tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-78112553577304541832024-02-07T15:15:01.013+13:00the adventures of MNMsMeghan Maloney Photographyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03506040925450598933noreply@blogger.comBlogger1230125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7811255357730454183.post-59378038345424093632017-06-09T07:00:00.000+12:002017-06-09T07:00:00.188+12:00Toronto: An unexpectedly fun day out at the Ripley's Aquarium
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It was VERY chilly on this day (about 6 degrees and a bitter wind) and we knew it wasn’t going to be very pleasant staying outdoors all day. It took us a while (naive tourists that we were) to figure out that all the shopping malls and eateries are underground! Once we’d eventually found our way down below, we were amazed at the (apparently 30km) tunnels of shops, supermarkets and eateries under the streets of Toronto. </span></span></div>
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<br class="Apple-interchange-newline" /><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11px;">With an afternoon to kill, we made the decision to visit Ripley’s Aquarium of Toronto which was highly rated by Trip Advisor. This proved to be a great move as it was a fantastic experience and we all REALLY enjoyed it - the moving walkway was particularly impressive, so much so that we went around twice to view all the sharks, sawfish, turtles and stingrays floating above and around us. </span><br />
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Other highlights were the tank filled with Nemo and Dory fish, the jellyfish that lit up in all kinds of colours, and the cleaner shrimp that cleaned your hands when you put them in the tank. It’s an experience I’d highly recommend for anyone visiting the city. After that we had some time to kill before our late night flight to England so we headed out to another outlet store (Mark had to exchange some shorts - they’d given him the wrong size the day before!) before checking in to the airport where it was onwards to England via a 7 hour flight on British Airways!</span></span></div>
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<img height="66" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_A2MUftSDYw0/TY6FrDqE2EI/AAAAAAAALjc/Z76oTrjGN9c/s144/Signature.jpg" width="144" />
Meghan Maloney Photographyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03506040925450598933noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7811255357730454183.post-64384000376765208132017-06-06T07:00:00.000+12:002017-06-06T07:00:02.257+12:00Niagara Falls: a place like no other on Earth<div class="p1">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Our main reason for detouring to England via Toronto was so we could make the trip to Niagara Falls - and our American Airlines flight had allowed us to add in this leg at no extra cost so it was a no brainer. The drive to Niagara takes about 1 and a half hours and is easy freeway driving the whole way. What felt weird though was that we’d come from the USA where everyone drives on the right and distances were in miles, now here we were in Canada driving on the right with kilometres and soon we’d be in England driving back on the left in miles again. Strange world we live in!</span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="font-family: inherit;">The day we were at Niagara was pretty grey but I wasn’t upset - that’s perfect waterfall photography weather - much better than bright sunshine. It also was very quiet by tourist standards - a lot of shops not even open yet for the season - I can’t begin to imagine how busy it must get in summer! We decided to do the Journey behind the Falls - which is a walk down into some tunnels behind the Falls with a lot of information explaining the history of the Falls, the geography and some other interesting facts. There are several portals where you can see the water rushing down in front of you - it’s hard to describe just how loud and powerful the Falls are from behind here. </span><br />
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<span class="s1" style="font-family: inherit;">I really enjoyed reading facts such as:</span></div>
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<ul>
<li>the rate of erosion of the Falls used to be 1 metre per year. However with all the hydroelectric activity upstream which controls the rate of flow this has been reduced to 3 cm per year</li>
<li>various people have tried stunts over the falls - the first and most famous to survive going over the Falls was Annie Taylor who did it on her birthday in 1901. Many people have died trying to go over the Falls either intentionally or not. </li>
<li>The most famous survivor is a 7 year old boy Roger Woodward who survived in just his bathing costume and a lifejacket after a boating accident upriver. </li>
<li>A million bathtubs a minute empty over the Falls or 150 million litres of water a minute. The Falls are part of the Great Lakes water system which holds 1/5 of the world’s fresh water and the Falls are found between Lake Eerie and Lake Ontario.</li>
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<span class="s1" style="font-family: inherit;">After we’d had our fill of enjoying the view from both the more beautiful Canadian Horseshoe Falls and the American Bridal Veil Falls, we took a drive down the river to Niagara-on-the-Lake. The countryside was full of what looked like Canadian summer homes - some very grand and imposing affairs. What was also interesting was the lack of fences between properties - it was hard to tell where one finished and the next started. </span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="font-family: inherit;">With a few hours to kill before the light show at the Falls by night, we headed to the outlet stores and wiled away a good few hours and enjoyed how cheap everything was with the Canadian dollar the same as the NZ dollar - I was particularly pleased with finding a bargain on some Salomon hiking boots - $100 vs $300 if I’d bought the same pair in NZ - roll on some more mountain hikes!</span><br />
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It took me so long to decide whether to buy the boots though that we only just made it back to the Falls as the clouds lit up for sunset - it was touch and go for a minute but I got down to the water’s edge just in time. We then hung around waiting for the light show to start at 8pm and when it did we were very underwhelmed. We couldn’t decide if the amount of spray going over was blocking the light or the lights weren’t working properly but for whatever reason the colours looked nothing like the images I’d seen online. I was frustrated as it felt like it was almost impossible to get a good shot. </div>
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<span class="s1" style="font-family: inherit;">We then made the call to go up the Skylon Tower for a better view - this proved to be a good decision as from high above the views were much better, and suddenly the light show seemed to kick into top gear. The challenge up there though was getting the tripod balanced between all the metal fences to take a shot without the metal grilles in the way but with some careful manoeuvring I managed to fire off some shots and videos of the falls lit up with the lights of Niagara on the American side making the whole scene look like a mini Las Vegas! It was a late night home that night, with the hour and a half drive back we didn’t get to the apartment till nearly midnight!</span></div>
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<img height="66" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_A2MUftSDYw0/TY6FrDqE2EI/AAAAAAAALjc/Z76oTrjGN9c/s144/Signature.jpg" width="144" /> Meghan Maloney Photographyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03506040925450598933noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7811255357730454183.post-57933972418213854602017-06-01T07:00:00.000+12:002017-06-01T07:00:04.007+12:00NYC to Toronto: And an amazing sunrise in Central Park for my 40th birthday<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Day 6 - Birthdays - starting in Central Park and ending up in Toronto</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Mark had convinced me I should go and do a sunrise in Central Park - he’d felt so safe there running that he was happy enough to let me go off on my own - catching the first subway of the day up to 72nd St, and heading straight for the lake that borders Bow Bridge. I arrived just as the streaky clouds were lighting up the sky for sunrise - perfect timing. I had such a ball here over a couple of hours wandering to my heart’s content through the same parts of the park I’d explored a few days earlier - but the big difference was NO crowds of tourists - just the odd dog walker and runner. It was a lovely warm morning too - the warmest we’d had so it was really special send-off to our time in New York.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Unfortunately our flight out of NYC was delayed a couple of hours - this time thunderstorms in Toronto - and we had to sit on a small plane (the size of a New Plymouth plane) on the tarmac waiting to see whether we would get there. </span></div>
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Goodbye NYC (on the left), Hello Toronto (on the right!)</div>
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<span class="s1">Mark had also had a bit of a scare at La Guardia when they told him his Canadian visa hadn’t processed properly but by the time we arrived in Toronto it had obviously been sorted as it wasn’t an issue when we got to Customs. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">By the time we got our car hire sorted and drove to the AirBnB we were pretty ravenous for dinner. After a bit of research (thanks Google) we decided to make our way to WVRST for our official April 10th birthday dinner - it had felt like one big long extended birthday - as people had started wishing us happy birthday right back on Sunday afternoon (April 10 NZ time) and here we were 24 hours later and it was still our birthday Canadian time! The restaurant turned out to be an awesome choice - a funky craft brewery with 25 beers on tap and about the same number of choices of artisan sausages - we tried both the elk and bison sausages and they were mouthwateringly good! </span></div>
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Meghan Maloney Photographyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03506040925450598933noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7811255357730454183.post-80601847533926254112017-05-29T07:00:00.000+12:002017-05-29T07:00:21.401+12:00Five days in NYC: Cruising on the Hudson, around Brooklyn Bridge and an Ice Hockey Match<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Mark took advantage of a fine Sunday morning to run 10km around Central Park. He was impressed with how safe and serene the park felt at that time of the morning. Just lots of dog walkers and runners out doing exactly the same as him. When he got home, we headed out to the B&H Photo/Video superstore, something I’d been wanting to see with my own eyes. It was a tad overwhelming even finding the camera area and I was very restrained not buying anything I thought. At this point, we had to make our way to a pier a few blocks up for the 2 hour harbour cruise we’d booked. Little legs again were aching, so with all the walking later in the day still to come, we opted for our first taxi cab experience of the holiday. It was cheap as chips, but saved us about 20 minutes of walking - very handy.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">The cruise we picked was for 2 hours heading south past the financial district and getting up close to the Statue of Liberty before heading towards Brooklyn and up past the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges. The gentlemen who took the tour was very knowledgeable and worth listening to, though I spent most of my time out front of the boat taking photos so it wasn’t terribly easy to hear the running commentary. It was a beautiful day for the cruise with blue skies and high wispy clouds and gave us a great perspective on the city we couldn’t see from up close walking up and down the streets.</span></div>
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After the cruise we made a quick trip to back to the hotel to switch up some gear before catching the subway down to City Hall to make the walk over Brooklyn Bridge. I couldn’t comment on how busy it was walking over the bridge compared with a normal day, but being a super sunny and nice New York afternoon it wasn’t surprising that every man and his dog had the same idea. It was like moving against a sea of people in both directions - probably not as pleasant as it could have been but another thing to tick off the list.</div>
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Once we made it to the other side, I parted ways with Mark and the boys. They were off to the ice hockey - New York Islanders vs Ottawa Senators - it had been a big dream for Mark to attend an ice hockey game while in NYC and he managed to get super cheap tickets for the game. This meant of course they were up in the heavens miles from the pitch but an awesome atmosphere nonetheless. The evening was made even more special by Mark finally getting a photo with some NYPD officers - that in itself was amazing, but even more so when the officers pulled out real life NYPD badges and gave these to the boys to keep!<br />
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Meanwhile I was kept entertained by the lovely surrounds of photo opportunities down at Brooklyn Bridge - in the end I was here for nearly 4 hours waiting for sunset and just soaking up the last night in the Big Apple. I’d been on somewhat of a photographic mission to try and get a good New York by night shot for our bedroom wall at home - and the night didn’t disappoint. It’ll be a hard choice between some of these shots but I'm sure I have a winner amongst them. <br />
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And so ended our last full day in the city. It had been a crazy five days of full-on activity from dawn to dusk but we really felt as if we'd seen the best New York had to offer and had filled our adventure cups right to the brim. </div>
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The following day we'd be flying to Canada on our actual birthdays - my 40th and Mark's 39th!</div>
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<img height="66" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_A2MUftSDYw0/TY6FrDqE2EI/AAAAAAAALjc/Z76oTrjGN9c/s144/Signature.jpg" width="144" /> <br />
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</style>Meghan Maloney Photographyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03506040925450598933noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7811255357730454183.post-47141346095489655412017-05-22T07:00:00.000+12:002017-05-22T08:24:07.859+12:00Five Days in NYC: The Highline, a Doors-off Heli Flight and Coney Island<div class="p1">
<span style="font-family: inherit; letter-spacing: 0px;">Saturday dawned fine and sunny - a nice change after the past 2 days. The wind was still chilly though. We headed back to the Doughnut Plant for coffee on our way to walk the Highline - it was much busier here on a Saturday morning than it had been the day before.</span><span style="font-family: inherit; letter-spacing: 0px;"> </span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 11px; letter-spacing: normal;">The Highline opened in sections between 2009 and 2014, an initiative of 2 locals who didn’t want to waste the opportunity of the disused railway line running above NYC. </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 11px;">The High Line was originally built in 1934 to lift train traffic 30 feet in the air, removing dangerous trains from the streets of Manhattan’s. The freight trains carried mostly food and agricultural goods to the upper stories of factories and warehouses. But train traffic began to decrease in the 1950s and stopped altogether in 1980.</span><br />
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The Highline<span style="font-family: inherit; letter-spacing: 0px;"> fell into disuse and would have been demolished were it not for the foresight of these 2 locals who decided to bring the Highline back to life. The walk starts at the Hudson Yards and ends down near the Chelsea Markets - about 1.5 miles long. There’s plenty to see along the way - even some cool railway beams and peep throughs at one end for the kids.</span><span style="font-family: inherit; letter-spacing: 0px;"> </span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: inherit;">We’d timed our walk to finish at Chelsea Markets so we could try the famous Los Tacos - rated No 1 on Trip Advisor. There was quite a queue for food but it moved fast - and boy was it flavoursome, particularly the pork and pineapple one. From here we headed for Dylan’s Candy Bar - a massive candy store with enough sugar inside to sink a battleship. Mylo was getting SUPER tired by this point - a sign of the kilometres we had already racked up walking these past few days - lots of cajoling and eventually we made it to the shop - somehow he managed to talk us into buying a lollipop that was almost as big as his head - ridiculously expensive and he hardly ate more than a tenth. </span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I was getting rather nervous by this stage as I knew I had my helicopter flight that evening. I’m not sure if I was more nervous of the idea of the flight or how I was going to get to the arse end of New Jersey on my own. It turned out to be easier than I thought though as I caught a PATH train to New Jersey and then a taxi out to Kearney (which wasn’t cheap but the only option). I arrived nice and early to the hangar where FlyNYON was based with butterflies building. There were 5 of us on our flight and once we’d decided where to sit and listened to the safety briefing, it was time to harness up for the doors-off flight. I’d booked this flight months ago as a 40th birthday present to myself - what better spot to experience my first helicopter flight. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 11px; letter-spacing: 0px;">I’d chosen a time close to sunset to get that lovely golden hour light but I knew it would be more challenging to get shots with the helicopter vibrations and fading light. We were so lucky to get a lovely golden glow in the sky and after take off headed straight for the lower end of Manhattan for close up shots of One World Trade and the Statue of Liberty. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 11px;">From here we flew up the East River over the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges before flying back over the city right in front of the Empire State building and on over Central Park. By this time the sun had set and I really had to crank up the ISO on my shots to get the sharpness needed with a fast shutter speed. It was amazing to see the park from this perspective though - it really is massive! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; letter-spacing: 0px;">All too soon the flight was over and we headed back for New Jersey - I was amped but also sad it was over so soon - half an hour in the air literally felt like 5 minutes. I could have done it all over again! I shared an Uber back with the other people on my flight - we had a very entertaining driver who couldn’t believe we’d all just been on a doors off helicopter flight! After being dropped at 50th street, I walked all the way back to 35th street - partly as I was looking for something to eat and also to soak up the atmosphere of a Saturday night in the city - wandering through Times Square on my way. </span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Meanwhile, the boys had been having the time of their lives - Mark took them out to Luna Park in Coney Island for opening night. They were super stoked to go to this iconic spot to see all the fairground rides - well timed as the park had been closed for the winter. Mark made sure that he visited Zoltare and got his fortune (like Tom Hanks did on the movie Big). </span></span></div>
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<span class="s1">The boys also played several games like Whack-a-mole and pop the balloon and managed to win a dolphin and taco stuffed toy - which of course took up more space in the bags! We all arrived home happy with our evening’s adventures, looking forward to our last full day in NYC.</span></div>
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Meghan Maloney Photographyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03506040925450598933noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7811255357730454183.post-80118222468323586032017-05-15T07:00:00.000+12:002017-05-15T07:00:10.824+12:00Five Days in New York: All the Great Buildings (Day 2 and 3)<h3>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Day 2 - New York Public Library, Grand Central and the wet!</span></h3>
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This day dawned wet and cold as we knew it would based on the forecast, another reason why we had packed so much into our first day. After finding a super tasty coffee at Bluestone Lane on 42nd, we pondered our next move and headed for the Library to get out of the wet. We found a side door and found ourselves in the Children’s Library. You’ll never guess who was in there.. the original Winnie the Pooh and friends stuffed animals donated by the Milne family over 30 years ago. This was so amazing and unexpected to see.<br />
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<span class="s1">After wandering round a few more rooms in the library we headed back out into the rain to find Grand Central Station. Noah and I almost didn’t make it any further - nearly getting run over crossing the road forgetting that the traffic was all coming from the opposite direction - luckily for us a car horn jolted us back into reality before stepping out directly into oncoming traffic.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Grand Central is just as Marty the zebra says in Madagascar - it’s grand AND it’s central. The terminal itself is actually quite dimly lit but it is huge with an impressive ceiling. The boys gravitated towards the Apple Store and a myriad of free devices available to play on for a good half an hour. </span><br />
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<span class="s1">After finding a huge number of choices for lunch downstairs in the basement food hall, we took the subway shuttle back to Times Square and headed for Macy’s. To be honest we found Macy’s very overwhelming and didn’t spend too long in there apart from Mark taking a look around Polo Ralph Lauren. We also went to Toys R Us in JC Penney’s but were a bit underwhelmed. By this stage we were in need of a sit down and we bought hot drinks at Starbucks. We were hoping for a break in the weather but managed to time it quite badly and got caught in a massive downpour on our way back to the hotel, good thing we’d invested in 2 $6 umbrellas earlier in the day. The kids definitely needed a sit down by now so the fact our hotel was so central was invaluable. </span><br />
