New Zealand Sunsets!

Thought I'd share with you a sunset from our back garden!


Another picture........

Happy New Year...... it's 2009 now!

What we've been up to since Christmas...

Saturday 27 Dec - We took a drive up to Mahia right at the top of Hawke's bay. There is a wild dolphin that has made the bay at Mahia it's home and plays with the swimmers. Whilst Dan and Lou were in the water it came swimming past and they were able to feel it as it swam around them! They were really pleased! This Mahia bay beach, and the kids are somewhere in this picture along with the dolphin.

The rest of the bay...... busy eh!

Then we headed off to a wavey beach for a spot of body boarding! Well they did we watched!

Huge driftwood on the beach..!

The Surfers....

Sunday 28 Dec - We fired up our huge BBQ. How we managed back in the UK on Homebase disposable 'throw a match' and watch it light ones I dunno! This one has 1 hot plate and a griddle. It also has a side gas ring...for heating baked beans maybe! Ours is by no means the best! Some come with built in sinks! So here's Tony with his toy.

He was especially greatful to the kids for getting him a nice shiny set of BBQ tools for Christmas.! The turning fork even has a bottle opener on the handle!

We spent New Years eve at some friends... Sitting outside sipping bubbly! Except the chaps were on bottles of Tui!

New Years Day - We headed off to Waipatiki Beach with a picnic. The temp was around 30C and the sky was blue hardly a cloud around! The sand was so hot that the kids had to run to the shoreline as they had decided to leave their shoes in the car! Against parental advice!! This is the busiest it gets here...

Christmas Day.........

This year we had a real tree. They are not fir trees, they are small pine trees grown to look like Christmas fir trees. In NZ you go to a paddock (no fields here!)and choose your tree, put your name on a tag and fix it to the tree. Then you go back and collect your tree when you're ready. They chop it down and load it into the car. The branches are not as strong as fir tree's so most of our decorations are too heavy, this is our tree!!


Today, Christmas day we went to Ocean Beach. The weather wasn't as good as it has been, it was really windy. The wind was coming straight off the sea!! The lifeguards had their hut set up and their flags out (only swim between the flags!). Louise was the only one to venture into the water!!



We'd had enough!



Relaxing in the dunes!



There's nothing better than relaxing by the sea with an ice cream on a warm, sunny Christmas Day!!

A few days in Wellington!

We spent the weekend in Wellington. The weather on Saturday and Sunday was wet and windy!! On Saturday we shopped (the kids did we did bag carrying!) On Sunday we spent most of the day at the museum...

Wellington from the harbour front.......

Lots of strange things to see .....

Lots of carvings.....


Time for tea and cappuccinos... (rare picture of me!)

Louise as always seems to find a furry friend!

On Monday we drove out of Wellington via the Rimutaka Hills...Very twisty, windy road, nice views at the top and clean fresh air...


We stopped for refreshments at the Tui brewery...


And then onwards to Napier and collect the dogs from the Kennels...

Big Kids on swings!

School holidays down the beach........




My turn!

Classic Open Air Concert...

Saturday night we went to an Open air concert. It was 'Classics at Sunset' with the Hawke's Bay Orchestra held at the Black Barn (vineyard) Amphitheatre. The idea is to take a chair, bean bag, picnic etc and enjoy the music and performances. The theme for the night was Russian composers.




Dances from Nutcracker....



After Sunset........


And huge fireworks at the end of the evening.........