Spring is here...

Although we haven't had too many warm sunny days yet, the september winds have been & gone so hopefully it will start warming up soon.
I haven't done much walking and no photowalking at all lately so yesterday I was determined to get out for a short while, went to get a haircut and took my camera looking for signs of spring, came home with only one photo! So I just took a few photos in my garden and a few of the neighbours' and called it a day.
This was dinner last night, nothing to do with photowalking but it did look so pretty! Pork butterfly steaks with apple sauce, salad and my version of Boulangere potatoes. We usually grow fancy lettuces in our solar powered hydroponic system outside but it's having an overhaul at present, I do miss being able to just run outside and pick a few leaves for dinner along with a few herbs etc.

Along the front of the house is where nothing much grows because it's the cold side and there's a large overhang so it doesn't get much rain - it does get lots of fish poo from my aquarium though! I've planted small succulents and this is one that is flowering at the moment.

I used to have these growing in abundance, they still keep coming up from seed all over the place but they are a devil to prune as they bleed sticky white milk that gets over everything! This one has come up in my neighbours garden, she hasn't found out how nasty they are yet - they do look so pretty though.

One of my other neighbours (I have 26 of them) has this lovely lavendar growing along the front of his fence, smells divine. That's my house on the right.

This is a beautiful Wistaria growing around the corner.

I have three Vireyas growing in large pots on my front lawn, this is the first one to flower.

And finally as I went inside I thought I'd take a photo of this long tall plant by my front door, I know the name of it but it's lost in the jumble that is my mind at the moment! I've had it from a baby since we shifted into this house 10 years ago, I keep having to shift it to give it room to grow!

Click on it to see a larger view.
I still have lots of photos and movies I took in the snow in Australia to post yet, oh boy I'm never going to catch up!
Boulangere Potatoes for 4 people
Slice 650g potatoes thinly & chop one small onion. Layer in oven dish along with salt & pepper and a little freshly ground nutmeg between each layer. Pour over 290mls of chicken stock and bake at 175oC for one to one and a half hours. I divided mine between two small casseroles so they only took an hour to cook, kept one for tonight to have with melt in your mouth steak.

Talking Books

Further to the list of audio books I was talking about back in May, I'm wading through them all very slowly now that I am able to be on the computer a bit more. I can really recommend these two authors and the nine books they've written. Peter Kerr's are hilarious and really worth getting from your library, Carol Drinkwater's are a little more sober but very interesting. At the moment I'm listening to 'Holy Cow: An Indian Adventure' by Sarah McDonald and thoroughly enjoying it, another one I laugh out loud at whilst out walking with my iPod!

Let's go tobogganing!

The first day we went up the mountain it rained most of the time but the small kid and the big kid didn't seem to mind, they were having a ball.





After all the exertion we went inside for a rest and something to warm us up again. It wasn't long before they were at it again though! More photos tomorrow from the next day when it snowed - my first time in the snow when it was actually snowing! Even I was excited about that.

Maroondah Reservoir, Victoria

We stopped on our way to Marysville at this beautiful reservoir, it was so pretty with the clouds covering the tops of the mountains. After looking at these photos of the Maroondah Reservoir I wish now we had had more time to explore it, it looks like there is a lot more to see.

Holiday in the Snow

While in Melbourne visiting my grandson we all drove to Marysville for a four day holiday in the snow. Marysville is about a 20 min drive from Lake Mountain Resort where we had two full days in the snow at -2 degrees (celsius), whatever was I thinking! No, really I had a great time and even did a bit of tobogganing but mainly I was the photographer who developed a frozen camera finger! This is a photo of me and Liam that my son took - great isn't it?

CT Scan

My CT-head scan didn't show anything abnormal (okay I'm expecting a few jokes about that so fire away) so that's a load off my mind. However, I still have the headache although my eyes are nearly back to normal, I now just have to wait to be seen by the Neurology department which my doctor informs me could be anything upto a year or more.

Melbourne 2-3 August

So now I've arrived and unpacked a few goodies for Liam from his cousins back home, this is him in his Ben10 outfit with his Ben10 watch & a Ben10 toy. He was so excited he talked non-stop!


The next day we took a drive down to Williamstown for the day, unfortunately this was one of the days it rained while I was there so we didn't stay long. Have a look here for some great photos of Williamstown, I was disappointed I didn't get to have a really good look around but it was also terribly cold! These are a few I did take of the children's playground and beach on the
Esplanade.







And yipee it's Spring - a lovely tree on the street where they live.

Auckland to Melbourne

I left Auckland on the 2nd of August and as usual it was raining! DH tells me it rained the whole time I was away so I didn't miss anything. The weather in Melbourne wasn't too bad, sunny days but cold with the odd rainy day. Here's the first lot of photos from my trip.
At the Airport waiting to leave.

Coastline of NZ

The sun was just coming up as we left but we were going backwards in time so it look a long time! Because of bad weather we climbed higher than usual and all the way we were above the clouds that stretched to the horizon like cottonwool!

The coastline of Australia

Coming in to land at Melbourne.

Schmap NZ

I was excited recently to find out that one of my photos was chosen to be included in the second version of the online Schmap of NZ - it's the one of the Vaughan Homestead in the Long Bay Regional Park (#9 of 10 in the widget on the right).

Fun in the Snow Two

Fun in the snow.

This is the first of a few videos I took while I was in Australia, mainly of my son, d-i-l and grandson Liam aged 3 yrs when we went tobogganing in the snow.

Hello Folks!

I'm back from Melbourne with lots of photos & movies to post. I had the best & worst time over the last month! It was great to spend time with my gorgeous little grandson Liam & his parents but at the same time the Aussies tried to kill me off with some sort of horrible bug that laid me low for the last 2 weeks!
Never the one to give in though, the doctor has given me a good dose of antibiotics to get me to my feet again, so here I am.
While I was away my ct-scan (head only) appointment arrived so I had that on Thursday, unfortunately it seems they didn't find anything much so my parents were right after all - I'm brainless!
The answer to my question 'did you find anything' was 'no, not really' which could mean anything I guess but I'm looking on the bright side for the next ten days while I wait for the final results.
Photos coming very soon.

I'm still here!

Well, between the optometrist, the dentist, the osteopath and the doctor they still can't come up with the reason for my headache! It's been 4 months now and it hasn't let up at all. Currently I'm on medication to keep it in check while I wait to have a scan, no letter from the hospital yet!
The good news is that early tomorrow morning I fly to Melbourne to spend 3 weeks with my son & grandson which I'm really looking forward to. I hope to take lots of photos and with a bit of luck I might be able to post some of them while I'm there.
In the meantime here's a few of Harry when we took him to feed the ducks at the Manawa Wetlands, while we there we were caught in a hailstorm but luckily there was a pergola for us to shelter under.

Autumn Splendour

Sunday before last was such a beautiful day we decided to go for a walk in Cornwall Park and to have lunch in the Kiosk there - along with just about half of Auckland I reckon! Everyone was out walking their dogs, or jogging or just relaxing in the sun with their families. If anyone loves herbal teas like I do then I found a new one which is absolutely divine, it's called 'Sweet Sunday' and is made from currants, rhubarb, peach, strawberries & rose petals. It's available from the Tea Total Cafe in Milford amongst dozens of other herbal teas, they also have mail order.

These are just a few of the photos I took.