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<span class="s1">It was time to plan our next move - a friend mentioned about the big Nintendo store where you can play on all kinds of games including a giant screen where Noah got to play Zelda. After all the crazy rain mid afternoon, the sun was out again, so from here we were hoping to head over to Long Island so I could catch a sunset over the city. </span>Our plans got scuppered by the only train heading out to Long Island suffering big delays so at the last minute we changed the plan and headed for Central Park. Unfortunately we made it too late for sunset so instead went in search of dinner - Shake Shack came up trumps - one of those places we had on our ‘must-eat’ list - just because it was an American fast food outlet we don’t get back home. </div>
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<span class="s1">We rolled into bed sometime after 10pm, hoping the next day would be a little less wet and cold!</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Day 3 </span><span class="s1">Flatiron building, the Financial District, One World and a great Japanese restaurant </span></h3>
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<span class="s1">Friday dawned dry but cold with a biting wind. We made our first faux pax on the NYC subway accidentally taking an express train instead of a local which meant a half hour delay while we returned back to our starting point to get on the right train - we learned from it! First stop was our best coffee yet at Doughnut Plant in Chelsea where we were served by Jesus - that sure tickled our fancy. After that we walked down to the Flatiron building - a big bucket list tick for me to see this famous building ever since I saw its mini replica in Newtown, Wellington. </span></div>
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The boys got somewhat distracted by discovering the awesome LEGO store on the corner, which left me able to enjoy taking photos to my heart’s content. Before we left the LEGO store we bought the boys the special New York city architecture LEGO set which they had fun building during our stay.<br />
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From here we headed down to Wall Street. Getting off the train we saw what was our only piece of nastiness in the city - some plain clothes policemen had a couple of people in handcuffs and there were some corporate city workers pinning down a couple of guys on the floor waiting for the police to arrive. We couldn’t quite make out what was going on but it seemed to be to do with some sort of tour operation - possible some fake touting going on. From this last tube stop we could also see the people queueing for the Staten or Ellis Island ferry - we weren’t sure which, and got our first view of the Statue of Liberty from afar.<br />
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<span class="s1">We didn’t have to walk far to find the Charging Bull - it was swarming with people, so much so that we couldn’t even get near it. Not so the new Fearless Girl statue - we managed to squeeze in to claim a quick pic. From here we found our way to the NY Stock Exchange and Wall Street before giving in to hungry bellies. We headed to Wendy’s while Mark went off in search of this amazing panini place - but the portion he got was so ridiculously large that he later ended up giving half away to a homeless person on the subway. </span></div>
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After lunch we were heading for One World Trade but got distracted by the Century 21 discount department store where I stocked up some Superdry t-shirts, Noah got a pair of Nike’s for $20 and Mylo a cap which hasn’t left his head since! Then it was onwards - past the unusual and slightly odd looking Occulus to the base of One World Trade and the Ground Zero Memorial Pools.<br />
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I’m not sure what I was expecting of the spaces where the Twin Towers were - but boy was it moving to see the two massive spaces where the towers used to be and all the names written on plaques around the edge of the pools - a plaque for each floor affected in the towers. It was especially seeing the name of a lady ‘and her unborn child’ on one plaque. Then on the South Tower, there were so so many names of emergency personnel - particularly the fire departments who all rushed to Ground Zero after the first tower fell. We wondered what the roses were dotted here and there beside the names and discovered that they were placed beside someone’s name if it was their birthday. So unbelievably sad.<br />
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The new One World Trade tower is 550 metres tall - the 6th tallest in the world at last count. It defies belief looking up at it, it seems to go and on on forever. The sides of the building are made of reflective glass so on a fine day it reflects the blue sky and clouds - we didn’t see much reflection on this day as it was grey and windy but we would 2 days later on the harbour cruise.<br />
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We headed home for a break in the hotel after this - and decided to try out Ishikaya Mew - the renowned Japanese restaurant (voted 21 on Trip Advisor out of over 9,000 eateries), handy as it was literally downstairs beside the hotel.<br />
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Mark went down to book a table and discovered it was an hour wait - he took one for the team and had a drink in the bar while we waited for the call to say our table was ready. To say it was noisy in the restaurant was an understatement - but it was a great atmosphere - really vibrant for a Friday night with lots of couples and groups eating dinner. The food was fantastic too.<br />
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After this, we tried our luck again at heading out to capture some night skyline shots - taking the Number 7 train over to Long Island and walking to Gantry State Plaza Park. I’d scouted out this location in advance so knew it would provide a great vantage point of midtown Manhattan from the Empire State building all the way to Park Ave.<br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica";">It was still pretty windy and cold so it was a short and sharp photo shoot trying to get some good shots before we all froze to death! There’s a really cool Pepsi Cola sign lit up here too which was worth getting a shot of. We went home via Dunkin Donuts for a hot chocolate to warm up before crashing out in our warm beds!</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: "helvetica";">Video snippets from Day 2 and 3 here:</span><br />
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<img height="66" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_A2MUftSDYw0/TY6FrDqE2EI/AAAAAAAALjc/Z76oTrjGN9c/s144/Signature.jpg" width="144" /> Meghan Maloney Photographyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03506040925450598933noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7811255357730454183.post-54266639405814558002017-04-26T07:00:00.000+12:002017-04-26T07:00:16.881+12:00Five days in New York: Central Park, Top of the Rock and Times Square<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"><b>Day One</b></span></div>
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<span class="s1">After loading up on bagels and waffles (so American!) at the hotel breakfast, we decided to take advantage of the sunny weather that day to head to Central Park. We walked up to Bryant Park on 42nd street to get a ‘real’ coffee before purchasing our weekly subway tickets - with difficulty I might add. Two worked on one credit card but we ended up having to pay cash with the other two. </span><br />
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Before long we were in Central Park and into the zoo - Noah’s bucket list item the first to get a big tick, he’d wanted to go ever since seeing Madagascar - one of his favourite movies growing up. Mylo and I went straight to the sea lion enclosure and caught some hilarious antics - I’m pretty sure it was close to feeding time. We caught up with Mark and Noah in the tropical zone spying all kinds of interesting creatures like snakes (a first for him), mongooses, piranhas, and coatis. It’s not a particularly large zoo - probably not even as big as Wellington zoo but it did have grizzly bears, snow leopards and owls which were all new to the boys. The penguin enclosure was probably my favourite - with several different species they were highly entertaining zipping in and out of the water at speed and coming right up to the glass to say hi!</div>
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From the zoo we navigated our way back to the edge of the park to get lunch - the boys succumbed to their first full-size American pretzel although the cheese pretzels the vendor sold were not very nice at all - and they couldn’t finish them! We went slightly healthier with a Fresh & Co salad and sandwich and took advantage of the free apples they were handing out on opening day. From here we walked back into the park and the boys had great fun climbing all over the exposed bedrock rock formations scattered all over the place. I must admit I had no idea that Central Park was so undulating, I fully expected it to be flat the whole way through but the myriad trails through the park wind up and down providing much more interest than I’d anticipated. </div>
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<span class="s1">We walked the length of the Mall before reaching Betheseda Terrace and Fountain - sadly no water in there at the moment. After that we found the boating lake with model sailboats out on it, before walking through the Ramble to Bow Bridge. The boys were in their element squirrel spotting - final count 43, but the bigger surprise was finding a heap of turtles in the ponds there too - final count 27 according to Noah!</span><br />
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One thing that surprised me was the lack of new spring growth - New York had a fair few dumpings of snow over the winter and the last one quite soon before we arrived. There were some lovely cherry blossoms dotted through the park though providing a lovely contrast to all the bare trees.<br />
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<span class="s1">The scale of Central Park is overwhelming - some 850 acres in the middle of Manhattan with myriad trails leading all over the Park. We umped and ahhed about whether to head further north to Belvedere Castle as the boys were getting tired but decided we should - when would we ever get the chance again?</span><br />
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<span class="s1">The views from there were lovely - you could see across to the grand buildings on either side of the park and well worth the extra walk. After this we headed back to the hotel for a short rest. We’d booked 6pm tickets for Top of the Rock - the observation deck at the top of the Rockefeller Center. As well as Top of the Rock, you can also go up the Empire State Building (close to where we stayed) or One World Trade Center which is currently the tallest building in New York. However many people choose Top of the Rock as it has the best views in both directions - the Empire State building and One World Trade in one direction and Central Park in the other. The Rockfeller Plaza is also pretty impressive - an underground maze of so many shops combined with a beautiful outdoor ice skating rink that was still in use. We had a little bit of time to kill so Mark took the boys into the LEGO store while I took some shots of the exterior.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Noah proved to be pretty anxious about going up - we cajoled him along telling him it was completely safe and that we wouldn’t be going up if it wasn’t. He still wasn’t very convinced but we could hardly leave him behind so along he came.</span></div>
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It was certainly good having a timed entrance to the observation deck - even then it took at least 20 minutes to get through security and various lines before finally making it onto the fast elevators up to the viewing floors. There are 3 observation decks - at the 67, 69 and 70th floors. The last one being the best as it’s outside without glass shields to obscure the view, but it’s also the coldest!<br />
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<span class="s1">My plan was to stay for sunset but we were quite early to the top so I wasn’t sure if the kids would last that long. I wandered back and forth taking shots - a little disappointed in how hazy it was up there. The sunset wasn’t looking at all promising, and it got colder and windier by the minute. But minutes after the sun sank to the west behind New Jersey, the sky lit up with an intense sunset right over the city. Wow.</span><br />
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Then gradually it faded leaving behind the glorious dusk and twinkling lights of Manhattan behind as a dessert treat. By this stage it was about 8pm and we hadn’t even had dinner so we made our way down towards Times Square for a slice of Ray’s Pizza. Then the bright lights of Times Square beckoned.<br />
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On our way to Times Square we also stopped in at the MNM's store - it was full of lots of awesome NYC branded items and even some NYC special flavours - like pretzel, vanilla cupcake and cherry.<br />
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And my goodness Times Square is cray cray. It’s a huge sensory overload on the eyes - you really can’t decide where to look it’s so bright and eye-catching and hard to concentrate. We took some time to just sit and watch amongst the thousands of others there at the same time as us. </div>
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While we were there the NYPD turned up on horseback - I'm not sure if they do this every night (most likely) but it was pretty cool to see! At some point we ended up in a melee of people getting their photos taken with the Disney characters who then of course wanted money for the privilege - Mark had disappeared into the Swatch store by then so I honestly said we had no money which they weren’t best pleased about - but it was the truth. I think we finally rolled home after 10pm - a massive first day in the Big Apple!</div>
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</span> Video snippets from Day One:<br />
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<span class="s1">Two years ago I sat in a cafe with a friend. She was soon heading off to New York for her sister’s 40th birthday and I listened green with envy at all the plans they had made. ‘Wow, that would be my dream to turn 40 in New York’ I remember telling her.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Fast forward a year and we were making plans to book a trip back to the UK to visit Mark’s parents. Every time we’d been back to England we’d put New York on the agenda for a stopover only to take it straight off again when we looked at how expensive the flights were as soon as you added New York into the mix. This time however, the stars aligned. American Airlines had just launched a new service from Auckland to LA, opening up the rest of the States with their internal flight options. Suddenly New York was looking like a real possibility. ‘But if we go to New York we really HAVE to go to Niagara too’ I declared. And so the trip of a lifetime took shape. Flying to New York for 5 days, Toronto for 2 days (the closest major city to Niagara), onto England for 3 weeks and back home via LA to take the kids to Disneyland. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">We booked the flights a good 9 months before our trip and it was a loooong wait, but gave us plenty of time to research accommodation and excursion options. Originally we thought we might stay out in Long Island as the accommodation was about half the price of staying in Manhattan. But then we considered how great it would be to be right in the thick of the city action and bit the bullet booking a hotel right near the Empire State building on West 35th street.</span></div>
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Hanging in the QANTAS lounge before our LA flight</div>
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<span class="s1">When the day finally rolled around, we were more than ready to be on our way. I think I’d forgotten just how LONG 12 hours is on a plane and I was ready to get off about halfway through the LA leg - no such luck. However with lots of new movies to watch including plenty of new release kids movies the trip passed uneventfully - apart from Noah throwing up a couple of times as we landed in LA. We hadn’t given him a Sealegs tablet but remembered to give him one before the NYC leg. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">After a straightforward LA customs process very unlike what we’d been warned about, we sat down to wait for our NYC flight. As soon as we got on the plane, they warned us that thunderstorms in New York meant a possible delay. Then the captain further announced that due to something mechanical we may need to change planes as well. We sat on the plane for nearly two hours (luckily the movies were working) before having to get off and wait for our new plane. Eventually after a 4 hour delay we were on our way again. Noah had perked up a bit after it being nigh on impossible getting him to eat anything in LA where he was as white as a ghost and I thought he could have passed out at any moment from lack of food as he’d barely eaten on the LA flight.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">We landed in NYC at 9pm local time after 24 hours travelling, more than ready to see our hotel beds. A straight forward trip into the city landed us there by 10pm. </span><br />
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<span class="s1">Despite the late hour we were pretty ravenous and headed out for a late night slice of New York pizza, with views of the Empire State building to wow us along the way.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">That night we slept the sleep of the dead, muchos tired but feeling excited about what the next few days would bring. </span></div>
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Meghan Maloney Photographyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03506040925450598933noreply@blogger.com0New York, NY, USA40.7127837 -74.00594130000001839.942317700000004 -75.296834800000013 41.4832497 -72.715047800000022tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7811255357730454183.post-8730202544633020002017-03-13T17:19:00.001+13:002017-03-13T21:11:22.814+13:00A Bluebird Day hiking the Tongariro Alpine CrossingOur best laid plans are sometimes meant to go wrong for a reason. When Mark broke his toe on New Years Day, I was pretty disappointed as we'd planned to walk the Tongariro Crossing at the end of the month. Doctors orders were to stay off his foot as much as possible for a month so that was that.<br />
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When <a href="http://www.visitruapehu.com/">Visit Ruapehu</a> contacted me in early February asking whether I would be interested in taking some images on the Crossing, I jumped at the chance to make this 20km hike a reality again. We settled on the weekend of 25-26 February to do the hike and began praying like mad for good weather - this summer had been so darn changeable that anything was possible. Early on in the week it had looked somewhat showery but I kept hoping that it would turn out better than we hoped.<br />
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Heading off after work on Friday night, discussions along the way in the car came with the realisation that our accommodation for the first night required bedding and I'd completely forgotten to pack any. Cue a small detour to the Te Kuiti warehouse to pick up a cheap duvet and pillows for $18 and we were on our way again, although my hopes of making it to the mountains in time for sunset were dashed as that small detour meant we were just a few minutes late arriving to any good vantage points. And as it turned out there WAS bedding provided after all so the detour was wasted anyway haha!<br />
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I consoled myself with the thought that a 4.30am start might instead prove fruitful if clear skies delivered up the Milky Way. After packing our bags ready for the hike, I was a wee bit concerned at the weight of them. I had all the camera gear and tripod in my bag which left poor Mark with 4 litres of water to carry plus all our food. We'd sure be making heavy work of this hike!<br />
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The alarm went off at 4.15am and I quietly crept out of the cabin with camera and tripod in tow and headed out to the main State Highway 47, the road on which Discovery Lodge is based. On my way along the driveway, I saw a shooting star fall out of the sky before me - no matter how many times I see one I always get such an electric jolt of thrill.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8Q0AWvdgD8yk8PFMAGIcDLAHx-fNKW3At-4eTHXiC_2uT-LXB37138742KWr1Cm34IC0rftfNsuugZkf-xLFJpsX8VAX6drOr36shxu9Kj5RJsdR4pBa2vjHuu50UysqKSC26fJmb6zLH/s1600/Milky-Way-Central-Plateau.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img alt="Milky Way under Mount Nguaruhoe" border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8Q0AWvdgD8yk8PFMAGIcDLAHx-fNKW3At-4eTHXiC_2uT-LXB37138742KWr1Cm34IC0rftfNsuugZkf-xLFJpsX8VAX6drOr36shxu9Kj5RJsdR4pBa2vjHuu50UysqKSC26fJmb6zLH/s640/Milky-Way-Central-Plateau.jpg" title="" width="512" /></a></div>
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I set the camera up and started clicking - no doubt about it the skies here were super clear - the Milky Way was a bright slash across the sky and the Magellan clouds were also visible just to the right of Ruapehu. In the whole 45 minutes I spent out here, I only saw 2 cars - one of which nicely lit up the foreground of my shots for me - result. Reluctantly after 5am I knew I'd better head back to get ready for our 5.25am shuttle pick-up. If you're ever considering doing the Crossing and are after a cheap accommodation option, Discovery Lodge has a range of cabins from as little as $60 a night (basically just a double bed) through to higher end motel type units - as well as plenty of tent and campervan sites. I chose this place both for price (knowing we literally needed somewhere to lie our heads until the morning) and because it had the earliest shuttle drop-off at the Crossing.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMhrpmfNSDCSMrJue1KO1OHUC8eHLrJcD2Ggldz-aMXw1wIXgvgoxlH2g7SG43AXP_QwvRFVhOfFwcVC98tF7ScUB5qm5utUVZN9hwDGywvmH1WWFG-N3Twcz2SgFn5MsN5KpY3-DJ0ppB/s1600/milky-way-central-plateau-panorama.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Milky Way Central Plateau mountains" border="0" height="308" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMhrpmfNSDCSMrJue1KO1OHUC8eHLrJcD2Ggldz-aMXw1wIXgvgoxlH2g7SG43AXP_QwvRFVhOfFwcVC98tF7ScUB5qm5utUVZN9hwDGywvmH1WWFG-N3Twcz2SgFn5MsN5KpY3-DJ0ppB/s640/milky-way-central-plateau-panorama.jpg" title="" width="640" /></a></div>
