A Kiwi at the camera

Two views of the sky tower - morning and evening

2012-02-18T00:51:00.000-08:00

Mist in Feb

2012-02-12T03:06:00.000-08:00

Sunrise on 1st Feb

2012-02-01T14:25:00.001-08:00

(updated - BlogPress does not really cut the mustard with photos)

Two trim flat whites

2012-01-15T16:49:00.001-08:00

Surf is up ...

2012-01-10T16:02:00.000-08:00

From Aucklnad Harbour Bridge

2012-01-02T17:47:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year from Auckland NZ

2011-12-31T01:45:00.001-08:00

(click for a bigger view)

For KK ...... almost the view from your new house.

Taken with you from your truck !!

For Jim

2011-12-29T15:54:00.000-08:00

Jim you were always the observer of people,

these are for you, we all miss you

Famlies at the gallery

Bemused

Cake at the Gallery

2011-12-26T13:29:00.001-08:00

Auckland art gallery

2011-12-20T13:57:00.001-08:00

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Seven "sleeps" till christmas

2011-12-18T01:41:00.000-08:00

Shadow

2011-12-14T23:02:00.001-08:00

Birkenhead ferry terminal

2011-12-09T03:05:00.001-08:00

Fog on the way to work

2011-12-06T23:38:00.001-08:00

(IPhone 4)

Owen Glenn Building - Auckland University

2011-11-27T01:14:00.001-08:00

Coffee at the Auckland Art Gallery

2011-11-20T23:00:00.001-08:00

The upstairs cafe overlooking Albert Park

Before and after !!

(IPhone4)

West Plaza Wellington

2011-11-14T00:31:00.001-08:00

A little old, a little tired maybe, but my periodic home on business trips for over 15 years

Good points : not hermetically sealed and stinking of "fragrance" like its newer competition (ie windows that actually open) , comfortable decent sized rooms with everything you need, live music in the lobby - at one point a harpist - currently a chap on a grand, right in the middle of town (handy to everything), a bar with staff who stay more than five minutes so you get recognised, very reliable restaurant ie no "bad" meals in 15 years and some very very good ones, friendly staff, clean, comprehensive breakfasts, well priced (for Wellington) , bad points : none really

(View east above and west below )

Auckland Harbour Bridge

2011-11-08T19:40:00.000-08:00

Looking south

Looking north

(Photos by Lynette B)

Reopened Auckland Art Gallery

2011-11-08T13:18:00.000-08:00

Breakfast coffee in the cafe in the reopened gallery

Very good coffee, attention to detail and highly recommended

(food is also good and staff friendly and helpful)

Front entrance

Flowers which inflate and deflate in the gallery lobby.

Great idea .

(Will return with a better camera than IPhone)

"Lunchroom by night"

2011-10-30T13:11:00.000-07:00

Breakfast

2011-10-28T18:07:00.000-07:00

The simple things done well equals perfection

Breakfast by the Cheese maker

Runny eggs , crunchy toast and crispy bacon

oh yes , very well done

but wait ... the next day ... add cold smoked salmon

a breakfast fit for the brain work that followed

Inside the cloud

2011-10-26T00:32:00.000-07:00

Rugby World Cup "Party Central" (before the party )

2011-10-19T02:23:00.000-07:00

Ferry building and the Rugby World Cup "cloud"

2011-10-15T13:40:00.000-07:00

Ferry building

2011-10-11T01:27:00.000-07:00

Sunrise on my umbrella

2011-10-09T00:28:00.000-07:00

Birkenhead sunrise

2011-10-01T21:50:00.000-07:00

for my "soup maker" - pork, chicken, carrot and apple - oh yes :))

Rugby World Cup fever hits the office

2011-09-07T02:13:00.000-07:00

Marty, these are for you

Sunrise on my way to work

2011-09-06T03:30:00.000-07:00

- for you Wenying to help you relax when you study

Simple but so delicious

2011-08-31T01:37:00.000-07:00

Sometimes it's the simple things that are just so

perfect. One slice of toast, a light spread of cream cheese,

two slices of cold smoked NZ Salmon, a squeeze of lemon and

just a little gherkin pickle. Eaten off some of Mums remaining

unbroken china (following the multiple big earthquakes in the last year

in Christchurch) . Oh yes I'm in food heaven.

Smoked salmon fishcake and coffee and caramel cheesecake "The Vicarage" Christchurch

2011-08-20T23:19:00.000-07:00

More fog .......

2011-08-14T02:15:00.000-07:00

Fog at the regional park

2011-08-12T19:35:00.000-07:00

Auckland at night

2011-08-08T02:20:00.000-07:00

Looking south from the Sky Tower

(Eden Park, main home of the 2011 Rugby World Cup

- the bright area top right)

Looking west from the Sky Tower

(Auckland Harbour Bridge - upper right)

Retirement cupcakes for Bob Gibson

2011-08-02T18:12:00.000-07:00

Recently a long time (and much respected in the traffic safety field)

work college of mine (finally) retired.

