Dog walks in the sun

During the week I get up, before the sun does, to take the dog for a walk.

So its nice at the weekend to be able to take the dog out whilst the suns shining. This weekend I took my camera with me to take a few pictures.

It was clearly going to be another hot sunny day - the sun just hadn't quite had enough time to burn off the clouds above this valley.

These guys were making a hell of a racket along the beach this morning. Don't know what they were discussing but it was clearly controversial.

City Scapes and history trails.

World War one has weirdly been on my mind recently. I have taken a trip to see a rather brilliant play about New Zealand's role in WWI (An Awfully Big Adventure) with the year 10s at school and have found myself having to teach a brief section on the topic.

My Great Grandfather's fought in WWI and having lived in Belgium for a brief period I have visited some of the haunting historical sites involved. However my knowledge on New Zealand's involvement was limited. My adopted country suffered significant losses as many countries did. However it's remoteness and willingness to get involved and support the mother country makes the sacrifices of the families involved even more poignant.

At the time the population of New Zealand was around 1 million. One hundred and twenty thousand New Zealanders enlisted and 18'500 were killed. Over 2700 died in the tragic and ill-fated fight at Gallipoli.

I discovered this weekend that New Zealand actually made preparations and plans in case the country was ever invaded. Walking in Mirimar we came across gun posts and monitoring stations set up during the first and second world wars to protect and monitor Wellington Harbour.

The remains of these gun emplacements still stand on the headland and stare out across the Cook Strait keeping a watchful eye out for enemy boats and submarines. We found them a particularly good spot for a picnic.

The site also contains the remains of an important Maori Pa. It was used (in a similar fashion to the World War buildings) as a way to guard the entrance to the harbour from enemies.

You can see why the location has been repeatedly used as an observation and defensive post. It has unbeaten views across the harbour entrance and out to the Cook Strait.

We were also rather impressed with the outline of the Waka built into a memorial at the site.

I can see why Peter Jackson (of Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit fame) chooses to live in this area. It is stunningly beautiful and only a few minutes drive from the centre of Wellington.

Weekend Coffee Culture

Weekends are precious when you have kids. Weekdays disappear in a blur of quick conversations, periods of rushed work deadlines, speedy car journeys from school to sports clubs and frantic searches for vital school equipment two minutes before your due to walk out the door.

So Saturday and Sunday have become vital havens for doing stuff you actually want to do. We tend to spend ours dog walking, playing soccer and messing around in the garden. With the occasional visits to browse round shops and picking up the occasional food shop (but only when there really is no alternative!).

Most weekends involve eating out at least once. I hate cooking, or rather I do not have the patience to spend more than half an hour constructing anything in the kitchen and so if the opportunity arises I will get someone else to feed the family. So most of the time this involves visiting one of the many great little cafe's in the local area.

We only ate out occasionally in the UK but over here there is an abundance of great little independent cafés and restaurants and all of them tend to be family friendly. Café culture is big in Wellington and you will always find a choice of great little coffee places on any shopping street of a reasonable size.

We were lucky enough this weekend to visit Petone and went to a great little café on Jackson Street. Like most of the little independent cafes it did a great selection of pies, slices, open sarnies and soup. All of the food tends to be made in house and is healthy and fresh. My girls had tomato and basil soup and a salmon bagel. And of course the obligatory hot chocolate and marshmallows.

It's still winter and the weather is unpredictable and unreliable. However since it's New Zealand it is not long before we get a beautiful sunny day to break up the spells of wintery downpours.

Sunday afternoon was cold but bright and sunny. So we headed down to the seafront for a late afternoon stroll. Along with lots of other people who had the same great idea.

The air was so crisp and clear you could easily see the South Island and as the sun began to set the sky became quite spectacular.

I think even the dog appreciated this view.

Grey and misty walks

We took Ted for a walk in Queen Elizabeth Park today. We have had bright sunny weather for the past two days and then as soon as the weekend arrived the cloud and mist descended.

It did lead to some rather cool colours in the sky today. Everything turned an ominous grey green colour and so I took my camera along and tried to capture the eerie atmosphere.

The tops of the hills remained shrouded in mist all morning. 

I love the colours and textures on these hills. They look almost furry in this photo.

Couldn't even see Kapiti Island this morning.

The girls and I decided that goblins and fairies inhabit this tree. It just has that magical look about it.

 

The many joys of dog walking.

I had forgotten how much fun dog walking is. Its strange that you can get so much joy from watching a small puppy run at break neck speed from one side of the inlet to the other. Or watching the puppy bury his nose into the sand and jump on all fours whenever we go on the beach just because he enjoys the sensation of sand between his paws and up his nose. He is also rather intimidated by the way the sea washes back and forwards and refuses to get his feet wet, but will happily jump in the deepest muddiest puddle he can find elsewhere.

The weather has improved since my last rather depressive last post, so we have been taking advantage of the winter sun and been taking our enthusiastic puppy on lots of walks.

