Catching Up

It's been a few weeks since my last post and the weeks are just rolling on by so quickly, and it's now the end of October, crazy! I thought I'd do a little round up of what has been happening around here today and then I'll be back with a big stitching round up - there's been lots of stitching going on!

This year, after installing some extra fencing so a certain doggie can't go digging in there, our vegetable gardens and green house have been all planted out with lots of various vegetable seedlings. For the first time in ages, I have some strawberry plants and they are going great so far - first strawberries picked last weekend. The plants are not going to produce oodles but how cool is it to pick your own. I've also repotted some of the succulents we have on our deck into new pots for bit of a freshen up and have some new plants potted up too.

               

Here's our new campervan - it's smaller in length than our previous one but it has all the features we were after, and several things have been recently replaced, including the awning. All going well, we'll be taking it out for our first trip this coming weekend to one of the local beaches.

Last week I was out on a work night, rocking away with my Mum and friend Linda at a Queen tribute show. We had such a great night, the tribute band and main "Freddie" singer were amazing. 

This year Hannah joined another dance school, so as well as her usual ballet, jazz, tap, she decided to give hip hop a go and has absolutely loved it. It was the end of the year showcase on Saturday and we loved watching all the kids have a blast with their dances. A lot of the dances had been choreographed by the students themselves, felt so proud of Hannah and her friends.

Last week we had a day out up in Napier with some of the lovely clients from my work - shopping, sight seeing and enjoying a lovely sunny but windy day.  

I was a very happy girl once I'd been to Starbucks, ha ha.

See you soon xx

Forgotten World Tour

We're back from our little break away and what a fabulous time we had! We left for our trip on Thursday morning with our friends, via Taupo and Turangi. It was a beautiful day and Lake Taupo was absolutely glistening in the sunshine. Great views of the mountains as we travelled around the lake.

We arrived in Taumarunui about 3pm and checked into our motel for the night, then headed out for a stroll around the town and found the local RSA for a drink, before having a very tasty dinner at the Thai restaurant.

Up bright and early on Friday to meet up with our tour guides and other trip participants for a safety briefing and to get underway.

Then we were off!  

The golf carts travel at 22km max and there's no steering involved, just put your foot on the accelerator and away you go.

We went through lots of tunnels, even stopping in the middle of one in complete darkness to hear all about the construction of it. It was pretty freaky! We even spotted some glow worms.

Some facts about the rail line we were travelling on. 

Now closed, the little white building in this photo was one of New Zealand's smallest post offices.

We had various stops along the way for morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea, and also to learn more about the small places we were passing through. 

The spot where this photos was taken, was exactly 71 km from the start of the journey, with 71km to go, 71 km from Mt Ruapehu, the mountain you can see, and also 71 km to Mt Taranaki. We were also stopped on viaduct, not that you would know - it was fascinating to learn about the construction of these. 

Then it was onto Whangamomona, our stop for the night. Included also in our trip was accommodation and meals at the Whangamomona Hotel.

We had a lovely evening here, chatting to some of the others in our tour group and locals at the pub.

Up again early the next morning to meet once more with our tour guides. Sadly the rain had set in and it had turned quite cold but we were able to drop the plastic sides down on the cart to stop the rain coming it. After lunch it cleared but it was chilly, thank goodness we had lots of warm clothing on.

Just after 3pm we arrived at our destination, just out of Stratford, Taranaki.  Over 142kms later, 24 tunnels, lots of bridges, and lots of information and stories told to us by the guides about the original settlements along the way. We saw lots of farm animals and other wild life, rolling hills, farmland and native bush. An awesome experience that we'll never forget.  But the trip wasn't over, we then jumped on a bus and spent the next three hours on the windiest and twisty road I've ever been on, but very picturesque.  We arrived back to our starting point about 6pm Saturday night in Taumarunui. After quick showers it was time to find some dinner before having an early night as we were all exhausted.

Sunday we drove back to Hawkes Bay but took a different route through National Park, then Ashurst and then onto Woodville, where Glenn and I were able to check out a campervan we're interested in purchasing. Having sold our other one a few weeks ago, this one will be an upgrade to what we had. It's smaller but still roomy, and has a great set up for the kitchen and sleeping area. Glenn is going to pick it up this weekend, yay!  We'll be back out to the beaches before we know it.

If you'd like to check out more about our tour, and others on offer, their website is here.

See you soon

More ornament finishes & end of September

Hello friends, I have two more ornaments fully finished, both stitched earlier in the year.

You know Dasher, which is a freebie design by Helen D, the Eastcoast Crafter and can be found on this page, scroll down.

Peace on Earth is by Misty from Luminous Fibres Arts:

I have several more finished, I just need to sew on trims, etc.  

Two charts arrived in the mail at the end of the week from Art & Frame in Christchurch. I'd been looking forward to getting both of these charts and over the weekend I started the Wee Santa, I love the colours used in this year's Santa.

Mr Diesel has been living his best life while Hannah has been on school holidays, spending lots of time curled up with her, all snuggly and sleepy, watching movies together. So cute!

Over the past few months Glenn has been working on another project, the outside deck and giving it a make over, relining the walls and painting to freshen up. As part of this, we have started painting the outside of our house, so now the wall on the inside of the deck has painted. It's going to look so different once the whole house has been completed but this might take awhile over the summer months.

It's been awhile since I did any weekend baking so I enjoyed making a few treats recently - chocolate fudge slice:

Chocolate chip muffins 

Jars of sunshine, or lemon honey, using a bag of lemons and eggs given to me a friend.  

Yum, this is so delicious on toast in the mornings.

I can't believe it's now October and last weekend Daylight savings hours started. Our spring weather certainly has been a mixed bag lately, very cold over the weekend after some lovely days, and fresh snow again on the ranges near here.  

Later this week Glenn and I are off on little trip away for a few days, the destination is somewhere here in New Zealand that neither of us have been to before. Starting in Taumarunui, we are doing a two day rail cart journey, staying overnight at the famous Whangamomona Hotel, then finishing in Stratford, Taranaki. Should be lots of fun!  

See you soon xx