mystery post

internet access is precious on this trip, so I am going to leave you with a picture of one of my souveniers. He is quite a character, Any ideas? You gotta love the packaging at this stage, a pair of B's jeans and an old singlet of dad's, stuck in place with micropore.

Mystery Object

We are in Nelson again tonight and will travel to Kaikoura where we shall hopefully see a whale.

kia ora

we are one week down in our travels through New Zealand. Having completed the North Island leg, tomorrow we catch the Interisland Ferry to the South Island. The trip so far; Auckland (Days 1 through 4) that included a Ferry trip to Devonport, the Ellerslie Flower Show, Parnell Rose Garden, and Muriwai to view the black sand beach via the Waitakere Ranges; Rotorua (Days 4 through 6) taking in a visit to Hell's Gate geothermal park, experiencing Maori culture and a hungi at Mitai, ending our stay in Rotorua with the Polynesian Spa before heading off for Wellington (Day 6 through 7) via Napier, an art deco city, and Palmerston North, with its spectacular wind farm.

If we hadn't prebooked the ferry and the car, I think an extra day in Wellington would have been a good idea. We have really only had one day here having arrived late last night. We started the day by taking the cable car from the top of the botanic gardens down to the city and back again and the rest of the day at the Wellington Botanic Gardens which are really quite spectacular. An extra day looking around would have been great, there are some fabulous shops most of which were closed today, being Sunday. In some ways this has been a bonus given the amount of stuff we seem to have collected so far, photos will be shared in another post if not before we go home, some time soon after.

Needless to say, we are having a whale of a time.

me again

with less than 24 hours till we jump on the plane, I feel like we are on a roller coaster of sorts. Yesterday we booked the first few days of accomodation, the inter island ferry, and did some last minute shopping for things like cat food, so that the pets are adequately catered for whilst we are away, only to find out that my dad (mum and dad were/are to be travelling with us) has been on IV antibiotics at Royal North Shore Hospital and may not be able to travel. He is at home today and on strict instructions to rest up and let the antibiotics do their thing. Our fingers are crossed.

So today, whilst the old boy rested, mum, the next sister down, baby Riley, B, and I met at the Willoughby Arts and Crafts Centre annual sale for a bit of market therapy. There wasn't a great deal to tempt given we are saving the spending for NZ although I got some fabric to add to the stash, at $5 a bundle who could resist.

Quarters & Cake!
The next sister down, got a couple of items for baby Riley, which B and I dropped at her place on our way home. This also gave B and I the opportunity to spend some time with her long time four legged companion 'Wally' the dog, who is not too good at the moment. Our fingers, crossed again, that he makes it comfortably through the next couple of weeks, with all but the favourite brother being in town*.

On a high note, B bought my combined Birthday, Wedding Anniversary, and Christmas pressie today, I know what it is, but I am going to forget about it. It's a good one, or he would never have gotten away with a combined gift.

*the youngest sister and her family are in New York for three weeks.

hi, its me

the other half of this blog.

The countdown is now on, for our trip across the pond to NZ, and I am so excited that I finally have my very own copy of 'the Crafter's Compainion' resultant from our trip to Borders last night (and that we shall soon be on holiday). I am a little torn, as I bought a book a couple of weeks ago for the trip, but I have been waiting to get a copy of the Crafter's Companion for soooo long, and a sneak peak on the way home in the car, had me hooked. I couldn't possibly wait two weeks to read on. The solution is that I will probably pack both books.

Crafters Companion

Now the search is on for Bend the Rules Sewing by Amy Karol which was not on the register at Borders at all. I could get it from Amazon, but I would prefer an Australian supplier. I have just found Fishpond which looks suspiciously like Amazon but appears to be Australian so maybe that is the answer, if I had found this one sooner I could have ordered it with the Crafter's Companion, for free shipping and saved on the price I paid at Borders. Oh well, the irony is that today the emailed coupon from Borders was 35% off the full price of any book, but I don't care, I wasn't going to risk leaving it till such a coupon came along, even if it was the next day.

