Pencarrow Heads

Fine weather signalled the need for a photography expedition. Armed with a camera, two lenses, Derek, Annie and some dodgy directions (thanks Gitz), the afternoon was bound to be entertaining.



Pencarrow Heads was the original destination as there is a light house out there worthy of attention. The trip took a detour as we followed instructions to get there through Wainuiamata (just for the record, you go through Eastbourne).



Arriving at Baring Head, Derek wasn't about to waste any time bemoaning the fact we ended up in the wrong place. It took him all of three minutes to find the biggest rock around to climb up.





With half the afternoon still available, we decided to go to Pencarrow Heads as well. The walk to the lighthouse is a seven hour round trip. We stuck with exploring the beach.





Derek was the first to get wet (who would have thought that standing on a rock with waves breaking onto it will wet you?).





A small whimper alerted us to Annie's brush with a wave. Wet shoes .. not fun.



Example A: Technique that should be used when collecting treasures on a beach.



Hold all treasures in the left hand, walk in step with each other and talk at the same time.

As the sun went down, both photographers decided to experiment with silhouette shots. Do you know how difficult it is to do ballet poses on a big jagged rock when its windy?





The adventure ended with fish and chips on the Petone wharf (with extra taretar sauce thanks to some nifty work by Annie and Derek - it was an honest mistake), watching the sunset.

Camille

For those of you who don't know, this is Camille, my new baby. She's a 1967 Morris 1100 - powder blue with red interior.

This is her first trip to the petrol station with me (and she promptly blew a fuse right after this and I spent the rest of the night driving without indicators - great).




This photo shows the timeless classic against some smartarse flash car. Camille obviously wins hands down for looks and style.



And there always has to be at least one lounging pose ... right?

Wellington on a sunny day ...

A little addicted to roaming around in the sunshine to take photos ... thought I'd share some.

Brooklyn Hill view of Oriental Bay



Owhiro Bay (take 2 - no dead body this time)



Rocks.



not much more I can say about them really.

Makara

An afternoon of sunshine is always good for inducing grandiose dreams of adventure and armed with a new friend/psuedo flatmate and a car, an excellent Sunday afternoon of photography appeared to be shaping up.

Well, that's until the dead body turned up at Red Rocks.

Not to be outdone, Derek and I headed out to Makara, well within the required time to make the sunset. It was only a "leisurely stroll" up to the lookout (Derek maintains it was a slope, not a mountain) but completely worthwhile. I did almost get blown off the top of the bunker, but a little element of danger never hurt anybody.

Check out http://www.6degrees.net.nz/ to see Derek's photographs of the adventure (his turned out better than mine). Still .. I can but try ...

Astrophotographer

For some amazing photos, check out:

www.astrophotographer.zoomshare.com


This guy takes amazing photos of atmospheric phenomenae, aurorae, astronomy, weather, as well as the amazing cloud formations that one can see.

Orders can be placed with him for a very reasonable price - considering the quality of the prints.




Oh and did I mention it's my talented father?

This week, we have mostly ...

... been finishing a thesis!
Technically we are a thesis free household. Hard bound copies are still to be made and marks are to be received (although if Marianna fails there is something seriously wrong with her markers), so I guess we are only a study free household.

In celebration of the final thesis leaving, we went out for breakfast. Being a barista, I think I can make an okay coffee .. nice crema ... nice milk ... the occasional heart design.

But when you are made a coffee like this, it makes you realise that quite frankly, you have a LONG way to go ...




This week we have also ... been receiving food parcels!

Yet again my mother has taken out the top award for foodparcel of the week. She was up against some stiff competition from outsiders with their "fill up Hugo with our pantry because we are leaving the country". This is their entry ...




Many thanks to our third contender, Anna and Ben, who have put in a late entry but also supplied shelves to store all our food.

Thats the half time report .. now its back to the action.

Oh yeah

Did I tell you all my thesis was awarded a 'B', meaning I've passed my Masters and can now apply for registration?

:)

I'm actually a Music Therapist! Whooppeee!

Everybody loves Palmerston North

Our choir went on our first 'National' tour last weekend ... to PALMERSTON NORTH!!! I know, I know .. it's not exactly cultural city (with the slogan "Palmerston North, you're standing in it") but we were heading up for the May Day Concert, celebrating the working class man fighting THE man. Well that's the impression I got.



