you see them.

At first it's actually quite hard to spot them, as they are camouflaged against the rocks. But once you start looking you see more and more. They don't all lie around asleep, some were chasing each other, while others hopped from rock to rock. The photos below all have three seals in them, some are harder to spot than others.

After that we stopped in Westport for lunch (and more op shops) and were home by 3 to check all our animals hadn't forgotten us. Part one of the holidays is over, now I'm looking forward to this coming weekend's adventure.

a long, hot summer

Yes it's been what feels like a long, hot summer. And it's not over yet, the kids go back to school on the 7th which seems so late! It's because we have two public holidays this week, so most primary schools have chosen to wait til they are over.

January flew by without me venturing near this blog! I've not been sure whether to return, but have decided to keep at it, as one of the reasons I started in the first place was as a diary for myself. So I'm going back to basics. I'm not going to change the world, I'm not going to attract 100s of followers, I'll just be me.

The hubby had 10 days in India, which wasn't the easiest on us with the school holidays. I'm not a super-mum, I don't plan fun-filled, action packed days. I seem to have to tell them to turn the tv off and get outside, a lot. I've been preoccupied with my craftiness as have markets coming up. So when hubby returned from India we headed to Golden Bay for two nights. It was just what we all needed. We hired a bach (kiwi for holiday home) at Patons Rock, which is my favourite spot.

We kayaked, collected mussels off the rocks, tried to catch fish and swam in the sea, even me. On the second night as we drove back from having dinner at the bach friends were staying at we spotted the most amazing full moon rising.

 If you follow me on instagram you'll already seen the following photos I took on our last walk along the road past the cute old bachs, then back up via the beach.

 Farewell Patons Rock, till next time.

getting back on the horse

Joining in with {tinniegirl}{sunday snippets} is a good way to get back on the blogging horse, post holiday. I am busy with making things, and want to do the holiday justice when I have time, but by then it might be a distant memory...... 

The past week has involved trips to the beach, trips to town, enjoying sunrises again with daylight savings I'm awake in time, supermarket carparking, Friday night at port waiting for fish'n'chips and watching beans growing. Along with lots of other stuff I never took photos of! I find that instagram is an easy substitute for blogging.

There I did it, didn't want to go over a month without a post, phew! Now for the next one, getting back on the blogging horse isn't easy sometimes. Tell me how you get back on when you've slipped off.

spring

It's officially spring, and we've had the 6th wet Sunday in a row (well it took almost all day for the gray clouds to turn to rain) but apart from that we've had lots of sunny days, and even had a couple of nights when we haven't lit the fire.

 Mumabi and the alpacas are happy it's spring as there's fresh, green grass to eat.

 The netball season is over, and I managed to take these photos of Fiona Sutherland's sculpture at Saxton Field near the netball courts.

A Father's Day latte with pretty retro china, at the cafe at World of Wearable Art.

Three more weeks until the end of term 3 and then we are off to Brisbane for a week, yippee!! Any Brissie sightseeing and op-shopping tips gratefully received!

Linking up with {tinniegirl}

yesterday

Yesterday would have been my mother's 70th birthday. It was a bit of a struggle. A walk on the beach and the warm spring sunshine helped.

 Then I went to my studio and painted, which also helped. It has been 18 years without her (and 16 without my dad) but it's my mum I miss most.

This morning on the way back from walking to school I picked some violets. My mum loved plants, she had an amazing knowledge of plants, she knew so many by their Latin names, and she was a tireless gardener.

This afternoon I went and visited my parents gravestones. They do have a lovely view of the area, the farm where we spent most of our lives together is near here.

I picked a red camellia from the bush at the church. Someone else had recently placed a bunch of camellias on her grave, but they had died. And a wee clump of blue soldiers (muscari) were bravely growing in the stoney ground.

This is a blog post that I've been writing in my head for the last two days, and I'm still not sure whether I should hit publish. On one hand I tell myself if I'm going to keep up with this blogging thing I do need to move past the pretty photos and reveal a little more of myself. On the other I think why do it? Because it's very much part of me and I think its good for me to do so. Here goes .......