Kiwi Kulture

Yesterday we had a bit of New Zealand culture.
We went to the Tauranga Art Gallery and saw a great exhibition by a local artist. The gallery is a great place to sit and watch the world go by (we weren’t allowed to take photos in there, so this is a picture of Tzipi with the program)



Then we went to see an ‘o for awesome’ New Zealand movie called Boy. www.boythemovie.co.nz



Tzipi has since taken to calling everyone she meets an ‘egg’ (an affectionate way of saying dumb) and wants to learn how to do a haka.

To show her to some Maori culture we taught Tzipi how to do a hongi (a greeting where your squish noses) and we visited the waka (canoe) and some carvings that are on the Tauranga waterfront.

April Sun

Sunny days in Autumn are the best, the sun isn’t too strong to burn, yet it’s hot enough to wear tee-shirts and warm your bones through :-)

Each season has its own special advantages for a walk on the beach.



Autumn means the last holiday makers and the last swim in the sea and then the surfers with the extra thick wetsuits take up residence once again.



Tzipi enjoying autumn sun at Mount Maunganui

Poppies at the beach

The 25th April is a half day holiday in New Zealand.
Anzac Day is about honouring the memory of WWI veterans who fought at Gallipoli in Turkey.
ANZAC stands for Australia and New Zealand Army Corps.
here's more info – thank you Wikipedia :-)

Tzipi and I had all the best intentions to get up early to go to the dawn parade, unfortunately our hard day of house hunting yesterday caught up with us, and the best we did was to hear the air force plane do its fly by at the end.



We did pop down to the Cenotaph later on in the morning to see the poppies.

And then Andrew took us out to Yum Cha for lunch.



Which was a nice relaxing end to a frantic weekend!
Tomorrow we're out for lunch with friends, maybe a spot of shopping or to the beach if the day is as lovely as today :-)

Tzipi's 1st day Topsy Turvy

Tzipi arrived safely from France yesterday, luckily missing the big volcano ash hoohah in the Northern Hemisphere.

After a great nights sleep to help with the jet lag her trip down under started with a couple of tastes...

a taste of the outdoors, a visit around the orchard and a rest in an avocado tree



and a taste of classic Kiwi lollies, she's currently enjoying a bag of Pineapple Lumps for tea (she's on her hols so it's okay!)



And she caught up with a fellow flutterbutt - Clear sky, (currently convalescing after loosing an arm in a car accident, he's just waiting for it to be found, learning to do everything with the other hand has been fun!)



For the next wee while we will be sharing all of Tzipi's experiences of being topsy turvy :-)

Crazy Days and Sunshine

5 weeks ago I decided that I needed a change, so I resigned from my job and threw myself at the mercy of the Universe.
Andrew has been great, encouraging me to do what makes me the happiest….
Of course my ideal would be to create constantly, however it has yet to pay for the lifestyle we're accustomed too!

Lucky enough the Universe was watching my back and I now have a fab new job, which I start in 2 weeks.
The new job means a move north closer to Auckland.
So far we've discovered that country cottages in spitting distance of the city seem to be a little lacking in their availability, crazy days :-)

Our blog has been honoured with 2 awards lately, which is so cool!
So'll spread them out a bit :-)



We were honoured to receive the Sunshine award recently from http://theartofzencrochet.blogspot.com/ and http://raigecreations.blogspot.com/

Here are the rules of this award...

1. Place the logo within your blog or post.
2. Pass the award on to 12 bloggers.
3. Link the nominees within the post.
4. Let the nominees know they have received the award by commenting on their blogs.
5. Share the love and link to the person from whom you received the award

Here are 12 blogs that I love to read that bring the sunshine in :-)
http://krishenkavintagetreasures.blogspot.com/
http://alteredpages.blogspot.com
http://areleldesigns.blogspot.com
http://bellalinadesigns.blogspot.com
http://whentrulestheworld.blogspot.com
http://thecrochetloft.blogspot.com
http://jeanneselep.blogspot.com
http://redberrycrochet.blogspot.com
http://reloveddesigns.blogspot.com
http://fairrosie.blogspot.com
http://dropstitchblog.blogspot.com
http://softearthart.blogspot.com

And Tzipi is on her way here from France as I type!
Hurray!
Watch this space :-)

I've been window shopping.....

A Softearth Koru For...

softearthart

$15.00

Postcard Mermaid

sonikamonica

$3.00

Retro Brooches

intothewoods

$22.50

Party Dress For Barbie

viridis

$18.00

Sweet Felt Butterfly...

cloak-bagger

$10.00

Fabric Babushka Doll...

s4sh4

$40.00

Glass Spider Ornament

sylph_glass

$16.00

Retro-style Peg Bags!

manukablue

$15.00

Coffee Plunger Cosie

swirl

$25.00

Berry Cinnamon - Han...

sweetescape

$4.50

Pattern To Make Duct...

blendy

$10.00

Felt Rose Ring

wildguava

$15.00

Lessons learnt from a cycling holiday

The Otago Rail Trail has fabulous scenery and is almost impossible to catch on camera, even more so if you don’t get off your bike first

When crocheting flower chokers for all of the ladies (9) on the tour whilst on the bus, try not to get too detailed, it takes forever, the shoulders and neck suffer and you will feel queasy going around corners

After the first 70 km’s it’s easy to believe that the seat has no padding, don’t believe this and leave the bike out in the rain over night, that seat is really a sponge

The heel of the hand is the place that takes most of the pressure so when making your own cycling gloves put reinforcement on that bit

When you are the youngest on the tour it can be a little embarrassing to be the last to arrive, do lots of practice

It is a fantastic achievement, totally breathtaking and I highly recommend it!