Wellington

The photos above show the Beehive which is part of the Houses of parliament, and two views of the waterfront and harbour.

Last weekend we treated ourselves to a few days away in Wellington.

We had a lovely time, it was beautiful warm spring weather and the city and harbour looked magnificent. Wellington has a reputation for being very windy but the air was calm and still.

The flight there and back was the clearest I have ever seen. We flew over the volcanic cones of Mt Ruapehu, Ngaruahoe, Tongariro and could see Mt Taranaki in the distance.


Wellington is at the very bottom of the North Island, Cook Strait separates the North and South Islands. It is the seat of our Government and the head office for many of New Zealand's large businesses.

We visited the Museum of New Zealand, Te Papa, as well as a newer museum on the harbour front - Wellington City and Sea. Te Papa had an exhibition of Formula One cars which was of great interest to my other half.

And of course we sampled food at some of the restaurants - Thai food one night, Japanese the next, and on our last night we visited Indian friends who cooked us a meal.

You know its spring when........

The Clivia, which has cowered in the shade all year, bursts into colour.



















The bird of paradise plant reaches for the sky...........
































and the plum blossoms arrive before the bees have realised that spring is here!

I Did it! (paua photo added)

Some time ago I wrote this post here about my latest challenge. Well, many weeks later I have finally completed the challenge.

Sorry about the quality of the photo - it doesn't do the colours justice.

We used the 'quilt as you go' method where each block is quilted separately then they are all joined. The blocks have such interesting names, Churn dash, rocky mountain, drunkards path, dutchmans puzzle, railway tracks, attic windows, broken plates, dresden plates and the square in the middle is a seminole.





The paua shell was my guide for choosing the quilt colours.

Words of wisdom, Maori-style

This week is Maori language week where we celebrate and hopefully learn more of the Maori language.

In todays New Zealand herald.

"Every culture has its own words of wisdom - short proverbial sayings which reflect elements of that culture. Here are a few for Maori Language Week for readers to enjoy:

Iti te kupu, nui te korero: Less said speaks volumes.

Tangata ringa raupa - aitia te ure! Man with calloused hands - grab him by the ... ! (Marry the hard-working man).

Nga kurehe, te kainga o te kanohi hari: Wrinkles are but hidden smiles.

E kai kei koi ana nga niho: Eat while the teeth are still sharp.

He ngahuru koiangiangi! A spring with too much food causes frequent visits to the toilet!"

We are Moving Closer to Australia!

Quake brings NZ closer to Aus

3:28PM Wednesday Jul 22, 2009 NZ Herald

The transtasman bond has become a wee bit tighter following last week's big earthquake in Fiordland.

The quake last Wednesday night was the largest to strike the country in 80 years.

The 7.8 magnitude quake which was centred in Fiordland appears to have twisted the South Island out of shape, moving it closer to Australia.

According to the Land Information's New Zealand-GeoNet global positioning system, Fiordland town Te Anau is now 100 millimetres closer to Australia.

The South Island's southwest tip Puysegur Point is 300 millimetres closer.
____________________________________________________________

Hmmmmmm

The Winner takes it All

This is fun to do - if you have time to spare! I still have my Christmas CDs on my Itunes!

1. Put your music on shuffle.
2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.
3. Write that song down, no matter what.

IF SOMEONE SAYS "IS THIS OKAY" YOU SAY?
I've dreamed of You

WHAT WOULD BEST DESCRIBE YOUR PERSONALITY?
Grandma Got run over by a reindeer

WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL?
I Drove all Night

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE'S PURPOSE?
26 Miles

WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO?
My Heart is an Open Book

WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU?
A Christmas card

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN?
Mary's Boy Child

WHAT IS 2+2?
Cindy oh Cindy

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND?
7 Little Girls Sitting in the back seat

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
Ghost Riders in the Sky

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY?
High noon

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?
Angel

WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
Take Me Out

WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU?
If I didnt Love you

WHAT WILL/DiD YOU DANCE TO AT YOUR WEDDING?
When

WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?
Money Money Money

WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST?
Last dance

WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET?
Come to me

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS?
Only You

WHAT'S THE WORST THING THAT COULD HAPPEN?
Because You Loved me

HOW WILL YOU DIE?
Big man

WHAT IS THE ONE THING YOU REGRET?
Twilight Time

WHAT MAKES YOU LAUGH?
I Dreamed a Dream

WHAT MAKES YOU CRY?
Oh Holy Night

WILL YOU EVER GET MARRIED?
You Are all Right Now

WHAT SCARES YOU THE MOST?
Empty Chairs at Empty tables

DOES ANYONE LIKE YOU?
What a Wonderful World

IF YOU COULD GO BACK IN TIME, WHAT WOULD YOU CHANGE?
Save the Last dance For me

WHAT HURTS RIGHT NOW?
Good Enough

WHAT WILL YOU POST THIS AS?
The Winner takes it All

Never burn bread - Earliest Memories

I was talking with a friend the other day about our earliest memories. It is interesting to hear how far back some people can remember. Some say they don't remember much before the age of five.

My early memories are patchy, I can remember lots of incidents in my pre school years but have no memory of my first day at school.

But my earliest memory would be of being at my grandparents house. I was eating a piece of bread, didn't want the crusts, and moved towards the open fireplace to throw them in the fire.

My Grandfather caught my hand and said 'You must never burn bread'. And he said (as he often repeated to me and I learned off by heart later)

"Waste not, want not,
may I never live to say
how I wish I had the bread,
that once I threw away."

I remember being a little frightened as he was usually a quiet man, not given to chastising me.

But quoting poetry was a habit he had.

Another line from a famous poem he would quote was:

"the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world".

What are your earliest memories?

Earthquake!

We had a major 'shake' last night, way down in the south of the South Island. We never felt it here but it was recorded throughout the South island and as far north as Wellington.

GNS recorded the quake as 6.6 magnitude at 9.22pm followed 20 minutes later by a 6.1 magnitude.

The first of the quakes was 5km deep and was centred 90km north-west of the Southland town of Tuatapere. It began at 9.22pm.

No major building damage has been recorded but it made things fall from shelves and people ran outside in panic.

The quake prompted a Tsunami warning but nothing has eventuated.

Citrus season

Our little Mandarin tree is loaded with fruit.

Without Internet

Blogging has taken a back seat of late.

For two whole weeks we have had no internet access at home.

Some strange and bizarre happening made it a puzzle to all who endeavoured to rectify the problem
- a technician who sat here for 5 hours and threw his hands in the air and walked away,
-phone wire men who arrived in their van, went away and tinkered for a while then said yes they could get access and we should be able to too,(but couldn't)
- and our service providers who were very patient on the end of long involved phone calls which didn't seem to produce anything at all in the end.

We took our PC and laptop to other locations and they connected with no problems.

We became on friendly terms with a Mike, a Brian, and a Karl and an Albert but none could help.

We spent mega bucks on new equipment to no avail.

Then as suddenly as the problem arose, it was solved and lo and behold we are connected again to the whole world. I think that somewhere somebody flicked a switch on that had been accidently turned off.

Life was a little different -

- I suddenly had lots more spare time,
- I missed my internet buddies,
- I did crosswords, and read newspapers from cover to cover,
- and I have nearly completed my quilt.