This is Westhaven marina and the Auckland Harbor bridge that links the city of Auckland with North Auckland. Books that mention Auckland: Playing to Win, Summer in the City of Sails Don't forget to enter my contest to guess how many books I will read during my...
This is a photo of the Champagne pool at the Waiotapu Thermal park, near Rotorua. It was difficult to photograph on the day we visited because the wind kept blowing the steam over the pool, obscuring the palette of colors. Books that mention Rotorua: Never Send a Dog...
A few years ago, during a trip to the Gold Coast in Australia, we went on a tour of the Hinterland. Part of the tour was a visit to an alpaca farm. I fell in love with the alpacas then and told my husband I wanted one. Alpacas are the smaller cousins of llamas and...
Last week author Jess Dee blogged at Samhain about 15 reasons she hated winter. Since it's winter here in New Zealand, I thought I'd borrow her timely topic and do a list of Thirteen Things I Dislike About Winter. 1. It's cold. 2. The cold means I have to dress in...
Number eight wire is a gauge or thickness of wire used for fencing. In New Zealand it's also a term used to indicate a can-do attitude. A number eight wire mentality means that a person can turn their hand to anything or will attempt to do anything even though it...
Our local council runs a program called Women on the Move. Each month they organize a day trip to help women get out in the great outdoors, exercise and have some fun. I took a day off writing today and joined their day trip to Tiritiri Matangi. Tiritiri Matangi means...
I mentioned last week that I was off to Wellington. I'm posting photos this week. 1. We left from Auckland Airport. 2. It was raining in Auckland, but we had wonderful weather in Wellington. There were quite a few unaccompanied children on the flight, flying home...
In Spain, they have the running of the bulls. In New Zealand we have running of the sheep. Mention the small town of Te Kuiti and most New Zealanders automatically think of sheep. It might have something to do with the fact that the NZ Shearing championships are held...
A news item caught my attention last night. On 31 July 2006 the Reserve Bank of New Zealand introduced some new coins. The 5c coin was made obselete, and they resized the 10, 20 and 50 cent pieces. I forget how many million coins they put into circulation at this...
