Orana Park

Sunday 9th September

Yesterday was a day for doing chores etc, Yasmine went off to have her hair done while I minded Rory and Grandad well we don't know where or what he did/went hahahaha -
Today we went off to Orana Park - which is a wildlife park in Christchurch and we had not been in years so thought it would be good to do. Rory went as a baby so never remembered it at all for him it was AMAZING. It was a nice fine day and all except Rory and I had a jacket!!! it was a cold wind when we arrived so we sent grandad off to the shop to buy a couple of those plastic rain jackets, which Rory and I put on straight away, we looked like we had been wrapped in glad wrap but they did keep the wind out. Brian stayed until midday and he went back home to Yasmines and came and picked us up at 4.00pm, by that time we had seen all the park with thanks to the little shuttle cart that ferries you around, the park without having to walk for kms and kms. We ended the day by going out for dinner with Yasmine, Adam,Rory my sister Angela, hubby Martin and younger nephew Ian who was back from church camp. We had a nice meal at Robbies in Riccarton a great way to end a great day, we were not late as Rory had school on Monday and everyone other than Brian and I had work.

Enjoy the Photos:

Yasmine and Rory  we love you so much xxx

James turns 21

Friday 7th September

With Rory at school and Yasmine and Adam at work, Brian and I had a bit of time to ourselves. We would either have Yasmine's car and if not we would just walk to the local shopping mall - Hornby Hub.
This time when we were there my sister and both nephews had - had birthdays and we had decided to celebrate James 21st with a families get together however as happens this did not happen so Brian and I and Yasmine and Rory decided along with my sister we would go over for tea on the Friday night to catch up with them and the boys. James was home however Ian went off to a church youth camp - we had a great night and took some lovely photos of the family and boys.

 Uncle Brian, James, Aunty Chris and Ian.

Martin, James and Angela.

Angela and Ian above photo - like peas in a pod these two.

Above photo: Ian,Aunty Chris,James - aunty is getting left
behind look at the height of these two.

 Cutting the cake - it was so yummy

James and Angela - I  love this photo.
And now at least I have some really up to date photos of my two
wonderful nephews.

Christchurch here we come!!!!

Wednesday 5th September


The dad finally arrived for us to head south to Christchurch for 7nights
to see the families - wahoo is a girl excited hell yeah and so were Yasmine and Rory. We left Turangi on a cold and wet morning to head north again toward Taupo and onto Rotorua for our flight to Christchurch. We left Turangi at 1000am and arrived at Rotorua Airport at 1210pm after a nice relaxing drive - I drove this time to allow Brian to relax and take photos. Our flight to Christchurch was not until 1.55pm so we checked our luggage in first before heading to the cafe and ordering coffee and a bite to eat as we had a bit of a wait before we departed south. We found a nice sunny spot by the window with nice comfy lounge seats - we took over the area first in first served, when we arrived there the terminal was empty anyway. There is a departure tax payable of $5 per person before you are allowed to board any aircraft - we used to have this in Christchurch also however it casued so many problems they did away with it. Our flight was duely called and we boarded, sat back for the pleasant flight south to Christchruch and awaiting family, we arrived in Christchurch to a loely warm day and an excited little boy and his mum. Once the cuddles were over we went and collected the luggage and headed to Yasmine's car for the drive home where we would stay for the 7 nights, Yasmine is only 15mins from the airport so we were home in no time.

 Above Photo is flying over the Mighty Southern Alps

 Above photo is the New Zealand capital  - Wellington

 And guess who was there to meet us - Yasmine and Rory, Grandad cut Yasmine's head of :-(

My precious grandson Rory xxxx

On route to Christchurch 2012

The next section of our trip will be our Christchurch visit, so watch this space for some photos of our beautiful city, it is slowly rebuilding although there is still alot of demolition work continuing in the CBD which is still fenced off so you are unable to get into the actual City of Christchurch.
More to follow folks - thanks for taking the time to look and read.

Last day here Turangi

Tuesday September 4th - Last day in Turangi

Once again we woke to rain and a very cold wind so we stayed in bed until around 0930. Had breakfast, showers etc - Brian went down to say goodbye to them at the Hatchery and to see his friends at the Tongariro Motels. While he was away I did all the washing and had to put it into the drier to ensure it was properly dry before we packed to head to Christchurch tomorrow.. Later in the day we vacumed through out and that meant all we had to do the following morning was clean the bathroom and loo. We went for our last dip down to the hot pools and as there was hardly anyone there we managed to get longer in the pool which was great, it was so wet. We arrived back at the house and made a cuppa and stayed in for the rest of the night.