These are three plates of cupcakes made by Karen Johnson

(the cake god) in our head office (I don't work there ) .

Nice one Bob enjoy yourself , you will be missed as you were the walking encyclopedia.

NZ Government Transport Department - Traffic Engineering Workshop 1964

Okurukuru Winery and Cafe

2011-08-02T00:31:00.000-07:00

View from the cafe

(oh yeah baby I never wanted to leave)

I don't know what made me think this wasn't

going to be enough for two when it came out.

What you can't see is all the smoked

salmon behind the "shubbery".

Excellent menu choice Minx.

View Larger Map

Two views of Awakino beach mid-winter - before the storm

2011-07-26T00:58:00.000-07:00

(Photo by Minx)

Sunrise in the cold waiting for my ferry

2011-07-19T16:55:00.000-07:00

Fog over Auckland Harbour

2011-07-18T00:22:00.000-07:00

Very "Lord of the Rings"
NZ is "Middle Earth" !!

Sunrise in Auckland through the Chilean ash cloud

2011-07-02T14:07:00.000-07:00

(Photo Lynette B from my former Auckland team)

Beach people

2011-06-30T01:05:00.000-07:00

Taking in the views, almost on the shortest day

2011-06-18T14:45:00.000-07:00

Flax and the mid winter sun - west coast beach Auckland

2011-06-18T02:57:00.000-07:00

Autumn fog

2011-06-12T18:10:00.000-07:00

I love fog, and the way it can just roll back

in the morning and reveal fabulous still autumn days

The last days of autumn

2011-06-12T18:01:00.000-07:00

Autumn mist and those leaves ...

2011-06-05T20:04:00.000-07:00

These are for you Minx.nz - photos from the jungle.

Smiths Bar, right by the Downtown train and bus station - Auckland City

2011-05-23T02:40:00.000-07:00

Oddly charming

Fog, reposted from a year ago with a poem by Joan

2011-05-18T00:02:00.000-07:00

(Fog on the drive way where I live)

A poem by Joan

I never meant to be here.

All my plans were made when the sun shone.

Then suddenly the fear

And all the signposts seemed to me, gone .

The road led on and took me on my way ...
And so I travelled, knew I wouldn't stay.

But still, it was a moment, with a peace its own,

That grey soft silence, as I watched alone.

Cheese cake and tea Ohinemuri Winery Cafe - sharing recommeded !

2011-05-14T17:07:00.000-07:00

see this link Ohinemuri Winery location

Very early morning near home

2011-05-07T03:56:00.000-07:00

Dusk in our biggest city - Auckland -1.4 million people

2011-05-05T13:53:00.000-07:00

(Central city from the top of Mt Eden
Photo by Minx.nz Canon 50D)

Day slipping into night ......

Shima Japanese - Tauranga "highly recommended"

2011-04-28T02:31:00.000-07:00

(IPhone4)

Foodie theme

2011-04-16T22:29:00.000-07:00

Hash browns with bacon Benedict (and a flat white) Caffe Massiomo Albany

Whitebait fritter sandwich (and a pot of tea) , Mokau (cafe seaward side)

Bacon Benedict with crushed potato ( and a flat white ) , museum cafe, New Plymouth

Hard to beat the the whitebait fritters (being quintessentially Kiwi) but I think I give

the award from these to Caffe Massimo !!

Blowing in the west wind

2011-04-15T20:12:00.000-07:00

Autumnal setting sun ..

2011-04-14T03:33:00.000-07:00

...and the snow fell on the mountain directly behind this view point less than a week later

New board walk - north side - Mt Taranaki near visitor centre

2011-04-07T17:03:00.000-07:00

This one for you Minx.nz , the quiet place

David and Joan in the Cue Theatre Inglewood - Taranaki

2011-04-04T00:28:00.000-07:00

"The ghost train"

Directed by David Ertel

Cue Theatre 2nd to 16th April 2011

What kiwi blokes build in their sheds - the final part

2011-03-20T23:21:00.000-07:00

Testing day finally at Pukekohe - 240k up the back straight even with the gearing too low,

feeling like you are being fired out of a canon and not to mention the amazing

grip of the new lighter wheels and slicks.

Tony - I think you can rate this as a huge success!!

What serious hifi looks like , actually much nicer than that transitor stuff !

2011-03-19T01:31:00.000-07:00

Almarro 340 monoblocs

Interestingly the output tubes (the big ones) are russian, and were once used in the Mig 25 fighter

Auckland at night part 3 - the Sky Tower

2011-03-17T01:55:00.000-07:00

(By the way this is not a Photoshop trick -

if you own an SLR and a zoom lens you have all you need)

Auckland City at night pt 2

2011-03-16T00:27:00.000-07:00

Auckland City at dusk.

