Nick and I went over to Nelson for a quick 24 hour visit to see family and friends. It was all very rushed but managed to get lots done :)
We arrived on Saturday evening and had dinner with Nick's family, all very nice. The next morning with breaky with both families but first we took Meg for a walk. She's 14 now but still very spritely!
The walk was in the local cemetery. All very relaxing except the local PD workers were out in force, mainly just smoking and spitting, with the occasional sweeping of leaves. For those not in NZ, PD stands for Periodic Detension - they've basically doing community service for being bad!
We saw a Kingfisher on the way back from the walk which is always nice
After breakfast we went into town, bit of shopping and caught up with Michelle, Simon and Penguino's ice cream.
After more discussion about stuff we need for our Thailand trip we headed to Mum's for fish and chips, and a few games of whist (cards) before heading to the airport
We had AWESOME views from the plan on the way home :) And some turbulence just before we landed in Welly too :D
Great trip to too rushed really - next time will be longer
I was at work on Saturday and noticed the alpine coprosma's were fruiting!!
Before you say anything I'm ok about the fact that I'm a geek...
These plants produce tiny (7mm ish) berries which can be some quite out there colours as well as often being translucent. At the moment we've only got one that has blue fruit.
FYI they also taste pretty much like grapes :)
When I saw them I of course ran and got my camera from the car to get a few pics, and kept it on me for the rest of the day to see what else I found in the way of native flowering things.
Lots of our hebes are flowering now, with a few bees visiting them
The manuka's are looking great, and even though you can't see it in the pic, the sun was reflecting off the nectar they were producing, and lots of flowers had ants in them making the most of it
My favorite native ground cover plant - Pratia angulata. This plant really is THE BOMB! Grows really well in Wellington and looks awesome :)
The native Fuchsiaprocumbens is also flowering and I saw two tui's visiting our plants for a feed - the first time I've seen Tui's doing that it was very cool!
I had a date to present at a science conference in Whangarei, and we decided the best way to get there would be to fly to Auckland a hire a car from there.
Once my presentation was done (which I won the award of best student presentation for, yay for me!) we decided to head back to Auckland early, due partly to the fact we were flying out from there the next day, and partly because the hotel room we'd booked turned out to not be a friend of the gays!
This meant we got to check out this cool waterfall on the drive back though And also go to Waiheke Island the next day! It was my first time there and I wasn't disappointed - I just wish I had my togs, snorkel and underwater camera... Well I have to blame some of that disorganisation on myself but it was a last minute idea to go so never mind We spent most of the time at Onetangi Bay First Pohutukawa flowers of the year (that I've seen)
View from Auckland from the boat on the way home
It's been a busy week but at least we're home for a while - oh - wait, we're off to Nelson on the weekend!
BTW Nick can be credited for most of these pictures :)
I wanted to share a few, nicer, pics with you from our quick trip to Aussie, now that we're home and I've got a spare 30 mins...
So here is our hotel, the Crown Plaza. We were on the 12th (I think) floor. They have an AWESOME buffet breaky that even includes self-serve eggs ben. Wow!
"Danger, rip tide capable of snatching camera from your hand, even when it's strap is round your arm" is what the sign should have read! Oh well, got a new one with the insurance now :) Oooooo Bluebottle on the beach, just wee ones this time of year Washing off the squeeky sand (I have no idea why the sand squeeks when you scuff your feet on it but its very cool!) The Q1 - highest residential tower on the planet We couldn't quite see home, but knew which direction it was in! We had a quick walk in a park near our hotel before we had to head to the airport, and found where all of the local Fruit Bats hang out during the day
Interesting sign on the train to the airport... We got home at about midnight and then had to catch a plane to Auckland at 7am the next day... urg!
We flushed him.
We had AWESOME views from the plan on the way home :)
And some turbulence just before we landed in Welly too :D
When I saw them I of course ran and got my camera from the car to get a few pics, and kept it on me for the rest of the day to see what else I found in the way of native flowering things.
The manuka's are looking great, and even though you can't see it in the pic, the sun was reflecting off the nectar they were producing, and lots of flowers had ants in them making the most of it
ooOOOoooo
gravel bouncing in the wave
And also go to Waiheke Island the next day!
It was my first time there and I wasn't disappointed - I just wish I had my togs, snorkel and underwater camera... Well I have to blame some of that disorganisation on myself but it was a last minute idea to go so never mind
We spent most of the time at Onetangi Bay
First Pohutukawa flowers of the year (that I've seen)
View from Auckland from the boat on the way home
It's been a busy week but at least we're home for a while - oh - wait, we're off to Nelson on the weekend!
I wanted to share a few, nicer, pics with you from our quick trip to Aussie, now that we're home and I've got a spare 30 mins...
Oooooo
Bluebottle on the beach, just wee ones this time of year
Washing off the squeeky sand (I have no idea why the sand squeeks when you scuff your feet on it but its very cool!)
The Q1 - highest residential tower on the planet
We couldn't quite see home, but knew which direction it was in!
We had a quick walk in a park near our hotel before we had to head to the airport, and found where all of the local Fruit Bats hang out during the day