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As we drove along the road, a sliver of a moon peeked out from behind Mt Nguaruhoe and behind that came the dawn. We started off just before 6am in near darkness and despite my bladder being notoriously fickle, it was Mark not me who had to make a pitstop at the first toilet at Mangtepopo Hut (about 15 minutes into the journey!). As we started the gradual ascent to Soda Springs the skies lightened and looking behind us was the most incredible vista of Mount Taranaki, some 150km away lit up by the glorious pink and gold hues of dawn. We could even see one of the huts on the mountain reflected by the sun hitting it - amazing!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEKruApdZSEBwgL-RMHicwUa9js9DpW5we1s9boV1HJq2bzBKrygvWawGeKOkeSGpES7R-LAoskOobjVA1SsqIKn55GgvXupV7nU-Qfo8JrLBTmB6ZEH08DXE4Yh5K1iBsTtXnuNewnXZe/s1600/dawn-comes-tongariro-crossing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Dawn on the Tongariro Crossing" border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEKruApdZSEBwgL-RMHicwUa9js9DpW5we1s9boV1HJq2bzBKrygvWawGeKOkeSGpES7R-LAoskOobjVA1SsqIKn55GgvXupV7nU-Qfo8JrLBTmB6ZEH08DXE4Yh5K1iBsTtXnuNewnXZe/s640/dawn-comes-tongariro-crossing.jpg" title="" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKpAOAhYHwP7cP8GLon16mOuXA99Meq3nd93cMFREi8xKLxejRp9N8rv9_oQbHx9jIEHCqnXQGjtlntHj00pyMIAuG4imSfu6wONUD1z9aWrcaxP9LcaERUF8YdZctvz-c-j84x11wSJXs/s1600/Dawn-on-tongariro-crossing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Golden hues of dawn Tongariro Crossing" border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKpAOAhYHwP7cP8GLon16mOuXA99Meq3nd93cMFREi8xKLxejRp9N8rv9_oQbHx9jIEHCqnXQGjtlntHj00pyMIAuG4imSfu6wONUD1z9aWrcaxP9LcaERUF8YdZctvz-c-j84x11wSJXs/s640/Dawn-on-tongariro-crossing.jpg" title="" width="512" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaQ6PZkheKDJfIbsUZ8k77ofVAOMLH_p_kJl0TzCujPM4-dFVxSIuMjbSPBgo9Vo_raBtEIUKGXu5J2u0b156JBdA17FBIYp6cBvFmm0ryf-sp4oIrPZxgXdrKXzF2Awj19IH2COJBiPNQ/s1600/Mt-Taranaki-dawn-Tongariro-crossing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Dawn over Mt Taranaki from tongariro crossing" border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaQ6PZkheKDJfIbsUZ8k77ofVAOMLH_p_kJl0TzCujPM4-dFVxSIuMjbSPBgo9Vo_raBtEIUKGXu5J2u0b156JBdA17FBIYp6cBvFmm0ryf-sp4oIrPZxgXdrKXzF2Awj19IH2COJBiPNQ/s640/Mt-Taranaki-dawn-Tongariro-crossing.jpg" title="" width="512" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfs9wYtyN3BAdUyPQ5uc6rF1-irJHC_o4eVJ431IgeK3jQiZR0oBmBgdGdqwgoBsuOCNzSKvyrr0YCJ4J-IeEMkirBuNZ3t26D437kzxDcLhGMyUfawkS6kHnf_mh3WyaZfGBZX0jtlmnU/s1600/soda-springs-climb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Walking to Soda Springs" border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfs9wYtyN3BAdUyPQ5uc6rF1-irJHC_o4eVJ431IgeK3jQiZR0oBmBgdGdqwgoBsuOCNzSKvyrr0YCJ4J-IeEMkirBuNZ3t26D437kzxDcLhGMyUfawkS6kHnf_mh3WyaZfGBZX0jtlmnU/s640/soda-springs-climb.jpg" title="" width="512" /></a></div>
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By 7.30am we'd reached the LAST toilet stop for four hours at the end of Soda Springs and decided we'd better make use of it although making a toilet stop on this hike is not for the faint of heart. The smell reaches you long before you even reach the toilet but then you can't expect much more when thousands of people are using a very limited number of toilets every day.<br />
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Bananas were consumed for breakfast as we began the steepest part of the day so far, the climb up to South Crater through the Mangatepopo Saddle on the Devils Staircase - sounds appealing doesn't it?! This section of the track takes you up 200 metres in a relatively short time so it's a matter of slogging it out with frequent stops to admire the views of Mount Taranaki off in the distance (otherwise known as surreptitiously catching one's breath). We were lucky to be climbing this part of the walk in the shade so it was still relatively cool and the sun only really hit us when we reached the top of the saddle.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV0y-E-pIGVVJ8xHr3Y7pvfSoYyYCLpdTxTFLjbbT_FVMKZEoM_xe3xgox1izRItvb7xXseqgCAMJ9XJdQktKv3O_v5MZepX5VIVNsS9sveOovSn41_PsbYAAfN-kj1mubPLWuzCSpcoJd/s1600/Barren-landscape_-Tongariro-Crossing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Barren landscape Tongariro Crossing" border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV0y-E-pIGVVJ8xHr3Y7pvfSoYyYCLpdTxTFLjbbT_FVMKZEoM_xe3xgox1izRItvb7xXseqgCAMJ9XJdQktKv3O_v5MZepX5VIVNsS9sveOovSn41_PsbYAAfN-kj1mubPLWuzCSpcoJd/s640/Barren-landscape_-Tongariro-Crossing.jpg" title="" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM3IYrKq0030megrFWeD0vcdeC3RaUWlCgC4l2xSBL4s4am-o9xbFK648OyptYdZmylvWrQ5dhIf174SzUl6GYl5sUZRGuk-GUye6UHskiwVvboPcWrEAtuuZ_7dtO42N1pUDocTHIMzOW/s1600/first-uphill-tongariro-crossing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Climbing the Mangatepopo Saddle" border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM3IYrKq0030megrFWeD0vcdeC3RaUWlCgC4l2xSBL4s4am-o9xbFK648OyptYdZmylvWrQ5dhIf174SzUl6GYl5sUZRGuk-GUye6UHskiwVvboPcWrEAtuuZ_7dtO42N1pUDocTHIMzOW/s640/first-uphill-tongariro-crossing.jpg" title="" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjENZjERsdmjZ0NkOALugOZdRyTQZRuPDc0h430HrSo2iYHoEYPI60s5aLAN_v175XFgAIp3TlAA-TtkiUqc9J08wdfMwW1uF8vzsLIRgWUypPCYmObN7F7SYLNXoLL71kUzWTlPmu20aWM/s1600/climbing-devils-staircase-tongariro-crossing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Devils Staircase Tongariro Crossing" border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjENZjERsdmjZ0NkOALugOZdRyTQZRuPDc0h430HrSo2iYHoEYPI60s5aLAN_v175XFgAIp3TlAA-TtkiUqc9J08wdfMwW1uF8vzsLIRgWUypPCYmObN7F7SYLNXoLL71kUzWTlPmu20aWM/s640/climbing-devils-staircase-tongariro-crossing.jpg" title="" width="512" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil7KefAZJ2IQMV8X-MrVTVyFrabnitonGqHHmJa08EOy2P_ZUk1KGZ_C9JgUXXPPlVCTxTISN6Y2hd1161M4IJuNEKtZk2gXIbrCt-WMM4YrYyx37xR8rEIcg-5EC_j3qwpsAi5LQM_Yqk/s1600/Climbing-up-Mangatepopo-saddle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Walking on Mangatepopo Saddle Tongariro crossing" border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil7KefAZJ2IQMV8X-MrVTVyFrabnitonGqHHmJa08EOy2P_ZUk1KGZ_C9JgUXXPPlVCTxTISN6Y2hd1161M4IJuNEKtZk2gXIbrCt-WMM4YrYyx37xR8rEIcg-5EC_j3qwpsAi5LQM_Yqk/s640/Climbing-up-Mangatepopo-saddle.jpg" title="" width="426" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin5ei0DarsMrVIVl8piafnBpERnTa3SDWgjsuJOfh6_50RRMHE43EguenrF7WNf9ITG9M-60L_citz3HW73XFxjC2GZcdvcxv8KZ0kVMmh02Eyx2UfOczyidrPucqBBzcspSxx_Im_s6s3/s1600/Devils-staircase-Tongariro-Crossing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Nearing the top of Mangatepopo Saddle" border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin5ei0DarsMrVIVl8piafnBpERnTa3SDWgjsuJOfh6_50RRMHE43EguenrF7WNf9ITG9M-60L_citz3HW73XFxjC2GZcdvcxv8KZ0kVMmh02Eyx2UfOczyidrPucqBBzcspSxx_Im_s6s3/s640/Devils-staircase-Tongariro-Crossing.jpg" title="" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK3CryW83XjyM_uHkgVGcgOphhJwaeqS5dhfGTiwfIo2hjHNutkKeQYo3B7BOxE9ORl8jp_5nndJL72Nv_6ii19elrYU8g7SKXZNV876MSPmzB_sOStEyeBxM_D_tWsHrcnoXgzVpSkpBe/s1600/Sun-appears-Tongariro-crossing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Sun appears on Tongariro Crossing" border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK3CryW83XjyM_uHkgVGcgOphhJwaeqS5dhfGTiwfIo2hjHNutkKeQYo3B7BOxE9ORl8jp_5nndJL72Nv_6ii19elrYU8g7SKXZNV876MSPmzB_sOStEyeBxM_D_tWsHrcnoXgzVpSkpBe/s640/Sun-appears-Tongariro-crossing.jpg" title="" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxopqNOQWU0NzD4BAjLELJicNJiQZXrMwOWUXb83djqrH2R1-tW0vIOb-DVfUnoWcNHlxJOvKJOlA12zcbko6TWwc6m9v5VpwwrmMwA81Ly5NsTHaBhXYDkX13eZ89QI8u7GwW_Fke4wgN/s1600/Mt-Taranaki-from-Tongariro-Crossing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="From Tongariro Crossing to Mt Taranaki" border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxopqNOQWU0NzD4BAjLELJicNJiQZXrMwOWUXb83djqrH2R1-tW0vIOb-DVfUnoWcNHlxJOvKJOlA12zcbko6TWwc6m9v5VpwwrmMwA81Ly5NsTHaBhXYDkX13eZ89QI8u7GwW_Fke4wgN/s640/Mt-Taranaki-from-Tongariro-Crossing.jpg" title="" width="640" /></a></div>
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From the saddle, those with the keenest sense of adventure and fitness can take a detour up to climb Mt Nguaruhoe (an extra 3 hour return journey on an already long day). I'd climbed Nguaruhoe back in high school and had no great desire to repeat the experience as I remember well the VERY steep scoria slide all the way down being very hard on the knees.<br />
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Once we reached South Crater, it was a really pleasant change to amble through a completely flat section for a good 15 minutes and plenty of time to admire Mt Doom (Nguaruhoe) - this was as close as we would ever get to it on the Crossing.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBuqHxiBwlS5mI_O_i0VYuZi7aIPxbxrZdg07KZDpBZMw4sEl2Cauo5pK4Cw7EUUDS_vCcEn8ROOUBZ6N1dLS29QcSSFdty-8i_U-K9sbSiAEubg_dkjGH1cN-p96eFPnCYcXr893Jkuek/s1600/Walking-through-south-crater.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Walking in South Crater" border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBuqHxiBwlS5mI_O_i0VYuZi7aIPxbxrZdg07KZDpBZMw4sEl2Cauo5pK4Cw7EUUDS_vCcEn8ROOUBZ6N1dLS29QcSSFdty-8i_U-K9sbSiAEubg_dkjGH1cN-p96eFPnCYcXr893Jkuek/s640/Walking-through-south-crater.jpg" title="" width="640" /></a></div>
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From South Crater, it's all uphill again - once we made it to the ridge for the first time we could enjoy views over the Central Plateau south towards the Desert Road. It was a short pause as the toughest part of the uphill was ahead, climbing up the ridge to Red Crater.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3gyuFO6U5EdU_rsd98Ocn8IcAh-n0k0gKAvI7ZzhLAMZGCDsoqntSy8tWTAN6NpXGbRigrx2zuRK9cHLxxVTThXiKMkMC2TIQiF19wNHvlgWsth3pb0zqPwXIcWjnRcUK-GG8S0y_CUHM/s1600/Central-Plateau-Views-from-Tongariro-Crossing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Views over Central Plateau from Tongariro Crossing" border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3gyuFO6U5EdU_rsd98Ocn8IcAh-n0k0gKAvI7ZzhLAMZGCDsoqntSy8tWTAN6NpXGbRigrx2zuRK9cHLxxVTThXiKMkMC2TIQiF19wNHvlgWsth3pb0zqPwXIcWjnRcUK-GG8S0y_CUHM/s640/Central-Plateau-Views-from-Tongariro-Crossing.jpg" title="" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkMj7yjOgiGXVQgKgTsEXnlRTwPiCHBgAN6M_EZDo_GpxwS_2MIuCqQ8tBo7NXVLLPpyD9XtUmjWUy6UsEwFAfwh1fl7BWPdEFMnbLcXjmZBKPeePQabgZzXBErkSgT8iOaZOGbAOOOuoI/s1600/Up-high-Tongariro-Crossing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Layers of Hills Tongariro Crossing" border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkMj7yjOgiGXVQgKgTsEXnlRTwPiCHBgAN6M_EZDo_GpxwS_2MIuCqQ8tBo7NXVLLPpyD9XtUmjWUy6UsEwFAfwh1fl7BWPdEFMnbLcXjmZBKPeePQabgZzXBErkSgT8iOaZOGbAOOOuoI/s640/Up-high-Tongariro-Crossing.jpg" title="" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNNz3JA8QJHSHmGEKFeaKqyibrHRBvu-vNXf9Cl_wfGaGD4OWBLFAw3mDVDakzlegOO2NNccEB1mDSZJYlNGbjUBa6ylJVRosZB_RQoCjczwCFgVKQ098811PVlPThUlahMupGIxGgOojd/s1600/Uphill-climb-to-red-crater.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Climbing to Red Crater Tongariro Crossing" border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNNz3JA8QJHSHmGEKFeaKqyibrHRBvu-vNXf9Cl_wfGaGD4OWBLFAw3mDVDakzlegOO2NNccEB1mDSZJYlNGbjUBa6ylJVRosZB_RQoCjczwCFgVKQ098811PVlPThUlahMupGIxGgOojd/s640/Uphill-climb-to-red-crater.jpg" title="" width="512" /></a></div>
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It looks tough looking up but in reality it doesn't take long at all and suddenly you're standing there - all 1886 beautiful metres above sea level. Feeling as if you're on top of the world with views in all directions - Nguaruhoe one side, Red Crater another, the Emerald Lakes and still further on the Blue Lake and Taupo. Despite the fact we climbed in February (our hottest month here in NZ), we'd started our day in several merino layers and windproof coats in the dark, had ditched them for the hot climb up to South Crater, but we soon needed them again up at Red Crater with the wind chill of 10 degrees being apparent (and it wasn't even a windy day).<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjemA0xkuN7Cd5jb1eRhZSrZgPR_NPtr-qQpctIie9_xSJrr-SM6OInc8CCFha63ukmPxF5bfu4PXYTnRNHGIUgfDJotIYpE3cReqp_oC0JtCyJ5SrY_SYMMIIDyr4VN8we8jXi8a6BLfsl/s1600/Conquering-mountain-Tongariro-Crossing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="The mountain conquered on Tongariro Crossing" border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjemA0xkuN7Cd5jb1eRhZSrZgPR_NPtr-qQpctIie9_xSJrr-SM6OInc8CCFha63ukmPxF5bfu4PXYTnRNHGIUgfDJotIYpE3cReqp_oC0JtCyJ5SrY_SYMMIIDyr4VN8we8jXi8a6BLfsl/s640/Conquering-mountain-Tongariro-Crossing.jpg" title="" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoMnJwBht0PXePxly9O38qY7MBkEycmeqwaTuNuTHm4yRQbgAv6LI6eU7QEL7aGHYPwJORVpT4lP5EYyxaGMjyO8s53oLV6t_WvmFLxlMY4Qc6ql8uFa3-rHdSrvqUk2PStQZ307_BW6rl/s1600/Halfway-point-Tongariro-Crossing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Halfway point on Tongariro Crossing" border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoMnJwBht0PXePxly9O38qY7MBkEycmeqwaTuNuTHm4yRQbgAv6LI6eU7QEL7aGHYPwJORVpT4lP5EYyxaGMjyO8s53oLV6t_WvmFLxlMY4Qc6ql8uFa3-rHdSrvqUk2PStQZ307_BW6rl/s640/Halfway-point-Tongariro-Crossing.jpg" title="" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy3kM1sgr2QKzM9fxKKuG1B7AQMen_h66PXZyvuupiJ_H-A7YCKoCKYmf2os5KBCSZo8IpOWD1h8_7IR6R0Tta-SKuZ60q0qPnKZiyLknR_GqD-hpYFgtNJG8ifZSyPaOWHb2C_cBnULEK/s1600/Mt-Nguaruhoe-views-Tongariro-Crossing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Views to die for Tongariro Crossing" border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy3kM1sgr2QKzM9fxKKuG1B7AQMen_h66PXZyvuupiJ_H-A7YCKoCKYmf2os5KBCSZo8IpOWD1h8_7IR6R0Tta-SKuZ60q0qPnKZiyLknR_GqD-hpYFgtNJG8ifZSyPaOWHb2C_cBnULEK/s640/Mt-Nguaruhoe-views-Tongariro-Crossing.jpg" title="" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzZ77LFPkola8GpuaIJVFXNpPfdfO6_MOTsmVNieN0OJa6CnZgRJm9dcYkIIcaj55Q7rnE7Ih1CvUPqgYMeuxtDXTBvz48saG_fXevHSf1mbrqCBziY_2Gkh32mx5dQKy49ZUjNd9sCrAM/s1600/Last-uphill-to-red-crater.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Last uphill to Red Crater" border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzZ77LFPkola8GpuaIJVFXNpPfdfO6_MOTsmVNieN0OJa6CnZgRJm9dcYkIIcaj55Q7rnE7Ih1CvUPqgYMeuxtDXTBvz48saG_fXevHSf1mbrqCBziY_2Gkh32mx5dQKy49ZUjNd9sCrAM/s640/Last-uphill-to-red-crater.jpg" title="" width="640" /></a></div>
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I could have stayed to admire the views all day but alas the rest of the Crossing was calling. Ahead was the slow slide down the scoria to the Emerald Lakes. This section is really steep and despite it being easy to go down it than up (which you would if you climbed the Crossing in reverse) it still felt like a slow pace, also because this is probably one of the narrowest parts of the Crossing and where everyone is taking much care not to fall off the side of the narrow ridge. This was probably the point at which I KISSED my walking poles for coming in so handy - after watching Mark slip over about 5 times in five minutes while I managed to keep on my feet.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiterB44-89Jw7rpPbQwliTmvt9ZZnxnXY-toRuWMoJBzvKwBePQH672kuvO80cq8qEmeDqSpZEd2-KVIG1XHryqMNULJwfWqex2_HFcqE4lPRrfqDLaH1U-_mRc4rZuxUlbf_1MQK4uhuJ/s1600/Red-crater-Tongariro-Crossing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img alt="Red Crater Tongariro Crossing" border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiterB44-89Jw7rpPbQwliTmvt9ZZnxnXY-toRuWMoJBzvKwBePQH672kuvO80cq8qEmeDqSpZEd2-KVIG1XHryqMNULJwfWqex2_HFcqE4lPRrfqDLaH1U-_mRc4rZuxUlbf_1MQK4uhuJ/s640/Red-crater-Tongariro-Crossing.jpg" title="" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4zQO3Ne65xkFmGJ0C6TfIUVYN6jfr1KkQ1swST86GrVzX5bL7gmR3dzjp2LfLCUH6MBvPm1Ezip7grUSlEop-NtVoQsFdiSqb63brwjz009QvVKjtHkiGtEI9rxe7jHE5qhP6jP-3zgrE/s1600/Selfies-on-Tongariro-Crossing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Selfies on high Tongariro crossing" border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4zQO3Ne65xkFmGJ0C6TfIUVYN6jfr1KkQ1swST86GrVzX5bL7gmR3dzjp2LfLCUH6MBvPm1Ezip7grUSlEop-NtVoQsFdiSqb63brwjz009QvVKjtHkiGtEI9rxe7jHE5qhP6jP-3zgrE/s640/Selfies-on-Tongariro-Crossing.jpg" title="" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZ90cpEWnFpJ3TKESnUiwKGpjwoFIuDcHzVJwILqB5EMe3xkOG93wLs6qWVKM8kZbb0zQR-fV2i6a4GwoM-D5H5eECN4tYzUAGt_kBHUq3b9gUgn-MTtGiipLIWorCoAzR5lUd9PoP-isJ/s1600/Tongariro-Crossing-Track-views.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Towards Blue Lake Tongariro Crossing" border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZ90cpEWnFpJ3TKESnUiwKGpjwoFIuDcHzVJwILqB5EMe3xkOG93wLs6qWVKM8kZbb0zQR-fV2i6a4GwoM-D5H5eECN4tYzUAGt_kBHUq3b9gUgn-MTtGiipLIWorCoAzR5lUd9PoP-isJ/s640/Tongariro-Crossing-Track-views.jpg" title="" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9Ay7LwlOb1TfZUHiiPZBSTiJVWf7bfH3dRAMSH5xtOIHRsfaoS1ngbJQmzasYTp5RQVZr1sD1jhWQvz6OYWREYL4eh_j_AKny-V7dw7wZS8wYoBHpVvD4k0dgRUqoFi5ytS5jZhQkyNvV/s1600/View-to-Blue-Lake.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Blue Lake on Tongariro Crossing" border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9Ay7LwlOb1TfZUHiiPZBSTiJVWf7bfH3dRAMSH5xtOIHRsfaoS1ngbJQmzasYTp5RQVZr1sD1jhWQvz6OYWREYL4eh_j_AKny-V7dw7wZS8wYoBHpVvD4k0dgRUqoFi5ytS5jZhQkyNvV/s640/View-to-Blue-Lake.jpg" title="" width="640" /></a></div>
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After 20 minutes or so we were down at the Lakes, and looking back up the ridge it was incredible to think we'd just walked down it, it seemed SO steep. Everyone who walked past us was saying the same... 'wow did we just come down that?!'.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmSA2yt_NgI6TnkwLqhE0bzabQQvWRfmi8u8dsnEAdkoz4_F2n9Up5TFkLpS6kzaAfC-OqhDqUR6JwGHErnhXyeReb987S6wMzfLWyhx7RboUtvsfxrY-4_2LvwLXq0td7IJLKi7YgrDV3/s1600/coming-down-Tongariro-Crossing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Taking care on scoria Red Crater" border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmSA2yt_NgI6TnkwLqhE0bzabQQvWRfmi8u8dsnEAdkoz4_F2n9Up5TFkLpS6kzaAfC-OqhDqUR6JwGHErnhXyeReb987S6wMzfLWyhx7RboUtvsfxrY-4_2LvwLXq0td7IJLKi7YgrDV3/s640/coming-down-Tongariro-Crossing.jpg" title="" width="426" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqQphdoVSAPDerd03LxGOoyFt4FswUjFRrRSIqxp3KA8GT1LI7WkSjnE3g7hCrunCFcBDerOV1xl7okTM_Gng1H9uUsHT5V1xfnQ84mKNCf5syNnWcPjEdAnh-l9ZRxvUAXRYK3fGS8Y2i/s1600/Long-way-down-red-crater.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Steep ridge to Emerald Lakes Tongariro Crossing" border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqQphdoVSAPDerd03LxGOoyFt4FswUjFRrRSIqxp3KA8GT1LI7WkSjnE3g7hCrunCFcBDerOV1xl7okTM_Gng1H9uUsHT5V1xfnQ84mKNCf5syNnWcPjEdAnh-l9ZRxvUAXRYK3fGS8Y2i/s640/Long-way-down-red-crater.jpg" title="" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5ME2pv9C90hVLvCwIln5KBhr3bcBn1mNO-RqKZpkUdkrCDF33temGbuKx8ojzb-wsXNE9Ofe4CrnX63w00buxHpbATqFmGQosrINV4-csZ6sOGq_bqCfNRAE8OBrrqrBfsNSdjizCBcKm/s1600/Path-down-from-red-crater.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Traffic jam Tongariro Crossing" border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5ME2pv9C90hVLvCwIln5KBhr3bcBn1mNO-RqKZpkUdkrCDF33temGbuKx8ojzb-wsXNE9Ofe4CrnX63w00buxHpbATqFmGQosrINV4-csZ6sOGq_bqCfNRAE8OBrrqrBfsNSdjizCBcKm/s640/Path-down-from-red-crater.jpg" title="" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhunHziz8WacpmtOBC_kUbpxaNrdkfFQyreYzVYUcrlJPrheZTJceq8rSo54MUzrS9SlVhy8R6SIxYOtZtvKEo6LFYy1zdGziwuwzRybE-Kg2eUXWEQ9j258HdIfu9YFO-KIhOnwKc99gJq/s1600/Steep-walk-down-red-crater.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Looking back up scoria Tongariro Crossing" border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhunHziz8WacpmtOBC_kUbpxaNrdkfFQyreYzVYUcrlJPrheZTJceq8rSo54MUzrS9SlVhy8R6SIxYOtZtvKEo6LFYy1zdGziwuwzRybE-Kg2eUXWEQ9j258HdIfu9YFO-KIhOnwKc99gJq/s640/Steep-walk-down-red-crater.jpg" title="" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTmhweEozg4eGSf5g2LUsGWwne7_0LxWiee8G5QL3bjB6UV7ErJazGWssyGPWqFEkNUeS5rA_nKK18AULsKE6qtRxFhnVy8K5CKoUgPdLbYfO8VsQe6XwNzqMP4QuseCJNItpA9uCWnfpO/s1600/Taking-a-break-Emerald-Lakes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Emerald Lakes break Tongariro Crossing" border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTmhweEozg4eGSf5g2LUsGWwne7_0LxWiee8G5QL3bjB6UV7ErJazGWssyGPWqFEkNUeS5rA_nKK18AULsKE6qtRxFhnVy8K5CKoUgPdLbYfO8VsQe6XwNzqMP4QuseCJNItpA9uCWnfpO/s640/Taking-a-break-Emerald-Lakes.jpg" title="" width="640" /></a></div>
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The Emerald Lakes are so stunning (if a little stinky from the sulphur smell - they are volcanic after all!) and a great place to stop for a while and enjoy morning tea - it was only about 10am by this point and we'd walked over half the track. I was a little reluctant to leave here as it was so picturesque but the only way out was to just keep walking.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCCUNP7kzqMAeDt2hbi-QevpTFfUUGhPFHxaK3JeU7Vnvv58a1CC40uNtCTcfTap4_XVk4sLcos21YHytEdRXeNOKJNsDaenIzVnpnXsgSICR7crCIy909tyKOlE_pdkKfM1LnA4haXdW_/s1600/Emerald-Lakes-Tongariro-Crossing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Emerald Lakes and Tongariro Crossing track" border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCCUNP7kzqMAeDt2hbi-QevpTFfUUGhPFHxaK3JeU7Vnvv58a1CC40uNtCTcfTap4_XVk4sLcos21YHytEdRXeNOKJNsDaenIzVnpnXsgSICR7crCIy909tyKOlE_pdkKfM1LnA4haXdW_/s640/Emerald-Lakes-Tongariro-Crossing.jpg" title="" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizLPK9jVtr2UIa_cP-UuR9LUNDkfyPSl9OtW0FzXz_7w7YDxKQdjs6AD-xWUehjB5BqKlP2P3k2-ETDaG3lFrcB6JeB5GXrFzatdX2RA0QR0_Wlfk2EGopGlOf7gLGsTWDl4WZ6Ng6Z3Kp/s1600/Emerald-Lakes-View.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Stunning clear lakes on Tongariro Crossing" border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizLPK9jVtr2UIa_cP-UuR9LUNDkfyPSl9OtW0FzXz_7w7YDxKQdjs6AD-xWUehjB5BqKlP2P3k2-ETDaG3lFrcB6JeB5GXrFzatdX2RA0QR0_Wlfk2EGopGlOf7gLGsTWDl4WZ6Ng6Z3Kp/s640/Emerald-Lakes-View.jpg" title="" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcuhwFlOk2Pd9wsCgPDqylQ-aW6KzWEKweO_i_Abx35ObxofoVcWPNh0PXXsbuUtGEnHFYGAo53arawyGsLNwvhxSMUGcop8bZey7JeWZN-bcpVfQ4Nxx9zohwJH2_d3Qm6o2xVGv_BuRV/s1600/Admiring-Emerald-Lakes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Enjoying views over Emerald Lakes" border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcuhwFlOk2Pd9wsCgPDqylQ-aW6KzWEKweO_i_Abx35ObxofoVcWPNh0PXXsbuUtGEnHFYGAo53arawyGsLNwvhxSMUGcop8bZey7JeWZN-bcpVfQ4Nxx9zohwJH2_d3Qm6o2xVGv_BuRV/s640/Admiring-Emerald-Lakes.jpg" title="" width="640" /></a></div>
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The next section of the hike walking to Blue Lake is delightfully flat and open and it's only a short uphill to reach the Blue Lake. This was probably my favourite view on the hike because looking back you could see ALL three mountains Ruapehu to the left, Nguaruhoe in the middle and Tongariro to the right nicely lined up - with the Crossing track and people walking clearly visible as well.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQzgrZm9Z8BrJp-RVLZBxFGZKYLEiyHAwtLQGNVmVFzjFLugH2sbjwMpKj-AMGFD_HbdsWKyjvw3R5j0Lz9GrEBhCoG1t0md2rjVjVJOCLt4uq4N_xZUC6pfwd1_jzP8ey6JDLmXRNNZRv/s1600/Tongariro-Crossing-Track-view.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Long winding track to Blue Lake Tongariro Crossing" border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQzgrZm9Z8BrJp-RVLZBxFGZKYLEiyHAwtLQGNVmVFzjFLugH2sbjwMpKj-AMGFD_HbdsWKyjvw3R5j0Lz9GrEBhCoG1t0md2rjVjVJOCLt4uq4N_xZUC6pfwd1_jzP8ey6JDLmXRNNZRv/s640/Tongariro-Crossing-Track-view.jpg" title="" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiCRdS3uqxyx596MIxlAcniWNk0t_MeNZLtnoO5R4YAEJkOCdASyzyJcnP-D1Ex5FuJa4KhXLbMutO-aekFHGv-4LIXDYtz9xiPCG9kemTu_eYK6UC2iETuiJ6uUQsfrAdJdJ55GEPN_8O/s1600/Tongariro-Crossing-walker.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Looking back up to Red Crater" border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiCRdS3uqxyx596MIxlAcniWNk0t_MeNZLtnoO5R4YAEJkOCdASyzyJcnP-D1Ex5FuJa4KhXLbMutO-aekFHGv-4LIXDYtz9xiPCG9kemTu_eYK6UC2iETuiJ6uUQsfrAdJdJ55GEPN_8O/s640/Tongariro-Crossing-walker.jpg" title="" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf7oZUMFFq-dyWDoE6QYTJ6Db63x4Jept3FohfTrU3jOuVE8T-TK8eCWWN204QmvRJTxN757CLgJJkeYWS2zEKwVE7nPgkGWAmBLe0c_idwYnqdGpYF4TYXm4L45S6UMLQQr4bwcAMVoaC/s1600/Blue-Lake-Tongariro-Crossing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Stopping to enjoy Blue Lake" border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf7oZUMFFq-dyWDoE6QYTJ6Db63x4Jept3FohfTrU3jOuVE8T-TK8eCWWN204QmvRJTxN757CLgJJkeYWS2zEKwVE7nPgkGWAmBLe0c_idwYnqdGpYF4TYXm4L45S6UMLQQr4bwcAMVoaC/s640/Blue-Lake-Tongariro-Crossing.jpg" title="" width="640" /></a></div>
