Another day at the office

Well, not quite. A couple of weeks ago I went along to Gibbs Farm as part of a team building day at work. Gibbs Farm is the setting for a sculpture collection on a privately owned property overlooking the Kaipara Harbour.

It's a balanced mix of culture and nature. Very cool!

I just loved feeding this guy. I could have watched him use his tongue to strip the leaves off branches all day [sigh].

Although entry to Gibbs Farm is entirely free, it is only open one day a month by prior appointment. It is not open on weekends, public holidays or school holidays – well that does make getting back there kind of tricky, but I am going to try. 

Biking with friends

Last weekend we took to the tracks near Waihi to cycle the Hauraki Rail Trail. Some people would think coordinating six adults, eight kids and 14 bikes was a recipe for disaster, but we would prove them wrong.

This was, in fact, our third attempt to do the trip. The first time around I broke my arm so that put an end to our plans. The second time cyclone Lusi was looming and we took heed of the severe weather warnings. Really, we decided it would not be a good look if we lot stuck in the storm and needed rescuing with all those kids and ended up on the six o'clock news for all the wrong reasons!

Finally, on our third attempt, we finally got there. The weather could not have been more perfect. The kids were all brilliant considering there was little (or no) preparation.

With the first leg completed we decided we had earned a coffee so took a break at Waikino train station. The kids also scored an ice cream.

The final part of our ride took us through the old goldfields train tunnel. It was about 1km in length and quite dark inside making it difficult to see oncoming cyclists and pedestrians who didn't have lights and/or reflectors.

We got through to the other side, re-grouped, then turned around and came back again.

Mission accomplished!

We back tracked to the halfway point for lunch, encouraging tired, hungry kids along the way. Pizza and a beer!

Some people were happy to take the train from Waikino back to Waihi while others cycled the last leg. Of course the race was on to see who would win. Needless to say, it wasn't me. Those last couple of hills really slowed me down but I hear it was pretty close at the finish line.

Back at the log cabin. There wasn't much room left in the hot tub.

Aunty Jordy Visits

Wow, time really has slipped by. This month we had a visit from Aunty Jordy which was a very nice distraction. With blue skies above, we took to the slopes of Mt Ruapehu for the first time this year. We have a pretty good history when it comes to weather conditions when skiing. One day we got turned away mid-way our drive up but that was due to over-capacity on the mountain - seriously though, who wants to be there then?

OK, so this is simply a snap-fest which will hopefully capture the moment. 

I captured this early morning shot from the car park on our last day up the mountain. It was so beautiful.

Ruby and Ava decided to get some cheap thrills sledding.

My new Samsung Galaxy takes awesome photos and is great for posting straight to Facebook and Instagram but what should be a simple procedure to import photos to my iMac is, well, not so simple, so you miss out on some awesome pics.

We completed the 'winter wonderland' theme with some ice skating in Aotea Square.

Finished off with a visit to Kiwiyo.

It was really nice having you visit us Aunty Jordy. I hope our mad household didn't freak you out too much. Come again soon. m, xox

Day of the Dead

Today Ruby took part in the Spookers Run for Your Freakin' Life race. Honestly, I didn't really know how revolting it would be, and I'm not talking about the zombies. Mud, mud, mud. Some kids pulled out before it began. Some kids cried and screamed the whole way through. But Ruby's not a screamer or a cry baby; she just wanted to get to the end without losing all of her four tags which was the aim.

Luckily there was a big fire hose and water slide at the end to wash some of the gunk off. 

She had a blast and finished a happy but cold and tired. She is now sleeping peacefully. Eadie has said that she wants to do it next year – Yyaaay!

Sky high

I took the girls up the sky tower this week. We've been living in Auckland for over three years and I still hadn't been up. Luckily we timed it well in between heavy down pours we've been having all week.

The verdict: Even though the glass panels in the floor were cool, the view is just as good from the top of our lovely Maungawhau (Mt Eden), and a lot less crowded.