Hello bloggers, back again. Hot foot from Golden Bay. Without wanting to sound smug to all those suffering in the northern hemisphere winter, life in Golden Bay couldn’t have been more golden. We had stunning weather with balmy evenings which made for a fantastic break away. As well as the good weather the location was [...]

Being back home from the Wairarapa has been quite a shock. The sun just doesn’t shine as hard on this side of the Rimutakas so back in windy Wellington it would have been easy to hunker down and not make the most of our remaining holiday. Fear not, we’re still making the most of our [...]

Part of my dreaming over recent years has been a hankering to grow vines and olives – very cliche I know but there you have it. Before coming to New Zealand I was very excited about the prospect for doing this as one of the finest wine growing regions (the Wairarapa) is about 80km (50miles) [...]

View from our room porch door Views across the vineyards to the mountains beyond Olives basking in the clouds!

Dad and Shirley would have been proud that we took in the botanical sights of Melbourne. As much as it was where the venue for the evening’s outdoor Shakespeare performance of Midsummer’s Night Dream but also provided some inspiration for our plans for our own garden in Kaitoke.

Sorry if this photoblogging is getting boring but it’s hard to capture the beauty of Melbourne without stopping at almost every corner! Views of the CBD from the southbank Similar view from the Kings Domain Longer look from the Shrine of Rememberance on the King’s Domain

On account of the impact of the sun from the Cricket indoor venues were very much in order. There are plenty of cultural sights close to where we were staying we were able to dodge the sun through the trees in Carlton Gardens. Royal Exhibition Hall built for the International Exhibition, 1880. Not open for [...]

This shows the view we should have been looking at from the MCG towards the city but since the cricket was over we headed off for alternative entertainment. JT taking in the boats at the new docklands area View of the CBD and the other stadium in Melbourne, sponsored by a rival telecom firm we [...]