Ivy doing her gig at Siren Songs 2
Janet and Liz Walsh at the Intent Christmas Party
We were admiring this vintage MG and Janet was invited for a ride
We went to Jim and Angela's house at Sandspit for Christmas and New Year's
The Bougainvillea at the side of the house at Sandspit
The view from the deck. Jim & Angela moor their boat down there
Michelle, Janet and Peter Keating (Michel Crosbie's father)
Janet and I enjoyed visiting the Brick Bay Sculpture Trail
Interesting sculptures...
and all for sale!
Liz Calvert joined us for New Year's, and we visited Hyperion Wines
New Year's Eve dinner at Matakana
The highland games at Waipu on New Year's Day
Scott's Landing, just along the road from Sandspit
Janet finally retired from the Auckland Youth Choir after almost 10 years!
Angela and Janet on the boat
and this time with Jim
Jim & Angela's farm was host to an engagement party...
For Becs and Martin (eldest son of J&A)
The surf theme was for everyone - here are Michelle, Ivy, Angela, and Janet
and Ivy provided a set as entertainment for the evening
Alex's 26th birthday...
where the whole family got together...
and he really enjoyed the cake!
Ivy's graduation parade, with her friend Kirsten ...
the faculty all on stage at the Aotea Centre ...
Ivy is capped by the Chancellor
Her graduation photo
and Ivy with her proud parents
Mother's Day I took the girls to The Falls restaurant
Soon after we had surprised ourselves by selling the house, so ...
we took a few pictures so we could remind ourselves ...
how it become our home ...
over the past 24 years.
Alex bought Janet an umbrella for her birthday
and we had a small get-together at the house as well
We were visited by John and Anne Botterill from England (John is Janet's cousin)...
and soon after by Teresa (Janet's long time friend) and her grandson Daniel
We took them to see the city from Mt Eden (an extinct volcano)
Looking south over the central city from the Sky Tower restaurant
and looking north over the cruise ship terminal
We also visited the historic church at Puhoi
The magnificent beach at Orewa, just as dusk falls
Alex headed off on his vacation trip to Canada and the USA
Janet and I took a short vacation at our timeshare up north
The club has a fabulous collection of orchids, which unfortunately were not at their best at this time of year...
but they were definitely worth a few photos.
We took a walking tour through the Wairere Boulders nature park
This is a quite unique are of basalt boulders
Effectively these are the remnants of a volcanic plateau
which has been broken up by the erosion of millions of years of water trickling through
The family that own the farm have built a wonderful track through the vally
The now house was finally underway by September
Alex and his band (Trolleyed) won their local heat in the "Battle of the Bands"
In October we moved into a small rental property in Remuera...
it is nice townhouse, but quite small.
Nearby there is a wetland nature reserve...
totally contained within the surrounding city
We also discovered this marvellous "art deco" building at another reserve...
which would have been well outside the city when built, doubtless to avoid casualties if attacked by the Japanese.
The view from the station headland over the Hauraki Gulf is superb
and it was a wonderful day to just wander
As we approach Christmas, the new house is almost ready, and we hope to take possession on 17 December
and on 18 December the moving van arrived with 7 "house pak"s.
We enjoyed working with our builders (Jennian Homes West Auckland - shameless plug), and they evidently enjoyed working with us, as they presented Janet with these boxes of goodies.