Turangi stay almost over

Monday September 3rd

Monday dawned with rain and I was going to go to the river with Brian however as I had no wet weather gear I decided to day home. It started to rain much heavier and we spent most of the day inside in the warm and dry watching TV and I did some of my digital scrapping tutorials and re organised some folders for my digital downloads. The photos below of the daffs were being grown in a garden next door to where we were staying -  luv the white one as I have never seen a white daff before.

More Turangi - Day 6

Fathers Day - Sunday Spetember 2nd.

We decided last night that today we would go for a bit of a tourist tiki tour as we may not be back here again. We left the house at 1000am and took a lovely drive down to Waiouru via the Desert Road with the might amazing Mount Ruapehu, it was very overcast and drizzly and the cloud was very low, we thought well we wont get to see the mighty mountains and it certainly looked that way the closer we got to Waiouru. However as luck would have it the cloud slowly started to lift we took some photos from the Desert Road side of the mountain jsut incase we didn't get anymore. We drove onto Waiouru and Brian wanted to go on down to his old navy haunt Irirangi, the old building is still there however it is no longer a radio communications building, it now is some kind of stock feed place. We took some nice photos of some sheep and the mountains and then headed back via Waiouru and onto Ohakune via the National Park. Ohuakune is now thriving winter ski resort, we stopped here for a coffee and comfort stop and took some photos. Driving on we were amazed at the greeness of the countryside and the beautiful snow capped mountains. We continued onto the Chateau at Mount Tongariro, the scenery was just amazing clear clear blue sky we could not get it any better. Another coffee to be had at the Chateau and some photos for remembrance. It was so clear we could easily see the chair lifts up on the mountain. We drove back to Turangi via the scenic route, and booked to go out for dinner for Father's Day - Happy Father's Day Brian and my (wonderful darling Dad Angus Small - RIP). Brian and I went out for dinner at the "Lakehouse Restaurant at the head of Lake Taupo , past the Tokanau thermal pools - no hot pools tonight though. The food service and presentation was superb we would definately go back there again if we ever are back that way. We arrived back home as full as a tick.

Still Turangi - Day 5

Saturday September 1st:

We had a nice sleep in today which was just lovely as it was really chilly and foggy - however NO frost. Had breakfast and watched a bit of TV. Brian decided to go down to the river while I did the chores, I actually cleaned the slider door windows as the folk before us must have had kids and there were hand marks all over them and it was driving me made having to look at the mess. I decided to write some postcards to the grandkids and a couple of others to work LEP and Fort Knox Storage. Brian rang to she he would be back in about an hour. We did nothing today just stayed around the house and in the arvo went out and did a bit of shopping and later in the day to the hot pools for a soak - simply heaven.

Turangi - Day 4

Friday August 31st.

After a good nights sleep we woke to NO frost yippee.I went down to the river with Brian this morning and took some great photos. We came home and made a cuppa got showered and changed and decided to drive through to Taupo. We needed to go to Telecom as there was a problem with our NZ mobile - we were advised their system had changed and that - that model would no longer work!!!!!! good on ya Telelcom.We had a lovely lunch and coffee and then went for a walk through the main CBD of Taupo and took some photos. We then decided to head on and have a look at the mighty "Huka Falls" the power of the was is just amazing. We frove back to Turangi it was lovely and sunny however the wind was very chilly. Arriving back to the house we made a cuppa and spent the remainder of the day inside out of the chilly wind. See my coffee that the barrista did for me - how cool is that - good onya NZ

Turangi day 3

Thursday 30th August 2012:

We had a dreadful night sleep, both wide awake at 0300am, so got up and made a cuppa and went back to bed, I read for a while and finally must have fallen asleep and woke with Brian waking me to say he was off fishing, I got up to see him off and re locked the door and went back to bed until 0900am. Got up and showered, did washing, made the bed and had breakfast, before arranging my digital scrapbooking folders. Brian rang to say he had landed 1 fish a Jack and let it go again and lost another (typical fisherman's story hehehe) he said he will ring when he is on the way back - should be around lunchtime. We lazed around this arvo and then went back to the hot pools for a soak before tea. It can get very busy and crowded later in the day and early evenings due to the skiers coming off the mountain.

Below photo's are of the most beautiful daffodils that were being grown and cultivated in a property next door to the Police Holiday Home where we were staying - I have never ever seen a pure white one until this very day - they were stunning and a wonderful sight.