Coming Up Close

One thing I like to do is to drive to places I've never been to. On our recent trip to Maketu Beach it was a very windy late Winter's day and not many people so when I spotted this surfcaster with his line in the tide I sat down on the sand and got some pretty good shots - looks like the seagulls were seeing some life in the water too and were hoping for a small snack :-)

Those rare winter days when it's fine outside means it's a good chance to go for a walk. For us we like to venture to the beach nearby, about 5 minutes walk away and such a good chance to people watch. Do you do that too? This shot was taken of some friends with their dogs enjoying the waves and grandparents taking their grandchild in the stroller. Unfortunately today is back to rain again - would've been perfect to have been at home with a good book, such is life when you have to work :-)

We've had too many gloomy winter days here so when a bit of sunshine popped it's head out from behind the clouds today we took the opportunity to walk through the neighbour and onto the beach. Opposite our apartment is a little house on the corner and hanging on the old rickety white fence were bags laden with Grapefruit along with a clear sign - think they were being offered for $5NZD per bag, pretty cheap really but these are way too sour for my liking. Do you like them, if not what is your favourite citrus fruit?

So even though we're still getting light coatings of ice on our cars in the morning, by the time I leave work at night it's not so dark. A few nights ago I sped off the motorway on the way home and parked my car at the local Tauranga Marina to capture this sunset, if you look real close you might be able to see a couple of keen people with their fishing lines :-)

On the way home today after work in an effort to miss the 5 o'clock traffic I stopped down by Tauranga's waterfront. Late Winter colour, peaceful calm waters and chilly air. In this shot I manage to see some men trying to catch some fish.

So nice to see some Daffodils and other bulbs coming into flower right now in Tauranga - Spring can't be far away :-)

Up until the last couple of weeks everyones been saying how mild it has been here for winter. Last year at this time we were washing ice off our cars, this year we haven't seen any of that until late last week all of a sudden it hit. There was masses of flooding up north where I use to live and very very frosty chilly days here, loads of bare trees but the good thing is there are Spring flowers popping up here and there :-) Hope you've had a great week, linking up with Skywatch Friday :-)

Once in a while I stop off at the beach on the way to work, one thing that entices me there is snippets of the morning skies from our apartment - if I can see some colours on the horizon that really motivates me. This week it's been especially nippy - the other half had to wash a coating of ice off the windscreen of his work van this morning, luckily my car is under shelter so it wasn't too bad for me. This photo of Mount Maunganui beach is a scene I love to see.....calm water, the sun trying to peek through and frost on the grass. What's it like where you live right now?

We live in a townhouse in a row of other apartments on our road, next door there was a 3 bedroom house in the front of the section and a cruddy house behind it until this week when we saw house movers putting the first house up on piles. We had briefly gotten to know one of the neighbours, a young guy named Jason but then he informed us they had been given notice to move. Apparently a developer had bought the property and was going to be building a row of apartments there. We're not sure if we will lose our view of Mount Maunganui or not but we've known since January this was probably going to happen. It's not a big deal to us, I guess this is what progress means....we're hoping the new neighbours will at least be around the same ages as we are and not noisy...

Most mornings when I drive past the Mount Maunganui vet centre this painting on the large wall catches my eye...so after getting curious I googled who the artist was. Apparently it was created by an Irish artist named Fin Dac who was here in NZ in January this year, the story that I found says he tapped into the local kiwi culture to make a themed piece called Taaniko . He found a model and created this mural which resembles both woman's strength and the loss of culture/heritage of the Maori people. I personally really like it, what do you think?