Upland Road

Sadly, in April, we lost Sonja and Zoe to England (and not that long previously had lost Serahn to Otaki Beach). So, a flatmate search was on! Kate had already decided to move in, but these lovely photos convinced Sarah and Gerard to come on board and join the legacy that is Upland Road.

From the outside.
View from the deck looking over towards Northland.

Living room.
Lovely windows at the end of the living room where the sun streams in!

And the aptly named sun room - many a happy afternoon has been spent in here!

Visit from Australia

Huon and his sister Ellen came to Wellington to visit their brother Robbie who had recently started at the National School of Dance. So, obviously, when I saw them I took them shopping! And Miss Wong (one of my favourite shops) it was...

Huon wondering how much more shopping we were going to do

Robbie taking advantage of the very welcome couches

Cuba St for ever!

Turakina Beach

Adrian and I spent a night up at Polly's bach at Turakina Beach in April - it's about half way between Wellington and Taupo, just beyond Bulls. The bach was great, typical kiwi rustic style, and the beach is incredible - I have never seen that much driftwood in all my life!

Working hard at scrabble!

Looking out to sea
Can you believe all that driftwood?? It went on for miles like that...

Pink toitoi
Driftwood hut - just the place to shelter from the sun!

Turakina birdies

Casino Royale

As it is well known, Kelburn will use any excuse for a party. This one, Casino Royale, was because parties are fun! It was also an excellent reason to get dressed up - my red velvet frock was sourced from the Lower Hutt Salvation Army - love it!

Our impressive looking bar set up - before any guests arrived obviously!

Jeff, Ruth, Adrian and Sean.

Steve and Bronwyn - and my impressive capsicum plant in the background!

Jeff and Sara looking fine!

Oooh, watch out!

Zoe, Dave, Tobias and Dasha.

And the end of the night...me and Jamie having an excellent dance around the living room - that was one decent cardio workout!!

Government House open day

Government House in Wellington has an annual open day and finally, this year, I remembered to make the effort to head along. It was a gorgeous day and the place is incredible! The grounds are massive and the inside is pretty big too. It's got an aura of faded opulence about it, I reckon the art is the most valuable thing inside! I loved to see that they eat marmite just the same as the rest of us too.

We had good fun gawking at the gifts from other countries, learnt heaps about New Zealand's medal system, and were as irreverent as possible at all possible occasions (loved the piano)!

They also had a whole heap of chairs embroidered with all the names of the different cities. As much as I tried, I couldn't find the North Shore though! Auckland was the best I could do...