cockpit model shoot

Both Blake and Freya decided the light was "good" for a modelling shoot in the cockpit. (ie. the sun was out!)

 

 

 

 

shakespeare park barbeque with our 'Libellule' friends

Yesterday we enjoyed the Shakespeare Regional Park with our French friends from the catamaran Libellule.  The sun came out and the wind dropped to almost nothing, very NZ at this time of year!.... So with the nice day we enjoyed a barbeque and fun in the park to celebrate.



Blake gets some Professional help in his Frisbee technique

Starting the barbeque....a few paper towels and A4 paper later.....we have fire!

Captain Cook, Guillaume the Barbeque Chef

Guillaume found a bottle of wine with his surname on it, so a baguette and wine were very French for the day!

I made Blake his monkey swing



Pauline had requested a NZ Carrot Cake, so I made one to celebrate!.....(thanks Mum for the recipe!)

We taught Yves some very important techniques when in a field of grass.

Now these guys sail to Chile, then Antarctica!  Brrrrr!

 

 

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dockside bubbles

a real ssssslow study

 The kids loved do a snail study this last week.  Making houses and racing the snails was a great success!  There was one little snail of Freya's called “Cheesecake” that escaped (I re-named it Freedom), so we are still trying to find it somewhere on board!..... I must re-check the spinach!

wheelie cockpit fun

One of the great things about presents you receive a year ago is that when you find them again you get excited all over again and want to use them.  They kids found their "Wheelies" and decided that the cockpit was a good start for them before moving to the footpaths.  Blake sorted out the rail to hang onto.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Air Conditoned Biminy - Storm Damage

 

 Another storm that hit us (amongst most of Auckland residents) helped in shredding our biminy even more.  We then had to "trim" the edges so they wouldn't keep us awake at night!

Air conditioned biminy!

Don't think I am supposed to see the rig through the biminy!



Trimming the frills!

 

Mowing the lawns!

Double Rainbow

 

Our very own pots of gold

Is the gold over there Mum?

 

Kingfish and Jellyfish, Gulf Harbour Marina

This morning I got woken up by kingfish again, they certainly like to bang around boat!  Even the neighbours had their boat 'bashed' by the kingfish today too which was pretty exciting for them as they haven't yet experienced it until today.  They were some pretty big ones there today - I never tire from watching them.  After the tide changed, the huge jellyfish came in, absolutely huge tentacles on them!

Freya's Face Painting

Morning Dolphin Display, Hauraki Gulf

Lovely to be woken up by a display of nature at its best.

Essential books for blokes

Kawau Island, Hauraki Gulf

Our plan to escape the marina and head out on the boat over the Easter break didn’t happen because the weather was a bit “iffy” so we thought we could have our Easter break now with a lovely forecast. You never know when the last of the nice weather will end before the cold winter months begin. Heading out of the marina we were greeted by flat calm water and (almost) summer temperatures. It was nice not to battle strong winds as we’ve had constant strong winds that have been annoying. We hadn’t gone to Kawau Island since before Freya was born (now aged 7 years), so we thought it was a great weekend to go.

Kawau Island is a lovely island just north of Auckland, and can also be accessed by Passenger Ferry from Sandspit. Every day tourists head over there by ferry to experience the lovely quiet island and to see some of NZ’s history with Mansion House and the old Coppermine just over the hill. (There are plenty more walks over the island, but with little legs, they tend to run out of steam after about an hour or two so we will add them to our ‘to-do’ list.)

We went via Flat Rock (just to the East of Kawau Island which often bigger fish hang around) and didn’t catch the big whoppa I was hoping for, but did catch Kahawhai for dinner, which got smoked with our portable smoker. It’s so lovely to have fresh fish, such a treat!

After spending the night at Mansion House we went walking the next day to the Coppermine, then re-anchored further in Bon Accord Harbour to see friends to whom we spend a lovely sunset with having cocktails! (haven’t done that for a LONG time!) The next day I went fishing in the dinghy (to have a bit of ‘quiet’ time and came back with dinner which was quite exciting as that doesn’t happen very often! It’s not often you are fishing and have a Weka on the foreshore watching me. After a restful day we then headed back, saw dolphins and caught more dinner on the way home – a lovely bonus.

Thumbs up!

Our weather beaten biminy cover.  Might need to replace it within the next 10 years!

Captain Blake heading to the Mansion House

Resident Peacock, Mansion House

I just love the rich colours of the 'eyes' of the peacock tail.

The Mansion House Peacock

Swan Plant Butterflies, Mansion House

Swan Plant Butterflies, Mansion House

Coppermine Walk, Kawau Island

Spotting the Coppermine, Coppermine Walk

Inspecting the caves, Coppermine Walk

Coppermine Ruins, Kawau Island

Cross Section through the Coppermine, note the "Taylor's shaft".

Some remains of the copper still seeping through the land.

Freya spotting the copper rocks below.



Watching the fish below, contemplation

Evidence that we were all here!

 

Sunset in Bon Accord

 

Visiting friends for cocktails at Sunset