Kebabs

 

Different foods from ethnicities here seems to be popular and I can see why - European food can be bland and boring. My favourite food types are Turkish, Vietnamese and Japanese. An old photo from our days in Kerikeri.

Weather forecast for this week.

Autumn has really hit here. Last night we had a low of 3 degrees celsius, normally that is a Winter temperature. We have just put the electric blanket on the bed and mucking around with our mattresses as B's back is forever moaning and groaning. Personally I think he's getting old (he will be 60 this year) and as we all know as you get older your body starts to complain. I've started wearing socks to bed and so far we have had only 1 cat on the bed with us at night but don't think it will be long before the others will be doing the same. Here we only get snow on the mountains, we don't get snow in the streets or anywhere else and it's more of a dry cold not like when we lived in Northland where it was very damp. 

Linking up with Weekend Reflections and the Weekend Roundup.

Petrol prices

 An old one from Kerikeri about a year and a half ago. Back when Covid hit everyone was hard done by financially The government trying to help reduced petrol prices for everyone. But now the fuel tax cut is at an end and petrol has gone up again to nearly $3 NZD per litre so people will be struggling again as inflation goes up. I'm sure we are not the only country going through this.

Linking up with Blue Monday and Mosaic Monday.

Juicy Chicken

Another old one from Kerikeri this week. During one of the lockdowns we had over 2020/2021 we were allowed to go for walks around the nighbourhood. I'm one of those people who randomly takes photos of just about everything when I'm out and about. This one is of one side of the main road where these group of shops were closed. The one above labelled "Juicy Chicken" sells just that, fried chicken - I've never tried it but whenever I walked past they were never really that busy and had odd opening hours.

Linking up with Weekend reflections and the Weekend roundup.

Corn fritters

 A flashback from Summer 2021 in Kerikeri. This sign brings back fond memories as it lives outside one of the local cafes which happens to be Vegan. I haven't tried much Vegan food in general but I'm open to experience it. Corn fritters however are like a Kiwi staple, just about everyone has tried them. 

Linking up with Skywatch Friday, All Seasons and Tom's signs.

Dragonfly

It's been 4 months since we moved from Kerikeri to Greymouth. We knew it was going to be really cold here but so far it feels like winter has been quite mild. I've heard people at work say that last year it got down to - 7 degrees at night but the lowest we've had so far is about -1 degree, so not too bad.

The cats are the ones who have had a weather shock, they are so use to living in Northland where the temperatures are alot warmer. When we lived in Kerikeri they were outside virtually all the time now they are outside for a maximum of a minute before running inside again.  This week we are down to polar temperatures and all Mr Cat does is nest in her bed we got her. 

Bruno just prefers to chonk out in front of the fireplace. I don't think it's time to come out of hibernation yet.

Linking up with Skywatch Friday and Tom's signs.

Waipapa Carvings

Before we left Kerikeri significant changes were made to the roads in Waipapa. What use to be a slow traffic ridden intersection was changed to be a roundabout which made a huge difference to traffic flow.

These sculptures were added to the middle along with native shrubs. The carvings were designed and created by Ngati Rehia which represent waka (canoes) that point to 4 significant maunga (mountains) within the rohe (district).

Linking up with Through my lens, Tuesday Treasures, Ruby Tuesday, My corner of the world, Wordless Wednesday

Fruit pickers

New Zealand has alot of people from other countries, especially from Fiji and the Pacific Islands who spend a few months here and there helping to pick fruit at different orchards. In Kerikeri there are orange orchards and avocado orchards just to name 2 and the money the people earn is quite often sent home to their families.

Linking up with Skywatch Friday and Tom's Signs.

All you "needle"

 

This local shop in my town is one of my favourite places to visit. "All you needle" is a craft shop which sells knitting and crochet supplies, sewing machines, accessories and tools along with needlwork. 

Linking up with Weekend Reflections and The Weekend Roundup.

Rainbow Pride

I've been pushing myself out in the mornings again to go walking, I went through a brief period where I got lazy and it became too easy to stay at home.  So early one morning when there wasn't many people out and about I snapped this photo of one of the many rainbow pride coloured benches in town. I like how the colours light up the rest of the gray.

Linking up with Skywatch Friday and Tom's Signs.

Duck!

Earlier this week towards the evening I was down at our local historical stone store with my daughter teaching her how to drive, this was the view from the wharf where my car was parked.

Just as we were about to leave, more cars parked and suddenly about 50 different kinds of ducks came waddlng out from the water very noisily talking to each other.  They must've thought that if they came out of hiding perhaps they'd get fed.

