Mt Fitzgerald (in summer) 826m

Taken from State Highway 75- a favourite with motorcyclists and car enthusiasts alike My personal favourite ...

Little River Art Gallery and Cafe

Always changing and always a favourite when I go to Christchurch

Little River cycle way

Part of the Little River cycle way.

Have a look here for more info  :Little River Cycle trail

Hilltop Hotel - on the road to Akaroa

One of the more spectacular views from any cafe I've been in lately and the pizza looked pretty good too.

Oxford part two.

The local Museum, like a lot of smaller towns Oxford has an excellent museum run by volunteers "on the smell of an oily rag", a must see. Packed with local memorabilia and hosted by knowledgeable volunteers.

Oxford - North Canterbury

A typical rural service town with some points of interest for the passing tourist.

Art Gallery and shop.

Currently running a mind bendingly good exhibit call "Garlands in the Mist" hand made paper Garlands. Outstanding 

Outside the Ferry Building

Devonport Navel Museum and Cafe

Small but interesting museum and Cafe with a view to die for.

View from Cafe 

The Captains Gig 

Early morning at Devonport

We have lot of these........

We have about 30million of these, there are only 4.5 million of us.

Chinese New Year Lantern Festival- Auckland Domain

Lovely warm night and as Aucklanders do when the weather is good - really turn out in droves . 

Wellington Cable Car

Last time I used the Wellington cable car was over three years ago and before that almost four decades when I had a student job at the top of it as the local Postie.

Some time in more recent history sets of cool coloured lights have been added inside the once dingy tunnels - OK so some way off the spectacular high-rise lighting in Shanghai but this is just tiny NZ .

Not very expensive and if you have time a Wellington "must do" .

More info here  : Wellington Cable car

Coach interior 

The tunnel lighting 

Muriwai over the holiday weekend

Made the mistake of going to Muriwai over the long holiday weekend , totally overcrowded compared to when I went with Mum in November. No parking anywhere. Never again - its my favourite west coast beach but not when a half of Auckland is day tripping.

Lots and lots and lots of surfers 

The Tannery - Christchurch

These are photos from  The Tannery in Christchurch a bit of pretty far sighted retail development in the east in the post earthquake era that will define the way the city shapes its self into the future.

This is very reminiscent  of arcades I've seen in Australia and to a much lesser extent a couple in Auckland. Beautifully executed with painstaking attention to detail - a little quite when i visited but it is a "destination" in its own right. 

There is an incredibly good range of shops minus the usual Mall - see one seen them all - stores of the Westfield variety. For Christchurch people this has got to be the new age version of the old (but still existing)  Ballantynes department store in the City. 

I really liked it and if I were  a tourist I'd defiantly put it on my itinerary and there are several places to eat. There is work underway to include a cinema at the eastern end of the arcade. As usual the provinces outdo the big smoke of Auckland in style and finesse.  

Romantic couples

Just one of the dozens of romantic couples that wandered past while I was making a phone call from the car (parked - you can't use a cell phone while driving here).

Trans Pacific Pacific (TPPA) trade Agreement protesters in Auckland

Post Office Engineers Office pre 1967

Mums been gathering names for this photo from the last of them still living (Brian Pattrick) 

Apart from Dad only Henry Morgan, Malcolm (Mac)  Macleod and Brian are people I recognise. Henry retired in Auckland and spent much of that helping Cambodian refugees settle in NZ. A lovely man with a huge heart. 

Mums list

Another passing

Mum sister Isabel passed away in her 87th year recently and as happens previously unseen photos emerge in the unearthing of the family albums . I've asked for copies but in the mean time...

This photo I had but the one at the bottom from Isabel's collection is of my Nana - Mum mother - (on the left) with her sister-in-law, that is , married to her brother Bob.

Back row:

Dad (died 2013) , Uncle Ray (Isabel's husband died 2001) , Mums father ( died when he was 51) 

Middle row:

Auntie Pat (Dads younger sister, deceased),  Mum , Nana (died aged 87), Dads Mum (deceased), Isabel (died 20/1/2016), Valmai

In front of the two grandmothers:

My cousin John

Font row:

Uncle Warwick (Dads sisters husband- turned 90 last year - still living independently) , my cousin David, Me (in peddle car)

As I don't see my sister in this it must be prior to 1958. Maybe Christmas 1957.

Nana and her brother Bobs wife Nellie Rouse.

Looking towards Chamberlins Island

On the Kawakawa Bay Coast Road

Waiti Bay

On the Kawakawa Bay Coast Road . Auckland

Dads House in Leeston - Just southwest of Christchurch.

My dad grew up in this house in the 1920's .

I last visited it in 2007 , sad to say it has seen considerable deterioration since then.

In talking with the son of the present owners the house has been offered to the Leeston Historic Society as well as the local fire brigade - the latter of course would be a sad end to one of the towns oldest buildings.

Dads father fought in WW1 and was one of the lucky ones to make it home although his health and lungs were irreparable damaged - he died when Dad was just four.
He was a Mason (the lodge is still across the road) and according to a newspaper article I have from the time of his death fondly remembered as a kind and generous soul - if my dad was anything to go by I don't doubt it. It feels a little shabby that the town should consider torching his home.

In Auckland this would go for over a million in Ponsonby as an ideal family home for someone with DIY skills.

2007

2016

Auckland on one of our nice sunny days

Birdlings Flat, Lake Forsyth, Lake Ellesmere and Canterbury Bight

Birdlings Flat - a stony beach as a result of the many Canterbury rivers that enter the ocean along the Canterbury Bight

The view below is an interesting one - I took it from Bossu Road which climbs the hills to the south of Little River and if you had the fortitude would take you to Wainui in the Akaroa Harbour. If you don't want to end up there you can circle back via the Okuti Valley. It was a pretty solid climb to 700m from virtually sea level at Little River for Mums Honda Jazz and as can be seen in the topographic map (the broken line) much is unsealed. Having said that the views are spectacular even on an overcast day and not those seen by many tourists - although I would recommend against this being used by camper vans - there are some very narrow sections with drops to certain death if you go over the side.

(Map LINZ approx 2000) 

Botton right - Lake Forsyth, Middle right - Lake Ellesmere , Left middle - Canterbury Bight