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We didn't hang around too long here and carried on through the pass and onto the beginning of the long downhill section. I have to admit I didn't know too much of what to expect of the last section (I'd walked half the Crossing about fourteen years ago but there and back not one way like this time), and I loved the views of Lake Rotoaira and even Lake Taupo in the background that opened up as we walked through what felt like an alpine pass in Switzerland. The only dead giveaway that we were firmly in Aotearoa was the visible volcanic activity rising out of the craters to our left and right.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTtDdNbryq0n4VZpG7Z63Xgddex8Ow-Y5BxY5S1tSP3q-a6frO1rLDoM7Gy3tu6CGwXimnHBSl25UC6Sz8rMpw0aQpDLY1ld9CERm_WqmNse0jL1TDnU6SbxYMm__5gi0ifvGBYoKbHeV4/s1600/Alpine-pass-Tongariro-Crossing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Through the pass Tongariro Crossing" border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTtDdNbryq0n4VZpG7Z63Xgddex8Ow-Y5BxY5S1tSP3q-a6frO1rLDoM7Gy3tu6CGwXimnHBSl25UC6Sz8rMpw0aQpDLY1ld9CERm_WqmNse0jL1TDnU6SbxYMm__5gi0ifvGBYoKbHeV4/s640/Alpine-pass-Tongariro-Crossing.jpg" title="" width="512" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkji_kd94WDp99kcSfEFZDOfNVpvkvAOt5jWUsdEWlRDi3MZDfnGTI6WH0fJV4zKsU02cB364mEDHiTh8Ntbryrf9uV4Dc1NKHEKKKotrvln5Z74hgtAUpHugNdhu0IpPfc-Vr1a5JY9Nc/s1600/Lake-Rotoaira-from-above.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Views to Lake Rotoaira Tongariro crossing" border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkji_kd94WDp99kcSfEFZDOfNVpvkvAOt5jWUsdEWlRDi3MZDfnGTI6WH0fJV4zKsU02cB364mEDHiTh8Ntbryrf9uV4Dc1NKHEKKKotrvln5Z74hgtAUpHugNdhu0IpPfc-Vr1a5JY9Nc/s640/Lake-Rotoaira-from-above.jpg" title="" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieusYvaVCrDX-mxRwZWw7yOpS0i-l7P8wdjGbiq5BQ5ddnIFPSdAKNfyiBgNXs38dSTAYjxHcEr60Zv9YxkC1gvl0HxyUlqFKXyoG4uX0L7gZGLyaPTuj0f5DrGgCJHsgGf_MXU-5Bk1Vh/s1600/Lake-rotoaira-from-tongariro-crossing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="sitting above the clouds Tongariro Crossing" border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieusYvaVCrDX-mxRwZWw7yOpS0i-l7P8wdjGbiq5BQ5ddnIFPSdAKNfyiBgNXs38dSTAYjxHcEr60Zv9YxkC1gvl0HxyUlqFKXyoG4uX0L7gZGLyaPTuj0f5DrGgCJHsgGf_MXU-5Bk1Vh/s640/Lake-rotoaira-from-tongariro-crossing.jpg" title="" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUGrrKDB3tzEzaAf2iUgM6KwZlqa3FjEKmOFFtuGt94soWIJUcpVsEVxBzSPhxsReDZVqTj0AHrzD4H5gyxbgKCiJKECmAWAis8djZqh1GYec5v5sqhd37yeV-pVw7uoy9susz1jUNapDp/s1600/Volcanic-activity-ketetahi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Volcanic activity Tongariro Crossing" border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUGrrKDB3tzEzaAf2iUgM6KwZlqa3FjEKmOFFtuGt94soWIJUcpVsEVxBzSPhxsReDZVqTj0AHrzD4H5gyxbgKCiJKECmAWAis8djZqh1GYec5v5sqhd37yeV-pVw7uoy9susz1jUNapDp/s640/Volcanic-activity-ketetahi.jpg" title="" width="640" /></a></div>
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At this point, we were both pretty keen to get down to Ketetahi Hut where the next toilets were but were somewhat disillusioned when we rounded a corner and saw this long and snaking track that meant the Hut (probably 10 minutes straight down as the crow flies) was still near to an hour away. Cue a stealthy side of the track pit stop while no-one was looking. After that we were happy enough to wander on down to the Hut and take a much needed break for more food and water. It was nearly midday by this stage and we already knew we wouldn't make the 12.30 shuttle back and even 1.30 was looking not very likely either as neither of us was keen to rush. After enjoying the sit down for our legs in the rather hot sun, we headed off for the last section - 6km of downhill and approx 1.5 hours to go.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7ZNWBFKHMEvjwkLfLAcpwg1eD75sXB4Of46-JjR7IsUugJcC1h9oQsmt56x9j3iJMGPnnbPEEHOvdqIwFi1-tpmKMfNkRzD6EFLL7BD_865NwjmDQ3SoV7Y2c4MfT-LBArzs1qGVeVAVS/s1600/Tongariro-Crossing-winding-track-volcanic-activity.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="panoramic view to Ketetahi hut" border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7ZNWBFKHMEvjwkLfLAcpwg1eD75sXB4Of46-JjR7IsUugJcC1h9oQsmt56x9j3iJMGPnnbPEEHOvdqIwFi1-tpmKMfNkRzD6EFLL7BD_865NwjmDQ3SoV7Y2c4MfT-LBArzs1qGVeVAVS/s640/Tongariro-Crossing-winding-track-volcanic-activity.jpg" title="" width="640" /></a></div>
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If there was one thing I would change about the Crossing, it's this section - just lots and lots and lots and lots of downhill. Oh and one very soul destroying part where you skirt round a valley and then have to do some uphill (when you know you just want to be getting to the end and going uphill just means more downhill again ha ha!). It was pretty hot by this stage too and the first 3km or so was still out in the open with no shade around. It was much better and COOLER once we hit the bush line and we felt somewhat refreshed again.<br />
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One of the most interesting parts of this last section is crossing through the 700m hazardous volcanic zone - there are signs up warning you to move through quickly and 'NO STOPPING'. This is (I believe) the route that the lahar took when it came through in 2012 after the Te Maari crater erupted on Tongariro, so no wonder they don't want you to dilly dally. But the fascinating thing here is that there's a brand new stream rushing down beside the track. After several hundreds or thousands of years a stream has a chance to bed (excuse the pun) in and carve out a path below where you walk - it was fascinating walking along the track with the stream rushing along right beside us and we could have (but didn't) reach out and touch it.<br />
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And then finally the carpark came into sight. After nearly 8 hours (of which only 5 hours was actual walking according to Mark's Strava) we'd done it. We collapsed gratefully under the shade shelter along with several hundred other people who had completed it, waiting for the shuttles/transport to take us back to reality and normality.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvytzMV-aQeiM556Ruyur4_0uZIdXDK0G5AwoBTur9U8Ivn7R_WU1Ro12Fs94dwJcUZPCvj-DdJYjAcoP10HmxMjJaw2175ccQADUkMClqPdBOcgooDtCDfrdnhnHvHG9v3qUvdaTLvZX8/s1600/Chateau-tongariro-dawn.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="chateau tongariro dawn" border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvytzMV-aQeiM556Ruyur4_0uZIdXDK0G5AwoBTur9U8Ivn7R_WU1Ro12Fs94dwJcUZPCvj-DdJYjAcoP10HmxMjJaw2175ccQADUkMClqPdBOcgooDtCDfrdnhnHvHG9v3qUvdaTLvZX8/s640/Chateau-tongariro-dawn.jpg" title="" width="640" /></a></div>
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For us, this meant a night at the <a href="http://www.chateau.co.nz/">Chateau Tongariro</a> thanks to <a href="http://www.visitruapehu.com/">Visit Ruapehu</a> - a great reward for a hard day of walking 20km and taking oodles of photos. We sampled Pihanga Cafe for dinner, enjoyed a swim in the very bizarre yet funky underground heated pool and sauna after catching some lovely golden light down at the Mahuia rapids, and enjoyed a hearty spread at the Ruapehu Room for breakfast the next morning.<br />
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I managed to put my back out that morning getting out of bed - silly girl - but that didn't stop me getting up for sunrise - heading up to Scoria Flat to enjoy uninterrupted views of the mountains before me. We also walked the 6km loop track to Taranaki Falls which is incredibly scenic with both open mountain views and native bush along the way. The Falls themselves are VERY impressive and had I not already put my back out I would have considered walking in behind the falls, but that will have to keep for another day.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhF7KHiovRW2zz2o-82d2Ki_4aoOzLA6pX0K6ek4ykn5t8Jqvs0m_vd_VRWM7zwAw84wMGtel2d_vubGNI-kQLYyqDNZk0xNcTTTCoJhw0poX_aYitfFnKWHgNANanttsMYILNyYeVaENK/s1600/above-clouds-mt-ruapehu.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="morning above clouds ruapehu" border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhF7KHiovRW2zz2o-82d2Ki_4aoOzLA6pX0K6ek4ykn5t8Jqvs0m_vd_VRWM7zwAw84wMGtel2d_vubGNI-kQLYyqDNZk0xNcTTTCoJhw0poX_aYitfFnKWHgNANanttsMYILNyYeVaENK/s640/above-clouds-mt-ruapehu.jpg" title="" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUlFHQmEtqd7XWEJz4ilJKKBkNHzAsiFGD6DGTEdO3eBZ5ARbCLsLT_TRIrVGekeJjIzDTOXv9hneGz8Tm-M6q8flWDCgigb1gs9iE8k9ydFQvkxX4vBnBh2X1Ya6u6yaOD6b5RIauTgYv/s1600/Mt-Ngauruhoe-dawn.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="sunrise on Mt Nguaruhoe" border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUlFHQmEtqd7XWEJz4ilJKKBkNHzAsiFGD6DGTEdO3eBZ5ARbCLsLT_TRIrVGekeJjIzDTOXv9hneGz8Tm-M6q8flWDCgigb1gs9iE8k9ydFQvkxX4vBnBh2X1Ya6u6yaOD6b5RIauTgYv/s640/Mt-Ngauruhoe-dawn.jpg" title="" width="512" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigsN5r4BJomoEgdtKcUynyl8_JCfd0Yivn575VBRIcwtO7XFi-zJzNsCQoeiV1dgsSlm_dK1APKd1FUZ08lbqwW_zCmN_iT60ZrYjo51YowJmAS_dBTneJ1MKK3yyItaSwo0Q_2x-72Odo/s1600/Road-to-Mount-Ruapehu.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="road to the mountains mt ruapehu" border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigsN5r4BJomoEgdtKcUynyl8_JCfd0Yivn575VBRIcwtO7XFi-zJzNsCQoeiV1dgsSlm_dK1APKd1FUZ08lbqwW_zCmN_iT60ZrYjo51YowJmAS_dBTneJ1MKK3yyItaSwo0Q_2x-72Odo/s640/Road-to-Mount-Ruapehu.jpg" title="" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYDHltxqSpNjZsAOd37ZXE4-D4ifrD1kZLXlP-bCJQ3eVYqKNlZbhHlvnQRk3bmTpogef-SdLhMzohIL0njo-CBzJGoqYHQ4It1FAp7drshW1gNmZyePd-vMWunEW9rJy8eomF9peO9BrM/s1600/Ruapehu-views-taranaki-falls-track.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="taranaki falls track walk" border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYDHltxqSpNjZsAOd37ZXE4-D4ifrD1kZLXlP-bCJQ3eVYqKNlZbhHlvnQRk3bmTpogef-SdLhMzohIL0njo-CBzJGoqYHQ4It1FAp7drshW1gNmZyePd-vMWunEW9rJy8eomF9peO9BrM/s640/Ruapehu-views-taranaki-falls-track.jpg" title="" width="512" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF8EFHVe4s2iJzKHgZHXXwXVIxUuIwDUrTbICci7HesKmZRBW0PHeFni_KcBMFLG1mTKqmjSAcUnM5N00xQp4-NAFQnnfPu_JfufuWbjeDYjC9PGeU-q2Al0HrkshKWk3NsXu1NSuF-Y8z/s1600/Taranaki-Falls-long-exposure.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="taranaki falls" border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF8EFHVe4s2iJzKHgZHXXwXVIxUuIwDUrTbICci7HesKmZRBW0PHeFni_KcBMFLG1mTKqmjSAcUnM5N00xQp4-NAFQnnfPu_JfufuWbjeDYjC9PGeU-q2Al0HrkshKWk3NsXu1NSuF-Y8z/s640/Taranaki-Falls-long-exposure.jpg" title="" width="512" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicE0wLzD1VXbBDCuRaaFQsOYVdXE6-ARU8_M7w6IHH2uTTZD6OmJvM3Cs7HrpHBFbq2n0QAuTpcYzCVbBpVt6gnkVxU5qeiZzh4hGYWzH5TDVG37znoMDmxQZB32ktLZjAyMrCOmeAxgzw/s1600/Taranaki-Falls.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="taranaki falls sunny day" border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicE0wLzD1VXbBDCuRaaFQsOYVdXE6-ARU8_M7w6IHH2uTTZD6OmJvM3Cs7HrpHBFbq2n0QAuTpcYzCVbBpVt6gnkVxU5qeiZzh4hGYWzH5TDVG37znoMDmxQZB32ktLZjAyMrCOmeAxgzw/s640/Taranaki-Falls.jpg" title="" width="426" /></a></div>
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On the way back from the Falls, my ankle gave out and I crashed down a couple of steps hard onto my knees - oh the pain. I saw stars and it was a couple of minutes before I could get back up and walk. Thankfully no real damage done apart from 2 bruised knees and a bruised ego - but I couldn't believe I'd been so unlucky to put my back out AND fall down so spectacularly on the same morning. It would be a few days and a couple of trips to the chiropractor before I felt back to normal. However, the weekend was MORE than worth the short-term pain afterwards.<br />
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Despite the fact we walked on a day where there were probably a couple of thousand others also doing the track it never felt like it was ridiculously busy which is the impression I'd been given by others. 20km of track is a lot of space and for the most part it seemed to be just Mark and me in our own little world enjoying some of the best scenery that NZ could possibly offer on a bluebird day. It is an amazing experience and one I'd do again in a heartbeat - but perhaps with just one little camera and not 10kg of gear on my back next time.<br />
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And the sign of a highly successful trip? We loved it so much we are both keen to do another one of NZ's other Great Walks - perhaps a multi-day hike next year sometime.<br />
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Facts about the Tongariro Crossing if you are considering the journey:<br />
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Hike length: 19.4km<br />
Altitude ascent: 700m<br />
Altitude descent: 1,100m<br />
Time to complete: 6-8 hours<br />
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The main <a href="http://www.doc.govt.nz/tongariroalpinecrossing?region=centralnorthisland&park=9cad4a74-ecf8-40bf-8d21-d99ac6be44c4&activity=walking-tramping#activitypanel">DOC track information page</a> is a good starting point, and there's even a Pocket Ranger <a href="https://www.tongariro.org.nz/pocket-ranger.html">app</a> you can download here which has lots of useful information on it to keep handy to you on the day.<br />
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There are also several shuttle companies who will take you from one car park to the other or both from about $20 one way, we paid $35 each return from the lodge which meant we didn't have to worry about taking our car up the gravel track to the start at Mangatepopo.<br />
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I'd love to hear if you've completed this hike and what you thought of it - leave me a comment below!<br />
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<img height="66" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_A2MUftSDYw0/TY6FrDqE2EI/AAAAAAAALjc/Z76oTrjGN9c/s144/Signature.jpg" width="144" /> Meghan Maloney Photographyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03506040925450598933noreply@blogger.com0Tongariro National Park, Manawatu-Wanganui 4691, New Zealand-39.272709 175.5802278-64.553067 134.2716338 -13.992351 -143.11117820000004tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7811255357730454183.post-73129258774973173762016-08-15T07:00:00.000+12:002016-08-15T07:00:17.992+12:00A tribute to a one-in-a-million special lady - farewelling our Gee GeeTwo weeks ago my most precious 90 year old Granma (also known as Gee Gee to the boys) suffered a stroke which was severe enough to put her in ICU and after suffering a number of heart attacks while in hospital, after a few days the hospital made the decision that palliative care (end of life care) was the only remaining option available.<br />
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Mum, Dad and I made the trip down the same day as the stroke to see her briefly in hospital, and then again on the Friday when she'd returned back to her rest home for palliative care where she was still responsive but didn't open her eyes during that time - the most animated she got was when we mentioned the Hurricanes were playing in the final - she always did love her sport.<br />
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On the following Monday Mark and Dad went back down to see her (as Mark hadn't had a chance to at that stage), and then on Wednesday Mum and I went back down again - it was a very special four hours we spent with her and we didn't know that when we left at 3pm for the journey back to the Waikato that she would be leaving us for Heaven by the end of that day. It was almost as if she waited to see us one more time.<br />
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It was hard seeing her on the Wednesday as she was very clearly near to the end but I'm still glad we made the effort to go. It was a special time spent just Mum and I too travelling down and back - it's not often we get six hours alone in a car together to chat about life.<br />
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We then had to scramble to get ourselves organised to attend the funeral on Saturday, trying to pull together a number of different schedules - we had Nic and Maia to get over quickly from Melbourne (Kim was away in Canada for work), we had to get Sam back on an aeroplane to Auckland on Saturday night for a business trip to Canberra on Sunday, and Dad was due for a shoulder operation on Monday (today) so if the funeral had been any later he wouldn't have been able to make it either. In the end all the logistics came together for us all to be together. We booked a few rooms in a motel in New Plymouth and had some special times just catching up as a family amongst the sadness of the reason for being together this weekend.<br />
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Mark and I took the boys out to a cafe after we saw Gee Gee lying in rest at the funeral home and we went to Chaos Cafe - where we'd last had coffee with her back in May - such lovely memories - going out for coffee and a muffin was one of her very favourite things to do.<br />
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I'd been asked if I would put together a photo slideshow of Granma's life which was a great honour but was also a lot of work over a very short time as I had to scan in so many old shots from old black and white hard copy prints. I also had to try and ensure I got a good cross section of extended family in the slideshow with the photos I had available to me and in only two days - it would have been easy to fill the slideshow of just my own photos with her but I also had to try keep a lot of other people happy.<br />
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But I think in the end it was a great reflection of her wonderful life:<br />
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I also knew I wanted to speak at the funeral and there was so much I could have said but I tried to keep it to about 5 minutes. My brave boys (who'd already been to the funeral home to see Gee Gee) came and stood with me as I shared all that Gee Gee meant to us:<br />
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: inherit; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Growing up, I looked forward to every school holiday which would see us making the road trip from Auckland to the Naki. Even though it was sitting in the back of an 800cc Suzuki van squished in with my 2 younger brothers. And even though invariably one or other of us would get so sick on the fumes and windy roads that we'd have to have a vomit stop - usually somewhere around Te Kuiti. That was until they invented sea-legs tablets and Mum would serve these up to us for breakfast before we headed out. After that, not feeling sick and trying to hold in those nauseous feelings almost took some of the fun out of the journey in a strange way. I even remember a few night trips leaving Auckland after Dad finished work and us falling asleep in the car on the way there. With the portacot set up in the back of the van for my littlest brother to sleep, no safety belt or anything - those were the days!</i></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: inherit; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>In the early days our holidays were at the Surrey Road farm - that big sprawling farmhouse and gardens were so awesome for us as kids to enjoy games of hide and seek or trips over the farm to the cowshed and beyond. For us city kids it was like an amazing haven to retreat to and allowed us a glimpse of what real NZ country living was all about. </i></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: inherit; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>When I was about 10, Granma and Grandad retired to New Plymouth to the house at Lismore Street which had its own lovely appeal with its bush setting and lovely views of the sea. Games of cricket in the garden, many hours spent pedalling out classical tunes on Granma’s antique pianola piano, taking over their dining room with games of snooker on their portable table, annual pilgrimages to the Festival of Lights at Pukekura Park and even a cricket game between Central Districts and Canterbury there where my crush on several cricket players who went onto become NZ heroes began with photos and autographs with the players. </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The best holiday for us was always the Christmas holiday where we would stay for at least a week, and then sometimes one of us kids would take a turn to stay on an extra week by ourselves with Granma & Grandad. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Oh happy days</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. A week of being spoilt rotten, treated to special one-on-one time which usually included a trip to the toy shop, a fast food outlet, plenty of card games with Granddad, piano playing, staying up late watching TV and all the other wonderful treats that a grandparent's perogative allows! </span></i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><b id="docs-internal-guid-9ae9fb3d-8826-55fe-cd63-517e36f86f1f" style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
