Coming Up Close

  I'm sharing a little mural this week seen in Westport last time we were there. The meaning of "Kawatiri" refers to the Buller River. In Māori it means "swift and deep" and is linked with the Ngāti Rarua chief Kawatiri who watched over the trail between Ngai Tahu and Ngāti Rarua lands. Linking up with  Mural Monday .

  In big cities like Auckland there seem to be more and more new shopping malls and buildings cropping up everywhere. This street scene I took through the car window while we were driving around the outskirts of the central city. So I looked up their website and it looks like they specialize in makeup along with haircare and skincare etc with quite over inflated prices, no doubt there will be a lot of people who can afford to pay those amounts. Think I'd rather stick to my routine and try to age well gracefully. Linking up with  Weekend Reflections   and the  Weekend Roundup .

  This has been one of the early buildings in Westport from the 1870s that is still being used for the local newspaper, so much old Victorian architecture in New Zealand. We have had a bit of a rainy start to the week here. I was called for jury service a few weeks ago but luckily when I turned up to the local courthouse my name wasn't on the list so I was dismissed. I wasn't looking forward to having to tediously sit in a courtroom. It's been bonkers this week at work too. Just so many easter eggs are being bought. I don't eat chocolate anymore, it seems I've gone off the taste. Linking up with  Skywatch Friday   and  Tom's Signs .

  A few weeks ago, we took advantage of the nice early Autumn weather to drive to Fox Glacier. From where we are in Greymouth the journey took nearly 3 hours but there was some amazing scenery on the way which made it a bit more interesting.  This is very popular place for tourists and after we passed the Waiho Bridge we were able to get a far off distance view of the glacier. Once we parked the car in the busy carpark we were able to walk a very short distance along a path, about 15 minutes. The glacier was originally given it's name by Aotearoa's prime minister Sir William Fox. According to Māori history the glaciers were formed after the sky father Rangi froze the tears of Hine Hukatere who was weeping her beloved's death after he was carried by a fast flow of snow when they were out climbing the mountains. Her final resting place is known as Fox Glacier and the frozen tears are known as Franz Josef Glacier. The glacier itself is 300m above sea level and it has been ret...

  So many shops in Westport that are down the main street. I couldn't help but notice the sign on the left advertising a jewellery shop. I'm not much of a jewellery fan, in fact anything I wear including ear-rings has to be almost surgical steel as I'm allergic to most types. In my years of retail I've seen many people adorned to the max with jewellery such as many rings on fingers, not my thing. I've had a very quiet week. I was meant to be working extra days but I've been hit with a head cold which pushed me into making an appointment with my doctor to get my next flu vaccine booked in as I'm overdue for a renewal.  Hopefully will be feeling alot better today and tomorrow. Linking up with  Weekend Reflections   and the  Weekend Roundup .

  Once in a while we love to venture out on a mini road trip. 3 weeks ago we decided to drive south where we stopped at Whataroa to enjoy lunch and coffee. It's a very very small town and in 2013 the population was estimated to be around 288 people but I wouldn't think it's grown that much since then. This cafe " The Lonely Stag " is where we got out of the car to stretch our legs. The cafe served beautiful food and they had a part bengal "cafe cat" that let us pat her.  Speaking of travelling, we dropped my daughter R off at the Hokitika Aiport earlier this week as she is spending 2 weeks in Northland at a friend's wedding. She will be catching up with friends from school and visiting family up there. She also has high anxiety so I was really proud of her for organizing everything and flying up there by herself.  I also bought 5 packets of Freesia bulbs to plant along the front fence so I'm thinking that by Spring we should have a lovely row of...

  We've been living in Greymouth nearly 2 years now and we finally got to complete this walk to the Cobden WW2 Observation Post . It took about 20 minutes in total but it was such a nice sunny Autumn day that we didn't mind the exercise. After what seemed like 100 steps but was probably less we finally reached the top. Let's just say my legs were like jelly. Nearly at the top in this one, sad to see someone had written some graffiti on the outside of it. We could see one side of Cobden (a suburb) over lots of house to where the beach begins. And over to the other side of town where the shops and river are and to the opposite side of Greymouth. Sadder even still to see people had partied inside and sprayed more nonsensical graffiti - seems to be the norm these days doesn't it? Linking up with  T hrough my lens ,  Tuesday Treasures ,  My corner of the world   and  Wordless Wednesday .

