Surf's up at Lyall Bay

I met Daya, Libby, and Esther for coffee at a cafe in Lyall Bay last week and caught some surfers on camera, as well as a couple of very cute shots of Daya and Arlo. Lyall Bay is top of my list of places to live in Wellington at the moment - awesome mix of cafe's, beach, beautiful scenery and all a stone's throw from the city, not to mention the airport!

Spring has sprung...

On one of the first spring days of the year we decided to visit Wellington's botanical gardens, then Zealandia - a huge bird and wildlife sanctuary on the outskirts of the city that is bordered by a 7ft fence protecting its inhabitants from pesky mammals like rats and possums. The sanctuary aims to cultivate a piece of land in it's most original form possible, ie, with birdlife that isn't threatened by the predators that were introduced by NZ settlers. It was amazing to stand at the centre of the park and just listen to the cacophony of bird calls. And we saw some takahe getting fed - they're like giant pukeko's, mind you that won't mean anything to english folk! Just look at the pic....

The lesser-spotted, red-breasted Izzy...

 A takahe!

 

Pretty but poisonous

This is a photo I took whilst walking through the botanical gardens on my way to work in March this year. I've just re-discovered it on my phone and thought I'd add it to the blog since it's (in my life at least!) pretty rare to see these pretty but poisonous toadstools. I once wrote about them for a school project at age seven, I think mum still has it in a box somewhere..!
The weather at the time was turning autumnal, and this fly agaric appeared over the course of about three or four days.

Out and about with the Frondies...

Izzy has met some lovely people at Fronde where he works, and we have started up a 2-weekly quiz night! Well, we try and make it 2-weekly, but it doesn't always work out. Krislyn and Marcos knew a pair of quiz geeks when they saw us (well, more me) so they invited us to take part in a quiz raising money for a local school. We came 3rd out of about 25 teams I think, so we did us proud!! Here is a snap of the team...

Krislyn also kindly invited us to her 50th 'pink themed' birthday party, which was fab. You'd never guess she is 50, I think it's the Indian genes!

Skiing!

Exactly 6 months after our wedding in the February sun, we headed up to Taupo to stay with Izzy's cousin Charlie, her husband Rob and their pooch Oscar for a weekend in the snow on Mount Ruapehu. After waiting for a couple of weeks for a sufficient 'base' of 100 cm to appear (Izzy's criteria, not mine!) we headed up to Whakapapa resort on Friday 10th August...

It was a stunning morning - we left early for the scenic drive and I don't think i've ever seen such a contrast of hazy morning mist and bright blue sky in one place before! Must be something to do with the lake...

This photo to the right shows Mount Ngauruhoe, it's got a classic volcano shape with a flat top, then to it's left - Mount Tongariro, which was still puffing with steam from its erruption earlier that week! Eek! Made for an incredible backdrop to my first New Zealand ski expedition.

And here's Ruapehu.

So once at the top, skis rented, picnic packed, we headed up for one of the best days skiing I've ever had! Hardly anyone was there so the lift queues were tiny compared with what I'm used to in Europe, and while the pistes are shorter and there's a distinct lack of trees, there was something pretty special about skiing on a volcano.