Travel Thursday: Waiheke Island, New Zealand

Since I was a wee girl I have been visiting Waiheke Island. My Grandfather has lived there, high up on a cliff over looking a bay since before I was born. Not only does the spot have special memories for me, spending time with him and Nanny Pen, but it is just a stunning place to visit.

For non Kiwis, here are the tourism details:
Waiheke Island is a volcanic island in the Hauraki Gulf, Auckland. It is known for its sandcastle competitions, horse racing, amazing beaches, views and stunning wineries. 

For me, this is where we would visit and spend time with my Grandad and Nanny Pen. We would make pottery in her studio, swim down in the bay, explore the garden with Grandad, collect a present from the fairy tree and admire their eclectic art collection displayed on the walls.

At Christmas last year we ferried over to visit with them and bring wee Willy over for cuddles. While we were visiting, I went for a wander and found myself thinking back to all the memories I have of my time spent here. This is such a magical spot, I wanted to share some photos with you, to try and share this little spot of beauty with the world.

This is such a familiar and comforting view for me.

The New Zealand Christmas tree - Pohutukawa

This is the favorite food of one of our native birds, the Tui.

I just LOVE the variation in textures. The bark of the Pohutukawa tree. The sharp volcanic rock. The crunchy moss.

I love how the colors of the rock blend from grass and lichen at one end to barnacles at the other.

New Zealand is famous for its ferns. This little fella is a monkey tail.

Once again I am sharing one of my favorite spots in the world. Today is a spot in New Zealand - next week who knows?! Come share with Laurie and I!

Travel Thursday: Wairaka, Whakatane

Today I am sharing one of my favorite spots in the whole world!


Wairaka is one of the Marae's of Rob's Iwi. Wairaka is special to him, and it has become special to us. On the day of our wedding we had photos both in front of the marae, and in front of the statue at the river mouth that commemorates the bravery of Wairaka.

Wairaka was on one of the original seven canoes that came from Hawaiiki, the ancestral homeland of the Maori. When the men had gone ashore to scout the area, the canoe became loose, and started drifting out to sea. Although paddles were Tapu (sacred), and only men were allowed to use them, Wairaka cried out and took up a paddle saving the women. Legend tells that as she paddled to safety, she cried out in prayer “Kia Whakatane au i ahau (let me act like a man)".

Here are some shots we got one evening, when we were home in December, hope you enjoy our photos!

Wairaka, the rivermouth and the view out to Motouhora.

Sunset over Mount Putauaki in the background.

Wairaka on her rock.

Join Laurie and I for Travel Thursday!

 Whether it is across the globe or down the road, share your photos yo!

Photography Friday - Lose Yourself

"There is a pleasure in the pathless woods;

There is a rapture on the lonely shore;

There is a society, where none intrudes,

By the deep sea, and music in it's roar:

I love not man the less, but Nature more..."

Lord Byron

Travel Thursday - Hamurana Springs, NZ

New year, new Thursday themed post. And yep, it's alliteration based. Hooray. I have all these pictures I am taking and I just can't share them all in one post, so I have decided to try a weekly spot where I can gush about somewhere beautiful and share some pics. Let me know what you think, I might even think about making it a link up. If I can get my A into G that is. 

Anyway, without further ado, here is the premier Travel Thursday post! 

My first visit to the springs was on a geochemistry field trip in 2006, and I have been wanting to go back ever since. Although Rob had lived in Rotorua for awhile, he had never been there either. So, we took advantage of our trip through Rotorua to stop and check them out. 

And like, wow. This is such a stunning spot. The colors are absolutely unbelievable. The blue is so fresh and crisp, the greens in the native bush and the redwoods are so lush. Man, this place is like stepping back in time. I wanted to swim so bad but unfortunately we ran out of time. I loved exploring in the sunshine none the less, and here are some of my favorite shots.. Enjoy!

Stunning.

It is so fresh and clear you can see the trout on the river bottom!

Redwood Grove

The spring comes up through a massive section of ignimbrite, filtered through the rock. Thanks Geology!

New Zealand in Insty Form

I'm back dear friends! I can't wait to share all our big photos, but here is a sweet wee summary of our amazing trip home. 

We had the most amazing time at home, seeing friends and family. I met my beautiful nephew for the first time and fell head over heels in love, the second I saw him. I saw that my sister has become an amazing mother and is so relaxed and fantastic with William - it's no wonder he is such a cool kid. We ate some amazing burgers, thank you burger fuel. We saw friends who are so fun to be with and despite the passing of time things are exactly the same each time we catch up. We sat in grass. We walked bare foot in grass. We lay on the grass in the sunshine. And went swimming in the clean blue ocean. We went exploring in swamps and searching for waterfalls. We walked dogs and cuddled with cats, fed chickens and took turns spotting eels and trout in the river. We drove up hills and around windy corners. We heard birds singing and cicadas chirping. And we fell in love with home all over again. We saw every single shade of green and then we saw some more. We ate yummy fish and chips, and lovey fresh fruit. We lit fireworks and drank cocktails with family on New Year's Eve. We saw William having his first Christmas, and giggling as he got to rip open wrapping paper. I talked with my Pop about his time in the navy, and had long chats with my Daddy about when he was a kid. Went shopping with Mum and got to hold her hand like I was little again. My sister and I didn't argue, not even once - an all time record, and I got to plait her hair and lend her jewelry. Rob and I got to make plans for the future, and learn more about our past. We picnicked in the park and watched a wee one cover himself in strawberry and yoghurt. We were lucky enough to see family and learn more about our history. We are blessed to have family around to pass on these things. One morning I woke up and opened the windows and said morning to two wee cows. We swam in the pool and drank cold beer. We laughed with everyone we were lucky enough to catch up with, and then occasionally got to crack up with strangers too.