It was a great performance (thank you to those who came to support us). For some choir members, it was their first ever time on stage. Julian (choir leader) was amazing to work with and he had the difficult task of controlling our singing speed (which occasionally got a little faster than was meant to).



Side trips on the road included; singing at the Otaki church (To sing in a place with acoustics like that was very inspirational); lunch stop at some lake (did you know there is a lake inbetween levin and otaki?!); a jaunt in a forest for some singing (nothing like singing African spirituals with the earth under your feet) and stopping at Otaki beach for fish and chips (convenientely with a marketday in Otaki itself for us to buy exciting things like large prints of Dutch paintings).



Look out for our summer tour!!

Riveting Friday nights

Zoe decided that Marianna needed help with her sewing. Anyone who owns a cat knows just how important it is for cats to help with things like sewing (not naming names *coughPOPPYcough*) ...

Helping cut ...



Helping fold ...



Helping measure ..



Personally, this photo reveals all. Zoe is OBVIOUSLY the one drinking all of our coffee.

"One-One-One-Emergency, Police, Ambulance or Fire?"

Ah Newtown, suburb of kings. Suburb with everything right on your doorstep ...

... including domestic violence.

We have a tale for you all.

Last night our neighbours at flat 2 had a party - accompanied by the usual lot of shouting. A lot. The woman from Flat 2 removed the yelling party goers from her house, made quite a successful attempt at calming them down, then shut her front door (with them outside) and turned the porch light off (very successful technique of ridding yourself from people who overstay their welcome).

The woman kicked out (we shall call her A.) started up a monologue outside my window about how this guy didn't love her ... only wanted her pussy ... had put her in hospital from punching her .. he didn't love her .. never had.

Soon the couple (A. and lets call him B.) move down the ramp to our house and continue their 'discussion' and it becomes heated very quickly - “Give me the fcking house key”, “I don’t have the fcking house key”. Then there was a whole lot of screaming (from Flat 2's niece who is living with the boy downhill neighbour) and at this stage, both of us were out of bed. We looked out the window to see the woman passed out on the ramp and the man (B.) bolting down the street being chased by the downhill neighbour (still with me?). Marianna went out to assist the unconscious woman – who came round pretty quickly – and I called for an ambulance and police car (calling 111 in a panicky voice). The woman (A.) had a big gash above her eye that was bleeding profusely, and kept passing out while on her knees. It took all our strength to stop her whacking her bad eye on the concrete.

Meanwhile, the downhill neighbour is telling the women from flat 2 to “keep your fcking friends in line” and scuffling with them on the ramp. The police arrive, flashing lights and all, and shine their maglights all around. Everyone’s still yelling and we get reinforcements – six officers in all. Then the assailant comes back, and our patient points the finger. Boyo get’s arrested – just like on TV – and get’s marched off to the police car yelling “thanks [insert A.'s name here] you fcking got me arrested” over and over. Still more yelling from Flat 2, downhill neighbour and the niece he’s going out with. We are both in our pyjamas – Marianna's have little pictures of scarves on them and are white; mine have moons and stars and are dark blue – feeling that the whole thing was rather absurd. Flat 2 woman's sister was great, telling others to calm down in a you-look-ridiculous kind of voice, and suggesting we find dettol to bathe the eye (We suggested not). Finally the ambulance men gave us leave to help A. into the ambo and the police cars all left. We went inside and sipped dutyfree port to calm ourselves and wait for the residual shouting to end. All over by midnight. Nice.

This morning there was a police photographer outside, taking pictures of the scene and all the blood. Don’t get us wrong though, we really do have lovely neighbours. Amidst all the yelling earlier in the evening, they all agreed it would be a lovely gesture to take our recycling out to the street.

Which was nice.

!!!!!!!!!!!THE ROLLING STONES!!!!!!!!!!!

What can you say?

It was freakin awesome! And I hope I can leap around like that when I am 62!!! If you ever get the chance to see the Rolling Stones live you should.

Highlights:

Angie ... oh my god I can't believe they played it!
Paint it Black ... the second top song I wanted them to play.

