Mt Maunganui - April 2010

Mum's here with us in Auckland for about 10 weeks. A few days after she arrived, we took her to Mt Maunganui which is Auckland's answer to the Gold Coast. It is surfer's paradise in summer. But we were there mid Autumn and there wasn't much activity. The beach was lovely all the same and I quite liked the fact that we had most of the beach to ourselves.

On the tram ride at Kiwi 360- the only kiwifruit orchard which is open to the public. If mum had a choice, she would have filled her bags with these luscious kiwi fruits but she was under strict instructions - NO picking. Lovely shot though!

You wouldn't normally find mum at the beach but the kids wanted a dip and she agreed to come with us. We set up the umbrella for her to shield her from the glorious sun (what a waste) since that's what she preferred... The umbrella threatened to blow away because we had south westerly winds that day so that's why she was holding on to the umbrella for dear life!

Back at the bach, mum put up a good fight against the kids at Foosball! She wasn't going to lose!

Notice her sequinned evening jacket with PJs?? What a lovely combination! I've had to ban her from using that jacket to the supermarket too!

Baseball season 2010

Yes, this is John Key, NZ Prime Minister. His son plays baseball too and we occasionally spot him at Lloyd Elsmore with security guards in tow coming to support his son. Today he apparently just came from a radio interview so was a tad over-dressed on a Saturday morning but just as well 'cos Mervin the papparazzi was ready with his Blackberry for this shot! He was really friendly and had more than a few nice encouraging words for Erica. Go National Party!

It's not often that both Tim & Erica get "Player of the Day" on the same week but this week, they did!

Some generous parent from the team donated these shirts so all the Blue Jays got personalised jerseys.

Joy of parenthood

This is a page from the scrapbook Erica did for us last year (October 2009) for our Anniversary. Was packing my desk and found it. Children are such a blessing!

New Year's Day - Sports Day and back to Maitai Bay

Never a dull moment at the campsite. Today, some regular campers got together to organise a family sports day. Everyone was encouraged to participate - from 3 year olds to 83 year olds. There were running races, potato races, wheel barrow races, tug of war and lolly scramble.
After lunch, we returned to the magical Maitai Bay, which for me, is the most beautiful beach I've ever visited. I couldn't stop photographing it but I don't think the photos could quite capture the magic of the place.

Mr Minstrel gets the kids ready for the Sports Day

Some wheel barrows buckled in the heat

Pull, pull, pull

Contemplating the world at Maitai Bay

A game of baseball at Maitai Bay

Cape Reinga trip

Day 4 of our trip, we took a tour to Cape Reinga, the northern most tip of New Zealand as well as where the TasmanSea meets the Pacific Ocean. The views were absolutely breathtaking. Our singing bus driver Sunny explained that Cape Reinga has a lot of spiritual significance for the Maoris as it is where the spirits take leave of New Zealand to return to their homeland in Hawaiki. On the home stretch, we stopped at the Sand Dunes where we all had a turn at tobaganning down the 50 / 60 degrees steep sand dunes. The climb up the steep dunes completely sapped every ounce of energy from me yet Erica managed to bounce up and down the dunes 4 times. Back on the coach, we drove along very scenic Ninety Mile beach, before heading back to Kaitaia.

The meeting of the 2 seas

One for the picture wall - at the lighthouse

Another shot of lighthouse



The sand dunes - pint sized Erica at the top of the dunes making her descent


Ninety mile beach

My birthday

Was s'posed to post these last month but never got to it. Had family dinner at Sura's with the Murphy's & Dominique's children. Birthday cake was home baked by Robert - thanks! The next evening, Mervin and I had dinner at an Italian restaurant in Ponsonby, Pregos.

Year 2 Athletics

Many of you may not know this, but Mervin was a top sprinter in his school days (hard to tell now I know). Well at least the genes got passed on to one of the children. We saw it today at Erica's Athletics Day. All the children in the school had to participate in all 4 events - sprints, throws, high jump, long jump. Erica got gold in the sprints, throws and high jump making her the Overall 7 year old girls champion. We knew she had a very good chance at sprints as she won that last year as well but the win for the throws and high jump was a surprise.

The sprints finals was very exciting as you can see in the video. It was a very close fight!

Sprint finals.....

Prize Giving...