"It was a game of two halves"

That's a wonderful footy quote and perfectly describes my Friday night.

I started at the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery for the launch of their Len Lye book, covering all his fabulous work. He was an artist and film maker and specialised in kinetic sculptures - he designed the Wind Wand that has features in a few of my photos. I had a great time as well as a glass of red bubbles and some deep fried mushrooms.

I then adjourned to Yarrow Stadium and watched Waikato beat Taranaki by one point. This is a traditional rivalry so it was hotly contested both on and off the field. The ref got equal amounts of 'assistance' from both sets of fans. The loss was softened by a bag of freshly made mini doughnuts with cinnamon.

So all round a very balanced evening.

Where do you get your news from?

Sitting here in NP, I saw in my Google news feed a link to a BBC report on fierce dust storms in Sydney.

Check it out here - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8270104.stm

Intersting isn't it, how news travels. The same article also mentions recent fires, hail, storms and earthquakes. Needless to say I'm phoning home this evening!

Flying farm equipment

Yes. Specifically a tractor and a thresher.

They were hoisted onto the forecourt of the museum yesterday morning (this is the thresher)

pushed into the museum

and are now installed in the foyer.

Almost as exciting - I have discovered the video function on my camera so here is a flying tractor (you have to wait about a minute before it moves but it's worth it!).

Is there any such thing...

as too many books? Answer: No!

Every year the Friends of the Opera House run a second hand book sale. They took over the basketball stadium last week sorting, pricing and stacking 12 months worth of donations and then at midday yesterday (Friday) they opened the doors on their 20th 24 hour book sale. Yup, you read that right - 24 hours. They sell right through the night.

I went out at 7.30 last night and left at 9 and by no means looked at everything. I did well though! I took one shopping bag and promised I would stop when I filled it. I am a very good packer and it's amazing what you can fit into one shopping bag if you really put your mind to it.

How do you know it's spring?

At this time of year in Australia every wattle tree in the country is going nuts and everywhere you look there is yellow blossom.

Here there is no wattle but the kowhai trees are in flower. I didn't actually notice that they were out until I started seeing carpets of yellow flowers on the footpaths like this.



Then when you look up you see these wonderful dangly flowers.



So it does feel like spring!

Fog

Today started out foggy, clear and sunny at my place and 5mins away you couldn't see very far at all. This is the view of the wind wand from work - you can see the wand but not the ocean right underneath it. Believe it or not there are waves right there and a horizon.


And this is what it normally looks like on a clear day, lovely sparkly sea.

Airports

And just to finish off the weekend's stories I thought I'd share a couple of photos of the airports I went through.

This is the view from the waiting area at the New Plymouth airport. If you look at the horizon really carefully (click on the picture to enlarge it) you might just be able to make out a blue sparkly line. That's the Tasman Sea. Yup, the airport is right on the coast, with only a strip of grass and sand between the tarmac and the water.

And when you land in Auckland and have to go between domestic and international you can either catch the free shuttle or walk. If you walk all you have to do is follow the blue line on the pavement. Even without the helpful signage it's hard to lose your way.

Birthday season

My Mum and my nephew share a birthday and since it was a 'significant number' for my Mum this year we all got together on the weekend to celebrate.

The birthday boy

The birthday girl and her brother

The grown-ups went to lunch at the Berowra Waters Inn which was stunning all round, location, view, food, wine and of course the company. The only way to get there is by boat so you are met a a private warf and ferried across the river. Then you sit and watch the water traffic while you have a five course degustation lunch with matching wines. All a bit tragic really.

Then we followed up with brunch for everyone on Sunday. Not much beats bacon and eggs done on the bbq, fresh bread and fruit and lots of good coffee.

Book Festival

Last week was the Taranaki Children's Book Festival which involved three library services, 9 authors and illustrators, 70 librarians and a swag of schools. This is our 2nd festival and by all reports it was at least as good as last year. As well as touring the schools the visitors got to mix and mingle with local librarians and we also managed to get some quite good coverage in the press, much nicer seeing a good news story for a change. Unfortunately I missed out on the finale on Saturday (see next post) which was held out at the Stratford Pioneer Village no doublt I'll hear all about it tomorrow.