Author Archives: cathmccready

It must be nearly Xmas as the Pohutukawa are out, so so pretty. And so on to our next adventure. We were planning on walking the Abel Tasman but decided to spice up our travels by taking our grandie with us. We were those grandparents taking her out of school before the end of term.Continue reading “December dalliances.”

So the year is slipping by and of course still no overseas travel so I asked my boss if I could go back to work for awhile in exchange for time off another year when the world reopens. So back to school to help write a timetable. We have a good team and we gotContinue reading “November”

We finally got some dudes in to create our patio. Concrete and railway sleepers, we love it apart from the smell occasionally from the old sleepers. Hopefully that will fade with time. And so to our October outing. A trip around the Coromandel peninsula. We have visited many times as it is so close evenContinue reading “October outings.”

So what to do in a new town late afternoon. Well if your with me the botanical gardens, a park, a view and the seaside are usually high on the agenda. Good work Whanganui you had them all and some birds in an aviary all for free, our sort of town. Whanganui is renowned forContinue reading “September Shenanigans part 2”

So we finally decided on our outside seating area! I loved the grass but it was always full of prickles and as people who always go out in bare feet we had to change. After much deliberation it’s done. We also had to save the best orange tree ever, so hopefully it has enough roomContinue reading “September Shenanigans”

When August came around it was difficult not to once again think if only… August 1 was due to be my eldest brother Stevan and his lovely partner Sue’s wedding day. The whole fam dam would have been together in Ironbridge to celebrate and party and drink great beer… Not to be. We raised aContinue reading “August….”

With the weather settling in to a pattern of cold and rain you have to take the opportunities to get out and about when you can. With the school holidays happening we were delighted to get our grandie to stay with us for a week. Elise popped over from Rotorua a couple of times andContinue reading “Wintery July.”

So Elise and I have birthdays only a few days apart so why not spend the week together enjoying ourselves. So that’s the plan a trip to the Tongariro National Park. But first a little bit of fishing fun. Due to not being in the UK we have to rely on photos of the newContinue reading “June is birthday time.”

So all the jobs we thought up during lockdown could now be done! Yipeee! We should have been in the UK at this point preparing to celebrate my big bro’s 60th but hey ho… At level 2 everything was nearly normal and people were excited! With travel restrictions lifted it was time to head away.Continue reading “May madness.”

As covid got its grip on the world, we at the bottom of the world were to be impacted too. We were lucky, for as the rumours of constrictions began to swirl and anxiety began to rise, a sad extended family event meant we got to see the whanau just before lockdown began. And thenContinue reading “Really local!”