Whangeateau Evening

An evening down at the Whangeateau waterfront, near Leigh. While the kids where waiting for the local fish and chips, Amelia has an explore in the tidal pools.

Christmas Day

Shots of the kids enjoying the day, and of course, the presents.

Santa Parade

This weekend we took the kids to the Wellington Santa parade. It sure was hot but the kids enjoyed it.  

Some of the costumes where rather well done.

 And people seemed to be enjoying getting into the act.

More shots here.

Roses and Daisies

A shot of Lucy running on the back lawn. Lucy has taken to putting on a good sprint around the lawn for a 3 year old. The roses are doing their thing - and the daisies are running a bit wild right now.

Bit like Lucy.

Backcountry Road

There is a interesting road that links south of Ohakune and twists and turns through hilly farm land out to the road between Raetihi and Wanganui. Its a worthwhile road trip for an hour or so if you have the time.  Here is a shot descending into the road to Raetihi.

Back Bowls of Turoa - A Dozen Turns in Heaven

This is one of my favourite places on Mt Ruapehu. Since its so good, I'm not going to tell you how to get there. 

The great thing about this little bowl is its remoteness from the main Turoa ski area, its aspect to the sun and the snow it holds. Since its hard to get to people rarely go there. Since it has a south westerly aspect it hold good deep cold snow that also gets the sun in the afternoon to soften on spring days.

It holds a dozen turns of heaven - and not many people know about it.

School Holiday Ski Week

First weekend of the school holidays saw us up at Ohakune. Weather was patchy during the week with a bit of time on the snow mixed in with some off-day activities.


On the Thursday we headed over to Taupo for some lakes, waterfalls and other touristy things the kids love.  The kids enjoyed Huka Falls but the feeling I got was the thing they enjoyed the most was the simple act of hanging out by the lake and playing with the pummice rocks.

Playing on the shore of Lake Taupo

Lucy at Lake Taupo

Huka Falls

The kids made good progress on skis. Lucy continued to find and improve her balance in her first year of skiing. Meanwhile Amelia has been well and truley bitten by the snow bug. On the Friday she cracked the Movenpick for the first time and skiied top to bottom successfully. Not to finish there, on the Sunday she had another go on the Movenpick once again and then cracked her first run down the Giant. Again top to bottom successfully. Good way to end the trip.

Shore Life

The change in Takapuna's development while I've been away is pretty remarkable. While it still retains element of its laid back shore scene, there has been a massive proliferation of bars, cafes, restaurants. Along Hurstmere Road the amount of establishments that are devoted to putting something downs ones throat is amazing.

Here's a shot of a the new Shore, with its bar culture now well embraced.

Next drink...

Takapuna Beach

While visiting Auckland I took the camera down Takapuna Beach one calm spring evening. It was a beach that I'd grew up around so it was great fun to return with a camera to get a for shots for nostalgia.

Looking south down to the Clifton Road end. I quite like the way the crumbling white cliffs march off in the distance.

Looking from the boat ramp back across the curve of Takapuna Beach.

Hercues Morse, as big as a horse, off for a walk with a stick. Its a great beach for dogs, who as always, are as odd as their owners.

More shots here.

Lucy on a Train

Lucy on the train to Johnsonville.  The kids really love the novelty factor of trains, so sometimes to fill in an afternoon we pack them on the train, have a play at the play ground at the other end, ice cream then back on the train home again.

The Girdlestone

The Girdlestone, on Mt Ruapehu, in a threatening mood.

School Holiday Ski Week

Some shots of Amelia and Lucy in the snow over the school holidays. Amelia and Lucy up bright and early one frosty morning.

Lucy practicing some of here slope style attitude.

 On the snow. Lucy's first day on skis. Amelia has taken up a spot of ski coaching before heading off on her own for a session while I teach Lucy.

Lucy did pretty well for her first week on skis. She managed to stand up balance and ski unaided by herself on her first day. She wasn't so keen on Dad giving the directions however. Nor being told how to stop. She's more a point it straight down the fall line type of girl.

Autumn Leaves

Autumn leaves on the back lawn.

Waitarere Beach

This weekend we travelled up to Waitarere Beach to spend some time out of town. It was a gloomy winter weekend but the wild west coast beach was welcomely remote.

 On Saturday morning, in a quick gap in clouds the sun managed to peak through making for some rich autumn light on the driftwood.

 The kids enjoyed running wild and playing on the driftwood.

