Starting well

After 12 months of planning and preparation I am finally following through on one of last year's resolutions and in passing practicing my Maori

 and when you do pikia nga arapiki you discover all sorts of things...like this!

An afternoon of art

It finally stopped raining yesterday so I walked into town along the walkway.  First stop was a new piece of public art that has gone up at the marina end.

If you know the places/cultural references then they are all pointing in the right direction.  As well as being art they are made with genuine road sign material so they reflect at night and will last for ages.  Then I headed in to town to visit the stone carvers who are back for their biannual (every 2 years) symposium.  I don't know what they did while it was raining but by the looks of the gazebos that were up, most of them kept going.

The last stop was Govett Brewster to see their latest exhibition (sorry, no photos allowed) then home, picking up a hokey pokey ice cream on the way.

Breaking(ish) news

The blue line between international and domestic has had a makeover.  It's gone green and now takes a 'short cut' through a carpark.  I'm not entirely sure how I feel about this, I did kinda like the blue and it definitely stood out more.

Traditional and not so much

We are doing our Advent calender at work again but this time going the other way around the building.  That means that my windows are being graced by pictures for the 20th and 21st, one traditionally Christmassy, the other not so much.

7 Sleeps

The tree is up, the presents are wrapped, the baking is done and the packing has begun.  Only five working days and one flight to go 'til Christmas!

Tea Te Arawa style

I spent the weekend in Rotorua for a big family event. Our hosts were the Te Arawa branch of the family, they are fabulous cooks and do everything big - incluing tea. Seriously, look carefully. I have one of these jugs and it holds about 2 litres. It was gone in 15mins.

2am - the finale

If you hold your head just right an look really carefully, in the middle of the photo you will see the accommodation pod loaded onto the ship for it's trip to Bass Strait. It's sitting between the big yellow crane and the red hull, not looking quite so big now.