Blue skies, treats and the end of an era

Hello friends

Going back to where I left off in my last post, we were heading out to Porangahau beach for the first trip of the season in our campervan over the recent long weekend.

What a lovely sight to take in once we arrived and set up. 

By Friday lunchtime the camping ground was packed out, and it was the busiest we'd seen the place for the past few years.

We had a wonderful few days, the weather was hot and sunny, and we really enjoyed the break. Fishing, lots of beach walks, barbeques,company with our friends, and family visiting.  Diesel was in his element, making lots of new four legged friends on our beach walks and around the camping ground. 

We have another beach weekend trip coming up soon, just before Glenn starts a new job. He has taken a role with a local building construction firm, and this role will involve some out of town travel for various contracts. He's excited for some travel to other parts of New Zealand :)

A little while ago, I celebrated a significant work anniversary with the disability service where I work. To mark the occasion, I treated myself to two very special treasures: a beautiful leather knitting bag and a pair of Cohana scissors from their latest collection.

This is the Re.Designed Project 39 knitting project bag in Dark Cherry, absolutely gorgeous colour, purchased from Wild and Wooly Yarns here in NZ.  It took me awhile to decide on what style and colour as there's a wide range to chose from.

It's presently containing a baby blanket project for a friend's new baby coming in early 2027.

This is my second pair of Cohana scissors, and I just love the colour of these, a stunning blue. 

This week we celebrated a huge milestone for Hannah as she has now completed high school, and she has had a very successful year. At last night's School Prizegiving she received awards in Tourism, Life skills and also, a Prefects' Scholarship towards her studies next year. 

I still clearly remember the day Hannah first started school - how excited she was to finally go to school, she’d spent the weekend wearing her uniform, and one night even slept in it.  I also remember going to my friend’s house after taking Hannah to school on that first day and bursting into tears because I then knew how quickly she would grow up.  And here she is now, 18 years old, about to commence a new part time job at one of our local supermarkets for over the summer months, and has just received confirmation this week on acceptance into her chosen course next year, Beauty Therapy. 

Hannah on her very first day of school, 7th May 2013

Hannah, 18 years old, 4th November 2026
 

We are incredibly proud of everything Hannah has accomplished, and we can't wait to see what the future holds for her xx

In other news for this week, I'm going on a spur of the moment weekend away with Glenn tomorrow. We're off to Auckland for a concert. Glenn's friend can no longer go so I'm now tagging along, ha ha. Looking forward to weekend in the big city, maybe some shopping, and definitely a drink from Starbucks!

See you soon xx

Lots of Stitching and stash

Hello friends

Last month I had one more start for Sampler September, With Needle and Thread, by Brenda Gervais. I'm using the recommended threads and 40 count Legacy by Picture this Plus linen. I can see why this has been a very popular design, it's a lovely stitch.

For my holiday stitching project, I chose to take Home on Quaker Lane to Australia with me and I enjoyed a few hours of stitching time at our apartment.

I found the perfect charm accessory for my project bag, couldn't resist this cute mermaid from one of the souvenir shops.

While I was away, some new stash arrived that I'd preordered from Angelic Needlework, a couple of new Scarlett House charts, a cute chart from Stitches by Ethel, and from 123 Stitch, the new Wee Santa 2026 by Heart in Hand, and I also bought two PDF charts, by Erin Elizabeth, and Hope by Shakespeare Peddler.

"Hope" will be my Christmas holidays project start once I've collected the threads and decided on a fabric to use.

This cute needle minder by Caterpillar cross stitch caught my eye, perfect for spring time stitching. 

As well as working on several secret stitching projects lately, I pulled out House Rules by Primrose Cottage Stitches and managed to finish Part 2.  

This week's project choice has been A Daily Reminder by Brenda Gervais. I haven't stitched on this for many months.

This coming weekend we get a four day break thanks to two public holidays, Hawkes Bay anniversary tomorrow, and then Labour Day on Monday. We're heading out in the campervan for our first trip of the season to Porangahau Beach. Our friends will also be there with their campervans so it should be a fun weekend catching up with everyone.   The weather forecast is looking perfect, which is quite unusual for this time of the year, so it will be all go fishing, and lots of walks along the beach with Diesel. 

See you soon x

Mooloolaba, Australia Holiday Time

 And just like that, our wonderful Australian holiday has been and gone.  We were away 8 nights in total as we had a night in Auckland before our early morning flight to Australia.

We left Napier on a beautiful spring day, and enjoyed lunch at a waterside restaurant in Ahuriri before our flight.

Once we checked into our motel, it was time to catch a train into the Auckland CBD,  where we checked out the new city rail link stations, and also visited the Sky City Tower.  It was a lovely evening for some city viewing. 

Up early, for a short walk from our motel to airport, this trip we were flying into the Sunshine Coast airport, only a 3 1/2 hour flight.

We arrived to sunny, warm weather in the Sunshine Coast, and after sorting our rental car, it was a short drive to Mooloolaba, to find our accommodation, Osprey Appartments.   These are a short walk from the main street, and directly across the road is the beautiful beach.

We headed out to find some lunch and explore the main street and beach.

Glenn and I joined the surf club,  and would enjoy a few cold drinks and meals here over the week of our stay.

Most mornings we'd be awake early so would head out for a walk and enjoy a coffee before the morning warmed up, and we got on with our plans for the day. 

Of course, one of the days involved checking out the Sunshine Plaza, a large shopping mall. 

My absolute favourite day of our trip was visiting Australia Zoo, somewhere I'd been wanting to go for a very long time.  And we were in luck as the Irwin family were there, being school holidays.  Crikey!

That's Robert Irwin, enticing Graham the crocodile, their biggest one!   The afternoon show was very entertaining.  I think we spent nearly five hours at the Zoo, and it was very warm day so we were all very worn out that night. 

We also checked out the Eumundi Markets, hundreds of stalls - clothing, food, arts and crafts, skincare, etc, we were there on a Saturday so it was really busy with lots of people around. 

The weather couldn't have been better. A few days were on the hot side, but we thoroughly enjoyed being in the sunshine.

Even though we were busy getting out and about most days, we still found time to relax by the pool, enjoy a swim, read a good book, and simply enjoy being on holiday.

We enjoyed delicious meals out for breakfast and dinner, so many great cafes and restaurants to choose from. 

On our last full day we decided to go on a cruise on the Mooloolah River. 

A good way to take in the sights, lots of amazing properties, great views back to Mooloolaba, and learn a bit of history of the area as the Skipper told us lots of stories throughout the trip. 

Before we knew it, our lovely holiday had nearly finished and it was time for our flight home.

We arrived back in Auckland about 6 pm then our flight to Napier had us arriving back in Hawkes Bay about 9.30 pm. We finally arrived home about 10.45 pm, happy to be home and see our good boy, Diesel.  What a fabulous holiday we had, especially spending time with Hannah and her boyfriend.

See you soon x