Wellington

1. Louise completing a 'challenge' for her new geocaching hobby :)



Well I'm in Wellington at my sister Louise's - have been here for 2 weeks as Mum's been in hospital - she's had some lung removed - yep - the dreaded cancer!!! Her smoking days have caught up with her... She should have been in for maybe a week - but she's been in for 3 weeks due to an air bubble that was between lung and some membrane or something. Finally it has gone and today she got her drain removed - she was very nervous about this as expected it to be really painful - thank goodness it wasn't. Was glad I was there to hold her hand though...

Hopefully I get to take her back to PN very soon and then she can really relax and get her strength back. She may still have to have further treatment - chemo or radiation - but that's up to the PN oncology team to sort out.

2. Newtown suburb from up behind the hospital - by the reservoir while collecting a cache :) - Note the sky - been like this most of the fortnight!!


3. New handbag - is actually 'bluer' than it looks.


4. The beautiful Skyla in serious mode - from last weekend I was at home :)


Other things I've done in Wellington...
- sleeping in and reading :) My room at Louise's gets wonderful morning sun - and I've had 2 brilliant weeks of weather. Finished 'Wild Rose' by Jennifer Donelly - love her 'rose' series.
- shopping - will add pic of my new hand-bag if I can remember how :)
- geocaching - and got Louise signed up - she's not quite 'addicted' yet though...
- knitting - practically finished reknitting cardy/jacket for Mum - the first time I knitted it it was just way too big - Mum has lost lots of weight lately.
- driving!! All round Wellington - thanks to the gps!!
- movies - Bill Cunningham's New York - wonderful, Incendies - intense
- washing, ironing and cooking - usual sort of stuff...



5. One of the outfits from Kirks window display to celebrate the Wearable Arts being on. Lucky Louise got free ticket and went one night leaving me 'home alone' - this outfit made from licorice.

Cheers Fleur xxx

Geo-caching

Last Sunday Mandy and I went out to lay the last of my eggs :) A dozen wee plastic eggs that I have hiden on a trail from Hikurangi to Ngunguru - we had done some the week before by ourselves, but on this day we had the boys with us - and it was a beautiful morning. Pics show - rainbow over railway wagons - cool pic Rex took while we were busy being FTF [First to Find] a new geocache at the railway station under these historic trees - planted by an earlier PM.

Sandy Bay was home of 'Cache a Wave' and it was gorgeous - hidden in this amazing pohutukawa tree - Rex and Andy went up to the bach behind and chatted to the bloke there - the bach had been in the family since 60s and they had an amazing visitors book.

Also placed cache at Matapouri - gorgeous, gorgeous beach :)

Final egg placed under concrete remains at Ngunguru - and then I had to get them all published - this was done super quick and that very afternoon some fellow cachers were out looking :)

The ducks were at a final cache we were looking for - did think it a good place to hide one but someone else had had same great idea - the trip around from town back to town now has heaps of caches within easy grabbing distance of the road - which seems much easier during winter months.

Term 2 Week 11

Last week of term - I did teach on Monday :)
Not feeling too good - stuffed up with head cold so quite glad it's been a quieter week.
Had a couple of days in Auckland with Mandy - also managed to catch up with Daniel, Tania and Skyla and had dinner with Jess at 'Delicious' - and it was!! Very delicious Italian place.
Went to Harry Potter movie and found a few - 24 - geocaches.
Stitching tonight with the girls - hmmmm - looks like I'll be knitting again!!

Weekend

Well it's the weekend again - actually it's nearly over again!!
Had a busy week - 4 days of work you know!! AND I had to be Mrs President for Rex's Rotary!! He is now having his 'turn' or is that 'term' as President of Whangarei Rotary Club!! I aim to support form the back-benches :)

Had 2 days at Kamo and 2 at Hikurangi - quite nice to be back there and giving Bruce some cheek - I did remember to thank him for being the reason for my much better lifestyle!! Hate to think what I'd be like if I'd stayed working out there - which I could have done if he wasn't such a ... hmmm I shall refrain from publishing my thoughts on that one - he and I both know!!
Added bonus was having the Minstrel there for 1 1/2 hours - great being paid to be entertained I must say - I quite like The Minstrel's quick sense of wit and humour - and he is an ex-Taihapian as well so we must be practically related!!

