Testing...

An exciting new discovery is that I can now put video on here so here's my first attempt (it's a very rough cut of my tekapo vids so apologies - I will hopefully get better as time goes on)......

Tekapo taster

A (very) few of the 620 pictures I took on my wonderful trip to Tekapo. As you can see the weather was very good to me.

Whakapapa Whirl

Here are a few pics from the weekend that was. It was the Tramping Club's Winter Solstice trip up to the Lodge on Mt. Ruapehu and a very very merry time was had by all. Suffice to say i am now absolutely shattered, but it was worth it.

This was the view from the cabin up to the peak of the volcano on Saturday morning

This is the walk down from the lodge to the vans

Looking over to Ngaurahoe (right) and Tongariro (left)

A bit of sledging action

And finally a few fancy dressers

Whakapapa Weekend

This weekend I'm off up to the Volcanoes in the middle of North Island with the Tramping Club. It was a rather last minute decision but I think I'm all set. Sue has kindly lent me a sleeping bag and torch and I got myself some proper walking trousers and a fancy dress costume yesterday. So this is the hut we're off to at 5.30pm this evening....

It's located on Ruapehu on the Whakapapa side. I'm not sure if there's snow up there or not but I'll be sure to take plenty of photos. The plan is to do a tramp tomorrow weather permitting and then the fancy dress do tomorrow night. The theme is what you wanted to be when you grew up so I've bought myself a tutu like skirt to go as a dancer. Pics will follow after the weekend.

News Year

Firstly, I've just figured out why news is called news, excellent. I'm sure it's not the first time I've figured it out but it was like discovering it all over again. Anyhoo. My new-s is that I will be starting my new job at the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry on the 1st of July. My new boss called me this afternoon to confirm the details after having received my references. Even better news (as long as the job's good of course!) is that it's actually until the end of February 2011, not November as it was advertised. I shall also be moving into my new house as of the 30th of June meaning this will be a new start all round for the New Year (Maori New Year is the end of June/start of July). Let's hope this is the start of a new, happy direction for my 2nd NZ experience.

Some more edits but this time from the UK

The Lake District to be exact

I've been playing....

with microsoft picture editor and here are some of the results...

It was a gorgeous weekend of sun, gentle breezes and peaceful sleep (pull the udder one!)

Today (tuesday) is a wet, cold, damp day. The kind of cold and damp that gets into your bones and lingers no matter how much porridge you have or how many cups of tea. When you add that to the wind which ensures the cold and damp reaches every conceivable part of you, you get a pretty miserable day. A day when, in all honesty, it may be preferrable to stay at work rather than face the outdoors and the cold draughty house which awaits (plus the ever present couple of flies that always appear just as you're about to cook or go to sleep and must operate on a shift pattern to have been around this long). Anyhoo, that is today for you. The weekend was a slightly different story.

Friday was a beautiful day, the perfect day to begin an adventure. We set off from work at 4 on the dot with backpacks (and keyboard) in tow, up the hill to Sue's car and headed off into the sunset.....for about twenty minutes before we got stuck in a traffic jam for the next three quarters of an hour. There was no good reason for the hold up - apparently it's due to traffic lights but there was no queue at the traffic lights so I don't understand. After this little glitch though things smoothed out and we headed up Highway 1 then 3, stopped in Bulls for a subway, carried on up to Stratford where we dropped our passenger Steve off, and then finally arrived in Oakura at about 10pm. It was a beautiful cloudless night (and I managed to find the Southern Cross all by myself, after instruction) but this also meant it was freezing. Thus I ended up with leggings, jogging pants, a vest and fleece, scarf and woolly hat on in bed just to be able to sleep.

Saturday morning was supposed to be the best weather of the weekend and the sun was certainly shining when we got up but after waiting to change cabins when we finally got up on the mountain it was cloudy and damp. Still, off we went on a 2 hour loop track up, up, up and then down down down, with a few ups thrown in for good measure. This is me at the start of the track by a monument to someone who had given their own life to save someone elses.

And here is what I like to call the kung fu koala formed by some oddly shaped tree branches

Next we have a shot from the peak of our walk where we stopped for a little snack. As you can see there wasn't much of a view due to the low cloud

This is a shot taken on the way down looking back up from whence we came

And a typical Haworth-esque bridge shot taken a little earlier

The final shot of Saturday comes from the car park as when we returned we could see across to the central plateau and a snow covered Ruahpehu

On the way back to the cabin we picked up some food for tea and then settled in for the night.

