Coming Up Close

I've been spending some days outside at work during my lunch hour and in the garden is a small selection of roses of pink and apricot coloured variety. They smell divine! And the "mum" plaque at the top was seen at Whakatane Hill Cemetery at while ago - someone obviously was well loved and missed... Linking up with Macro Monday and Our World Tuesday :-)

Gotta love early Summer mornings along Marine Parade, part of where I walk each day. This is a road along the beach that's lined with mostly posh multi-million dollar holiday homes. As you can see on the left of the photo there's one that's been built and on the right are a ton of carparks as this area gets very very busy over the Christmas/New Year season - the beach is extremely popular. Lucky we live 5 minutes away so it doesn't take us long to walk if we want a swim :-) More weekend reflections here ...

Summer is here at last - stinking hot heat, blowflies coming inside, afternoons sitting in traffic jams  - all these things rock.....not. So, it was so nice to be able to get out in the fresh air to nearby Papamoa Beach and walk along the sand. It's now time to separate the winter clothes from the summer ones, put blankets back in the linen cupboard, start putting sunblock on and enjoy the long sunny days. Enjoy your Friday :-)  Linking up with Skywatch Friday .

Yesterday our Sunday drive consisted of something a little different....instead of sticking to the main highways, this time we drove around the little back roads and did a wee tiki tour. One place we ended up in was the Kaituna River and the bridge above it leads into nearby Papamoa. Looked like there had been a number of hopeful graffiti artists down there trying to decorate the pillars and while we were there I got a quick moving shot of water skiers racing past enjoying the fast moving current of the river. Linking up with Our World Tuesday ;-)

I really like this view - on our time at the Ngamuwahine River a couple of weeks ago we were getting ready to leave by driving across the road leading to the main highway and stopped to admire the scenery - so peaceful and scenic, what do you think of it? Linking up to Skywatch Fridays :-)

Today was one of those breezy sunny Spring days where you just know Summer's not far away. What started out as a walk along the beach turned into watching the Junior Surf Lifesaving crew practice on the sand. Was about another hour and a half before we finally got home so a good walk was had by both of us. Linking up with Our World Tuesday :-)

Last weekend early on a Saturday morning I ventured down to our local Pilot Bay to watch one of the big cargo ships leave Tauranga and head out to sea, I was there for about half an hour and didn't see it go past but I did see lots of hopeful people trying their luck with fishing off the wharf - including this dad who was setting up a line for his little boy. It was a bit chilly for a late Spring morning so I headed home for the warm sheltered sunshine :-) More Skywatch Fridays here :-)

On a recent drive to find somewhere different to visit we came across this lovely quiet place about 15 minutes out of town down a gravel road off the main highway. The Ngamuwahine River runs for about 19 kms and was such a peaceful wee spot - perfect for paddling or swimming - no doubt there are probably eels swimming around in the water. We couldn't believe how quiet it was there. Linking up with Our World Tuesday :-)

Reflections on the sand, low tide,...these kayakers were making their way across the beach out to the water. One of them has some really awesome tattoo work on his arms and can you see the ship in the distance? Apparently it had been there for quite some time, unable to come into the port as it had some unsafe cargo on board. Linking up with Skywatch Friday  and Weekend Reflections :-)