New friend

I have had a great day out today, did some necessary messages and met up at the local Bernina shop with a fellow blogger Chris of the blog Diet Coke Rocks, we both have a love of quilting, it was lovely to meet up with a kindred spirit, we had a browse in the Bernina shop and a few goodies made their way home with me, they are in the boot of the car so I will rescue them tomorrow. We met up with Chris's daughter Lacy after some op shop browsing and went to a cafe for lunch

Chris and myself

This where we went, in Tauranga, lovely place, friendly people and great service

Here was Lacy's lunch, chicken and ricotta in filo pastry

Chris has seafood chowder, she was very good and didn't eat the bread, even though it looked lovely

I had goats cheese and beetroot salad

It was wonderful meeting Chris and Lacy, we had a lot of laughs, hopefully one day we can get together again.

I went to visit Mum at the home,she is much better and had a lovely afternoon tea as it was Daffodil Day, the beautiful china cups were out and butterfly cakes were offered for afternoon tea. I had to go to the supermarket for Mum and coming home there was a thunder storm brewing, so I went down to the beach to have a look.

I am linking up with Whims and Fancies for the wandering camera link up

Storm passing over the beach at Ferguson Park, Tauranga, just before the rain started, just prior to this the lightning was on putting on a good display.

Looking the other way down the park and the beach over to Mount Maunganui just as the black cloud comes over.

I will finish up for now, cuppa time.

Happy days.

Back home again

Hopefully we are settled here now and not needing to zip across the Tasman again any time soon. Mum's house is empty, clean and now has new owners and occupiers. They are a young couple and I hope they will be very happy at 129B.
I managed to pick up a cold on the last trip and still have the wooly brain and lethargy, hence not a lot has happened here this week. I have been working away on the little hexies and am half way, I need to get a zip along as March is fast zipping away.

I am happy with these hexies, only a couple of wobbles with the fussy cutting and so far only two lots of unsewing!

While in Tauranga hubby worked and worked and then went on strike!!

He chose a good place!!

and didn't want to move

Charles the neighbour offered commiserations!! Charles was great, he emptied out the compost bin for us while we filled the skip. It was sad to throw some things out, but some things were old and no one wanted then, so out they went. We had one day until settlement at this stage, so throw out was the  only option.

I found these flowers in Mum's garden, no idea what they are

but they are stunning flowers that come from a pretty ordinary bulb.

I think this is a kind of orchid which grows like a weed there.

the last two nights we stayed with the neighbours...no beds left next door!

They had swan plants in their garden, but no caterpillars, so I went out for a look and found four munching away.

I hope the paper wasps stay away and they get to be butterflies. I spent hours in the garden as a kid watching these caterpillars eat and grow, change into a chrysalis and then a butterfly.

Today is a day of NO paperwork (I hope) so I hope to reintroduce myself to the sewing machine and soon I am for for a 70th birthday lunch.

Happy sewing.

Nearly Christmas

Here I am home once again after a busy week in New Zealand. My Mum had 4 weeks in hospital with that A strain flu, then it was decided she could no  longer live in her own home. Luckily the local rest home had two rooms vacant and once Mum agreed we could take her straight there. My mother is a very private woman and firmly believes children should be seen and not heard and NOTHING regarding finances, health etc should be discussed with them. So it has been a difficult task finding out where her money is, sorting her clothes and getting her sorted. Luckily most things fell into place. I did have to escape now and then to the beach for some quiet time

one afternoon it was extremely windy and there were about 20 windsurfers hurling around down at Ferguson Park

the tide was out but the view is still good looking over to Mount Maunganui, the tree on the right is a pohutukawa , other wise known as the NZ Christmas tree, so many are in flower at present.

One evening I went geocaching and found a cache right at the far end of this bridge trains use to cross from Tauranga to Mount Maunganui where the port is. No trains went by when I was there but it was super windy, but bonus...I found the cache!!

another cache was near this waka (canoe) which has beautiful carving on it and I believe is used on Waitangi Day.

I found this interesting book swap down the end of the road, I managed to leave some books and took one to read. I think these are a wonderful idea. There are two little free libraries (not phone boxes) in the same area.

pohotukawa flowers,

Super low tide this day and a huge cruise ship in at the Mount wharf. 

I had to have the hire car back on Dec 19th, so stayed in a hotel near the airport that night, 

Jenny came to have a catch up, we had dinner at the restaurant next to the hotel and then after much searching found a geocache between the hotel and the main road. Luckily it was hidden in some trees and bushes so I didn't look too much like I was lurking!! It was wonderful to spend the evening together and have a good natter.

I completed 22 circles while away, most of them at the airport waiting for the plane and the last three on the plane. I need to cut some more circles to do some more.

When I got back there was a surprise from Michelle, a beautiful hand drawn card, elf tree decoration and some pocket mini's stitching patterns. Thank you Michelle, it was a lovely surprise.

I also received a parcel from the lovely Ondrea..it is under the Christmas tree...the excitement builds!!