I must however apologise to the people on the end of my crazy phone calls. But it was important! I'm sure Martin loved hearing a hell of a lot of static (Angie) while walking through a castle in Ireland and while saying, "I can't hear you Beck", I just kept yelling, "oh my god its the rolling stones!"

Then way to freak my mother out by phoning her while they were playing 15 - 20 metres away from us!!!!!!! They had this awesome stage that moved out into the crowd. We thought they might get at least a little closer so they didn't look like little worry dolls ... but the stage kept coming out and stopped so close to us!

And on a note I thought I'd never say: how the hell does Mick Jagger manage to look sexy-in-a-don't-take-your-clothes-off-way?

Easter Poker Weekend

Resident Artist Jason Secto kindly organised a Poker evening for some friends in one of the boat sheds down at the Beach - a brilliant way to spend a Saturday night.

He also provided entertainment including night-time dingy rides out to his little beauty that sits in the water just out from the boatshed. The first trip was a success - the three boys went out to have a look at the work he had done.

The second dingy trip provided the most entertainment for the night. Taking the long way out there, Jason, Emma and Geoffery went past the beach were some young teenagers were playing with fireworks. Truely romantic for them to have fireworks shooting overtop of the dingy.

They made their way out to the boat and Mark, Jeremy and I sat on the deck of the boatshed listening to music. Suddenly it came to our attention that Emma and Jeremy were yelling at us, and appeared to be drifting off towards the boatsheds further down ... and there was no sign of Jason in the dingy. Mark kindly yells out in his heavy thick French accent "goodbye! Bon voyage! Salut!" while waving joyously. Jeremy decides to turn down the music so we can hear whats going on.

Turns out the dingy drifted away from the boat before it had been tied on, and the oars were still in the main boat. Where was Jason? Swimming back to get the oars. Now anyone who has tried to climb onto the back of a boat will appreciate the struggle Jason had to go through in order to climb onto his boat, while soaking wet.

Geoffery and Emma managed to paddle with the current into the boat sheds and Mark then used two other paddles from the boatshed to row out and 'rescue' Jason.

Needless to say, Mark, Jeremy and I found the whole ordeal hilariously funny.
Jason and Emma were wet from swimming or being splashed (needing to wear blankets for the entire evening) and Geoffery expressed a quiet satisfaction with the experience.



The rest of the night was spent recounting the ordeal - Jason here is describing the brut strength he needed in order to hang onto the engine mount to hoist himself onto the boat. Having 'saved his life', Mark is now demanding half of everything Jason owes. Some sort of French custom apparentely ...

Excess - The Airport Finale

The ultimate place for over one hundred suitcases to end up. With a little kiwi ingenuity, we managed to get them all there. That and Con promised a champagne breakfast and carrying a lot of suitcases on bamboo poles sounds a lot more fun after a few glasses of bubbles.


















It was a bloody long way though. The bruises on the shoulders the next day certainly told the painful tale ...


The End!

Saying Goodbye

This particular farewell party had some interesting highlights including Sharon managing to erase all the photos on Martin's camera within the first hour - this led to some 'speed photographing' which is where you push people into a photo and click off as many as possible.



Rick also showed his hidden ballet talent. Included are some photos to show you just how AMAZING he is at ballet ...







or perhaps its just the excitement on his face that leads you to believe he's great at it.

The night was full of dancing (thanks Tim for NOT dropping me) and finger pointing -



for some reason Rick found it necessary to point at everybody in a photo with him.


Bon Voyage Rick and Martin!
You do realise that when you travel to Spain and we write to you, we'll have to write
Rick y Martin? (Thanks to Kate for pointing that out)



Your country needs YOU!

xx

Death

To tell you the truth - and use a terrible pun - I'm sick to death of it.

The last two weeks have involved a whirlwind of death. Those sick with cancer who have a finite time put on their lives ... Young adolescents who have to face a dark night at such a young age ... Beautiful spirits taken from us for no apparent reason.

Disbelief. When will it end?


*to all those now free*

Excess - Stage IV

The train station. Con took over one hundred suitcases on the Capital Connection from Waikanae to Wellington. Some people weren't too happy about it. The station manager asked if it was "some sort of joke" ..

The suitcases were then all carried to Midland Park, a maze constructed and left to brew with the lunchtime suits.