Coming Up Close

Great news. A couple of weeks ago I mentioned in a previous post that I got approval for a mortgage from my bank so we spent some time searching for a property in my budget. We found this one which is about 4 minutes out of town which needs virtually nothing done to it. At the moment we are getting paperwork together for lawyers and the bank so fingers crossed all goes through. (not my photo). Linking up with  Skywatch Friday

  Linking up with  Through my lens ,  Ruby Tuesday ,  Tuesday Treasures ,  My corner of the world  and  Wordless Wednesday .

I found a new mural on the outskirts of Greymouth. In nearby Runanga on the side of the Workingman's Club is this one which depicts the historic sports wall of fame featuring rugby league, basketball, tennis, boxing, cross-country running and marathon running. Linking up with  Mural Monday .

On Greymouth's main road on the way into town is this monument dedicated to those locally who fought in the first world war between 1914 - 1918. It's a substantial monument and the inscription on the bottom says "Remember with thanksgiving the truth and faithful men who in the years of the great war 1914-1918 went forth for God and right". Lest we forget. Linking up with  Weekend reflections  and the  Weekend roundup .

Kumara is about 20 minutes south of Greymouth on the way to Hokitika and it's one of those little towns originally put together by gold miners. This building was built in 1870 with a manager and one bank teller working within. By 1876 there were at least 3 other banks in the town; this one, the Union Bank and the Bank of Australasia. Linking up with  Skywatch Friday  and  Tom's signs .

 It was that time of the year again, time for my car's warrant of fitnes. Because of it's age which is still relatively new, mine only needs to be done once a year - any cars older than a certain age need to get theirs once every six months. Thankfully because I look after my car it passed no problem. Linking up with  Through my lens ,  Ruby Tuesday ,  Tuesday Treasures ,  My corner of the world  and  Wordless Wednesday .

One more local utility box - this one depicts a Fantail aka Piwakawaka and the artist is local man RAJA aka Mark Haldane.  Linking up with  Mural Monday .

On the corner of the main highway into Kohukohu is this sign on one of the shops saying " Kai to go ". Kai is the Maori word for food also meaning to eat, consume, feed or partake so in other words they cook pizza, chips, fried fish etc. This town is one of my favourite little places to visit. Linking up with  Weekend reflections  and the  Weekend roundup .

So just like this store in Greymouth's central town life is 100% good at the moment. We ended up biting the bullet and buying a clothes dryer only for those moments when we can't get something dry that we need quickly otherwise our electricity bill is going to go up and up. I also got approved for a mortgage which is great news. B is too old to apply as he is 58 years old and most banks have an age cutoff but because I am 7 years younger than him banks look at me more positively. So my 12 years of saving madly a deposit has paid off. We are going to start looking for our own house shortly. Linking up with  Skywatch Friday  and  Tom's signs .

I drove around our neighbourhood on a grotty day last week to try and take some photos of some of the Spring blossoms I've seen sprouting up here and there. Hopefully I can get more. I have been watching the Queen's funeral procession through Edinburgh this morning while a storm is coming through outside and while online I've become amazed at the amount of uneducated people slagging her off who don't seem to understand some of the many things she did with her life, such as serving in WW2 and being a qualified diesel mechanic - I'm not a big royalty fan but she seems like she was a dark horse to me who knew how to do more than people thought. And we heard yesterday that most covid mandates are being scrapped so people will no longer have to wear masks in businesses, only in healthcare. Working in retail I've seen that most are pretty good with wearing them but the majority of those who don't wear them, don't have exemptions and just don't care. Welcom...

  Another utility box I found on the main road into town. Painted by Abi (this is all the information I have on here) this one depicts Whitebait as they are commonly caught here on the west coast. I like whitebait fritters but they are not for everyone. In my region people may only fish for them from 1st September until 31 October and you need resource consent from the Department of Conservation. Linking up with  Mural Monday .

Another old one from Kerikeri this week. During one of the lockdowns we had over 2020/2021 we were allowed to go for walks around the nighbourhood. I'm one of those people who randomly takes photos of just about everything when I'm out and about. This one is of one side of the main road where these group of shops were closed. The one above labelled "Juicy Chicken" sells just that, fried chicken - I've never tried it but whenever I walked past they were never really that busy and had odd opening hours. Linking up with  Weekend reflections  and the  Weekend roundup .

An old photo from about 2014/2015 back when we lived in Mangawhai. Every weekend markets are held down outside the local hall where people sell their products. Most weeks there is either someone selling fresh Pahi oysters or fresh smoked fish and mussells. I wish I'd tried them but I never did as I am a huge seafood fan. Linking up with  Skywatch Friday  and  Tom's signs . Edited to add: RIP Queen Elizabeth II - born 21 April 1926, died September 9th 2022

In Greymouth there are alot of pubs also working as restaurants where you can go and order food. We decided since we are in early Spring here and the nights are getting milder that we would go out and try a new place to eat. The first one we turned up to was closed (it was a Tuesday night) and quite by accident we drove past this place which was open. The Woodstock Brewing Co is a bar and grill restaurant near the edge of town. The atmosphere inside was good, the staff friendly and the food good. So because we still have a thousand or so covid cases here every day masks are still mandatory inside businesses. I think people are over this rule because at my work the majority of them wear them but those who don't, don't have exemptions and don't care. When we entered into this restaurant we had ours on but once eating we took them off, as you are meant to do. I ordered pork belly with coleslaw on the side which is one of my favourite meals, it was extremely filling. We were a...

Another Greymouth mural I've found painted on a fence between two buildings in town. This one looks like it depicts the town's shipping history which involved exporting much of the coal that was mined here in the old days.  Linking up with  Mural Monday .

In the middle of Auckland City a little way up Symonds Street is this gem. It was built in memory of the brave men belonging to the imperial and colonial forces and the friendly Maoris who gave their lives for their country during the New Zealand Wars 1845 to 1872 . It was built by the Victorian League in 1920 as a tribute. Linking up with  Weekend reflections  and the  Weekend roundup .

I'm really relishing getting out and about into town now that Spring is here. If you haven't heard through the news New Zealand has had some stinker storms, one of which recently was suppose to hit the West Coast but thankfully it missed us, sadly it hit Nelson and parts of Northland where we use to live. Thankfully the Grey River here has stop banks on either side and we don't seem to get as much rain as other parts get so flooding isn't an issue.  Linking up with  Skywatch Friday  and  Tom's signs .