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jane was in school today

esther was revising all day

kezia was just at home

i went for a walk in the gorgeous early morning sun on the way to work and had a busy work day which also involved going up a high building with a nice view of the city

after work i went to see Tom Ang’s exhibition on the waterfront.  it’s up for a month then will be replaced with the exhibition of 8 photographers of which i am one!

so tonight i got to meet 6 of the other 7.  it all kicks off properly on Tuesday evening when we have our first proper meeting

jane had a training day at school

i think kezia spent the day playing SIMs because her friend was ill and couldn’t meet with her

esther spent the day revising

i had a really busy day at work

esther spent the day in the auckland university library with two of her friends having a productive day of revising

kezia had a nice day out with a friend in takapuna

jane did loads of house work

i had a busy day at work

this evening esther and I went to Massey University for their second open evening, this time to hear a lecture on their engineering department which sounded very interesting

well, the exciting thing of the day is i’ve been chosen with a few other photographers to be part of an exhibition on the auckland waterfront next month.   The first workshop is next Tuesday evening so all very exciting stuff.  bit more info here: http://www.queens-wharf.co.nz/queenswharfphotographyexhibition/

i had work.  jane spent the day cleaning the bathroom and walked the dog.  it was glorious she said (referring to the dog walk i think)

this evening jane and esther went to listen to some people talking about university courses at the local university open evening to give esther some ideas.

esther found my dressing up box

the girls went on various errands with varying degrees of success

and at some point jane and kezia went to watch some amazing cookery device being demonstrated.  now they want to buy one.

this was my chair at work this morning

we got the ferry back to Russell after our 11 hour tour hand finished

we went to our favourite restaurant for dinner to celebrate our 6 years since arriving in New Zealand on the 13th October 2009

and then we went back to the bach.  jane went to bed and i forced myself to go outside and take some pictures of the stars with my new camera lens which i use for taking photos of concerts

turns out its wide angle and low light capability are great for start photos!

this tree was helpfully illuminated by a rare passing car at one point which was nice.

after Cape Reigna we went back to near 90 mile beach to do some dune surfing

here are way more photos than you’ll want to see

obligatory safety instructions

this lady was funny – despite very strict instructions that you couldn’t wear shoes and you should remove any lose items – she wore her boots, sunglasses and her handbag.

so everyone climbed up the training slope

here’s esther’s first run

then kezia

then jane

it was still very windy making holding the boards tricky while walking around

here’s handbag lady

quality

after the training slope the guide took esther and kezia up to the big slope so they could get up some good speed

here’s kezia

she managed to stop just before she crashed in to the river

here’s esther

she stopped IN the river, despite doing lots of breaking on the way down

kezia went back up for a final go

after the dunes we went for a fish and chip lunch by a little inlet

and then went to a kauri museum/shop

and finally a kauri grove

saturday was the day we caught the bus to cape reigna.  it was a full day with lots of photo opportunities so i’ll post it in two parts

we left the holiday house at 6.40am to get the 7am ferry to paihia.  the coach was waiting for us when we got there just as the sun was rising.

after a brief stop to buy some provisions (morning tea) we then headed on to 90 mile beach

we’d chosen the saturday for the trip as we’d hoped the storm which blew through on friday night would have passed through.  unfortunately a few showers and lots of wind remained.

it was quite busy on the beach (which is also a motorway)

the westerly breeze was pushing the tide in so we could only drive for a short while down the beach

we saw a dead dolphin

after 90 mile beach we drove up to Cape Reigna which is at the top of new zealand

it was hugely windy

cloudy but not rainy, making it all rather dramatic

an asian lady took this photo of us.  we’re all laughing as the flash on my camera popped up slowly and lifted her hat up!

on the way back to the bus esther worked out a neat way to keep her hair out of her face and her ears warm

the weather forecast for Friday afternoon was a bit rubbish but the morning was gorgeous

this is the view from jane and my bedroom, and from the table where i sat outside for breakfast while jane went for a run

while she was running i went for a walk round to the next bay so i could take some photos looking back to long beach where we were staying

you can see our holiday house in the picture above.  we’re the lower white house on the waterfront

int he next bay there was a dotterel nesting.  it ran up to me as i walked on the beach

i would have missed the scrappy nest had it not been for the four garden canes and sting and a little sign saying it was a nest

these birds are so clever to mark their nests like that

by mid morning the wind was starting to blow in so we walked in to Russell and got ferry across the harbour to Piahia

the girls found a little library

and we had fish and chips / sushi sitting outside listening to some teenage buskers until it rained

we sat upstairs on the ferry on the way back as we were between rain showers

but the wind was getting up and the bay was getting a bit squally

so when we were back in Russell we went to a french museum of a printing press thing which was set up by some Catholics to print maori things

this bucket contained cow wee to soften leather

the girls had a go on the print machine

then it was time for afternoon tea then back to the holiday house for dinner and board games and an early night as we were to be up early the next day.  you’ll have to wait for that installment

so, after the rough weathers of day 2 and 3 (updates coming soon) everything was peace and calmful

so we packed up and left

this is how close we were to the sea:

we had a walk round russell up to flagstaff hill the scenic route and back again

after our walk we had morning tea next to the beach

before starting the three hour drive home

on the way back we stopped at the Dome Cafe for lunch and some puzzling

we picked up pearl on the way back too and are now home and unpacked.