Second week of hols

On Easter Monday Will and I drove out to Makara. It is less than half an hour away from home, but somehow we had never got around to it in the last 2 and a bit years... The beach was pretty busy with loads of people taking advantage of the public holiday, and reasonably good weather. We had a lovely bracing walk up the hill to the gun emplacements. It was pretty windy up on the tops, as you might be able to tell from my rather wild hair in our self-portrait below!

We had good views of the Makara wind farm, and went for a wander to one of the turbines which has good public access.

After we had walked back to the main beach we stopped in the cafe for icecream before heading home. We'll definitely be back.

During the middle weekend I had a road-trip to New Plymouth with Geoff and Richard to play my first ever masters badminton tournament, the Taranaki Masters Open. It was loads of fun. I did OK, coming 3rd in the doubles with a woman from Manawatu whom I had never met before (let alone played with!) and then winning the mixed plate final with Richard. A couple of Geoff's friends from North Harbour also came down to play, and the 5 of us staying in the motel managed to win 9 bottles of wine amongst us, so it was all good! The weather on the Saturday was gorgeous and I had time to wander down to the waterfront and chill out a bit before the badminton started. It had been ages since I was last in New Plymouth, and I was impressed by what I saw. My friends Nicky and Neal who live nearby(ish) in Eltham came to watch me play a couple of games, so it was great catching up with them. Here's a couple of pics, not exactly the type of day you want to spend inside in a badminton hall!

 

During the last week of holidays I managed to fit in a Pilates class every day bar one, so that was good. I also spent a bit of time in the garden. I pulled up the last of the tomatoes in the greenhouse, and am trying some leeks, silverbeet, beetroot and onions in their place. I'll also put in some more lettuce/salad leaves. The best thing about the greenhouse is that the chooks don't tend to go inside, so shouldn't scratch everything up!

I was pleased to grow my first ever red capsicum... We had several of them and they tasted amazing. We've got stacks of carrots we're eating, plus still have a few beetroot left, albeit topless because the chooks have demolished all the leaves...

Another holiday job which was good to cross off the list was booking our flights to the UK this Christmas. We fly to the UK on Sunday 9th December, fly from there to Singapore on 31st December for a few days catching up with the bro and his woman, and hopefully a few days chilling at a beach somewhere (Malaysia?) before arriving back in NZ on the 11th Jan. Am looking forward to the trip already!

Easter Holidays

A few weekends back we went to the first Hurricanes home game of the season. We went with Elvie and Mike, and it was an entertaining game. It was very close, but the Hurricanes just fell short. Nevertheless, they are still doing a heck of a lot better than many predicted this season, after losing so many of their stars...

Recently we have bought ourselves our first digital SLR camera (the Canon EOS 600D for those of you with an interest in that sort of thing...). We are really enjoying it, although haven't really got it off its 'auto' settings yet... It will be fun learning how to use it properly. Brendon Doran, I might be asking for an hour or two of your time and expertise to go through a few things with me a bit later down the line!

Birds in our garden have been the first subjects we've been practising on. Luckily they are in plentiful supply...

The chooks have also been willing subjects. They really are part of our family, but sometimes they do take things too far, as seen below! We almost need to put one of those kiddy-gates on the patio doors to keep them out of the house! Yesterday I was working down in the garden so had the patio doors shut to keep them out. I heard one of them start squawking, so came up to discover she was all alone. Her two sisters had managed to get into the house by hopping up onto the outdoor table, then entering the house through an open window!

 

Dad came to stay for the night recently, and he bought down a huge bag full of surplus silverbeet from the garden for 'the girls' which was much appreciated. It remains their all-time favourite food.

A couple of weeks back my rugby team had their first match of the season. I'm not playing this year, but I helped out as needed with a few of the managerial type duties. I was kept pretty busy, and was tired by the end of the match, and I didn't even play! Traditionally, we always have the first court session of the year after the first match. I, along with 3 others, were the judges for the evening. The theme was super-heros for the forwards, and super-villians for the backs. Us four judges decided we would be the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles...

 It was a good fun night, and good for team bonding, which was the main purpose. Everyone entered into the spirit of it, and us judges didn't get anyone to do anything too nasty...

 

 

Last weekend Will and I attended the wedding of Anna and Dane, friends of mine from badminton. They had the most perfect weather for it, and it was a lovely afternoon/evening. It was held at Ohariu Farm, out the back from Johnsonville, and it was a gorgeous rural setting. Good food, good wine, good company... What more could one ask for...

My school term finished on Wednesday afternoon, so I now have a glorious 2 & a half week holiday to enjoy. It hasn't got off to the best of starts as I've had a stinker of a cold the last few days. It seems to be improving, so fingers crossed... The upside was, I did manage to read three more Jack Reacher books in the first three days of holiday, as I wasn't really up for much else! I've now read the first 12 in the series, meaning 5 left to go.