The wind and rain started about 9pm and carried on throughout the night and all of the next day. We did take a drive out on the Sunday including stops at the crafty fox (featured in a previous post), a slide - which I once again flew off the end of,

a beach just north of New Plymouth where some crazy folks were kite surfing and one dog was keeping an eye on his dad

and a glass of wine at Waiau Winery where they don't grow the grapes they just make the wine. It was alright but nothing to write home about. There was talk of driving the forgotten highway which looks amazing but that didn't happen so I look forward to doing it some other time, perhaps when Caz or Sal are here. We got fish and chips for tea on Sunday and then huddled inside once more. It did stop raining eventually and so it wasn't as noisy on Sunday night but I have to say i felt pretty wiped out on Monday and the thought of coming back to planes taking off and landing hardly made me feel certain of a good nights sleep for a while. Things are on the move though.

So Monday morning saw us depart Oakura and head into New Plymouth where we had an impromptu walk along a gorgeous beach to the Sugar Loaf islands. Unbeknownst to us there had been road closures on the sunday due to flooding so we didn't want to venture too far afield. Here are some pics from the beach.

We then had a final walk in Taranaki along the New Plymouth coastal walkway

And then wove our way back to Stratford to pick up Steve at his house, made a necessary stop at the big cow

And had a good drive back down in the sun (until we hit Wellington when it started to pur down, oh and of course it had gotten dark by this point). The End.

On the road again....

Only 6 hours and counting until I'm on the road to Taranaki! For anyone who's curious I thought I'd attach a link to where we're staying so you can check it out:
http://www.oakurabeach.com/Oakura-Beach-Holiday-Park/Overview_IDL=2_IDT=1135_ID=6578_.html
We are staying in KT1 (appropriately named I think) tonight and then Unit 11 for Saturday and Sunday. As long as I don't get bitten again by the wee beasties that got me last time it should be fantastic. I'm very much looking forward to it. I'll update with pics as soon as I can.
Also, for dad, here's a link to info on Taranaki so you can see where it is http://www.taranaki.info/visit/.
Happy weekend to you all : )

My twilight walk round Wellington Harbour

After the joy of getting my camera back and the fact it had stopped raining I took the opportunity to wander round the waterfront after work last night. It was extremely enjoyable and here are some snaps I took.

Picture this (now you can!)

My camera has been found - woohoo! It ended up being in the only place I'd actually thought it possible for it to be and that was in amongst Nicole's graduation robes that I returned on Friday. The reason I remember deciding not to take my camera was because the robes took up so much room in my backpack. I'm sure if it had just fallen out of my bag I'd have noticed, or someone else would have and told me. That is why it baffled me so much that it was nowhere. I'd e mailed the robe place at the weekend and heard back on Sunday that they hadn't got it. Then I get an e mail this morning saying they've been waiting for someone to claim it. Must be two different branches. Either way, it's a huge relief and has made me very happy for a Wednesday morning : )

Picture this (oh, you can't)

Well peeps, it is sadly true that there will be a distinct lack of pictures on the blog for a while as my camera has gone AWOL. I have searched everywhere I can think of for it and contacted all the places that it's likely to have been waylaid, but it is not to be found. The annoying thing is I distinctly remember deciding not to take it with me on Friday and yet Friday is when it disappeared as I had it Friday morning and when I came to look for it on Saturday it had gone. Vamoosed. This set the mood for the rest of my weekend unfortunately. My tramp had been cancelled due to the weather and my main means of entertaining myself was then to take photos of said nasty weather but obviously this was denied to me. So on Saturday I just sat inside in the horrible weather thinking Nicole was coming back to watch movies (not realising until a lot later she was away for the night) and then on Sunday I went for a walk round the waterfront and there was lots to snap but no instrument to do it with. It's obviously a sign of a bad weekend when you're glad that Monday is here!
In other news the filming of the Hobbit has been put back again as the director has quit, so my dream of being a hairy footed and contented extra seems to be fading fast.
It's not all doom and gloom though as I have now definitely got a weekend away this coming weekend. I'm off up to Taranaki again, this time with my colleague Sue. We're going to do a spot of tramping round the mountain and enjoy the tranquility (and in my case the distinct lack of planes). We're to set off on Friday after work and return on Monday as it's a bank holiday (Queen's birthday weekend).
I'm off to see Prince of Persia at Reading tonight as part of my Movie Tuesday quest. I can't say I'm that in the mood for hanging around until half 6 but there's not much point in going home either. I'll just have to find somewhere to stay out of the rain.
And I think that's me up to date. Sorry there's nothing exciting to report. I keep looking for fun things to blog about but nothing as yet. Tarra for the noo.