As blessed as I feel to be living the expat life we do, there is just nothing like being home. We are from such a beautiful place and we are so lucky to have this paradise to go back to. Feeling a little sad to have left for another year, but very full of love and excitement for the new year.

Home and an Expat extraordinaire!

Hey guys,

So I have been super absent this week.. Here are some reasons why..

Being home is pretty much the bestest thing ever - my heart is so full!

Recently, I was asked to get involved in a great expat blog that is

Chocka full of info about moving to or visiting the states. I am happy to say that (even despite me being super difficult to contact since I got home), the post is live - thanks Dan! I highly recommend you check out his blog, and don't forget to take a look at the interview with yours truly : ) you can links to it...

Here!

I hope the lead up to your Christmas is going really well, I am missing checking out all my favorite blogs.. But I am super excited to be back in New Zealand, walking barefoot and not doing much at all : ) 

This Kiwi is headed Back to the Nest

We fly home today!

Here is my top 10 list of things I am happy about seeing:

1) Babies! My wee nephew Willy of course, but also a whole flock of new bebes await! Liam - I can't wait to snuggle you.

He is bigger than this now... But even more cuter!

2) My Mama and Papa. Life just aint the same without hugs from your parents.

3) All our family and friends. Obviously.

4) Chilling in Ohope with a glass of wine and Rob's family.

5) Shopping at the Saturday markets in Pukekohe with Mama and Amy.

6) Grass. Bare feet on grass. And jandals.

7) The dogs! I can't wait to see their goofy faces lol

8) Food! Roast Lamb! Fish and Chips! Berries! Fruit! Salad!

9) Christmas! Babys first christmas, Mamas trees, Christmas ham, stockings.

10) Seeing the beautiful country that I call home.


Happy poppet.

Guest Post - Crochet Tips with Leah!

Today my post is being taken over in the loveliest way possible, my dear friend from home will be sharing a DIY crochet project and some handy tips!

Tehani, Leah and I at our MSc graduation!

Hi Blog readers!

You don’t know me yet, but I am a uni friend of the wonderful Sarah. I live in Aotearoa New Zealand with my lovely fiancé and our gorgeous son. Since our son was born 7 months ago, I seem to have decided I am somewhat of a crafty person (curse you Pinterest!) and Sarah asked me to guest blog about one of my recently finished crochet projects so here I am :-)

I recently learned to crochet – only very simple, mind you. My sister-in-law-to-be was crocheting one evening at my house, so being the nosy sod I am I asked her to show me how to do it. What started as me learning to crochet turned into this cot blanket for my girlfriend’s baby due in November – she is British, he is Argentinean so I chose Paua shell colors to represent New Zealand and the new life they are building together down here.

 


Now my niece, bless her, she is a character and I love her to bits. Very crafty herself at almost-5 years old, she saw me working on the cot blanket and asked me to make her one for her 5th birthday in red, white and pink. (When I told her I had decided to do purple, white and pink she simply said, deadpan, “huh. That could work”. So funny!) I won’t go through trying to teach you to crochet, there are loads of tutorials and blogs online already but just thought I would share with you some of the things I learned in this project!

Now, the first thing you should know about me is that I get bored kind of easily. I started out making the two-toned granny squares, changing every round to a new color. Then, because I get bored easily, I changed it so that on one square it would end on a colored round and the next would end on a white round. Then instead of changing every round, I changed every second round. 

Tip 1: don’t cut the yarn when you change colors. Otherwise you are going to have to thread in a whole lot more loose threads than you really need to. It means that you will see the yarn on the wrong side of the blanket but trust me, it will make the final job a lot easier and you won’t even notice it!
When I had 8 squares done, I tried to get an idea of what sort of pattern might look good for the finished piece so tried laying it out. But really, it was too hard. My FB community was pretty evenly split on which way to call it! I took a picture and decided to wait and see before I started joining the squares together.

Tip 2: don’t be afraid to start a project without the end product firmly in mind. It just makes it more exciting when it comes time to try and cobble it all together and you aren’t locked into something  if you happen to change your mind when you are further through.

Originally I thought I would only have four granny squares per row, but realized quickly this would end up being too narrow to have enough coverage on a single bed. I had a bit of trouble trying to figure out how the middle row would go – I needed something that would fit with the rest of the squares on that row, but when I tried it out it didn’t look quite as I wanted it to. By shifting the center squares up one space it suddenly worked a whole lot better. 

Tip 3: Experiment! Crochet is great because it is quick – if something doesn’t look right, it doesn’t take long to take it apart and try other color combinations.

Tip 4: do what you have to to stay interested. I said already, I get bored easily. So when I was about halfway through how big I wanted the blanket to be, I decided to stitch it together to spread the workload and so I wouldn’t have loads of threading and sewing to do at the end.

I have to say it was very rewarding finishing the last of the granny squares. After doing a double-crochet border on the cot blanket (so time consuming!!) I decided to just do trebles around the joined squares, one in each color to make a border. It was quick (yay!) and it looked better than expected, though it did blend in some places more than I thought it might. 

If I am being brutal, it is probably still a tiny bit narrow for a single bed, but one more granny square would easily spread it out that little bit more.

So yep, those are probably the best tips I have if you are going to start a simple crochet project. It was quite fun doing something similar but a bit different, and I hope my niece will love it as much as I enjoyed doing it for her. I also hope she keeps it for years and years, and maybe even passes it on to her daughter one day.

Happy crafting!
 

Isn't the pink and purple adorable! You can check Leah out at her Pinterest page here.