</b> </i></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: inherit; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>I was able to reciprocate a tiny bit when I looked after my grandma for a few days after one of her hip replacements when I’d just finished up university and was heading to Wellington to live. And when Mum & Granma went on their amazing adventure to England together in 2002 Mark and I took several weekend trips up to Taranaki to make sure Grandad was behaving himself too. It was also very special for me to have both my grandmothers at our wedding in 2004.</i></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: inherit; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>In 2006, Granma became Gee Gee when Noah (her first great-grandchild) was born. I had forgotten until events of recent weeks reminded me that she was the first to meet Noah of our extended family beating even my Mum and Dad to it. She’d just happened to be on a train trip to Wellington (something she’d always wanted to do!) and arrived in late one Saturday night just 3 days after Noah was born - he was a week early. Mark picked her up at the train station and brought her to our home for an hour to meet our little guy - what a special moment that was.</i></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: inherit; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Fast forward three years down the track and a trip down to Wellington to see us coincided with my 20 week scan where she sat right beside me in wonder as we learned that Noah would be getting a little brother.</i></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: inherit; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b id="docs-internal-guid-9ae9fb3d-8826-a41e-b8d8-9ebd0922a665" style="font-weight: normal;"><i><br /></i></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: inherit; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Most years we would make the trip up to Taranaki from Wellington 3-4 times a year to stay with Gee and even up to five years ago at age 85 she was still taking flights to Wellington to see us when I found her cheap Grabaseat flights to come and stay. I’ve lost count of how many Easter egg hunts we had with the boys in the garden at Truby King Street, visits down to the back fence to look for the horse that lived down in the valley, cuddles with her cat Panda and trips down to the coastal walkway where we enjoyed strolling along at her gradually slowing pace. </i></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: inherit; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><i><br /></i></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: inherit; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>The thing about Gee Gee was her never ending capacity to love, and be generous. You always knew you’d leave her house full as a goose having been plied with baking morning noon and night. She was without doubt the most generous person I met - you never could outdo her with paying for things even if you wanted to - she’d always find a way to get one back in the end. </i></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: inherit; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><i><br /></i></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: inherit; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>And her love and pride in her family was never in doubt. Every time we went to visit we would hear all about what each family member was up to - from the oldest to the youngest - her pride in what her kids and grandkids were doing was the highlight of our many conversations. And if we weren’t talking about what the family were up to she would wax lyrical for hours on sport - which was her very favourite thing to watch - from netball to tennis, cricket and rugby - it was all fair game for a long and lengthy discussion - something I know all the males in the family loved about her including my hubby Mark who adopted Granma as his own grandmother the minute he arrived in NZ.</i></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: inherit; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><i><br /></i></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: inherit; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>There is always the possibility of a very special bond developing between a grandchild and their grandparent. I say possibility, because like all relationships it has to be tended, cultivated, and given the right combination of love and time to grow into a one-of-a-kind, magical connection.</i></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: inherit; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="line-height: 22.08px;"><i>It’s what I had with Granma, and what my children also had with their Gee Gee. I am forever grateful that God allowed us to have so much time with her. Rest easy now Granma knowing you leave behind a legacy of love that will not be forgotten.</i></span></span></div>
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We gave her a wonderful send-off but I admit I already miss her so much. She's been as close as a parent to me and as close as a grandparent to my boys. She was so full of life her whole life - everyone who met her always said how warm and friendly and welcoming she was. I still can't quite believe I won't see her again this side of Heaven.<br />
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But I know how much pain she'd been in as well and I'm so glad she's free of that now - in her new Heavenly body, dancing with the angels, free at last.<br />
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<img height="66" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_A2MUftSDYw0/TY6FrDqE2EI/AAAAAAAALjc/Z76oTrjGN9c/s144/Signature.jpg" width="144" /> Meghan Maloney Photographyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03506040925450598933noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7811255357730454183.post-90562676024260327872016-08-04T07:00:00.000+12:002016-08-04T07:00:15.695+12:00Double Digits - this is your life Noah age 9-10I can still remember the day as if it was yesterday. The day I became a mama. A cold winter's day in Wellington. A mid-morning dash to the hospital and a serene water birth within an hour of arriving at the hospital.<br />
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And yet suddenly just like that my eldest is 10 - and I'm left speechless... how quickly these years do go by... and it's true what they say... to cherish the moments when your children are small because suddenly they're not that small any more.<br />
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And now we're staring down the barrel of the tween and teen years and when I think that Noah has probably already lived half the time he'll live here at home with us I just want to cry.<br />
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It's been an emotional roller coaster of a week with our dear Gee Gee in hospital after suffering a stroke on the weekend and I feel much more weepy than normal - right now all I want to do is hold my boys close and love on them something silly. Family is just so so precious.<br />
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This year we had a quiet family celebration on Noah's actual birthday day and we now await a crazy zorb football party this Sunday with 10 friends. All kinds of chaos.... but he can't wait!<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" mozallowfullscreen="" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/177362928" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="640"></iframe><br />
<a href="https://vimeo.com/177362928">This is your life Noah age 9-10</a> from <a href="https://vimeo.com/user12705922">mnms</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com/">Vimeo</a>.</center>
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I'm so proud of the awesome kid this boy is now. And all he's still to become. Sure we have our moments - constant negotiations over technology time, or high levels of exasperation when homework or uniform or some other necessity is left forgotten at home - but forgetting that for a minute let's dwell instead on all that's been great in the past year:<br />
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<ul>
<li>Coaches player of the year for his 10th grade team (he played up a grade for a low 10th grade team when we arrived to Cambridge last year)</li>
<li>Academic award for excellence in his class for 2015</li>
<li>Making the top 10th grade Demons football team for this year and gelling with an awesome coach and some lovely team mates</li>
<li>Playing cricket for Cambridge Primary over the summer - watching the boys play on Friday nights at the Square in town was very relaxing and a great way to wind down from the week</li>
<li>Body boarding and loving the waves at every beach opportunity he got</li>
<li>Putting our backyard swimming pool to great use (I think he got more than anyone else in the family!)</li>
<li>Gradually widening his circle of friends here in Cambridge after a year living here</li>
<li>Keeping in touch with his best buddy from back in Wellington and catching up on Face Time and in person recently</li>
<li>Being a super patient big cousin to his little buddy Maia over Christmas</li>
<li>Adventures with us to Marokopa, Oakura, Waihi, Whitianga, Matarangi, Omokoroa, Tauranga, Rotorua</li>
<li>And much much more.....</li>
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And now we can't wait to see what the next 10 years brings for you - although little by little...not all at once please! And we continue to pray God's blessings over you in all you do as you grow and your world expands!<br />
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Birthday boy in his new onesie on his birthday morning</div>
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Love Mum and Dad xx<br />
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<img height="66" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_A2MUftSDYw0/TY6FrDqE2EI/AAAAAAAALjc/Z76oTrjGN9c/s144/Signature.jpg" width="144" /> Meghan Maloney Photographyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03506040925450598933noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7811255357730454183.post-34087690130512802472016-06-27T07:00:00.000+12:002016-08-03T21:21:11.641+12:00Exploits in the Coromandel - Sea Cave Adventures, getting into Hot Water and moreThe Coromandel coastline is a never ending series of epic beaches and coves, some that can be found by driving right up in and parking the car, others a short walk and still others a looooong hike away and some even more remote and only accessible by boat.<br />
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On our trip to the Coromandel we'd decided we would take a boat trip from Whitianga out to explore more of the coastline, partly because we had little people and grandparents with us who might not want to walk for hours to hidden bays and coves and also because hey...boat rides are pretty fun right?!<br />
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<i>Off on a grand sea adventure....before feeling sick anyway!</i></div>
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There are quite a few different companies that can take you out on a boat trip out to see the pristine coastline and we did some research before going to Whitianga but in the end we found the best way to try to decide which trip to go on was by checking out the reviews on <a href="https://www.tripadvisor.co.nz/Attraction_Review-g488373-d5824428-Reviews-or10-Sea_Cave_Adventures-Whitianga_Coromandel_Peninsula_Waikato_Region_North_Isla.html#REVIEWS">Trip Advisor</a>.<br />
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What we liked about the prospect of going on the trip with <a href="http://w.whitianga-adventures.co.nz/sea_cave_adventures.html">Sea Cave Adventures</a> was the potential to get closer into the sea caves and have a more personal experience with our knowledgeable guide Les.<br />
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Luckily we had a few days to choose from as there were a couple of stormy days in the middle of our week's holiday. In the end we went for an 8am sailing on the last morning of our holiday and it was definitely the best decision as it was the most calm time of the day.<br />
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Even then we had two very green looking children who weren't used to the bobbing of the boat on the open water. Not helped by the fact they sat in the front of the boat where it was the worst. Seasickness aside we loved our trip which took us out of the Whitianga harbour past Flax Mill Bay around to Cathedral Cove, past Hot Water Beach and to the Orua Sea Cave - one of the largest sea caves in NZ.<br />
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<i>Inside Orua sea cave</i></div>
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We'd actually visited Hot Water Beach the day before - it's one of those things you just HAVE to do when you're in the Coromandel and yet it was clear everyone else in the vicinity had the same idea too. With a 10am low tide we thought we'd just breeze over to the beach but when we got there, the beach was already pretty crowded with people who had arrived early to dig their spots and find the hot water. The hot water tends to run in veins down to the beach and there were points that were too hot to even stand on - once we finally found ourselves a good hole the boys and I enjoyed people watching. It was HILARIOUS seeing the reactions of everyone in bare feet when they hit the hot spots - you've never seen them move so fast to get off them - the funny thing was you didn't know if the next step you took would be scalding hot or cool either so it was a bit of a lottery and quite fun to watch.<br />
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Later we drove to Flaxmill Bay and had lunch at a quirky cafe called <a href="http://www.eggsentriccafe.co.nz/">Eggsentric</a> (and it was) near the ferry landing - we let the boys and grandparents head back over on the quick 15 minute trip while Mark and I drove the cars back around the long way (45 minutes) to meet them.<br />
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But I digress - back to the boat trip. The most amazing marine life we saw were the snapper just off Cathedral Cove whose colours shimmered all manner of turquoise in the morning light. I'm not sure I realised how beautiful snapper were - to be honest I'm just used to seeing them on my plate!<br />
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On the way back we stopped on the edge of the marine reserve and went for a swim in crystal clear water only a tiny bit deeper than us. It was a little bracing getting in that early in the morning but once you were in it was so delightful. And it made a good distraction for everyone feeling a bit green about the gills!<br />
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Zipping back across the harbour at speed in wet togs and towel was NOT so delightful - brrrr....... luckily we were able to get home relatively quickly afterwards to have warm showers and to put on some dry clothes. Once everyone was feeling less queasy and cold we all had time to reflect on what had been a truly special outing on the sea.<br />
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<i>Look who got to drive the boat!</i></div>
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The property we stayed at in Whitianga was also an amazing find - <a href="https://www.bookabach.co.nz/baches-and-holiday-homes/view/10136">a brand new dreamy designer home</a> on the outskirts of town with fields right over the fence - yet it was a 2 minute drive to the beach and 5 minutes to town - and only $160 a night for all 6 of us. If we ever head back to Whitianga we'd stay there again in a heartbeat!<br />
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Reluctantly the next we had to pack up and head back to reality - but not before a little stop in at the <a href="http://www.colensocafe.co.nz/">Colenso Cafe</a> for coffee - we'd stopped on our way to Whitianga in the pouring rain but it was a darn side nicer stopping in on a gloriously fine morning so we could sit outside amongst all the glorious citrus trees and reflect on a super special family time in a part of the country we'd all fallen head over heels in love with!<br />
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I'll leave with a little clip of our body boarders enjoying the magic that was Matarangi - oh to be there again in the warmth now!<br />
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<img height="66" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_A2MUftSDYw0/TY6FrDqE2EI/AAAAAAAALjc/Z76oTrjGN9c/s144/Signature.jpg" width="144" /> Meghan Maloney Photographyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03506040925450598933noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7811255357730454183.post-68045797400720540932016-06-10T07:00:00.000+12:002016-06-10T07:00:00.279+12:00A relaxing dip with SandDollar Swim at the Polynesian SpaWe recently spent a family weekend in Rotorua - the adventure capital of the north. Having now had the opportunity to explore the area in more detail we reckon it's as epic as Queenstown is - just without all the snow capped mountains around.<br />
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There's so much to see and do here that it's definitely hard to only spend the weekend here. I took advantage of the great weather to get out for sunrise and sunset every day but wow it was cold. Each morning the temperatures were hovering around zero and it was either frosty, foggy or both.<br />
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After one particularly epic morning out snapping shots I came home frozen to the bone but knew I had a relaxing and warming session at the <a href="http://www.polynesianspa.co.nz/" rel="nofollow">Polynesian Spa</a> to warm up with the family.<br />
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Earlier in the week, we'd received a new pair of swim shorts for the boys from <a href="https://www.sanddollarswim.com/" rel="nofollow">Sanddollar Swim</a> and they were eager to get them on and get going in the pool - no matter that it was only about 5 degrees outside, the 3 family pools were heated to 33, 37 and 40 degrees so there was no risk of getting chilled. I'm sure you can guess which pool I spent the most time in!<br />
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The boys on the other hand spent most of their time in and out of the cooler pool just because it had a mini slide...boys will be boys!<br />
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What I love about putting my boys in Sanddollar swimwear is that every item in their range has sun protection to UPF50 which complies with our stringent NZ and Australian standards - not that we needed it in mid winter in a thermal pool but we definitely will appreciate it when our harsh NZ summers roll around.<br />
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I also liked that the shorts have a liner inside - I can't tell you how many board and swim shorts are out there that just don't come with them? I've found out that hard way the importance of a good lined pair of swim shorts - my older boy has a tendency to get chafe from running around on the beach all day in wet swim shorts and a liner definitely prevents this from happening.<br />
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As cool as the boys shorts look and the rest of the <a href="https://www.sanddollarswim.com/boys/" rel="nofollow">boys Sanddollar Swim range</a> online, for a little moment I half wished I had girls in the house too because their <a href="https://www.sanddollarswim.com/girls/" rel="nofollow">girls range of swimsuits</a> are so fashionable - and for that matter I found myself wishing they came in adult sizes too.<br />
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I was in no hurry to get out of this rather relaxing and warm sojourn and I think the boys would happily have stayed all day but we were turning wrinklier than prunes and other adventures were calling us as they do!<br />
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<img height="66" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_A2MUftSDYw0/TY6FrDqE2EI/AAAAAAAALjc/Z76oTrjGN9c/s144/Signature.jpg" width="144" /> Meghan Maloney Photographyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03506040925450598933noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7811255357730454183.post-13826571038432345372016-06-01T07:00:00.000+12:002016-06-01T07:00:03.062+12:00Cruising the Coromandel {309 road and Driving Creek Railway}After three lovely days in Waihi, it was reluctantly time to head north to Whitianga for the next part of our Coromandel adventure.<br />
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There's two routes to travel between Whitianga and Coromandel township and they are both scenic. But the inland 309 road probably takes the cake in terms of scenery. You have to be prepared to go pretty slowly as a good section of the road is gravel.<br />
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But that only adds to the appeal - the slower you go the more you take in along the way.<br />
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Like stopping to take in the Waiau Kauri Grove - these monstrous trees tower several heads above the rest of the forest canopy - they are so impressive.<br />
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You can get a small idea of their size by seeing how small the boys looked by comparison. We all tried to join hands to see if we could get right round it but even all four of us couldn't quite do it!<br />
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And how about this double trunk kauri? Weird and wonderful all at the same time.<br />
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From the kauri grove we headed further down to Waiau Falls - it's a lovely wee specimen that drops into a nice pool - it was hard to get a good shot at this time of day but </div>
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Just a few minutes further along the road is this lovely run-down house where Stu's pigs roam free on both sides of the road - so cute seeing all the little piggies running happily alongside the car.<br />
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After a spot of lunch in Coromandel township, we headed up into the hills for a ride on the famous <a href="http://www.drivingcreekrailway.co.nz/">Driving Creek Railway </a><br />
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The narrow gauge railway was a labour of love built by Barry Brickell over a 20 year period, initially to help carry his pottery clay down from the hills but eventually turning it into a very famous tourist destination for the Coromandel.<br />
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It's unique as a railway, especially as the hour return journey winds so steeply uphill with lots of reversing points to allow the trains to make their way all the way to the Eye-full Tower for the stunning view over the whole Firth of Thames.<br />
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What a sight! After winding our way high into the hills - we were rewarded with views as far as the eye could see into the Firth of Thames towards the Hauraki Gulf.<br />
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Sadly, Barry Brickell died only a few weeks before we visited the railway and it was so wonderful to hear how the team from the railway had carried him for one final journey on the train all the way to the top to the Eyefull Tower and then halfway back down where his last place of rest can be seen marked with a simple cross to mark the spot. It was quite emotional knowing he would be there forever watching over those who enjoy his life's greatest achievement.<br />
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From the railway we ventured further up the western side of the Coromandel peninsula ducking into a few sheltered bays before heading back over the hills towards the east.<br />
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We decided to stop in at Matarangi on the way back - little did we know that this amazing spot was to become our firm favourite location of the whole trip - so much so that we booked another trip back here again over Anzac weekend!!!<br />
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With a beautiful long north facing beach (there aren't that many in NZ) that was pretty much deserted for every one of the four days we visited, and with the most perfect rolling breakers that made body boarding a dream Matarangi stole our hearts from the minute we arrived - so much so that we visited here every day for the next four days we had left - despite it being a half hour drive from Whitianga!<br />
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Meghan Maloney Photographyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03506040925450598933noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7811255357730454183.post-36011164154968812882016-05-30T07:00:00.000+12:002016-05-30T07:00:17.429+12:00When good intentions get taken over by grand adventuresI had all kinds of good intentions to carry on blogging as I'd managed to get two posts out in quick succession. Then life just kept on happening and getting in the way.<br />
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So for the sake of sounding like a broken down record, I'm embarrassed to say that despite having great expectations that I'd right back into regular blogging - it just hasn't panned out that way at all so far!<br />
