Auckland: The rest

( I am taking for ever to get to my New Zealand posts. I really want to do it though because I love being able to go back and look at my Italy entries. So bare with me!)

DAY 1:

The very first thing we did in New Zealand was go to the New Zealand Fashion Show by the harbour.

After which we went to the park near our hotel to eat kebabs and admire my newly purchased ring.

Skytower was the next stop. It had a fantastic view! You can see the bridge that Adam is about to jump off in the photo above.

We ended the day with a dinner cooked back at the hotel while watching the sunset.

DAY 3: We went on our canyoning adventure. It went all day and was an amazing, amazing day of absailing, jumping and climbing, So much fun.

DAY 4:
The next day was Adam's bungy jump. He only looks a little nervous!
And off he goes. He was dunked into the water at the end.
We spent the rest of the day wandering the city, visiting some art galleries and of course there was the zoo visit as well.

Auckland: The Zoo

While in Auckland we spent an afternoon wandering around the zoo. It was a nice peaceful time, wandering around and admiring the animals. I had a lot of fun taking photos. This is just a fraction of the amount I took!
I got up close and personal with a tiger.
Adam preferred the elephants.


Enjoy some of the amazing creatures we saw:




I had to take a photo of these little guys (actually I took about 10!). The Otters were so entertaining to watch. Full of personality. I think we went back to this enclosure about three times! I took photos of the Vet Clinic for Ben and Corinne,
and a photo for Mum and Laleen: a wall of bromeliads.

Nature in New Zealand

I have started going through the photos from New Zealand. So many photos! I will post some of our adventures soon but until then here are some of the wonderful flowers and plants we saw along the way.

A preview

of our New Zealand Trip.


This is us canyoning. One of the best things I have ever done. A fantastic day!

Spring

Spring has sprung. We had a relatively warm weekend and spent it out on the beach. I can't believe I get excited by 18-25 degree days!

Queensland

I am about three weeks late in posting this. Lets blame it on the copious amounts of sewing I have been doing. The school where I am teaching is putting on a production of The Wizard of Oz. I volunteered to sew some poppy costumes, which turned into 26 poppy headpieces, ten poppy costumes and six snowflakes. I had a few nights of sewing into the wee hours of the morning. Due to my usual 11th hour effort I forgot to take any photos of the costumes. Hopefully this week I will be able to.

Anyway back to Queensland. Three weeks ago we flew back to the Sunshine State for a brief visit with family and a wedding. We celebrated our mothers birthdays. We squeezed in a family shot, blurry and crooked, I still love it.
We ate fish and burgers by the sea. With short sleeves on! Oh how I miss the northern warmth.
And we attended a wedding.
A very quick update. I am tired from all the spring cleaning (not to mention the copious amounts of sewing!) that I have been doing this weekend,I think an early night is in order.

Camp

I have just come home from a two night three day camp with 85 teenage girls. I am tired and glad to be home and showered. The girls definitely tested my patience but the scenery made it all worth while. After one day of freezing cold rain we had two day of beautiful clear skies, sun and deserted beaches.

::We visited a tiny historic village run by a few old locals who were so proud and ready to tell stories for hours.
::We went to the wind farm and got to go inside one and press the pause button.
::We visited a lime kiln and an old graveyard
::And of course we did we did all the normal camp things, such as walks on the beach, team building exercises, eating too many lollies and being sick on the bus.

Now I want to go back and explore more. However, I would like to do it minus 85 teenagers!