Probably the most amusing aspect was that the accommodation we stayed in. It was an 100 year old church that had been converted to a bach. Complete with organ and roaring fire it was a comfortable way to spent time next to stormy beach.  There is always something about going to bed with the surf rolling in your ears.

More shots here.

Lucy Turns Three

On Saturday we threw Lucy her third birthday party. It was much anticipated by Lucy and she used her new found candle blowing skills to good effect.

The following day we took Lucy to another highly anticipated event. She had been  longing to join her elder sister on the local bungie swing, but could not harness up until she was three. Well, the three year old promptly rocked up the day after her third birthday and got stuck in.

Bring it

She had a blast. Higher the better and not a squeal.

Mountain Girls

The girls at the mountain over Queen's Birthday weekend.

Lucy turned three on the Monday. And discovering the mic.

Some pensive time on the swing.  Plotting how to be three.

Amelia on Her Bike

Amelia's got the hang of her bike without the training wheels.  We've been out learning for an hour each Sunday for about 3 weekends. Last weekend she started to click, but this weekend she was totally away.

Teach a kid to ride a bike. When they click, find their balance, its magic.

It all goes click

 Lucy was in a supporting role on three wheels.

Hot pursuit

I can ride a bike

Lifetime skill taught. More shots here.

Lucy in the Sun

Lucy has taken on the scooter and rides it with a vengeance.  Here are some shots of Lucy enjoying the early winter sun around Lyall Bay while on her scooter.

Bright smile

Enjoying the sun on a rock

Staglands

The grandparents visited this weekend to bring their grand daughter Amelia back to Wellington.  We had a fun weekend entertaining them and Wellington turned on the weather.

An interesting and different highlight was taking the entire family on a visit to Staglands wildlife park in the Akatarawa's.

The walk nestles through different farm wildlife settings with the animals pretty much doing their own thing. A very refreshing change from a typical zoo.

Sitting pretty - swan glides past the ugly ducks.

The prize ram at Staglands is a pretty interesting character. Ironically he's keeping that grass like carpet. Things could go full circle for this guy.

Going full circle

The main attraction for the kids is the chance to get involved and feed the animals.

Feeding the fish

The grandparent's really enjoyed seeing something quite different than they normally would each Wellington visit. It provided a great chance to hang out with their grand daughters as well.

Grandparents Granddaughters

Easter at Leigh

This Easter we flew back to Auckland to spend time with the family up at Leigh. The weather was welcomely fine, but with a fair bit of wind. So while we were able to get out and about with the kids it was pretty stormy on the beach and out at sea.

The shot below is of Mathesons Bay one morning, with the sun hitting the salt spray in the air driven off the beach by the strong wind and huge swells that were pounding the bay all Easter.

The beach was off but the bush was on. The kids ran through the local Kauri forest near Warkworth.

The clan Macdonald cousins

While the days had grown shorter, the kids managed to enjoy some fun with sparkers after dark. The shot below shows Peter getting a kick out of with playing with light.

Gwen writes with light

On Easter Sunday the Leigh community puts on a local Easter fair at which the kids had a blast. Lucy and Peter had a good time on the merry go around. 

Lucy on the Leigh Easter merry go around

Peter enjoying the merry go around action

Probably the highlight of the day was the local fishery providing the ice to make a slide down a slope which the kids attacked with boogie boards.

Gwen gets her grin on

Amelia enjoying some summer snow

Over Easter the full moon was in full swing, making also for some interesting shots.

With the full moon, high tides and stormy seas, the river into Mathesons Bay had been blocked by a large sandbank driven up the beach by the tide and waves.  Over several days the river continued to backfill against the sandy dam.  One afternoon we took the girls down for a walk on the beach, just as the dam burst. The result was extaordinary. A normally placid bay had a white water river thrashing through it with spectacular results. Huge standing waves were generated that crashed and curled and carved out a ravine through the bay. It was rather impressive, and watched by many. Sadly I didn't have the camera with me, which I dearly cursed myself for. The swollen river drained itself within about 15mins leaving quite the scar through the sandy cove and out into the bay.

Later in the afternoon I took the fishing kayak down into the bay for a paddle and spent an amusing few hours surfing the swells in it. I originally though it would be terrible to surf with but with a bit of paddle action and weighting I managed to catch a number of waves and carve a line diagonally across the face of a wave then pull out before the wave broke and swept me sideways.

On the Monday we returned early to Auckland to beat the Easter traffic. To fill in time before the flight home we took the kids for a stroll along the new developments on the waterfront in the Wynyard quarter. The shot inside the ships air vent sort of fell into place.