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If you follow my photography on Instagram or Facebook you'll know I've been taking a lot more photos lately. I'm actually so thrilled to have found the passion for my landscape photography again, it had been so difficult to find the time or inclination to get out regularly over the time we moved and built our house. And then I also had to invest a lot of time in completing my cousin's wedding photography assignment. I'm finally through the other end of that job, so have freed up some time for the kind of photography I really love. And having also discovered a whole lot of new and fascinating spots in the local area for photos I feel like I've had a bit of a re-birth and there are now so many places on my list to visit that I'll have plenty of options for a variety of shots for some time to come.<br />
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One of the things I'm most excited about is that I FINALLY got to do some astrophotography - that is taking photos of the Milky Way. I had wanted to for ages but hadn't quite figured out the right time or even where to begin with it. Then I found a fantastic app that takes most of the guesswork out of the equation called <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/en/app/photopills/id596026805?mt=8">Photo Pills</a>. I had to pay for the privilege but it's well worth it. The morning I chose to go out it was super foggy and I had to drive for an hour heading halfway up the Kaimais just to get about the fog. But it was worth the drive to get my first every astro shoot under my belt. And for a first outing I was pretty pleased with the result.<br />
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The weekend I went there was a pretty big meteor shower on and I saw at least 6 shooting stars with the naked eye and a whole lot more were visible once I processed the shots too!<br />
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There's also a really cool app called <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/nz/app/skyview-free-explore-universe/id413936865?mt=8">Skyview Free</a> which little people in your house would LOVE. Hold it up outside and line it up with the stars you see - you'll soon know exactly which star or planet you are looking at - such a great idea!<br />
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But with the taking of said photos, there also comes the need to edit and post them - all of which take time away from any blogging time I might have been able to carve out. I'm also in the process of overhauling my whole photography website so I'm working on that feverishly in the background as well.... hopefully I'll actually get that finished this side of Christmas ha ha!<br />
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We've also been away SO many weekends already this year that we've hardly had time to sit and scratch our you know whats! Between 2 weekends away in Taranaki, a week in the Coromandel, a secret birthday weekend away in Taupo, and a long weekend away in Matarangi and that's just where we were at by the end of April.<br />
<br class="Apple-interchange-newline" />My birthday this year (whilst not being a 'big' number - that's next year...eek!) was a big deal. Mark decided to surprise me with a mystery birthday weekend away starting with dinner in <a href="http://gothenburg.co.nz/">Gothenburg</a> restaurant in Hamilton. The great thing about having the exact same birthday is that he got to enjoy the benefits of all he organised as part of his birthday too!!!! Win win!<br />
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<i>The beautiful tapas selection we enjoyed at Gothenburg - I can't wait to go back here again! </i></div>
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There he revealed I had to choose between 3 sealed envelopes what we would be doing for the weekend.<br />
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<i>What's a girl to do?!!!! How to choose?!</i></div>
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When I did finally choose I discovered we had an awesome weekend away in Taupo planned with as much photography as I could fit in..... what a babe my hubby is - most perfect present ever!!!!<br />
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<i>In need of breakfast after our 4.44am start - we missed out on good sunrise shots due to the fog but got some funky fog shots at the Mangakino jetty so all was not lost!</i></div>
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<i>Mark admiring the view from our <a href="http://www3.hilton.com/en/hotels/new-zealand/hilton-lake-taupo-AKLLTHI/index.html?WT.mc_id=zELWAAA0AP1WW2PSH3Nano4DGBrandx&WT.srch=1&utm_source=AdWords&utm_medium=ppc&utm_campaign=paidsearch&campaignid=109663121&adgroupid=5294416361&targetid=kwd-13479713627">Hilton Lake Taupo</a> room - hanging out to try out the pool and spa at this point!</i></div>
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Selfie shot - I took him by surprise and nearly knocked him completely off balance!</div>
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<i>After another early start for sunrise finding this amazing Paleo breakfast salad was a wicked pick-me-up!</i></div>
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<i>So many cool spots to discover along the Old Taupo Road - including the awesome Arapuni suspension bridge - not for the faint of heart!</i></div>
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When we got home at 2pm, I walked into the last surprise of our shared birthday weekend - 3 of my best friends and families all at our house for a birthday BBQ - I got quite the shock to walk in and see everyone waiting for me..... in a nice way of course!!<br />
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<i>The first time we had all been together since my wedding 12 years ago!!!</i></div>
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Two weeks later we headed back to Matarangi for the weekend with Tracey & Dayne and family. We'd loved our time there swimming so much in early March that we booked to go back again for the long Anzac weekend.<br />
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<i>lush to be sitting out in summer temperatures in mid autumn - ah Matarangi you're the best!</i></div>
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<i>what a dream of a beach Matarangi is - what is not to love!</i></div>
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<i>Post-swim warm up in onesies!</i></div>
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<i>A rather competitive game of Trivial Pursuit - family edition</i></div>
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<i>hours of fun on the tennis court</i></div>
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<i>despite feeling rather seasick Noah can now officially say he's a fisherman</i></div>
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We had a blast - the kids are all similar ages and get along well - between swimming in the sea (unheard of in late April), playing tennis, a fishing trip out into the firth of Thames with 15 fresh fish the bounty haul, an early morning sunrise at Cathedral Cove and a walk over to New Chums beach we sure made the most of our time there. And the accommodation was so ridiculously cheap - $100 a night for all 8 of us!<br />
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The following weekend we spent a day over at Omokoroa visiting our dear friends Shannon and Guy in their new life there. They recently moved up from Wellington and it's so cool knowing they're just over the hill not a 7 hour drive away! It's a really beautiful spot and we can see the appeal - I know there will be more happy days spent over the hill hanging out with them now we know it's an easy day trip!<br />
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<i>checking out the views from Shannon and Guy's new neighbourhood - the Mount visible in the far background</i></div>
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<i>hanging with this chick is always so lovely - I had missed her so much since we left Welly so I'm pretty happy to have her just down the road again!</i></div>
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<i>another autumn swim - last day of April!!!!</i></div>
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<i>ahhhh - friends reunited</i></div>
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The following weekend our dear friends Jackie and Heidi came to stay from Wellington on the first weekend of winter football - it was great timing and they were able to watch both boys games as they were playing at home.<br />
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At the last minute we decided to put Mylo up a grade into 8th grade so he could get some better competition as he really was a bit bored in the 6th grade last year being one of the best in the grade and playing little mini games on small fields with some kids who'd never kicked a ball before. Also Mark is the coach of his 8th grade team and so far with two games under their belts they've had a 4-4 draw and a 7-3 win and Mylo has scored both weeks so it was definitely a good decision to push him that little bit harder this year.<br />
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We were all so thrilled for Noah that he made it into the top 10th grade team this year - he was equally excited that his best buddy (who moved schools this year so he they don't see each other as often) is also in the same team along with a few other kids he knows from his school. And his coach is a really awesome guy with lots of passion for the game so we are looking forward to seeing how his year pans out. In the first two games, they've had a close win and a close loss but it's grading games only so still early days of the season. In addition the boys are both doing the Star Soccer academy on a Tuesday to help their footy skills develop - it makes for a very busy week having soccer on Tuesdays and Thursdays as well as games on Saturday but we figure it's all positive for improving their overall performance and we decided to skip swimming lessons over the winter to free up the time to do extra football - they definitely don't mind!<br />
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Add to this there's two games of football every Saturday morning and with both boys playing in travelling leagues this inevitably means we are pulled in different directions across the Waikato - like last week when Mylo played in Te Aroha at 9.30am and Noah played in west Hamilton at 11.15am - it's a good thing we are two parents with two cars in this case!!<br />
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But back to our weekend with the girls - we showed them the sights and sounds of the local area - like the lovely views at Lake Karapiro and a walk between Arapuni and Jones Landing on Mothers Day morning.<br />
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We also snuck in a couple of games of Monopoly Game of Thrones - very apt since it was their Christmas prezzy to us and our first chance to play it. OK so playing it very nearly made them miss their flight home but phew all was well that ends well in the end!<br />
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We're looking forward to seeing these two lovely gals again when we stay with them in Wellington for the weekend in July!<br />
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My Mothers Day card from Mylo made me smile - apparently he came up with these ideas all by himself. Where he got the unicorn from I'll never know but I love it!<br />
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Last weekend Mark and I headed down to Taranaki to hand over my cousin's wedding album to them - I took the opportunity to get out for sunrise shots at Cape Egmont lighthouse and the Weld Road shipwreck with my cousin Charlotte - we will be sad to see her and Gwyl returning back to the UK to live in August so it was awesome to spend this time with them. Charlotte got to see what it was like to have a 'hallelujah' moment during a photo shoot. The skies, the shipwreck, the bird - well you'll just have to wait for those photos - believe me they were amazing!<br />
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Then Mark and I headed far into hobbit country to find Waitanguru Falls on the way home. It was well worth the hour's extra drive on the journey - it really is the most stunning scenic and remote countryside through there. And with all the rain we'd had the falls were an impressive sight!<br />
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<i>it was lovely to be able to spend a few hours with Gee Gee - still doing so well at 90</i></div>
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<i>breakfast hangs after our 5.30am start for sunrise shots</i></div>
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<i>adventures in the heart of hobbit country - at Waitanguru Falls</i></div>
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We've also had a total of 4 teeth lost in the past month (2 each) with 2 more not far away - Mylo's top teeth have been wiggly for ages. I can't say I'm looking forward to him losing them though - I love his little gappy smile and I know it will change when he gets big adult teeth filling up the gaps!<br />
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<i>the tooth fairy had a busy night - 2 teeth fell out in one day at school for Mylo!</i></div>
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So if you've been wondering what we've been off doing instead of blogging - that's just a short whistle stop tour through our life lately.<br />
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I won't even begin to promise I'll be more regular in my posting....we all know what happened last time I did that...ha ha!<br />
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I'll just say I'll see ya again soon (ish.....!) and leave you with some cute pictures of these two - in between the busyness of life there's still plenty of time to reflect and enjoy them and their achievements and to enjoy doing life with them - they are such awesome kids!<br />
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<i>this is what I find when I ask them to help make their beds - curled up on the floor together under a duvet - how could I be mad looking at these faces though?!</i></div>
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<i>I love that they were so utterly enthralled with the latest series of Britain's Got Talent they didn't even know I was taking this shot - to be fair we've all been glued to the screen all week waiting to see who is going to win!</i></div>
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Meghan Maloney Photographyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03506040925450598933noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7811255357730454183.post-35071599464962425742016-04-08T07:00:00.000+12:002016-04-08T07:00:00.201+12:00Waihi - all kinds of wonderful There's plenty of wonderful to be had in Waihi. For a start it's renowned as one of the safest surf beaches in the country. And with 9km of glorious coastline to explore you're sure to find a spot just right to suit you!<br />
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Whether hitting the beach on a body board....<br />
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......or kicking a ball down the beach into the twilight.<br />
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No visit to Waihi would be complete without a visit to the Big Hole otherwise known as the Martha mine. The mine is actually reaching the end of its life now - within the next year or so it will start being filled up - it's going to take 6 years to do so!<br />
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On the walk around the rim there are a number of interesting fact files hanging on the fence - we enjoyed reading every single one of them and found out some very interesting statistics, such as:<br />
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- the height from bottom to top is 250 metres<br />
- the mine draws out $1 million in silver and gold each week<br />
- each truck load coming out of the mine has 1 tbsp of gold and 20 tbsp of silver<br />
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After returning to the beach, it was time to hit the waves. Only after a good long dip had we cooled off enough to want to contemplate some beach cricket. All the grandparents took a turn playing too which the boys loved!<br />
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The following day we got out and about early knowing that bad weather was on its way. At the very northern end of the beach there's an invigorating 45 minute walk over the headland to the beautiful Orokawa Bay. Even leaving as early as we did a misty drizzle followed us all the way there and back but it was still warm though despite the grey day. We were so lucky to get back to the car just in time for the heavens to open and it then didn't stop raining for 24 hours!<br />
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And as for the two sunrises I crawled out of bed to capture on two consecutive mornings - holy wow they were amazing - but they will have to keep for another day!<br />
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Instead to end with here's a few snippets of real live action from our wonderful time in Waihi..... spot the crazy kids rolling down the hill in the middle of it all!<br />
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<img height="66" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_A2MUftSDYw0/TY6FrDqE2EI/AAAAAAAALjc/Z76oTrjGN9c/s144/Signature.jpg" width="144" /> Meghan Maloney Photographyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03506040925450598933noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7811255357730454183.post-53357953487713925152016-04-06T07:00:00.000+12:002016-04-06T07:00:00.157+12:00Windows on a long forgotten world - Karangahake Gorge Windows walkWe've been on many an epic adventure around this beautiful country of ours. But so far never to the Coromandel. Well not for at least 10 years anyway - on that occasion Coldplay's X&Y album rang out on our journey around the peninsula, and now fast forward 10 years and 2 kids later, it was high time to visit again.<br />
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And not just because we had Mark's parents here to show off another stunning part of our country.<br />
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We started our week long trip by heading through the <a href="http://karangahakegorge.co.nz/mainpage.html">Karangahake Gorge</a> and stopping off to go on the Windows Walk. We'd already been through the <a href="http://www.mnmsadventures.com/2015/02/family-walk-karangahake-gorge-owharoa-falls-waihi.html">Karangahake tunnel last Christmas</a> on a day trip so instead we decided we'd do the Windows Walk this time.<br />
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The Windows Walk is a great free family activity in the Coromandel and it's an easy walk which takes about an hour - a little side excursion you can easily plan into your trip onwards to any of the beach towns along the coast. Plus the scenery in the Karangahake Gorge is seriously cool. You can very easily imagine yourself transported back to the days of the gold rush and the life these men must have led.<br />
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The whole area is lush and filled with lots of hidden nooks and crannies.<br />
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After crossing the swing bridge we separated with Mark and his parents deciding to do the Tunnel walk as it was less steep, while the rest of us headed up the hill into the Windows Walk.<br />
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We followed the old railway along to a look out over the whole area.<br />
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Someone found a toi toi to tickle with - hence the smiling faces in this shot as everyone was trying not to laugh!<br />
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Round every corner there was more to explore.<br />
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The boys found an old gold mine to jump inside but it was a bit wobbly. Poppa duly volunteered to be the guinea pig.<br />
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But I'm not sure whether he was expecting to be tipped completely upside down!<br />
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Before long we came across the entrance to the cave windows and headed on in.<br />
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You do need a torch or head lamp to be able to see where you're going inside since you're walking over the old railway rungs and it would be pretty easy to trip over them - or a trusty phone with a torch will do too.<br />
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From along the walk, you can see right across the river to the other side of the walk far below.<br />
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Every so often a little window would open up to look out into the valley.<br />
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And then it was time to emerge back out into the open again.<br />
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Crossing the river and heading back down the valley from where we'd come.<br />
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If you look carefully in the picture below, you can see a group of people in one of the windows looking down on us.<br />
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You really have to know what you're looking for to even be able to spot them in the hillside.<br />
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I could have lingered here so much longer - it was so peaceful walking down the valley enjoying the views.<br />
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Back down at the main river, the blue skies were reflecting the glorious day, and a few keen swimmers were bombing off a rock - I wished I could have joined them!<br />
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Here's a little taster of the truly lush scenery along the walk.....</div>
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One other spot we made time for before making our way to Waihi Beach was the lovely Owharoa Falls - about 5 minutes further on into the gorge. I had high hopes for taking some long exposure shots here but the place was crawling with people all trying to cool off on a hot afternoon. Never mind!<br />
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What I am loving about going on holiday in the Coromandel is the fact it's still SO close to home - it's only just over an hour from Cambridge to the beach and there's this gorgeous spot to enjoy along the way - win win in my opinion!<br />
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<img height="66" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_A2MUftSDYw0/TY6FrDqE2EI/AAAAAAAALjc/Z76oTrjGN9c/s144/Signature.jpg" width="144" /> Meghan Maloney Photographyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03506040925450598933noreply@blogger.com0Karangahake Gorge SH 2, Karangahake 3674, New Zealand-37.422528 175.72089230000006-62.702863 134.41229830000006 -12.142192999999999 -142.97051369999997tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7811255357730454183.post-88942928801920087152016-04-04T06:30:00.000+12:002016-04-04T07:49:34.031+12:00Hello.....it's me......I was wondering if after all this time I might still remember how to blog....<br />
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I guess we'll just have to see how I get on then won't we?!<br />
