Tuesday 22 April 2014

Down Under in New Zealand: February 28th - March 12th: Miscellaneous Photos

On February 28th we flew out of Brisbane, Australia  to Auckland, New Zealand.  The plane was delayed yet again, so we were about an hour late...which meant rush hour traffic!


This is the photo of us leaving Brisbane.



Saying goodbye to Australia


Hello New Zealand!


Beaches and Sea abound.



Farmland.

We have arrived!

We had a quiet first few days.


The garden was looking lovely despite the very dry and hot summer weather they had been having.



There were now two extra ducks from when we last visited.  Daisy had had a couple of ducklings.


Feeding and watering the ducks.



Ducks fed & watered, I wonder if there were any eggs?



On the Sunday we went to see my Mum's sister and her husband who was schooling Mellow, their horse.


A lovely horse they have been training since she was very young.




This big dog wanted to give me a sloppy kiss...her name is Sophie.



There are a lot of fruit trees in the garden that keep the household supplied all year.  Lemons, grapefruit, oranges, apples, pears, feijoas, chestnuts, as well as lots of vegetables.


A Kingfisher on the washing line - had just caught something in its mouth.


Oh dear...the one day it rained...I was hoping it wouldn't be like this for too long as we had had enough rain back in England!


I was feeling rather forlorn


wondering what to do...


...still it didn't last long and I had a good splash in the puddles.


Every time we visit - which isn't often enough, it was two years since our last visit, this beautiful fuchsia is what we see when we open the back door. 


A cicada on the tree.



A special garden for dear Bobby, the wonderful black dog they used to have.  He was a Bouvier des Flandres and was huge and a wonderful companion for Pop.  Sadly he had epilepsy that couldn't be controlled any more.  


I smell one of 'his' flowers and say a few words to him.



The Cabbage tree near the pond.


One of the lilies on the pond.


The Kaihikatea berries - these are quite tasty, you can eat the orange part.


Checking out the cicada shell.




This one is captured a bit better on film.


Helping Pop in the garden...collecting all the damaged fruit for the compost and for Lafferty the Highland steer.


Beautiful yellow dahila



A spot of tree climbing of course.


Loving the pears - they were delicious! 


A moth found in the bathroom one evening.  This is a Northern Wattle Moth/Pepe Atua, also known as an owl, moon or peacock moth.



1 comment:

  1. Glad the rain stopped and you were able to get about. Very interesting flowers, bugs, and a nice large moth. A boy's paradise to explore! Happy you were able to taste the pears :)

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