Fog at the regional park

..

Auckland at night

..

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

..

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

..

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

..

(Photo by Minx)



Sunrise in the cold waiting for my ferry

..

Fog over Auckland Harbour

..

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

..

Sunrise in Auckland through the Chilean ash cloud

..

(Photo Lynette B from my former Auckland team)

Beach people

..

Taking in the views, almost on the shortest day

..

Flax and the mid winter sun - west coast beach Auckland

..

Autumn fog

..

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

..

Autumn mist and those leaves ...

..

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

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

..

Oddly charming

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

..

(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 !

..

see this link Ohinemuri Winery location

Very early morning near home

..

Dusk in our biggest city - Auckland -1.4 million people

..

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

Day slipping into night ......

Shima Japanese - Tauranga "highly recommended"

..

(IPhone4) 

Foodie theme

..

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

..

Autumnal setting sun ..

..

...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

..

This one for you Minx.nz , the quiet place

David and Joan in the Cue Theatre Inglewood - Taranaki

..

"The ghost train"

Directed by David Ertel

Cue Theatre 2nd to 16th April 2011

What kiwi blokes build in their sheds - the final part

..

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 !

..

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

..

(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

..

Auckland City at dusk.

..

Taken from the top of Mt Eden

(this is quite a dark image)



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

..

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.
.