It is summer - it really is....

It's thundering and lightening and pouring with rain.
Today it's just the humidity that proves the season we're in...  not like last weeks trip to The Mount  :-)



Pretty Pacific views

 

Pohutakawa is out before Christmas -
I think that means we're in for a long summer :-)

Mount Maunganui Main Beach

Out and About

A couple of weeks ago we popped up to Matakana for a weekend.  It has a pretty good Saturday farmers market and just out of town there is a craft market too.

It's been a few years since I was at Matakana and it's moved from sleepy country village on the way to the beach at Omaha to popping visitor destination.

 St Andrews church by the craft market. Reminded me we live on a Pacific Island

 I'm a sucker for a tree tunnel

Brisk winter walk along the beach at Orewa

Picnic up the Penninsula

Finally!  A weekend day that's not too windy or rainy :-)

Awhitu Peninsula is a lovely place to spend the day with a picnic

Love those cabbage trees!

Lots of fab Tea Tree Koru's

Where the Manukau harbour meets the Tasman Sea.

Australia is out there somewhere...

There's a kind of arts and crafts exhibition/competition at Pollock next month, I'd like to become inspired enough to enter :-)

Toadstools and Black Sand

We are having a bit of an explore and getting used to our new surroundings...

At the end of our road are loads of these toadstools.
They remind me of the ones you see in fairy tale books, and I expected to be captured by elves or faries whilst I was taking the photo.



The pretty white sand beaches and blue Pacific Ocean of Tauranga have been replaced with the black sand beaches and fantastically wild Tasman Sea of the rugged west coast.



I've missed my crochet hook, and yesterday I finally got to unpack the craft room, hurray! Now....... what to make??

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

Shawls and Shores

This has felt like a ‘Summers here’ weekend.

We went down to the beach early on Saturday for a walk, it felt like the calm before the Christmas storm. Soon the bachs’ (holiday homes) will start to fill up and then the beach gets busier and busier.

The tempo changes, so many people on holiday gives it a real beachy vibe, it means it’s easy to relax by popping down to the beach for a walk or a drink on the way home from work.

We also popped to the hardware shop and I bought a piece of aluminum rod which we bent into a supersize hairpin (yep, I’m still excited about the hairpin lace!) And voila, I whipped up this summer shawl out of that cotton I bought the other day. I think it’ll be just the trick to keep the shoulders warm on those long summer evenings that are on their way