Family Gathering 2009

David has posted all the photos on his blog. Great fun was had by all.

Visit to Devonport with Robert and Children

We found a lovely shady spot where Stacey and Caleb could play in the sand.



Cute sparrows competed with sea gulls for biscuit crumbs.



We wondered if this H28 in the distance was our old boat, Juliet. She is obviously rigged for the 5 knot 'gale'.

40th Wedding Anniversary

To celebrate our ruby wedding anniversary we decided to have a night away in Warkworth. We awoke to rain and quite chilly temperatures on Sunday morning so decided to leave the roof on DAE.
Ascension Vineyard seemed like a good place to celebrate the occasion! The weather was looking decidedly better by the the time we got there - the sun even ventured out once or twice.
For lunch we shared a delicious platter and a lovely bottle of Ascension Vineyard sauvignon blanc.


After lunch we travelled on a little farther to Tawharanui, where we had a very pleasant walk along the beach. The rain had disappeared completely by then.


We began a leisurely drive home on Monday, after a stroll around Warkworth. We took a country road to Kaukopakopa then headed back to Auckland via Helensville. We stopped at one point to enjoy a nice view of the Kaipara Harbour, and spotted this sculpture of a crashed 'balsa-wood chuck glider'. We'd seen a smaller version of it in the art gallery at Devonport, a few days ago.

Where's my duck?

He's not in the gardens any more. I hope he flew away and was not Christmas dinner for someone :-( He's such a lovely duck.