Coming Up Close

  3 days before Christmas on the 22nd of December we made the spur of the moment decision to drive to Christchurch as my youngest was interested in buying a car there. While driving the 3.5 hours we saw some amazing scenery through the alps in Springfield and Castlecliff - these mountains to the left and right were recently subjected to a Summer bushfire and the authorities don't know how it started. When it's Winter sometimes these roads are closed and the mountains are covered in snow. We had a very quiet stormy Christmas day - B and I have family that are in different parts of New Zealand. I'm not use to not being busy with family eating, drinking and talking so we relaxed and watched movies. B cooked up a roast pork that I had been given by a work colleague when I swapped a smoked snapper fish fillet with her and I made a custard cheesecake. We are all very chocolated out now but I miss my grand daughter and family... Linking up with Through my lens , Tuesday Treasures ...

  This was from last week, the ladies in the photo were walking so fast it looked like they were zooming along. I was watching a weather forecast online last week which covered the whole of New Zealand and it looks like we are in for quite a rainy Summer this year - something to do with  La Niña so we will probably have days of rain then days of heat and humidity. Linking up with  Weekend Reflections   and the  Weekend Roundup .

  Plunket is a big inconic name here in New Zealand. The Royal Plunket Trust has provided a range of free services for improving development and health of babies and children under the age of 5 for literally years. It became more of a popular organization in the 1950s, hence the style of this building. Babies and children were weight and had their height measured, in fact my 3 children were Plunket babies too. The organization is still going today. This building is in Pukekohe, I thought the roses were beautiful so I snapped a photo of it as we drove past. Linking up with  Skywatch Friday   and  Tom's signs .

  B decided to put up our Christmas tree last week then he discovered that some of the lights don't work so he ordered some more online. The decorations are probably over 10 years old so maybe time to buy some new ones at some point. I was surprised 1 of our 4 cats didn't take more interest in it. And a couple of weeks ago B and I were invited to my oldest son's wedding in Auckland. On the left is my sister, my ex mother in law then me with my one grandchild. She is soooooo cute and I got to babysit for the night while my son and daughter in law went out and relaxed.  Edited to add: there were other family members here, they just weren't in this particular photo. Linking up with  T hrough my lens ,  Tuesday Treasures ,  My corner of the worl d   and  Wordless Wednesday .

  I've been seeing alot of Christmas trees lately. These ones above and below were seen at Christchurch airport when we were there 2 weeks ago. And this one was seeing outside The Warehouse in Pukekohe, Auckland. Nice to see places getting festive. Linking up with  Weekend Reflections   and the  Weekend Roundup .

Ngāti Kohua marae - we drove past this one on the way to Auckland Airport in Mataitai which is between Orere Point and Clevedone so more South Auckland. It has an outer Urupa (family Maori cemetery) and the church is Anglican built in 1912. It was a very overcast day - we had visited B's sister in nearby Orere Point. Last time we were there was a good 7 or 8 years ago, I was hoping to get photos of the beach that they live literally 2 streets away but there was not enough Summer sun. I was expecting to see some more Pohutukawa trees too but the warmth has been late this year, the trees are known as New Zealand's iconic Christmas tree. Linking up with  Skywatch Friday , All Seasons   and  Tom's signs .

  While we were in Auckland recently, we drove out to South Auckland, in particular Pukekohe after making a last minute decision to try and catch up with one of B's old school friends. Unfortunately we couldn't catch up with him so we stuck around the town for a couple of hours and stopped in at one of the many cafes to have brunch. I ordered my usual Hazelnut Mocha along with a favourite meal of Eggs Benedict with Salmon.  Linking up with  T hrough my lens ,  Tuesday Treasures ,  My corner of the world   and  Wordless Wednesday .

  This is another one from a year ago of the surburb "Devonport" on Auckland's north shore. 2 weeks ago I posted about the restaurant " Vondel " which is at the bottom of this main road into town. There is an old theatre up the top of the road, not sure if it still gets used or not but most the street is full of old buildings from when the town was first populated. When I was in my early 20s I worked in this town as a legal typist for lawyers and I use to spend my lunchtimes browsing the shops. Linking up with  Weekend Reflections , Lydia's Favourite Fotos   and the  Weekend Roundup .

  Seen guarding the entrance of the New World supermarket in Pukekohe - haven't seen too many of him around so far this December. I think you can just see the rainy sky in the reflection of the windows. It's been an interesting last couple of weeks. New Zealand is meant to be having Summer right now but so far all of the country seems to have 2 sunny days then 2 days of rain. Myself and my family has had a nasty flu that's been going around. My daughter gets bad asthma and it sounded like she was about to get pneumonia so I rushed her to the hospital to wait for an appointment as they were fully booked. She ended up seeing a doctor who said she had a chest infection. Summer flu bugs suck. Linking up with  Skywatch Friday , Lydia's Xmas Linky   and  Tom's signs .

  This is one of my favourite inner city roads - Karangahape Road in central Auckland City has changed over the year. When I was growing up it was full of pubs, ethnic clothing shops etc and was a home for prostitutes to hang out in their various spots. After prostitution was legalised here in 2003, it became less common to see them walking up and down the road. Now K Road as it's now called is mostly full of bars, restaurants, cafes, artist galleries, businesses etc. It's becoming more upmarket. Linking up with  T hrough my lens ,  Tuesday Treasures ,  My corner of the worl d   and  Wordless Wednesday .

  Santa has been spotted in Silverdale Pack n Save Supermarket - seen last weekend while we were in Auckland for 4 days. Linking up with  Weekend Reflections   and the  Weekend Roundup .

  I think the whole of New Zealand finally has a taste of Summer. There has been a rumour here that if the red Pohutukawa flowers come out befere Christmas then that means we will have a good Summer season. This tree is known as the country's official iconic Christmas tree. Linking up with  Skywatch Friday   and  Tom's signs .

  While driving through Auckland city over the weekend we drove around trying to find this giant Christmas tree in Downtown Square near Britomart train station.  And on the other side of the square these Christmas balls - the same as you would put on your tree but alot bigger in size. Linking up with  T hrough my lens ,  Tuesday Treasures ,  My corner of the world , All Seasons   and  Wordless Wednesday .