2011-03-15T02:43:00.000-07:00

Taken from the top of Mt Eden

(this is quite a dark image)

Only the hardy souls ..........

2011-03-07T22:52:00.000-08:00

Wind whistling like some a south pole adventure. Somebody’s long suffering girlfriend muttering on the bench ignoring the “can you pass me the 17mm ” request.

Hefty tripod useless , needed to be weighted with bricks.........

But, surf, oh yes, this is the west coast and I love it.
.

Final museum photo

2011-03-06T23:15:00.000-08:00

Outrageous Fortune part 3

2011-03-04T20:43:00.000-08:00

Outrageous Fortune Exhibition part 2

2011-03-03T00:38:00.000-08:00

Part of the street art drawn as therapy by "Sparky"

the pyromaniac electrician during a period of rehab.

The part of the exhibition with all the "props"

connecting family members to a life of crime

Auckland museum part two - Outrageous Fortune exhibition pt 1

2011-03-02T00:37:00.000-08:00

Cheryl West - symbolically in leopard skin print

The living room set

see Outrageous fortune at the auckland museum

Auckland Museum (part1)

2011-02-26T15:42:00.000-08:00

A "flat white" and an excellent lunch

Wenderholm at sunset

2011-02-20T02:48:00.000-08:00

Friday night spare ribs at the beach, oh yes I'm in heaven......

2011-02-18T00:16:00.000-08:00

Flying into the sunset on the west coast of Auckland

2011-02-16T00:33:00.000-08:00

Sunrise from the back deck

2011-02-12T16:48:00.000-08:00

Summer tourists

2011-02-06T02:04:00.000-08:00

Lyttleton food market

2011-02-04T17:14:00.000-08:00

Two years on

2011-02-03T00:37:00.000-08:00

Just a shade over two years ago my best friend Jim was killed in a car crash,

(See only blog entry in Jan 2009)

Don't know if they have the internet where you are man but these ones

are for you so you know I still really miss you.

(age 12)

(a bit over 20)

(a bit over 50)

(a bit more over 50)

(this one taken by mum in Brisbane)

Things kiwi blokes built in their sheds - part four

2011-01-23T22:15:00.001-08:00

"the beast awakens"

KV shooting Brent

2011-01-23T01:29:00.000-08:00

The sun setting on Pink Floyd's Back Catalogue

2011-01-17T01:07:00.000-08:00

Pukekohe Track day Sunday 9/1/10

2011-01-11T23:02:00.000-08:00

Steve and Graham

Steve

Graham

Kiwi blokes sheds part three

2011-01-04T17:10:00.000-08:00

Where things Kiwi blokes build in their sheds go .....

Not a view you see every day, especially with the car the right way up.

Next stop a body repaint

Birds, two kinds

2011-01-01T18:56:00.000-08:00

Very South Canterbury - note no traffic even at Christmas time

2010-12-29T20:27:00.000-08:00

Mackenzie country

2010-12-27T18:34:00.000-08:00

Lake Tekapo

2010-12-27T01:55:00.000-08:00

What kiwi blokes build in their sheds part two - bottom view with headers

2010-12-10T16:47:00.000-08:00

What kiwi blokes build in their garages

2010-12-03T19:50:00.000-08:00

Spot the two surfers ?

2010-11-22T22:39:00.000-08:00

Final approach

2010-11-18T01:04:00.000-08:00

A surf beach and therefore a station wagon and 4x4 car park !!

2010-11-09T22:23:00.000-08:00

Morris and James pottery, again

2010-11-05T01:39:00.000-07:00

This is part of the cafe at Morris and James in Matakana,

many a good lunch has been had here over the years.

(early in the morning)

This is one of their new designs which found its way to the back of the

station wagon to come home with me and join many "friends" from the same

pottery works that I have been collecting over the years.

more info http://www.morrisandjames.co.nz/

Flax flowers, favourite of the Tui

2010-11-04T02:02:00.000-07:00

A meeting of oceans

2010-11-01T00:50:00.000-07:00

How New Zealand cows make milk

2010-10-28T02:18:00.000-07:00

A little something for the nest

2010-10-15T20:24:00.000-07:00

Master of the air

2010-10-14T01:19:00.000-07:00

Birds at Muriwai

2010-10-13T01:30:00.000-07:00

Party trick for the "lads"

2010-10-04T00:11:00.000-07:00

Mt Taranaki

2010-09-19T23:41:00.000-07:00

Bridge over Waiwhakaiho River , New Plymouth coastal cycleway - photo two

2010-09-08T01:55:00.000-07:00

Pot in the garden

2010-09-03T23:13:00.000-07:00