We went on their tour (no photos allowed) and had a look around their shop.
Some large trolls out the front
Sunday, 2 March 2014
Weta
When we were in Wellington we went to the Weta Cave at Weta Workshop.
We went on their tour (no photos allowed) and had a look around their shop.
There was a lot of
interesting stuff to look at (and/or buy)
All of it was expensive
Some large trolls out the front
and other large models around the place
by Bryony
We went on their tour (no photos allowed) and had a look around their shop.
Some large trolls out the front
bits and pieces
Picnics and Parks
While we were in Masterton we had several picnics
Henley Lake Park had some very inquisitive ducks, geese, and other water-fowl. (And the water was foul :) )
At Queen Elizabeth Park there were deer and an excellent playground. The girls spent a lot of time looking for hazelnuts
At Queen Elizabeth Park there were deer and an excellent playground. The girls spent a lot of time looking for hazelnuts
Saturday, 1 March 2014
Lord of the Rings
As our family is quite keen on Tolkien, we tried to visit some of the
Lord of the Rings locations while we were on holiday. We went first to
the Putangirua Pinnacles (the Dimholt Road) which were pretty
spectacular. There was a walk along a gravel river-bed for about an
hour, past pink toitois.
The Pinnacles look like ruins from some angles.
Unbelievably huge
We even found a few dwarves there - can you see them?
We also went to a little bit of bush near Featherston where they shot parts of Lothlorien, apparently
But this was the ringsiest thing there
The Pinnacles look like ruins from some angles.
We even found a few dwarves there - can you see them?
We also went to a little bit of bush near Featherston where they shot parts of Lothlorien, apparently
Exploring the bush
We went on a bush walk while we were at Mount Holdsworth (yes, only one -
there weren't many walks short enough for a 3-year-old).
David, Hannah and Andrew went up to the Rocky Lookout where there was a good view of the valley.
The rest of us were too small or too hot to climb straight up the side of a hill on a 30 C day.
We found some
beautiful ferns and things,
and a ginormous spider's web.
The bush was
very dry, many of the kidney ferns were blackened and crunchy. I think
this is a horopito/pepper tree but it doesn't have the usual holes in
the leaves, maybe because it is young. I wasn't game to bite it to find
out.
There was also some fungi around, including this weird black fluffy stuff
And someone with a sense of humour had been past here
David, Hannah and Andrew went up to the Rocky Lookout where there was a good view of the valley.
The rest of us were too small or too hot to climb straight up the side of a hill on a 30 C day.
There was also some fungi around, including this weird black fluffy stuff
Back from holiday
Yesterday we returned from a 2-week holiday. We went over to Masterton on the 14th for Aunty Helen McGowan's 70th on the 15th, then spent the next 10 days or so camping at Mt Holdsworth DoC campsite before meeting up with the homeschoolers in Wellington for a Zoo sleepover and a tour of Parliament. The weather was good the whole time, apart from drizzle the day we were packing up, and some pretty wild winds. While we were over there, Masterton had the high for NZ 3 days in a row, and got up to 31.4 C, but as it wasn't humid it wasn't too bad.
We stayed in 3 tents, which were comfortable, although after the first night we made a quick trip to the local Op shops to get some extra bedding as it was colder than we expected at night (as usual - i'm always a bit too optimistic about nighttime temperatures)
There was a shelter near our tents which was very handy for meals
David made some camping kitchen boxes, based on a free pattern from the internet, which worked beautifully. We're planning to keep them partly stocked so as to minimise the packing needed for the next trip.
The camping went well so I think we have our set-up pretty well-organised for future trips. We made an awning the day before we left from some poles and canvas which worked beautifully to keep the drafts and sun away from the cooking area until one particularly windy day the eyelets pulled out of the corner. The canvas was a bit too light for the job, we'll have to look out for something heavier before we go away again.
A river ran through the campsite with a good swimming hole and we enjoyed cooling down in it. Freezing cold water!
The kids discovered blackberries all around the place so we had to invent blackberry pancakes to use them up (and the milk which went sour). We had them about every second day.
.JPG)
We stayed in 3 tents, which were comfortable, although after the first night we made a quick trip to the local Op shops to get some extra bedding as it was colder than we expected at night (as usual - i'm always a bit too optimistic about nighttime temperatures)
There was a shelter near our tents which was very handy for meals
David made some camping kitchen boxes, based on a free pattern from the internet, which worked beautifully. We're planning to keep them partly stocked so as to minimise the packing needed for the next trip.
The camping went well so I think we have our set-up pretty well-organised for future trips. We made an awning the day before we left from some poles and canvas which worked beautifully to keep the drafts and sun away from the cooking area until one particularly windy day the eyelets pulled out of the corner. The canvas was a bit too light for the job, we'll have to look out for something heavier before we go away again.
A river ran through the campsite with a good swimming hole and we enjoyed cooling down in it. Freezing cold water!
The kids discovered blackberries all around the place so we had to invent blackberry pancakes to use them up (and the milk which went sour). We had them about every second day.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)