London 2004

London 2004

How many Big Red Buses can you count?

Wordless Wednesday # 14 Rosie Florence

Rember these...

Rosie Florence

Rosie Florence
Well...

Rosie's Christening

Rosie & Olivia

wordless wednesday

Riley Joe

Remember these lovely photo's of Riley?

Riley Joseph

Riley Joseph

Well, last Sunday, it was his Christening, and L is his Godmother. So, after a busy Saturday getting all around Sydney within the day collecting this and that, going over to 'The next sister Down' place and helping set up for the day (a feeble excuse really for L to hog have a hold of Riley) and then having to drive home to get ready for an impromptu dinner on the Saturday night, Sunday quickly came around for the 'Big Day'.
As L had front row tickets, we thought we had better be early, at least not late. So here we were, fluffing around the house (I was actually cooking my Asian Green Bean Salad) we noticed the time, 10.30 and I had not showered and the drive to the church was at LEAST 40 mins in no traffic!
So, without speeding, I managed to get us there just in the nick of time, I drop L at the door and went off to find a park.
Here are some photos at the church:

Stained Glass Window

St Josephs Enfield Altar

Pad Family and Godparents

Pad Family in St Joe's

Louise & Riley

Riley & Louise

It really was such a hot and muggy day, so as soon as were at the 'after party' I changed out of my suit and into some shorts! There was also so much food anyone would have been forgiven for thinking thousands of people were going to be there. Here are some random shots of the day:

Granny & Riley

4 Generations apart

Great Grandchildren

Sleeping & Beauty; Nan & Rosie

The Cake

The Family

Screen doors installation

Screen doors installation

These are the screen doors that we have been (slowly) installing over the last 6-7 months. They will be finished soon, they are hanging minus the screens which may not be installed until after we get back from 2 weeks in New Zealand, 2 weeks at home and then a week in Bali for work!!

wordless wednesday #13 Kirribilli Markets

Kirribilli Markets Nth Sydney

Kirribilli Markets Nth Sydney

Kirribilli Markets Nth Sydney

wordless wednesday

Big Bird comes to Sydney...

Well, with all the hype she finally arrived, it was a pity that it was only two years late! Not to mention, the lovely weather Sydney put on, not only for its arrival yesterday afternoon, but for its departure back to Singapore this evening.

SQ380 YSSY

Today was to be a day that L and the MIL were going to Art Sydney. I had been give two tickets to go from the Paddington Contemporary as I had recently purchased a book and a doll (Lulu, L's alter ego) that Rebecca Cool had made and her artwork was throughout the book Woman Hood. But, as I had managed to swing around a busy week into a flex day today, I was going to go out to Sydney Airport to have a look at the beast, but instead decided to 'tag' along with only one request, that we drive past to have a look.

SQ380 YSSY

So, as we headed off along the Motorway that goes along the perimeter of the airport, under the smaller of the three runways, I was expecting a lot of traffic. We had heard that there was already a lot of traffic there, but I was surprised to see not much at all. At least, nothing like when APEC was on when you were not aloud ANYWHERE near the fence. People were parked along the fence line just near the runway's 'blast fence' near where she was parked, so we decided to swap spots (I was driving) and if need be, we can get back into the car in a hurry and drive away as there was both security AND Federal Police in the area moving people on.

SQ380 YSSY

So, I took a couple of shots, changed to my long lens, and sure enough, we saw a Federal Police car coming with his red and blue lights flashing. Now I was atop a very small roadside barrier fence (about a metre high) and as L quickly jumped in the car, I got my last shot (above) and got into the car and we headed off. The last time a cousin of the bird was in town, I copped a fine for an 'Obstructed' Number plate (there is bound to be a post about this in the coming weeks/months, as I am contesting the infringement!) and was not about to get another one!

L will make a following blog regarding the day of Art Sydney!