This week is being very quiet for my household. We are all under a 7 day isolation as my youngest son has tested positive for Covid after catching it from a work colleague. So far he has what seems to be a classic type of flu but my daughter and I we have tested negative although we seem to have different symptoms to him such as feeling tired, sore throat, headache and aching. B hasn't got any symptoms at all though - go figure, so we are all finding different things to do without getting bored. It seems that Covid is racing through our town but at least come April the mandates will be gone and there will be no need for vaccine passes or scanning in when you enter businesses although mask wearing will still be required. Hopefully next week we will be out and about again.

Linking up with Skywatch Friday.

Dreams of flight

At my town's local sculpture park this work by Donald Buglass is one of many pieces of artworks. Names "dreams of flight" it's a playful interactive installation by the artist and also represents deeper meanings and various metaphors of mankind's desire for exploration/collection of knowledge. The figurehead represents the Haast Eagle.

Happy New Year for 2021. Our New Year's eve came and went very quietly, no parties, no fireworks and no screaming people. It's like it eased itself in without anyone knowing and I wonder what 2022 will bring? New dreams...new understandings. I don't normally make new year resolutions but I think the following 4 will work for me:

1. Take more photos

2. Read more books

3. Blog more

4. Spend less time on social media because it's a toxic dump

Linking up with Our World Tuesday, Through my lens, Tuesday Treasures, Travel Tuesday, My corner of the world and Wordless Wednesday.

Last minute Christmas shopping

 Photo taken at our local farmer's market - people are still doing last minute Christmas shopping.

Linking up with Skywatch Friday and Tom's Signs.

Christmas tree competition

So my town every year has a pallet tree decorating competition, each business buys a Christmas tree cutout made of wood to decorate and put in their windows. The public is encouraged to vote for their favourite and although there are literally hundreds of trees this year I've only photographed a portion that I've seen. 

These ones are outside one of the local cafes where one of the organisations "Bald Angels" is run from. There is more information about their worthy cause here but basically they support children and youth throughout the region.

This one decorated with tinsel  and poinsettia is in the window of one of the shoe shops called Shoe Styles. 

We have 2 health shops in town, this is one of them called Hardy's but it looks like they have 2 trees in their window.

This one clearly advertises what business it belongs to - one of the two optometrists in town.

Yes we have bagels here, not my thing but this one shows a fun side to Santa, his elf and a reindeer outside a shop that makes and sells them.

They also have this grinch Christmas pallet in their front window.

This one covered in shoes, jandals and sandals is in the window of one of the many clothing shops. This one is calle eKo.

Last one seen by me is covered in kiwiana icons that are loved by many New Zealanders such as onion soup (we use it to make dip for chips), marmite and pineapple lumps in the window of Swift Conveyancing.

Linking up with Our World Tuesday, Through my lens, Tuesday Treasures, Travel Tuesday, My corner of the world and Wordless Wednesday.

Purple everywhere

Summer is the season when all of the Jacaranda trees around town are out in full flower. At the moment there is purple everywhere. This one is outside the vet centre.

 And this one is on the corner of one of the main roads in town outside an engineering business. Aren't they pretty?

Linking up with All Seasons.

Yellow

Our town is once again holding a Christmas competition involving local businesses. This one is a real estate's office which has decorated it's frontage to look like candy canes, snow and lights.

 Linking up with Weekend Reflections and The Weekend Roundup.

Santa has been seen

 

Santa has been spotted around town. First 2 photos are of him in one of the local supermarkets and the one above was of him lying on top of the sign in the carpark - he sure does get around.

And here he is in our local post shop guarding the presents.

Linking up with Skywatch Friday.

Oh Christmas tree...

 

Nice to see the main Christmas tree in our town up and decorated again. This one is outisde the Harcourts Real Estate office. 

Last year's one was covered in different coloured lights so it was extra special to see at night. 

Linking up with All Seasons

An eXtreme Christmas window

One of the local businesses in town has decorated their main window for Christmas but with a slightly different theme than Santa, elves and tinsel etc. This one shows a skeleton dressed up in a black tutu with a small Santa and a tree next to it. It's something unusual anyway...

Linking up with Weekend Reflections and The Weekend Roundup.

Love is all you need

Out for one of my morning walks I was touched when I saw this couple walking ahead of me holding hands with each other. You don't see enough of that these days.

Linking up with Skywatch Friday, All Seasons and Tom's Signs.

Unichem

Anytime we go into a fullscale lockdown here most of our local shops close down except those that are classed as essential services such as the Chemist. This one usually has a staff member sitting outside to take peoples prescriptions while they wait. The reality is that people still need their medication.

Linking up with Weekend Reflections and The Weekend Roundup.