Coming Up Close

I know Spring is a time of change and quite often when I lived up north I got use to extreme weather such as cyclones, hurricanes, heavy rain and flooding but when I moved down here to the Bay of Plenty the temperatures were similar but none of the weird weather patterns.....until now. Winter for us was quite dry and mild but now that Spring has struck it's been non stop rain, to the point where outside our Apartment this morning manholes were overflowing with rainwater. I'm starting to feel like I'm in Noah's ark! Linking up with Skywatch Fridays :-)

I'm loving these lighter days and longer nights - last week when I left work I was happy to see blue skies and only a few clouds. Summer is nearly here!  This shot is outside my work, the building above with the reflections on the windows belongs to one of the city's major newspapers the Bay of Plenty Times. More Weekend Reflections here - have a great weekend :-)

Now that nights are getting lighter and days are getting longer, recently I thought I'd drive by Tauranga's waterfront for some sunset photos. This one I managed to catch of the bank Westpac's building and apartments in the background, which I might add most likely get a terrific view over the water and harbour. On another subject, we heard some very sad news yesterday....one of our closest friends unexpectedly passed away from an aneurism - she was only 51 years old and was someone who was a very generous hard case awesome person, we will miss her a great deal :-( Linking up with Skywatch Fridays ...

Photos taken 2 weekends ago when we almost thought Summer was making an early entrance - this week its' been constant rain and seems like Winter is sending out a last minute blast like it does every year at this time. I'm actually looking forward to warmer days where we can feel the hot sand under our feet and paddle in the waves. Hope things have been warm for you this week - more Wednesdays around the world and   Skywatch Fridays here :-)

On our travels between Whitianga and home last weekend we stopped in at Waihi, a historical mining town in the Hauraki district. According to some internet googling I've done the Cornish Pumphouse was once next to the Martha Mine to fit in with a big steam engine designed to pump water out of the mine. The pumphouse was used until 1929 but from the 1930s was stripped of all it's machinery and left uncared for but in 1983 it was registered with the NZ historic places trust. In 2001 it was moved to a safer site 300 metres away and made more secure. The mine however from the 1880s until the 1950s was originally underground and became very important for finding gold and silver but since 1987 it has operated as an open pit. From reading news stories over the years it appears that due to the mining various properties around the district have collapsed into the ground from sinkholes so some of the ground is quite unstable, nevertheless it is one of New Zealand's p

While enjoying our weekend last week in Whitianga there were times I walked around with my camera taking in the scenery. All of these are what I snapped down by the local wharf...the first was a fishing trawler moored at one of the piers, the second is the same boat and the wharf from the beach and the third was a keen fisherman with his two surfcasting reels stuck in the sand waiting to catch some fish. Definitely a place I would gladly go back to :-) linking up with Skywatch Fridays .

This weekend gone we travelled 2 1/2 hours up to Whitianga for the Scallop Festival - a small town on the Coromandel Coast that hosts a fun filled day eating Scallops cooked in different ways by different stall holders. Let's just say that for us it was an expensive weekend but we had an absolute blast. Among the crowds of people and yummy food these fascinating stilt people were showing off their costumes. I don't know how they did it but they walked around for hours on stilts inside their clothes - pretty funky huh?

On our Sunday walk each week we walk past this restaurant about 5 minutes from where we live, it's been hard to know what the name of it is as there are so many distractions in front of the building....artificial grass floor, colour barrells filled with water, a painted bicycle, a crazy dressed up mannequin and more inside the main window. It's usually always busy and has people dining inside so they must make good food. Anyway after digging through the internet I found out it's called the Mount Social Club ...wonder if whoever decorated the place is perhaps an artist? Someone very creative anyway :-)

It's that time of year, the time when hayfever nearly makes my nostrils explode but something good we saw in the weekend was these lovely Freesias. In amongst the tussocks and grass these were growing wild out of the sand dunes - we could smell them as we walked down the path. Love the colours, don't you? Linking up with Our World Tuesday and Wednesday around the world :-)

I haven't been around at all this week, it's been one of those weeks where everything has been chaotic and busy and tiring. Thursday night myself and a work colleague had a seminar to attend so I didn't get home until late, last night I wasn't home until around 6pm-ish. It's one of those jobs where the work is hard and the hours are long. Despite the busyness I still managed to get these shots of Tauranga CBD first thing in the morning - perfect Spring mornings with plenty more colour in the skies. Hope your week was good and not busy like mine :-)