Coming Up Close

Last time we were in Raglan, a couple of hours away, it was a very Spring-ish day. Here in NZ, we have weather known as "4 seasons in 1 day". We had looked at the weather forecast beforehand and it had said rain in the morning but it would clear up by lunchtime - all looked promising. Once we arrived there we stopped off at this part of the beach, got out of the car into freezing cold blustery wind - definitely  not something to enjoy. I managed to hold my camera steady enough for a minute to snap this photo of the road going past the coast, to the left was one of those quintessential kiwi baches that people sometimes still holiday in. Looks like the owners would get a great view on a sunny Summer's day - definitely not this day though.

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The other half has recently purchased a drone and on Sunday we drove around McLaren Falls Park trying to find somewhere he could test it's flying abilities.


We stopped at 2 spots but the areas were a bit exposed to the wind and the poor old drone was knocked to the ground where we found one of the propellers had come loose.


Along the way I got out of the car and went for a walk into one of the parks there, crossed a bridge over a small stream and found this area full of blooming Daffodils. Lovely to finally see evidence of Spring :-)

Raglan, which was in our travels recently we stopped after an hour or so of driving to get out and stretch our legs. This farm along the main road into the town had some curious cows out the front near the fence. This one came up to us and had a good look at the car and what we were doing.


Behind the farm on the horizon in the distance was this wind farm in Te Uku. Consisting of 28 turbines it was built in March 2008 costing $200 million NZD and covering 200 hectares. It's owned by Meridian Energy and WEL Networks. It's controlled from our capital Wellington and was officially opened by the Prime Minister in 2011.

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A few nights ago I drove out to the Tauranga Bridge Marina in the hope of catching some evening sunsets. My original idea was to walk to the top of the bridge and take some photos from there but instead I walked around past a sectioned off area around to where I could see the Trinity Wharf and Hotel in the distance. Typical Spring night, chilly and windy but I think I got a good shot. What do you think?

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On a rainy day through Hamilton we drove past the Temple belonging to the Church of the Latter Day Saints. The temple is the 13th constructed and the 11th operating operating temple. The building was completed in 1958, it was the first temple built in the Southern Hemisphere and the 2nd to be built outside of Canada and the United States. More information here. FYI I don't belong to this faith/religion, we just drove through this area out of interest.

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After being sick on and off for the last couple of weeks I finally got out yesterday and enjoyed a long beach walk. Lots of sun and warmth and when I sat on the sand above the beach in amongst the grasses I was surrounded by these lovely orange Gazanias and Freesias. Just lovely!

This is the Karapiro Power Station just out of Hamilton, the Waikato River has 8 other hydroelectric power stations - this one is the last of them. Construction started in 1940, the building certainly looks vintage, and was completed in 1947.

It's purpose is to maintain the flow of water in the lower part of the river during catchment and low electricity demand. To keep the river flow and a reasonable level only 2 turbines are needed - the third is used for peak generation and maintenance on one of the others. Mercury Energy operates all the hydro electric power stations on the Waikato River.

On this day we visited this place it had been raining on and off all morning, the stormy skies reflected in the background show how temperamental the weather has been.

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So Spring here feels like a rewind of Winter. When we left home Sunday morning the skies looked overcast as usual, we've had so much rain here lately but the forecast was that it would clear up by the afternoon.

After a 2 hour drive (at least) we got to this place just out of Raglan...Bridal Veil Falls, and you can see why it's called that right?



We walked through native bush from the carpark for about 10 minutes then got to the upper viewing platform, I was too scared to look over (being scared of heights).


Then walked down to the middle viewing area and finally the bottom viewing area, about roughly 260 steps in all, I'm sure my knees and legs were crying out by the time we got there.


And this was what we saw at the bottom, I think it was worth all the effort, don't you? Oh and the minute we got back in the car it started raining and hailing. Was quite a cold day.

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I was having a look through some of my photos I've taken around the area since we moved here in January 2016 and I found this one of a small oil tanker coming into Pilot Bay in early Autumn. The night was quiet and chilly and not many people were out and about yet we were enjoying the scenery.

Thanks to all your well wishes when I was sick last week, I'm up and about again but it seems to be doing the rounds as I know alot of other people who are now down with it. One of those change of the season things unfortunately...tomorrow on my day off we're off on a road trip, not sure where we will end up :-)

It's been almost constant Spring time rain here and I've been down with the flu, seems to happen in those change of seasons. Today I can see blue skies out the window so here's hoping it lasts for a few days.

Photo: Angel on an old grave at Te Puke Cemetery.

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The dreaming stone - Te Puna Quarry Park...

The best thing about dreams is that fleeting moment, when you are between asleep and awake, when you don't know the difference between reality and fantasy, when for just that one moment you feel with your entire soul that the dream is reality, and it really happened. ~James Arthur Baldwin

While walking along the waterfront in Tauranga yesterday the other half and I wandered past this group of sculptures that has recently been put in. In case you can't see it clearly, the sculptures are of popular NZ book characters.

Hairy Maclary from Donaldson's Dairy is a book all about a little black dog who leaves his property to go out for a walk and along the way his other dog friends join him. After a while they meet Scarface Claw, the toughest tomcat in town and who scares all of them into running back to their homes again.

My youngest who is now 17 years old use to love this book, it was one of his favourites. Definitely a true kiwi icon.

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Four season in one day....that's what you get in NZ when Spring hits. We're expecting more rain. Kinda never-ending at the moment - looking forward to some warmth and blue skies.

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