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So a quarter of the year has been and gone and with it very many adventures. Part of me is a bit upset that I've neglected this space for such a long time but the other part of me is relaxed knowing that instead of trying so damn hard to record every little one of life's moments we've just been living the moments instead - a little more footloose and carefree.<br />
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And it was a full-on and exciting start to the year with Grandma and Granddad here from the UK staying with us for six weeks and we did in true MNM's style fit in a huge amount during their time here. Highlights such as:<br />
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Watching Noah compete at his Weetbix Tryathlon at Waikato University. Spurred on by having both sets of grandparents watching he swam, biked and ran his little heart out right to the finish line - it was a joy to see. We did so much better than last year when we missed him crossing the finish line and had to find him in the lost child tent....oops!<br />
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He was chuffed to bits to have his photo taken with Valerie Adams (our Olympic shotput hero) too!<br />
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Whilst Daddy and Noah had to hang around waiting for prizegiving the rest of us skipped off to Punnet for a bite to eat. My raw food Snickers slice was to die for and the coffee wasn't bad either!<br />
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There was many a Friday night spent watching the boys play cricket in the Square. Out of the whole two term season (term 4 last year and term 1 this year) we only had one game cancelled for rain (back in November). It's been such a wonderful end to the week heading down to the Square with $5 pizzas for the boys, some healthier takeaways for us and a few cold beverages to relax for 1.5 hours while the kids get into their bowling and batting.<br />
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On one Friday night we even had Nana and Poppa and our good friends Shannon and Guy who've recently moved up from Wellington along for the evening.<br />
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We also enjoyed getting to know a few of the people in the neighbourhood at a street BBQ where Grandma and Granddad were whisked off into the sunset on a touring bike - what fun!<br />
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I also had an unexpected treat when this lovely lady (Leonie from <a href="http://3xsunshine.blogspot.co.nz/">Sunshine x3</a>) came to visit with her family one afternoon while on their whistle stop tour of NZ - they moved over to Birmingham from NZ a year ago and I have loved following all their UK adventures online and Leonie was also super helpful and supportive when we did our big move last year. All our kids all got on like they'd known each other for years despite the fact they'd never met before and they spent a great deal of time in the pool as it was a hot hot February afternoon! Apologies for the blurry pic - that's what you get when you let a 9 year old loose on camera duties!</div>
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We also celebrated 12 years of marriage with our first meal out together just the two of us in Cambridge since we moved here(!!) at Alpha Street Kitchen - and we scrubbed up OK for a night out I think!<br />
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This was followed by a lovely day out on our actual anniversary day at Woodlands Historic Estate finding go-carts to keep the boys entertained while we waited for our meals and then a walk around the estate followed to walk off said meal!<br />
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This cool calendar was an anniversary/housewarming present from Grandma and Granddad and <span style="text-align: center;">Mylo has been particularly diligent at changing the date every day since!</span></div>
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We also got a rare family photo in the garden at Woodlands Estate too - we have to seize the moment when the opportunities present themselves these days!<br />
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After 12 years of marriage there's notably less romantic gestures and more humour in our anniversary cards too - ha ha!<br />
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The same weekend we also took a trip to the Hamilton Gardens to show Grandma and Granddad all the changes and upgrades since the last time they were here - in particular we wanted to show off the Montacute House gate house lookalike and Tudor garden - it's utterly crazy that Grandma and Granddad live right in the next village to the real thing back in England!</div>
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It was also an opportunity for me to try out my new toy - I finally splurged on a decent point and shoot - much as I love my big camera and it does take AMAZING photos - the size and weight of carrying the big backpack and all my lenses around means that I'm loathe to take it out on family outings - whereas the new little Canon G7X still takes amazing shots AND fits in my pocket - win win! And the photos below in the Gardens were my first chance to give it a whirl...</div>
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The new camera has a pretty cool selfie function too as we found out!<br />
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Grandma and Granddad posing with the Montacute House look-alike gate house</div>
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And then there was the crazy cool trip around the Coromandel we all had for a week but that'll just have to keep for another post or three......<br />
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So hello.....it's me....back on board and I'm hoping for slightly less lengthy gaps between regular transmission!<br />
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<img height="66" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_A2MUftSDYw0/TY6FrDqE2EI/AAAAAAAALjc/Z76oTrjGN9c/s144/Signature.jpg" width="144" />
Meghan Maloney Photographyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03506040925450598933noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7811255357730454183.post-69567425226382820282016-02-17T07:00:00.000+13:002016-02-17T07:00:20.725+13:00How to style a boy's bedroom on a budget {or how we did it anyway!}When we moved into our newly built house, we wanted to update some of the boys furniture in their rooms particularly since it was an eclectic mix of items we'd gradually collected over our years in Wellington and nothing went together particularly well.<br />
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But with a limited budget (we've spent a fortune building the house let's not forget!) we had to be smart about styling the boys' bedrooms on a budget to create a fresh and modern look without breaking the bank.<br />
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During the build process we made the decision to put in wardrobe storage solutions in each of our bedrooms during the build. This was such a good idea as it reduces the need for having a set of drawers in the bedroom taking up space. Even though Mylo ended up with a smaller version (due to a skinny hall cupboard on the other side of his wardrobe in the house plan), both boys have more than enough room to hang all their clothes or have them folded away in the drawers as well as storing most of their toys and books neatly away out of sight in their wardrobes. This definitely helps make their rooms feel bigger and less cluttered for a start.<br />
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Between the wardrobes and the additional room furniture I'm really pleased with how spacious and modern their rooms are - they have a few similar pieces of furniture in their rooms but still enough variety in colour scheme and individual items to make each room their own. Plus there's room to add more at a later date if we want to.<br />
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Here's how we did it:<br />
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Designers Choice <a href="http://www.farmers.co.nz/home/bedroom-manchester/duvet-covers-co-ordinates/designers-choice-junior-cooper-duvet-cover-set-5959212A">Junior Cooper Duvet Cover</a> from Farmers $149.99<br />
This is a reversible duvet cover with a fun geometric print on one side and a lovely nautical stripe on the other. I love both sides of the design and we mix it up as to which one has the design face up on the bed at any one time.<br />
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We certainly didn't pay full price for these duvet covers - buying them during their big New Years Sale with at least 50-60% off full retail price if I remember correctly.<br />
<a href="http://www.warehousestationery.co.nz/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity/WFS/WSL-B2C-Site/en_NZ/-/NZD/ViewOfferDetail-Product?ProductRef=760554@WSL-B2C"><br /></a>
<a href="http://www.warehousestationery.co.nz/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity/WFS/WSL-B2C-Site/en_NZ/-/NZD/ViewOfferDetail-Product?ProductRef=760554@WSL-B2C">Workspace Sam Chairs</a> in Blue and Green from Warehouse Stationery $59.99-$79.99<br />
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<a href="http://www.mocka.co.nz/vigo-desk.html">Vigo Desk</a> from Mocka $129.99<br />
If you don't mind a bit of DIY furniture, then building flat-pack furniture from Mocka is a great value option for stylish, low cost items and the free shipping NZ wide no matter how large or small the order is a big plus point too.<br />
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<a href="http://www.mocka.co.nz/storage-unit-two-cubes.html">Mocka Storage Unit - Two Cubes</a> in Blue and Green from Mocka $59.99<br />
Again Mocka came up trumps with these small storage units that function well as bedside tables to keep the kids books, drink bottles and alarm clocks on - as well as a few treasures to safely stow away in the cupboard below.<br />
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Scandi Shelves (<a href="http://www.thewarehouse.co.nz/red/catalog/product/Living-%26-Co-Wall-Shelf-Scandi-MDF-Hexagon-Set-42cm-x-36.5cm-x-14cm-2-Pce?SKU=2048374">Hexagonal</a> and House design) from The Warehouse - $20-$40 for a set<br />
These aren't identical to the ones I purchased (I bought a set of 3) but you get the basic idea. I can't now find the original versions I bought online now but they may still be in stores.<br />
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I love that the boys can mix up which of their treasures are displayed on their shelving at any one time. A word of warning though - you do need to be prepared to spend the time and energy using your maths brain to get the calculations right to get the shelving straight and centred with even spacing between - if that's the look you're going for. And if you don't already have one, invest in a spirit level when hanging these - you won't regret it! We hung the Hexagonal shelving with normal picture hooks but the house shelves had a slightly different hanging system so we just used some small screws in the wall to hang these.<br />
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<a href="http://www.thewarehouse.co.nz/red/catalog/product/Home-%26-You-Riverside-Frame-Grey-A2?SKU=2046646">Home and You Riverside A2 Grey frame </a>from The Warehouse $25-30<br />
Both boys had created one particularly colourful piece of art from school last year that I knew I wanted displayed in pride of place on their walls - Noah's was a fish picture and Mylo a crazy colour pattern picture. These grey A2 frames with an A3 mat inside were the perfect way to display them on their walls.<br />
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I'd bought quite a few of these items within a week or two of moving in and hadn't had any time to get the rooms properly set up until now so it's been rather satisfying seeing my vision of styling the boy's rooms finally come to fruition.<br />
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<img height="66" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_A2MUftSDYw0/TY6FrDqE2EI/AAAAAAAALjc/Z76oTrjGN9c/s144/Signature.jpg" width="144" />
Meghan Maloney Photographyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03506040925450598933noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7811255357730454183.post-66129220134928026292016-02-08T07:00:00.000+13:002016-02-08T13:20:54.708+13:002016...what the heck?!So.... I'd just like to know who went and turned up the time dial to crazy speed?! The last weeks of 2015 and the first six weeks of 2016 have been and gone leaving what feels like a trail of destruction in their wake. Here we are in the second week of February and it honestly feels like the first time I've been able to pause to catch a breath and take stock.<br />
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This pausing has been somewhat forced on me as I've come down with a nasty head cold and can barely think straight through a foggy brain. I know it's as a result of being '<i>go go go</i>' for so many weeks straight without stopping, and as usual when I push too hard, my body gets to a point when it says '<i>enough already missus if you're not going to slow down I'll just make ya slow down</i>!'<br />
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So much time has passed it's getting hard to recall everything that's gone on in the past few weeks but I'll just have to see how I go and hopefully I can fill in most of the blanks:<br />
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<b>Christmas and New Years</b><br />
It feels a bit ridiculous posting about this in February but if not now then when?! Christmas Day was spent at mum and dads relaxing - we definitely needed it <a href="http://www.mnmsadventures.com/2016/01/who-in-their-right-mind-moves-3-days.html">after the big house move three days before</a>.<br />
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Cuzzies staying up way too late on Christmas Eve</div>
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The big reveal on Christmas morning......a pool!</div>
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Waiting patiently for prezzies</div>
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No Christmas Day is complete without a walk to see the local wildlife</div>
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Noah's hand was very popular!</div>
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Mylo and the mo....</div>
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On Boxing Day we took a trip to Hamilton Zoo - it was very cool seeing our little niece Maia's excitement at all the animals - you forget how enchanted little kids are with seeing animals - so it was cool experiencing the zoo through her eyes. Not that our boys didn't enjoy it but there's something very sweet about a littlie's amazed reactions! In the free flight aviary we even had a friendly kaka come and land on some of our shoulders - Kim and Maia were a bit freaked out at the thought and kept their distance!<br />
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We all thought this looked like Rio .... from the movie of course!</div>
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Mylo happy to see his favourite animals.... the meerkats! </div>
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If Mylo was an animal, he'd definitely be a meerkat!</div>
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And there's always one on guard!</div>
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Little monkey Maia watching the monkeys</div>
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Um.... Poppa I think someone's dropped in for a visit?!</div>
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How do I get into this bag?!</div>
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Despite being ultra patient and still, Noah lucked out with a kaka-shoulder experience!</div>
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Our big Christmas present to the boys this year was a 12 foot swimming pool - it was one of the things we'd promised we would eventually get after moving up here in the Waikato where the climate justifies it and we would actually have the space for it - so Mark spent a good day and a bit putting it up and filling it up while I was working from home on the 27th. Being a 1.2 metre tall pool with a removable ladder we also didn't have to worry about pool fencing rules <a href="http://www.mnmsadventures.com/2015/01/a-rush-of-blood-to-head-slightly.html">unlike our disastrous foray into pool ownership for 1 day last summer in Wellington</a> - ha ha!<br />
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We had our lovely Wellington friends Kam and Marie to stay on the 27th - it was so good to catch up with them after six months and hear all their news including a little brother on the way for Lucas this year and all their house renovation plans. They also helped us christen the pool - it was still a bit chilly at that point for me to want to get in (only 21 degrees) but all the boys gave it a crack - beers and all!<br />
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On New Years Eve we checked out the cafe at <a href="http://www.monavaleblueberries.co.nz/cafe/">Monavale Blueberries</a> (curly fries and all) before heading over to Nana and Poppa's where the boys all slept out in tents for a bit of fun - Maia even slept with daddy Nic in the tent while us 3 older gals (me, Kim and Nana) enjoyed the peace and quiet and comfy beds in the house!<br />
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The last day the cuzzies all spent together before Maia flew home to Oz - some vigorous rocking by Maia gave Noah a few hairy moments!</div>
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Tents are a-go!</div>
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Wise gals sleeping indoors and not in tents!</div>
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Ready for their tenting adventure</div>
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Farewelling 2015.... with an incredible last sunset of the year!</div>
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After sadly farewelling Nic and Kim and Maia who went home to Oz late on New Years Day, Mark and I sat down that evening for the FIRST time just the two of us in our new house (of course the kids were there too but in bed!) toasting the start of a new chapter in our lives. It had been a whirlwind 10 days since the move and it was honestly the first time we'd stopped to celebrate what we'd achieved with the house build in the past six months.<br />
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Our long-time Welly friends Shannon and Guy came to visit for the day on a very wet January 2nd - which meant we spent most of the day indoors - and no photos were taken! Again it was awesome to hear all their news and see how much their kids had grown - the biggest excitement for us was hearing they might be relocating up our way to Tauranga and potentially building a new home there - you can imagine how much encouragement we gave them in that direction after our recent experience. So we have our fingers crossed they could be just an hour down the road very soon!<br />
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We headed to the new Star Wars movie on January 3rd - in 3D as a must according to Mark. We loved it and even Mylo (who we thought might find it a little scary) was completely rapt the whole way through.<br />
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<b>January 5th - 16th</b><br />
Sadly the Christmas break ended before it even really felt like it started and we were back to work on Tuesday 5th. I'd decided to work longer days Mon-Thu so I could take Fridays off in the holidays which proved a wise move as it enabled me to have some days to unpack the remaining boxes in the garage so they could come and take them away. The boys spent a day out at a friend's house one Friday and then we returned the favour the following week so it was nice to have Fridays free even for that reason.<br />
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Tunnelling fun in the school sandpit with other holiday programme buddies</div>
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The following weekend we did what we do best and overbooked ourselves with lots of catch ups - with 2 nights hosting different friends for BBQ's in a row and then having our dear friends Andrea and Andrew and family to stay for the weekend. Andrea and I are friends from intermediate so we calculated that meant 27 years of friendship - which makes me feel old on one hand but super warm and fuzzy inside that we've held onto our friendship that long! They've recently also moved to Tauranga - and now that they're just an hour down the road we foresee many more catch ups in the future! They'd also recently bought new bikes from Evo Cycles (where else!) so we all had fun up at the Velodrome taking turns to bike the cycleway and the BMX skills park before retreating home for a swim in the now much warmer (up to 27 degrees) pool. Even I got in this time!<br />
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On January 16th a little bundle of joy was added into the Fletcher family! My younger brother Sam and wife Alesha welcomed a little baby boy Michael Iain Fletcher into the world. We drove over to the birthing centre in Hamilton to meet him after Andrea and Andrew left for home on the Sunday afternoon and I got to hold him - a little wide-eyed bundle of joy who seemed to stared up at me so knowingly at just one day old.<br />
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<b>January 17th - 30th</b><br />
Apart from <a href="http://www.mnmsadventures.com/2015/10/rarotonga-wedding-photography-pacific-resort.html">our trip to Rarotonga for Sam and Alesha's wedding last year</a>, we hadn't been to a wedding for AGES. So it was crazy that we the ended up with two weddings two weekends in a row both in Taranaki (a 3 hour drive away!). The first was for friends that Mark used to work with back at APX - he was there when they found true love and it was lovely seeing them tie the knot in front of all their family and friends at her parent's house - a rather stunning home and gardens in Hawera with views towards my favourite mountain!<br />
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We'd left the boys with Nana and Poppa for the weekend, by all accounts they had a fabulous time - sleeping out in a tent with Poppa one night and playing in the water activities at Hamilton Lake as well as a trip to the movies to watch Oddball and petanque outside in the garden.</div>
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We also took the opportunity to stay with my cousins Gwyl and Charlie who are now renting Gee Gee's house. Amidst all the joy of wonderful family times round Christmas, Gee Gee had a bad fall and ended up in hospital and as a result the family decided that at the ripe old age of 90 it was finally time for her to move into a rest home. Whilst we know it's for the best, it's sad to think that our days of going to stay with her for weekends in the Naki have come to an end. It was a very regular pilgrimage for us to make the trip from Wellington to New Plymouth for the weekend (often 4-5 times a year) and we feel very extremely blessed to have had so many years where she could stay with her and she could watch her (at that time) only great-grandchildren grow into the boys they are today.<br />