I am trying to be the responsible dog owner and carry around the obligatory little plastic bags to pick up the numerous and seemingly very frequent deposits the dog makes. Can't say I enjoy that part of dog ownership! We also stick to the rules requiring you to have the dog "under control at all times", hence Ted is still on the extendible lead at the moment.

I thought I had trained him sufficiently to let him off the lead earlier in the week. This resulted in a panicked chase scene as he decided a passing jogger was more interesting than me and my bag of treats, and promptly decided to follow her home instead at great speed. Luckily my eldest daughter gave chase and the kindly jogger stopped and held onto the dog until we were able to catch up.

So until a lot of further training has occurred Ted will remain on the lead.

During our first few weeks of dog ownership in NZ we have discovered a few differences between here and the UK. You have a few more restrictions on where you can take your furry friends for walks. Due to the fragile generally feathered nature of the local wildlife most reserves and country parks require dogs to be on the lead at all times. Also any areas where there are likely to be livestock have similar restrictions. We haven't found that this is too restrictive so far and Ted has had plenty of opportunities to run free and hopefully get tired out.

The other unusual requirement is registering the dog with the local council. Earlier this week I had to pay our council one hundred and fifty five dollars for the priviledge of owning Ted. I recieved a small numbered disc for Ted to wear on his collar and the knowledge that if he gets lost or into trouble the council will know where to find me and be able to charge me for his misdemeaners. Apart from that I am not really sure what exactly I paid for. I assume its all to encourage responsible dog ownership. I shall look into this in more depth and report back!

Ted

When we arrived in New Zealand over four years ago now, we had to leave behind our much loved Spaniel Pip. It was a very difficult thing to do, but a very easy decision. We felt we couldn't put her through the journey. Over 24 hours in a crate on her own in the cargo hold of a plane would have been a very dramatic experience. And one that I am not sure she would have ever recovered from. We could not do that to her.

There was also the cost of course. Thousands of pounds as opposed to hundreds. Not something we could have afforded. So Pip went to live on a farm in France. This sounds like something you tell the kids when a much loved dog has to be put down. In this case however it's true! My Mum and Dad lived in France at the time and re homed her for us.

So now four and a bit years later, as we have finally got our own home again, we have got a new member of the family. This is Ted, a Spoodle (cross between a Cocker Spaniel and a Mini Poodle) who is only 3 months old and joined our family last Sunday. He was spotted in our local pet shop and was too cute to ignore.

He is just the right size for the girls.

Cold winter colours have returned to the Inlet.

 

A Saturday morning looks like late afternoon thanks to a low winter sun.

Wintry reflections.

I always think that dogs are great at making a house become a home. And not just because they have a tendancy to pee on the carpet :)

Windy weather photography.

Apparently having to stop every few minutes to take a photo is a bit annoying.

Well my other half has had to put up with this for quite a few years now. You'd think he would be used to it.

I wanted to take some pictures of the sea this morning as we have reached the time of year when Wellington lives up to its windy city reputation. The following pictures are the result of a very breezy walk along the seafront this morning. I was accompanied by much moaning and lots of impatient sighs every time I paused - so the results are not quite what I hoped for.

I think the pictures still convey just how cold and breezy it was this morning. So I guess I can understand some of the moaning.

Even the seagulls were having trouble in the wind.

Still lots of people about braving the elements, and the odd Oyster Catcher.

Lot's of these birds as well. I have no idea what they're called.

A trip to Cafe Vella cheered everyone up. Great food and a good selection of songs on their playlists.

Great sausage rolls!

Also want their teapots. Something else I am going to keep an eye out for in the charity shops.

All Greens and Blues

Last weekend the weather was beautiful and so we decided to have a quick afternoon stroll in the Autumnal sun.

Our short stroll turned into a 7km hike but it was worth it. The world seemed to turn into blazing blues and greens in the low level sunlight.

We decided to explore out the back of Plimmerton towards Pukerua Bay via a road known as The Track.

I would recommend this route to everyone. You get amazing views of the coast on one side and the rolling hills on the other.

You also get to meet the friendly locals!

Unfortunately the SH1 does cut through the view to the east but it does add to the drama of the scenery. I was rather glad I managed to capture the train in this photo as well.

Sheep!

Us taking in the view.

A spot of Cricket in the sun.

It may be pouring outside but I think we have definite signs that summer is on it's way and it may be a good one this year.

We have already started the morning ritual of lathering on the sunscreen and making sure hats are packed before heading off to school. Something that seems very odd when I compare it with my own summers at school. All we had to do was make sure the obligatory plastic "Pack a Mack" was stuffed in the bag for when the inevitable down pour occurred bang on 3 o'clock.

I love Kiwi Summers and can't wait for the long hot days to arrive. We had a glimpse of summer yesterday and headed out to Kaitoke for a picnic and walk. The air was fresh and the breeze was warm. A perfect combination.

Beautiful Rivendell

Cricket - a very serious game.

Tree climbing.

A sport everyone can get involved in.