Graduation

Yesterday saw me attend the graduation of my flatmate Nicole at the Michael Fowler Centre in town. It was a great venue and on the whole a great ceremony (the only down side being the length - 2.5 hours!). I was saying to her friend Karen that graduations aren't occasions you get many chances to go to (usually just your own and your children's) so it was nice to witness this rite of passage an extra time. It's wonderful that these traditions continue and I think New Zealand have stuck to the traditions more so than the UK universities (or certainly Aberdeen). It's good to have a sense you are part of something that has been going on for years, to me it gives more sentiment to your achievement and in this case that's not a bad thing. Anyhoo, I now present the ceremony in pictures.

Prior to the ceremony there was a jazz trio playing

The ceremony was opened with a brass quintet playing a fabulously british piece full of pomp and circumstance (though it wasn't Elgar)

This was followed by the procession of staff

Then a Maori greeting (Te Whakatau)

Then a chorus of Gaudeamus after which the Chancellor gave a speech

And then the certificates were handed out. Here's Nicole receiving hers

After the ceremony we took a few photos for posterity and here are a couple.

We finished the celebrations with a glass of bubbly at Lido from where I ran to catch the bus and Nicole went to meet one of her classmates for dinner. The End.

Is anybody out there?

Playing about...

After taking about ten years to realise how much I enjoy taking photographs I got some books out of the library this week and was thus inspired to try snapping a few shots of patterns in nature (from a book of the same name). I only managed to take a couple before my camera died but this is my favourite and I'm quite proud of it. The green and blue really compliment each other I think and it also looks a little surreal.

Today was an utterly gorgeous day here in Wellington. The sun was shining down, the air was clear and all the views were magnificent. I started my day at 10.30am when I headed off to my reflexology appointment. It’s the first time I’ve ever had it and by george it won’t be the last. It was an amazing experience and I still (4 hours later) feel as relaxed as anything (anything that is exceedingly relaxed that is) : ). Seeing as it was such a gorgeous day I asked my reflexologist (Mary) if she knew any walkways nearby, particularly one that would take me to the south coast and a view of.....the South Island!!! The view from our pad was spectacular this morning as the Kaikouras (the mountains across the way) were topped with snow but the pictures weren’t doing them justice so I hoped to find a better snapping point. I must say here and now that although I found a better view of them for myself, the pictures are not nearly to my satisfaction in conveying the wonder of what my eyes beheld (forewarned is forearmed so they say).

Anyhoo, I get ahead of myself. I shall now display a few snapshots from the Southern Walkway route and I hope you like them. This first one is looking back over the harbour towards the Rimutakas from the first view point and I personally am loving the colour of the tree in the foreground. It was here that I first came across Adam, a gentleman I talked to for a while both at this spot and further on up the road. Very nice he was, and full of information about the area and all sorts of things. It's so nice to meet friendly kiwi folk who are happy to impart local knowledge and history. It comes from their pride of where they live I suppose.

And here I am with Lyall Bay and Moa Point behind me. My house is in the little cluster to my right.

Next up we are looking over Island bay towards the Kaikouras

And here's another one of me that Adam kindly took - I was hoping it would feature more of South Island in but you can't be picky when someone's doing you a favour...

Next up we look back towards Wellington CBD....

And here you are looking over Lyall Bay and Kilbirnie towards the harbour

And this is looking across Lyall Bay towards the Orongorongas and the moon

And this is a little railway people have built to take their shopping up the steep hill to their house. The little carriage is at the top

These next ones are from my walk back along the beach....

And as you'd expect such a day couldn't finish up without a good old sunset so here it is.....

I'd said to mum and dad that it went dark about 5.15 at the moment but actually it's closer to half past. Not a big difference but enough. And only a month to go until the shortest day so hopefully I shall never have to leave work in the dark....
Right! I'm off to make me tea as I'm out bowling with Rhys and Cat tonight. There may be pics of that tomorrow. xx