Managed to finish a stripey jumper for our Skyla to go under her cute overalls my friend Claire Spicer made - will take a pic and try to remember to post it - better would be with Skyla in the outfit!!

Yesterday Mandy and I headed out to do some caching - made hard work of 2 quite simple-in-the-end finds, gave a puzzling one a miss as venue being used and then headed out to lay some of my caches - put one in the historic oak tress by our old house and then did the start of my 'Egg Trail' - am laying 12 eggs around for people to find.... got 8 done so have to wait til next weekend to get them finished - blast...

Mandy starts her radiation treatment this week so I'm planning to go down and keep her company - wonder what we'll do ...????

Pammy came for dinner last night - with pics of dear wee Isobel Jane - her 2nd grandie - and sister to Georgia Rose - Rach and Marc did very well - and sounds like labour was really quick - hard to believe that before Isobel was a day old she's back home sleeping in her own bed while rest of the family have dinner together - long may it last :) Makes me keen for our next baby!!

Today we went out for lunch with Margaret and Garry - if I was really into the way of blogging I'd have pic of lunch I know - had a BLAT - asked them to leave off the dressing and put it on the side - they put some on the side and some in the BLAT - it was toooooo big - 3 great hunks of bread and minimal filling - although generous with bacon.... anyway I felt a bit dodgy after it so we had to cut the party short and head home - I feel sorry for the rest of the team - but guess I'm lucky they put up with me!! Back to 'poached eggs' when I go out!!

My Mum is in hospital - has had gall bladder problems - was on waiting list but sounds like she'll be moved up the pecking order and have gall bladder out sooner rather than later - which sounds good to me - then she'll just need to get better. Luckily my sister Louise is able to be with her and other sister, Margot, is going down later in week. I would go - but 3 of us would be overkill :)

Brick Bay 3

Now as well as lunch you see we did this 2km walk - didn't feel like that - is indeed a nice wander - if it's dry - bit wet underfoot today and I managed to slip on my bum :(

The 'nest' sculpture was about as big as a sink - if a sink was round... Would look very cute with a baby sitting in it...


After lunch we went down to check out the end of the road - there used to be a Christian Youth Camp here but now there's some very 'up-market' retirement/apartment living style places...

Further on we wandered along this path and found a cache - so that was great. The bay is called 'Whisper Bay' and it would be a fun place for toddlers in the summer as very shallow - tide was out and still there were lovely beach 'puddles' that I can imagine Skyla would have great fun in. Today there were just a couple of windsurfers.

Next we went further down the peninsula toward Snells Beach to see the new school that's recently opened here - we were interested as a few years ago Rex had thought about applying to be foundation Principal - there was just a paddock here when we last looked - school now is all go and looks very nice and modern. Doesn't sound like they've reached their projected roll yet though - the area may be too expensive for young families??

Then we headed back home :)

Brick Bay Sculptures

The first 2 of these swirled around in the wind/breeze - would be nice to watch - bit like watching a fire or watching water - kinda restful :) The elephants and bright 'blocks' are all flat but cleverly painted for 3-D effect.

Brick Bay

Had a lovely day today - headed off to Brick Bay winery down Snells Beach way - met up with Jessie and Hayden for lunch - our 'shout' for his birthday tomorrow. Yummy platters and then we went for the walk around the sculpture trail - was pretty muddy underfoot - was very envious of Jess's new purple gumboots so think I'll have to go and buy some myself - will be so handy for geocaching too - ha ha. Am sharing some pics of some of the scultures - many of which are for sale - prices seemed to range from $1800 to $60,000.00 for the 3 big 'pinwheels' - I loved the ones that slowly moved in the breeze - and the corrugated swirly things on one of the lakes - but I didn't like them enough to get out the credit card!! Have uploaded 5 pics so will see if I can do more for you to enjoy...