Four more stars have joined the family.

this elf or Santas helper also came home with me, I found him in the hospital gift shop...love him!!

and this one was a present from Jenny, just love this one too!

Well there is lots to do, I am attempting a fruit and nut cake today, full of dates, nuts and a little almond meal, so had better get a move on.

Very Happy Christmas to everyone and a safe and creative and healthy New Year.

Waihi

Today we have driven from Tauranga

This beach is 5 mins from my Mums home, I spent a lot of time here when I was young,  it is very different now, there was no retaining wall back then and not so many houses,  there used to be horse paddocks down here. Looks much better with the tide coming in.

We went into town and to the Info centre and I found a card with a statue of Hairy Maclary on it, so,we had to go and have a look. I love these books when my boys were little

Hairy Maclary and friends has the cat bailed up!! While we were looking a toddler wandered up and gave the cat at the bottom right of the photo a hug and a kiss!! So cute.

From Tauranga we headed off to Katikati to show Eve the murals there that show the history of the town, and then we continued on to Waihi as Eve was booked on a gold mine tour. There was a very active open cast mine here but they had two major landslides in the last two years and so the mine is not working until they sort it out. There is other mining happening underground, so far only one house has dropped into a mine shaft...they are now back filling as they go.

Is a huge place. All along the fence here they have poppies to remember the men who went away from this area to WW1

You can't see the names here very well, but in one place there were 4 men with the same name, and none returned,I wondered if they were brothers. How very sad for the parents.

This is the old Cornish pump house that was used many years ago when the original mining was done here

And this Maori warrior was nearby, I don't know why her is here I couldn't find any info about him at the site.

*Update* courtesy of Mrs Perry 

RANGATIRA STATUE: A life-size bronze statue of a rangatira was unveiled and blessed in a ceremony at Waihi on 31 May 2001. The statue, the work of sculptor, Michael Weir of Glen Eden, is situated above Seddon Street, opposite St John’s Anglican Church. The rangatira is depicted standing, stooped and striking the ground with his taiaha to reveal water gushing from the ground. This commemorates the naming of Waihi. According to legend, the rangatira shouted "Waihi hi", meaning gushing water.

On the highest point on the Matha Pit Rim Walkway over looking the Matha Gold Mine in Waihi 

Thank you Tracee.

We are now at the motel, and have wrestled with getting everything back in our bags, Eve is having a pick me up

And may I say she enjoyed it.

Tomorrow we head for the airport in Auckland, we will probably be there when you are reading this,  we will be gearing up for the flight back to OZ.

I am of to do some FNWF sewing now.

Happy sewing.

Tauranga and FNWF

Yesterday we drove from Gisborne to Tauranga. ..I was told it would take three and a half hours, but it took us a whole lot longer...it was about 288km which in Aussie terms doesn't sound like much, but when you drive through many kms of a gorge is takes forever!!!!!

We stopped at this camp/rest place and found this old tressle bridge way up the back

This what we were driving through, lots of windy road with towering hills on either side and a river near the road...this was through the Waioeka Gorge.

We stopped for a look at Opotiki, Eve found postcards in the museum, the on to Whakatane where we had lunch by the river

Whakatane is build between the end of a bluff and the river

And Captian Cook must have been here at some stage of his travels, maybe for lunch at the cafe?? Lol!!

From  here we went on to Tauranga, took Eve to an antique shop, and then went to my mothers house.  She is 91 and fiercely independent, except when she needs the neighbours  and friends to do things for her, she has a very strict routine and finds it hard when people come to the house. So we got takeaway for dinner and then Eve and I went down the the beach to watch the sunset

The tide was way out so we got the sandy beach

This place is called Ferguson Park and behind me taking the photo is 20 acres of playing fields, there was soccer training happening, adult soccer games happening, people walking dogs and people just walking, people sitting watching...there is always something happening down here.

Heading back to Mums now.

Happy days.

PS..Dont forget tonight is Friday Night with Friends, you can sign up over at Cheryll's , she is the hostess with the mostess for a night of virtual stitching and fun. You can see what many like minede people are doing over there on the weekend.

New Zealand Part 1

We have had a few days in Tauranga, weeded the vege garden, done a few messages and celebrated Mum's 91st birthday. We have one cold and rainy day but then spring came and there have been beautiful days since then.

we were out at Greerton shopping centre and found lots of yarn bombing, this lot, on many trees, was sponsored by the local businesses 

we walked past the Tauranga Domain, where the rugby is played, and where I have watched Scottish Highland games in the past these guys watch over one entrance

then we walked along the beach front, as you can see it was low tide....there are many wonderful walking paths around this city, a lot along the edge of the harbour

I sat for a while in the afternoon and sewed together the rows of hexies and managed

to catch two rows together...guess who was unsewing???? 😡

hubby was happily occupied painting figures

in the afternoon we had another walk to the harbour near Mums, about 10 mins away it was so peaceful to just sit and watch the water... but no I had to have

a play with the camera.....then sadly we had to head home to sort the dinner.