  Another colourful utility box I spotted near the centre of town. This one features green and pink Kiwifruit (as we call it here). Painted by local artist Mark Haldane aja Raja. Edited to add : I don't think pink Kiwifruit exist but red does, anyway it's probably how the artist has painted them. Linking up with  Mural Monday .

  Different foods from ethnicities here seems to be popular and I can see why - European food can be bland and boring. My favourite food types are Turkish, Vietnamese and Japanese. An old photo from our days in Kerikeri. Weather forecast for this week. Autumn has really hit here. Last night we had a low of 3 degrees celsius, normally that is a Winter temperature. We have just put the electric blanket on the bed and mucking around with our mattresses as B's back is forever moaning and groaning. Personally I think he's getting old (he will be 60 this year) and as we all know as you get older your body starts to complain. I've started wearing socks to bed and so far we have had only 1 cat on the bed with us at night but don't think it will be long before the others will be doing the same. Here we only get snow on the mountains, we don't get snow in the streets or anywhere else and it's more of a dry cold not like when we lived in Northland where it was very damp.  ...

  Opua wharf and shops (not a house) Nights are starting to get chilly here and darker earlier. Mornings are starting to become dark until after 8am. We are in the 2nd week of Autumn.  I made a decision recently which was that as soon as the mortgage is paid off on my house, I'm going to try and move back up to the north island again as it's too far away from my family. Good news is that house prices have grown here to the point where my house is worth quite a bit more than what I paid for it and Greymouth no longer has the lowest priced properties. The shop from the other side. Speaking of home I did have something funny happen this week. I got talking to a couple at work who were tourists here and in the gist of the conversation they said they were from my home town on holiday and what's more is that "she" was my oldest son's high school teacher. Makes me miss home even more. Linking up with  Skywatch Friday   and  Tom's Signs .

  For the first time ever we visited the gypsy fair as it was in town this weekend. It is an event that use to be quite popular but over the years the products that are being old seem to get more and more expensive. It was cloudy, overcast and chilly but before we left the sun came out and it warmed up. Not my thing but it was good to get out. After about half and hour we had enough and left. Linking up with  T hrough my lens ,  Tuesday Treasures ,  My corner of the world   and  Wordless Wednesday .

  I spotted this dog kennel outside one of our local hardware stores. It's outside the front entrance in case customers want to let their pet rest there while they are inside. This little mural has been painted on the outside and features a border collie named "Dog" who lives on a farm. Back in the 1980s a movie was made from what was originally a comic strip " Footrot Flats " and was very popular. Linking up with  Monday Murals .

  I've been looking at real estate around the country recently and it seems there are only a few towns in New Zealand where you can buy a house reasonably priced. Most town house prices have gone up to on average of 14% just in the last year and in some places you can't buy a basic house for less than a million or so - which is why we moved to the west coast. Since we've been here we've made some very necessary changes to my property such as putting in a new kitchen and a huge deck on the outside, next up is the bathroom. So far it's added a good amount of profit to the value. Linking up with  Weekend Reflections   and the  Weekend Roundup .

  While we were driving to Franz Josef last week we walked around the main street in the small town of Whataroa. This is a tour group which takes people out to the nearby sanctuary which has White Heron birds, I imagine it would be popular with tourists. Linking up with  Skywatch Friday   and  Tom's Signs .

  In a post last year I talked about the local herd of goats that wander around town eating overgrown vegetation. There seem to be 2 groups of them, sometimes they are together and other times they separate. Last week I managed to quickly get a shot of a group of them near the railway bridge in town. The baby ones are so cute. Edited to add: Yes the train tracks are still used but not all the time, probably twice a day and the goats are not in one spot long enough to get hurt, they move around the town. Linking up with  T hrough my lens ,  Tuesday Treasures ,  My corner of the world   and  Wordless Wednesday .

  Near the top of Karangahape Road and Pitt Street in Auckland City is this religious mural (as I think it looks) on the side of the one of the old buildings, it seems to be situated right next to the Methodist Church. I'm not sure who it is meant to depict but thanks to Tom the artist is Owen Dippie from Kawerau. Linking up with  Monday Murals .