Family Visit

It was great to have Al’s mum and brother over for a couple of days this week.  Such a shame the weather wasn’t better, however they did have a couple of days of sunshine and Paul managed to get in a lot of swims.  The first few nights were spent staying at theGolden Sands, Main Beach Surfers.  This is a lovely place to stay right on the beach and very close to Tedder Ave, restaurants and cafes.

Al had Tuesday off to spend with Paul and Glad, he left home early so that he could have an early morning swim with Paul, then they had a few hits of tennis, followed by coffee at a local cafe.  In the afternoon they both headed to Palm Meadows Golf course for 18 holes of golf.  Unfortunately Al was not able to have the three days off he had initially asked for due to sudden driver shortages with two resignations,  and two AWOL drivers which was a shame however we did manage to see them both everyday and are grateful for that.

After work I drove down to Surfers where we all went out for dinner at Tooleys Restaurant and Bar. We were served by a young Irishman who was very pleasant.  Al and Glad had roast pork, I had pasta with chorizo and prawns, delicious by the way and Paul had a chicken pasta dish.

 

We have moved

finally I have registered a domain name and transfered over this blog to it.  You can catch us at

http://livinginqueensland.com/

 

Still some tweaking to do

 

Rainbow in the Sky

I took these photos as quickly as I could.  Its hard to get good photos of a rainbow so was quite pleasantly surprised to see these come out okay.  Don’t you love the way the sun is hitting the back of the trees

Father’s Day

Family picnic

It was lovely to spend Fathers Day with Dad, as mentioned I had no idea when I booked to go back to NZ that the Sunday would be Fathers Day.  This was going to be the second of our picnics for the weekend and sure enough the day dawned chilly and slightly damp.  I groaned inwardly thinking of another freezing day out, though had to admit we  were lucky the day before as whilst it was cold the wind chill factor was not there…..today was another day though.  The wind chill was very cold and we all struggled to be warm.

Tammy and Kris came down and we all went together to the fish n chip shop to buy well fish n chips.  As most of you know I can’t eat fish unless its fresh so frozen fish was not on my agenda.  However the chips were delicious and we all thoroughly enjoyed them.

Finished eating

The pictures belie how cold the day was, however dad really enjoyed his outing, all we were missing  was coffee and cake which came next.  We went home for this, mum had made a delicious cake full of nuts and chocolate which we all enjoyed with a cup of warm coffee.

Fathers Day Cake

Driftwood

Whilst walking we came across a couple of trees that had blown over probably in the wind and probably sometime ago.  I thought the pictures were rather beautiful.

NZ Driftwood

 

The stump

Wenderholm Walk

After lunch we went for a walk around the spit towards the headland, its a quick easy walk probably no more than half an hour, some lovely scenery along the way.

As we walked towards the headland we came across a typical kiwi batch and I had to take a picture of it, it would be so interesting to know the stories this house could tell.

Kiwi batch

Here’s a shot of Dad admiring the view.  I thought he did very well with his walk and both him and mum enjoyed the walk.

My Dad

We then had a pair of ducks follow us for quite a way.  They were obviously used to people as were not frightened of us at all. We had no food with us so they were out of luck.

Friendly ducks

 

 

Weekend picnics

Mum and dad were quite keen on going out for picnics whilst I was home and as this was quite nostalgic for me I was also quite keen.   So on Saturday we went to Wenderholm Park which is about 15 minutes drive away from Red Beach.  Its a lovely park which mum and dad used to take us to when we first arrived in NZ.  I think at the time we probably did not appreciate the beauty of the park but as an adult things change.

 

I have to say the weather was cold,  however a picnic with mum and dad would not be a picnic if the weather was warm!!   Off we went huddled against the cold and the wind hoping like anything the rain would hold off which thankfully it did.  We found a lovely table close to the water and as sheltered from the wind as much as we could.

Mum setting the picnic table

Once all organised we enjoyed a lovely salad and cheese tart.  We did try to have a cake but with no time to make I said no problems lets go to the local bakery and pick up a cake.  We drove to Brumby’s sorry to all my Bakers Delight followers where I picked up a date loaf.  Unfortunately my card would not work in the eftpos terminal so cake was off the menu.  We shared lunch with pukeko’s and seagulls.

Pukeko

Seagulls

 

 

Trip back to NZ

I flew back to NZ last week for a couple of days to spend with dad.  It was rather good timing, definitely not planned that the Sunday was Fathers Day so that was a bonus.  I flew in on Friday afternoon where I caught up with Marie.  She had a delicious baked camembert with rosemary and garlic to eat along with a few other tasty nibbles.  I had a few cuddles with Bella, my gorgeous cat who I miss.  Have to say she adores Marie and vice versa so I know she is very well looked after.

I then visited my sisters house to see  the renovations she has had done. Al the right places being the  kitchen and bathrooms.  Very contemporary & modern with lovely neutral tones.  I am looking forward to seeing the final finish in Dec when I return.   After a cuppa it was time to hit the road north to stay with mum and dad who live in Whangaparoa.  I was welcomed to a lovely warm house and a delicious chicken biriyani  for dinner and one of my favourite desserts creme caramel.  After dinner and a chat it was time to go to bed.

Spring is here

well and truly.  The weather turned Friday evening with a warmer evening than we have been having despite gorgeous days.   The days all week have been glorious, clear blue skies and sunshine with temps averaging 27+. Yesterday we reached 32 and it felt like it was 34 with the same today, though it feels even hotter today than yesterday.  I took the computer to the outside table to sit and blog from there however have retreated to the cool of the office.  The sky is very hazy, extremely high clouds.  Tomorrow we are expecting 33 which feels like 35.  Its times like this I am grateful for airconditioning.

I make sure we both lather ourselves in sunscreen particularly on the face, ears, neck line especially for Al who is in his truck for most of the day.  He has become very good at ensuring he is well protected and he has a bottle of sun lotion with him at all times.  I think we will need to  buy a cooling  fan for outside & I am regretting giving away the one we had in Auckland.   Such is life, we gave away a lot of things that would be so handy now but we werent to know.

 

One of those moments

It was such a beautiful evening last night, Al had the day off and I managed to leave work a bit earlier than usual so came home to watch the sun go down whilst enjoying tea and cake outside.  We then decided to go for a walk which we did.  As you all know we both oooh and aaah about  the full moon and last night it was spectacular.  We could see the glow of the moon before it rose and we knew it was going to be beautiful. It was a glorious orange color and so bright it lights up the garden.  We watched it, whilst on our walk, yes I know not much walking going on at this stage, and watched the moon come up and over the horizon.  Absolutely gorgeous, it really was a site to behold and another one of lifes experiences to enjoy.  We then continued on our merry way walking back home marveling about the world and how lucky we are.  Unfortunately I did not have my camera with me but these pics are just like it.