Saturday, March 10, 2012

Auckland Zoo 02/25

Pedicure??



Flying thru the water.

duck, duck, duck, gooo...duck

Let us pray.

Love birds.
awesome zoo

nanc and her new friend

The King

He looks mad!


Had this guy eating out of my hand.
One of the best days you can spend is at a local zoo...today we tackled Auckland's, nice overcast day so it wasn't to hot...we even got to help feed the Giraffes...way cool stuff

Lunch with Martin Engler 2/21 - 2/22


     What a day...returned the car in Auckland, and then while running errands we ran into the Flying Kiwi bus, Holly, Steely and our friend Martin Engler...we are having lunch with Martin later this afternoon...got great pics walkin around the city, catching the train to Mt Eden and then walking back to our flat.

     Rainy...here when it rains, it rains...we caught the bus from Mt Eden down to the CBD of Auckland to meet up with our old buddy Martin. Martin invited Natasha along, she's a fellow Flying Kiwi adventurer from Australia. We sat and talked about all we'd seen and done...wow did we do alot of stuff in 27 days. Natasha was heading home to a small inland town close to New Castle and Martin was continuing his travels heading 1st to Adelaid and then Sydney...Martin is a world reknowned artist...maybe he's in search of new material or ideas., his home is Switzerland and it didn't sound like he was heading there soon. In the spring of 2013 he is hoping to have an art show in Vegas...Deb, Nanc, Steve (from Alabama) and I are going...It was nice seeing Martin and Natasha and we wish them safe travels.
Martin the Artist and Natasha the Horse Trainer.

2 cultures...1 city...Maori and European.

The city.


Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Goodbye Deb...last dinner and dishes.

our new flat


after sleeping at camps, this is a palace

nice walk up to the village


Mt. Eden

progressive area

cool old buildings

last supper



dynamic duo

reminds us of deb


great day

sweet as

great mural
02/20
     Debs last day with us...got into Mt. Eden about 5pm, checked into our most cool newest flat and then headed into Mt Eden for dinner...settled on The Molten Restaurant...food not so good, wine excellent. An early night for us so Deb is well 
rested for her long, long flight tomorrow.
 02/21
     Today we took Deb to catch her plane home...we will miss her very much, we have been together now for about 6 weeks and nanc and I have never found someone so easy to travel with...we laughed, bitched and did a ton of dishes together...goodbye Deb!! This afternoon we did a little recon on Mt Eden, what a cool little town. Martin Engler sent us an email and we are joining him for lunch on Thursday...these are a few pics from our day.

Tauranga...David's brother Tim.

boardwalk

Our last day in Gisborne. We thanked the Langford's for their generosity and hospitality, gave hugs all around and then set off for our 6 hour drive to Auckland. David's brother Tim had spoken with him the night before and invited us to stop at Tauranga and have lunch with him. Tim had visited with debbie and her family in 1973 (in Boulder)...we accepted the invitation and headed north. Tauranga is another one of those places that's way off the tourist track for some odd reason. I think next time I come to NZ I'm only visiting off the tourist track area's...this place is awesome. Beautiful beaches, great little downtown, and what looks like tons of things to do.


great grass gardens



lots of events held here

a day late for a festival






Tim and Deb 40 years later

Left Gisborne this morning at 7am headed for Auckland...had a memorable time with Kath, Sophie and the Langford's, such generous and wonderful people...we stopped in Tauranga to have a quick visit with David's brother Tim...Tim visited Deb's family in Boulder in 1973...ya 39 years ago...we had a fun lunch with he and his daughter Victoria...when he started talking and telling stories the resemblance with David was amazing...born storytellers these boys, wish we'd of meant there father, he must have been something.

The White Picnic in the Pasture

02/20      
James, erin, Micah and Jess


kids having fun


kath giving direction

a real picnic...sort of

real sandwiches

sophie and nanc




beautiful day for a shoot



     Kathleen is a very avante-garde filmmaker...she has had an idea in her head for years and has now started filming. We were lucky to be present for what is called, "The White Picnic in the Pasture",...interesting idea and the shots she got were really good...these photos I got during the shooting. Kath has so many talents...she is a child wisperer who is amazing with kids and animals take to her like DoctorDolittle. I get the idea she doesn't recognize these talents in herself...I may have to tell her. 

Sunday, February 26, 2012

WakaAma...paddling on the river.






     The Langford's are tremendous paddler's. Suze and Rachel are world class and rank very high on team and individual paddling...they have both been in world events and placed at the top. David is also a strong paddler, on a strong team. They own, and partially own, a couple different Waka's...canoe's basically, add the word Ama and you have an Outrigger or "Canoe with an Arm". Deb and I had really wanted to do a paddle so David and Suze set it up for the  afternoon of the 19th...it was a nice overcast day, warm but not hot. We took out the 6 passenger Waka, David in back steering and from the front to back it was Suze, Debbie, Kath, Rachel, me and then David...I was between the power. If you saw Rachel you could never understand how she has the force with a paddle she does...she is very petite, lots of muscle but very small...anyway she is a force with a paddle in her hands. Suze and Rach gave us a quick lesson in team paddling and safety, we boarded the Waka, and away we went. At first the going was slow because our timing was off and we were all out of sync as a team, but in a very short time with Rach, David and Suze guiding us, we started getting it and got faster and faster...We paddled up the river about 1/2 hour and then back...great workout and very cool way to spend the afternoon.

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Kingwood Arboretum Feb. 18

one of my all time favorite benches


beautiful

the mushrooms were giant


a good day for plant watching

Deb and nanc swapping tales

Kath loved this fence




these meadows were so nice


the hat was made for this place


many little areas for sitting and taking a break

great blue colors behind the green

lots of work fencing things in and out

Nanc and her walking sticks


ahhhhhh


Cathedral - Mountain Ash

Kath getting the rocks out of her shoes...

wonderful fountain

A beautiful natural setting...lots of track's you can take, an English Garden and hours of wandering around...nice walk, interesting plants and great views. In a lot of ways I preferred this to the Botanical Gardens we'd visited.