Apr 30, 2015

9 Days Young

Nine days along his road to the future. Jayden in his dad's old carry bag thingy!
 And this is dad at exactly the same age (9 days) 30 odd years earlier in that same blue thingy!
I hope all those years in storage have not weakened the stitching!
Thanks for the photos R&S

Apr 29, 2015

Thats Us In Fiordland National Park

Out in the back blocks again. Nice country. Love to be here in the winter. Even as it was in March it was chilly.



Apr 28, 2015

Restaurant Mag & Message

Found on many tables in Tauranga restaurants.
UNO magazine
And in this particular restaurant, this message on the wall

Apr 26, 2015

Rubble & Rail


Sunrise On The Rocks


He's Home

March 10th 2015
 Still catching up on sleep. Storing up a little in reserve for all the late nights he plans......
Grace and Thomas meet Jayden
With Nana

 April 25th on the way home with mum and dad (below)



Apr 25, 2015

Dawn Parade Mt Maunganui 2015 100 Years

A chilly and early start. Grace and I head off to find a place in the growing crowd. Biggest we have seen. The weather was fine but cloudy. It was probably a bit boring for young Grace but she hung in till the end. Her great grandfather (my dad) would have been really proud to know she was there. It may have put some small meaning into the sacrifice he made along with the tens of thousands of Kiwi's and Aussies who have been involved in the great wars and regional wars for the past 100 years.
In his case (not that he spoke often about it) he spend 4 years in the army and 3 of them in North Africa (Egypt etc) and Italy (Casino etc). While he came back alive he was far from being in good shape. He arrived back to NZ on a hospital ship with a shattered right elbow (machine gun round) and with pneumonia. Prior to that during those three years he also was injured when a mortar landed in the same hole he and his mate where in. His mate took the fatal blast and dad had shrapnel wounds and lost his ear drums. Can't imagine it. So yes I know he would be proud of Grace being there. So would my mum who also served for 4 years in the womens army corp in New Zealand.

 Densely packed people for what was a really nice service
 Dawn is breaking and the bugler plays out the familiar last post we all have grown up with. Haunting.
 Two Harvards make their flypast
 The service over people start to head to the beach to watch the sun coming up.
Grace and I went to Pilot Bay to have a small picnic while sitting on one of the bench seats overlooking the harbour. (I had more photos but accidentally deleted them!)

Apr 24, 2015

Pilot Bay Mt Maunganui

With Mauao in background  guarding the entrance to our beautiful Tauranga Harbour, all is quiet for an evening stroll along the Mall in Pilot Bay. We are so lucky to live in this area.

From Wynyard Wharf

Just passing via Wynyard wharf and stopped for 5 minutes to watch the comings and goings.
looking back at Westhaven
 The scow Ted Ashby with school kids on a harbour trip
 Take off

Apr 22, 2015

Jayden John

Just a few hours old. Our new Grandson
7lbs 8oz
24 hours later. In the car

Apr 20, 2015

Visitors Love This

Towed behind a powerful boat the Paraflight experience (Tandem or more) is popular with visitors to this adventure experiences part of New Zealand. Apparently they reach altitudes of 600 feet or so.



Apr 18, 2015

Lake Wakatipu

Tooth Peak area on the south side of lake Wakatipu between Queenstown and Glenorchy.
See wide angle panorama view below
 Click on image
Lake Wakatipu is New Zealand's longest lake at 80km and with a maximum depth of 1250ft (380m) it must be one of the deepest.

Apr 16, 2015

TSS Earnslaw Queenstown

Twin Screw Steamer (TSS) Earnslaw
This lovely old ship plies Lake Wakatipu daily.
She was built in Dunedin and launched in 1912 then disassembled and sent in parts, by train, to Kingston on Lake Wakatipu near Queenstown and reassembled.
At the Queenstown wharf
 Reversing out into the lake
 Heading off with the steep landscape in the background
 My old world version trying to make it look like the picture was taken way back in the early 1900's instead of 2015 over 100 years after she was launched.

Apr 14, 2015

Timeless Entertainment

Is this just a Kiwi thing?
We did this 60 years ago and our kids did it and no doubt their kids will.

Apr 13, 2015

Sunday Surf

I had a spare half hour on Sunday so took the camera to the beach at the Mount.
Not much happening but people were still out making the best of it.
 




Apr 12, 2015

Kota Pelangi

The container ship Kota Pelangi leaves the Tauranga entrance with the yellow pilot boat alongside waiting to pick up the pilot.

Dragon Fly

Have you seen these amazing creatures flitting at light speed from one spot to another to stop for a moment in time before rocketing to their next stop.
These photos were taken via a hand held camera  and 400mm lens manually focused with a shutter speed between 1/1000 and 1/3000 of a second 
The bottom shot is a water spider running across the surface tension layer of the water.