Friday 28 October 2016

Sun, sea and reading at Whakatane Beach




What a view! This scene at Whakatane beach warmed my heart - it was a perfect sunny Spring day, a slight breeze in the air - no wonder this couple was sitting int he sun on their chairs reading books. The island in the distance is named Whale Island apparently :-)

Linking up with Skywatch Fridays :-)

Wednesday 26 October 2016

Macro photos from Whakatane's Hillcrest Cemetery

Recently the other half bought a macro lens for us both to experiment with...so here are a few of my favourite images I took at Whakatane Cemetery last weekend - enjoy:


I spotted an old watch that someone has put inside a hole on a Celtic gravestone - I wonder if it belonged to the occupant?




Fabric daisies that have faded from all the sun - these were sitting in a jar next to a grave.




Mum - a plaque belong to who must've been a dearly loved member of someone's family.




A green and red Echevaria thriving in a pot with other succulents.




Moss on an old pottery jar at another grave - looks like it's been there for quite a few years.

More info on Whakatane's Hillcrest Cemetery here...



A very nice peaceful place that is well looked after :-) Linking up with Macro Monday...


Tuesday 25 October 2016

Yellow gazanias and driftwood sculptures at Ohope beach





Over the weekend we did a bit of a tiki tour around Whakatane, one of the spots we visited was lovely Ohope beach. Beautiful hot sunny Spring day and awesome scenery - yellow gazanias growing in the sand on the hillside and a driftwood sculpture on the sand - just perfect!

Linking up with Our World Tuesday :-)

Thursday 20 October 2016

Sand patterns at Mount Maunganui beach




I saw these patterns in the sand the other day at the beach - they looked fascinating to me, even though the sea and the waves made these I thought they were really cool, especially the way the sun and sky was reflecting on the water :-)

Linking up with Skywatch Fridays...

Monday 17 October 2016

Super starfish at Mount Maunganui beach




Our walk along the beach Sunday morning was a bit more interesting than usual...instead of just walking along the sand we explored the rock pools as the tide was out. We spotted thse large starfish clinging to the rocks in the low water. Something I love checking out are all the sea creatures so these guys were very cool to photograph :-)

Linking up with Our World Tuesday :-)

Saturday 15 October 2016

Surfcasters at Sulphur Point




It's been good to have a change in the weather here in Tauranga, so much rain over Spring but for the last couple of days it's been sunny and warm, certainly Summer is on it's way. After work on Thursday I braved the traffic queues to drive out to Sulphur Point Marina, one of the local places near the extensive port.

These guys looked like they were making the most of an afternoon off from work - not sure if they caught anything but I sure was envious of them :-)

Thursday 13 October 2016

Tauranga Busking Festival

This week has been the Tauranga busking festival in the main street at Mount Maunganui - plenty of teenagers and youngsters out there trying to raise a bit of pocket money for themselves.





Such an array of sounds and different types of musical instruments - these ones above were using hollow plastic drums to create their beats.


What did you get up to last weekend?

Sunday 9 October 2016

The Sun Princess





Every year from October through until about April we have International cruise ships coming in and out of Tauranga Harbour.

This morning, while dropping my daughter off to the bus stop I spotted this baby coming in accompanied by the coast guard boat. The Sun Princess was built in 1995 and operated by Princess Cruises, it cost US $300 million, has 15 passenger decks and can take 2010 passengers. It's based in Australia and frequents NZ, Vanuatu and New Caledonia.


Thursday 6 October 2016

Blowing gales at Tauranga Marina




Typical Spring weather here - first rain, now it's been blowing a gale - all sent over from Australia.

Despite the finicky temperatures I still managed to capture this shot at the Tauranga Marina yesterday on the way home from work. This is one of my favourite places to stop and take photos at - there's something about water that's so peaceful and calming :-)

Monday 3 October 2016

There is colour all around...





Now that it's Spring here and we're pretty much over all the rain, there is colour sprouting up here there and everywhere. Rhododendrons and Camellias are making themselves well known around the city - some in vibrant pink, some in purple, some in white.

I'm awaiting some dry days so I can actually get out and about instead of being stuck inside all the time - typical Spring weather I think...

Cobden Observation Post

  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 too...