Drifting

Beautiful walk in Greno Woods today and found some great patterns in the remains of the snow drifts.

Try Travis for a whimsical soundtrack - bit of poetic licence with drifwood!  But they do mention show drifting in the middle!!

 and my piece de resistance . . .

the ice is nice

The Incredible String Band came to mind when I was thinking of a title for this blog post!  So click below if you'd like a musical accompaniment on our trip to Our Cow Molly today in the remains of the snow.

our garden's gradually coming back to life

 though Cyril snowman's not faring too well

so off up to Dungworth we go

over Loxley Common

and finally there

Like mother like daughter

that first kiss

Oh and that amazing ice cream . . .

back to summer

OK, enough of this snow.  Let's pretend it's not still white and frozen outside and we're back in New Zealand

.... and here we are at Rotoroa and you've caught Mike training for the Hakka

 incredible walking around the Maori village in Rotorua amongst the thermal hot springs

 then the amazing carvings

 and the erupting mud pools

whoppping great geysers

and rainbow colours of the thermal pools

next was Katharine and Neil's wonderful wedding on Waiheke, in an earlier post, so we'll be zooming to the South Island soon - watch this space . . . .

and greasy Joan doth keel the pot

WHEN ICICLES HANG BY THE WALL

by

William Shakespeare

From Love's Labours Lost, Act V. Sc. II

When icicles hang by the wall
And Dick the shepherd blows his nail
And Tom bears logs into the hall
And milk comes frozen home in pail,
When blood is nipp'd and ways be foul,
When nightly sings the staring owl, Tu-whit;
Tu-who, a merry note,
While greasy Joan doth keel the pot,
When all aloud the wind doth blow
And coughing drowns the parson's saw
And birds sit brooding in the snow
And Marian's nose looks red and raw,
When roasted crabs hiss in the bowl,
When nightly sings the staring owl, Tu-whit;
Tu-who, a merry note,
While greasy Joan doth keel the pot.

and poor old Mike has to clear the lane - AGAIN . . .

but oh what fun he had

Oh for a veranda

so this was the lovely Coromandel peninsula

the saloon

smoked fish company

little wooden church

the cutesy laundrette, eat your heart out Dot!

Hot Water Beach - Google it, amazing!!

Cathedral Cove

all the magnificent colours of the South Pacific Ocean!

flat whites to die for at Thames

and our very own balcony at the Green House (and my review)- oh now I am really spoilt!

So this was our first few days in New Zealand in February, and if you want to follow the whole trail, then keep looking out for links at the bottom of each blogpage.

After leaving this amazing peninsula, we went south but still on the North Island, to the mystical Rotorua. 

you can leave your hat on

Just a normal red nose day here at work last Friday . . . 

And sorry you Owls - I only support teams in red but this is my favourite floppy hat song so I'm using it!

now a thought for next year - we could up the stakes and learn a real hat dance.  Plenty of room in the kitchen . . .