Aramoana outing

On Tuesday we went off out to Aramoana for a holiday outing.  The kids have never been out there, in fact David and I have only been once, about 20 years ago.  The weather was lovely although the wind was a bit thin.  We saw a few seals and some baby terns.  We took sunscreen but forgot to apply it so nearly everyone got burnt to some degree.  It was a good day out though.

Stopped at the Port Chalmers lookout to look at the view

Some kind of beach celery

Couldn't get right to the end of the Mole, the road was sealed

Many of the trees in the Aramoana Arboretum were dead or ailing... Dodonea viscosa

Some trees just aren't suited to growing in sand...

Tern chicks

Piles and piles of turret shells

Weird circle of marks around this dead fish

A kite surfer was enjoying the wind (far right)

Red sand worms which we have never seen before

Little Blue Penguin

Bluebottle jellyfish aka Portugese Man'o'war

Way back in June... Renaissance feast

Our poor blog has been much neglected of late...
I went on this morning to update it and found a draft from back in June.  These pictures are from the homeschool renaissance feast.  The girls and I did a lot of sewing and came up with some costumes. Bryony made her French hood herself, it turned out really well.  First there was a market which we were late for, but still managed to sell a lot of fudge.  Then a battle, then a feast, a very impressive feast in fact.  It was all lots of fun and we're looking forward to this year's when the theme will be the Regency and the Battle of Waterloo - at least we won't have to make so many outfits for that one :)