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While we were there we went to visit Gee Gee in her (temporary) rest home and took her out for brunch at Monica's Eatery in the centre of town. We noticed how much she'd aged - a lot just in the two months since we'd last seen her especially her short-term memory which is getting particularly bad now - sometimes we can have the same conversation several times in the space of a couple of hours.<br />
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After a lovely coffee and smoothie at <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Fairfields-Shed-Cafe-208055019525680/">Fairfields Shed Cafe</a> (located at <a href="http://fairfieldsgc.co.nz/">Fairfields Garden Centre</a> my aunty and uncle's new business venture in New Plymouth where Gwyl and Charlie also work) we had to get on the road early on Sunday morning as we had some very special people to collect from Auckland Airport at lunchtime - UK Grandma and Grandad arrived for a six week visit. It's been 3 years since they were last here in NZ and despite regular Skype chats it's not the same as being together in person - so we were very excited to show them our new home and lives here in Cambridge.<br />
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The weekend rolled around quickly and so did the 2nd wedding weekend. This wedding was much more involved as it was my cousin Bryn's wedding and I was their official wedding photographer. Bryn and Nicole were married in my aunty and uncle's amazing garden which proved to have all sorts of cool nooks and crannies for the bridal party shots. And with all the agapanthus in bloom, they fitted right into the purple and cream wedding theme.<br />
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We also took some shots at the 4 Square where Bryn and Nicole met while working together - it was a very hot afternoon so the bridal party enjoyed a little sit down with an ice cream outside before heading to the evening reception. I'd been pretty nervous about the responsibility and how it would all turn out - but found I actually enjoyed myself on the day. Although it was a massive day - I took over 1400 shots over 12 hours so was dead on my feet by 10pm.<br />
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Ping pong at 7am - the boys loved having some fierce matches at our accommodation in Oakura</div>
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The weary photographer - having just finished photos on the beach with the bridal couple </div>
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before heading back to the reception for more photography</div>
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It's never too early to boogy board - even at 7am?!</div>
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The next morning the boys were desperate for me to see them on their body boards - they'd been down to the beach twice during the weekend but I had been otherwise occupied. We only had a short window of time before we had to leave though so it meant dragging my weary body out of bed at 7am - I felt like I could have slept for hours. I was so glad I went though - it was an amazingly clear and warm morning and the water was so warm even at that early hour - I ended up getting in up to my undies and really wished I'd brought my togs.</div>
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After a lovely brunch at Fairfields Shed Cafe we headed home to Cambridge in convoy. I was so glad it was the first of two long weekends as we all needed a quiet day the next day to recover from the full on week! And then it was straight back to school for the boys - Year 5 for Noah this year and Year 2 for Mylo - we couldn't quite believe the holidays had gone so fast - well actually we can now looking back on everything that went on!</div>
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And now we're back up to date. As I lie here in my sick bed full of heavy head and green gunk whilst taking the opportunity to write this very overdue catch-up, I have some awesome creators for company alongside me so I'm having to stop and guess in between paragraphs which is rather fun. <br />
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We do have a couple of quieter weeks ahead (aside from the Weetbix Tryathlon next weekend and our 12th wedding anniversary the following one) before we head away to the Coromandel at the end of February for a week's holiday with Grandma and Granddad. It's a break that we are all very much in need of - and it can't come soon enough!<br />
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Meghan Maloney Photographyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03506040925450598933noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7811255357730454183.post-64644363819479024822016-01-12T07:00:00.000+13:002016-01-12T07:00:03.569+13:00Who in their right mind moves 3 days before Christmas?!Ah yes, that would be us. Not in our right minds clearly!<br />
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Back in April when we were first considering building a new home, it seemed like a far away thing, something to look forward to but something tantalisingly out of reach.<br />
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We were lucky to find a rental to tide us over for six months while the build was happening, and even better that it was just down the road from where the new house was being built. Family rentals in Cambridge are a rare thing so to be able to take the first one that came up and for it to have a great backyard for the kids was a great bonus.<br />
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When we knew the completion date was set for the week of Christmas, we weren't convinced we would actually get in before Christmas, but Generation Homes guarantee their build times so as time went on we could see it becoming more likely.<br />
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Unlike our move from Wellington where Allied Pickfords did all the hard work for us packing and moving, we'd made the decision to do it all ourselves this time - luckily we would have extra helpers on hand (aka Poppa and Uncle Nic) and a truck, super shuttle van and trailer to use for the day (thanks to Poppa and Uncle Sam). Plus we'd kept all our boxes and packing paper from the last move so that would be a big help too.<br />
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We managed to pack everything up gradually over the course of several weeks amongst the busyness of school finishing, performances, prizegivings, cycling events and the like. Luckily we'd also sold some furniture before the move so we it meant we had less to shift this time round too.<br />
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<i>Gelato's in town make a quick break from packing the day before moving</i></div>
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The night before the move Mark managed to pack up the truck with one full load so we were ready to rock and roll first thing in the morning. One of the brighter ideas we had while packing up (thanks to a mama friend at school) was to gladwrap the Christmas tree so we could just move it as is and enjoy some Christmas festiveness in the new place. Surprisingly it all arrived at the other end intact too ... result!<br />
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We'd been watering the garden with 2 sprinklers for the 5 days leading up to the move to try and get the grass well underway. It was pretty cool standing across the street the night before the move (whilst waiting for the sprinkler to do its thing) knowing that come tomorrow this would finally become our new home.<br />
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And so it began - waking up the morning of the move - and knowing it would be the last morning looking out on this view.</div>
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Our official handover was set for 9am - we drove over with a car full of stuff - not wanting to waste a trip. It felt strange and exciting to finally walk into <i style="font-weight: bold;">our </i>house and know that it was ours.<br />
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Waiting for us on our arrival was a lovely bouquet of flowers and a basket of goodies from Generation Homes to enjoy - a lovely welcome! The flowers were from <a href="http://www.petalpassion.co.nz/">Petal Passion</a> - a local florist who is a mum at school - I must say I was SUPER impressed with how long they lasted - 2 weeks in the very hot weather we had over Christmas was pretty good going!<br />
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I didn't have a whole lot of time to take photos but snapped a few as we walked around with my phone.<br />
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Spare room Main toilet</div>
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Main bathroom</div>
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Hallway Mylo or Noah's room </div>
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(they both look the same)</div>
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Our bedroom looking out into the garden </div>
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Ensuite Walk-in wardrobe</div>
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(late decisions to tile the shower and put built in wardrobes in were good ones!)</div>
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Dining room looking out onto courtyard</div>
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Kitchen</div>
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Dining room towards entranceway</div>
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Lounge</div>
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Lounge looking out to the street</div>
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In the end it took 2 truckloads, 2 trailer loads and a few car loads and we were done. We'd made the wise decision (I think) to pay someone to clean the rental for us. We had to get the carpets cleaned anyway due to having a cat so it made sense to pay the same person to clean too - it meant once we left the house we could just focus on unpacking in the new place - much more fun!<br />
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Murphy surveying his new kingdom and waiting for the chance to be let out - it came a few days later</div>
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Although we did manage to unpack a few boxes in the kitchen - enough to find a few glasses to enjoy a celebratory bubbly with dinner anyway - pizzas were declared by far the easiest meal for the hungry troops.<br />
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We all slept very well that night - not hard to imagine after such a big day. Waking up the next morning to my new bedside view was one of those <b><i>'and we've finally done it.......'</i></b> moments I'd been waiting for.<br />
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I must say it was extremely tempting to lie there all morning but there was no way the house was going to unpack itself!<br />
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Stay tuned for other photos and stories as we gradually get the house looking ship shape and can share more ...<br />
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<img height="66" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_A2MUftSDYw0/TY6FrDqE2EI/AAAAAAAALjc/Z76oTrjGN9c/s144/Signature.jpg" width="144" />
Meghan Maloney Photographyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03506040925450598933noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7811255357730454183.post-62607226636551612642016-01-08T07:00:00.000+13:002016-01-08T07:00:16.366+13:00Round and round the garden...When we lived in Wellington, one of the places on our must-visit list every trip to the Waikato was a walk through Hamilton Gardens. It didn't matter the season, we would always head there for a stroll among the now award-winning gardens, admiring every new addition over the years.<br />
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So it was rather ironic that since we moved to the Waikato we hadn't visited once. Until our lovely family from Australia arrived for Christmas that is. We agreed to meet up at Hamilton Gardens for a picnic first and a walk afterwards.<br />
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For the first time we had another little cutie Maia walking with us - she was most insistent that it was the 'boys' who held her hand and nobody else.<br />
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We had the best weather for the day - blue skies and warm temperatures.<br />
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On a warm day there's nothing like little snippets of water here and there to keep one cool.<br />
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Or you could just get in boots and all?!<br />
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<i>'Statue bro?'</i> (reminds me of a bad Maori joke - it's meant to be the way Maori's would say 'is that you brother?)<br />
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Someone couldn't help cracking a smile - not very statue like at all!<br />
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Kim and Maia were busy spotting fish in the Japanese gardens - but the water was pretty gunky and no fish anywhere to be found.<br />
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I made do with a few candid portraits in the lovely dappled light.<br />
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Little feet don't like hanging in one spot too long so it was onwards to the English country garden.<br />
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This is quite possibly my favourite shot of the day capturing the cheeky personality of Maia.<br />
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And around the corner, more water. Surprisingly there were actually a few fish to be found in this pond.<br />
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A three leaf clover makes a pretty good resting spot for little legs.<br />
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Blue skies made lovely reflections of the pagoda and round wall in the Chinese garden.<br />
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By the time we made it to the American modernist garden all and sundry were ready to go for a paddle.<br />
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After the simplicity of the American garden, the Indian garden is a crazy explosion of the senses - almost to much to take in.<br />
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And for the grand finale our last stop was at the brand new Tudor garden - it's impressive in it's orderliness - very English and even cooler that the house is modelled on a similar one at Montacute House - which is literally minutes down the road from where Mark grew up in Somerset.<br />
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A wonderful family afternoon walking round and round the gardens - no teddy bears were caught by the end of it though!<br />
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<img height="66" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_A2MUftSDYw0/TY6FrDqE2EI/AAAAAAAALjc/Z76oTrjGN9c/s144/Signature.jpg" width="144" />
Meghan Maloney Photographyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03506040925450598933noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7811255357730454183.post-56182507406314461652016-01-05T07:00:00.000+13:002016-01-05T07:00:06.855+13:00Guess I better start back at the beginning...Whilst at risk of sounding like a broken record, the past few weeks have passed by in an absolute blur. During the past month we've had a house move, spending quality time with our wonderful family visiting from Oz for 2 weeks, Christmas itself, and visits from two sets of Welly friends. Yeah nothing much going on at all!!!!!!<br />
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But I better back the truck up because before all that there was school finishing up for the year, prize givings, hip hop dance recitals, a bike ride on the new Expressway before it opened and a day watching the World Track Cycling Champs. We do like to keep ourselves busy don't we?!<br />
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First up was Noah's hip hop dance recital - he only decided to join hip hop classes this term as one of his best friends is also in the class. They practiced every week and at the end of the year performed Macklemore 'The City Can't Hold Us'. Noah was amped for the concert, much more than we were when we found out we would have to sit through 2.5 hours of other performers first - now I understand the pain of all those ballet mamas who have to sit through hours of other grades and classes just to watch their own child perform!<br />
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Boy this boy is growing up!<br />
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The next day we headed off to the Velodrome for a day watching the World Track Cycling Champs. We'd been to the Velodrome plenty of times before but had never seen athletes competing with such intensity. As we entered the complex, a cyclist zoomed past right at crazy speeds of up to 70 km/hr. There was a great atmosphere any time the Kiwis raced and we cheered along with the rest of the crowd.<br />
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What I hadn't appreciated is that track cycling is made up of a whole lot of different disciplines, some odder than other - have you ever seen the Keirin race where they follow a motorbike for 3 laps before a 3 lap sprint to the finish? Or the Madison where they sling each other forwards like they're passing a baton? Or the Omnium which is like a Decathlon for cycling?<br />
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It was awesome seeing all the cyclists from a huge variety of country groups getting warmed up and warmed down in the centre of the track.<br />
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During one of many breaks to get some fresh air outside (it was warm inside - they keep it at an optimum 28 degrees for the cyclists!) the boys enjoyed a ride on the outdoor bike trainer which involved enough revolutions to turn a blender mixture into a smoothie which they then got to enjoy afterwards.<br />
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The following week was school prizegiving - we hadn't experienced a whole school prizegiving before - it wasn't something our school back in Wellington ever did. It was a very cool night seeing achievement being recognised - both at a sporting and academic level. And to our great surprise Noah received a Class Excellence award (one of three in his class to do so), made even more surprising as we were only here for the second half of the year.<br />
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The following week school broke up - the same day the new Waikato Expressway was open to the public for the afternoon/evening. We ummed and ahhed about going along - only a week till our house move and still so much to do - but in the end decided it was one of those once in a lifetime opportunities so we just had to seize the moment!<br />
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We biked 5km south along the Expressway to the new Karapiro viaduct along with hundreds if not thousands of other walkers, runners and cyclists. On the other side of the road, those who couldn't (or didn't want to) walk took buses on the same journey that we biked.<br />
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The viaduct is most impressive in its height - at 40 metres it's only 3 metres lower than the Auckland Harbour bridge.<br />
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What's even more impressive is that this whole part of the Expressway was built under budget and ahead of time - something touted far and wide the following day at the official opening. It's great riding on the new Expressway - even though we don't drive on the new section every day, the daily journey to Hamilton is so much better now that both lanes are open and the speed limit is 100 km/hr.<br />
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Amongst all these goings on... we were frantically packing up the house and we were about to welcome our Oz crew (Nic, Kim and Maia). But more on that next time.............<br />
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<img height="66" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_A2MUftSDYw0/TY6FrDqE2EI/AAAAAAAALjc/Z76oTrjGN9c/s144/Signature.jpg" width="144" />
Meghan Maloney Photographyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03506040925450598933noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7811255357730454183.post-29535063724524150492015-12-09T07:00:00.000+13:002015-12-09T07:00:07.750+13:00Our house in the middle of our street: Part 1If you'd told me last Christmas to fast forward a year and that I'd be living in Cambridge in a new house we'd just built I would have laughed you out of the park.<br />
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Seriously.... that idea would have seemed pretty ludicrous. A grand and exciting plan but ludicrous all the same.<br />
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Now here we are that year later as we count down to moving into our new house in a new town in a new part of NZ - it's fitting to share the journey we have been on from there to here. Here's a timeline of the big events that have shaped our journey: <br />
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<b>February</b><br />
We met with real estate agents in Wellington with a view to putting our house on the market knowing this was the first step in the long move north.<br />
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<b>March</b><br />
After completing some work on the house, it went on the market with a 3 week deadline sale process. It was a nerve-wracking time especially as we were trying to sell a textured coated house with the whole 'leaky home' stigma. Even though we knew our home was solid and sound would anyone else want to buy it?!<br />
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<b>April 1</b><br />
This year there was no April Fool's for us - the house sold on April 1 at a good price and we could now look forward to our '<i>what next?'</i><br />
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<b>April 10</b><br />
After a road trip round the East Coast we finished up in the Waikato and on our joint birthdays we were going out for lunch and just happened to pop into the Cambridge Park subdivision on our way to the Olde Creamery cafe on the other side of Cambridge. We went into the Generation Home show home, took a long look around and came away incredibly excited at the thought of maybe just maybe building a home here would be a great idea. And so: <b><i>the dream of building our own home was born!</i></b> And in less than two months we would be leaving Wellington for good!<br />
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For the rest of this month we were in discussion with Generation Homes about securing a section and deciding on the design of our new home. We really liked the Parry plan because you could separate off the living areas from the bedroom areas. We also really liked the courtyard in the centre of the living areas with 3 sets of bi-fold doors opening out onto a central courtyard.<br />
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We did however make a few changes from the original plan - adding in a walk-in pantry (which we had loved in the showroom) and changing the windows down the side of the house.<br />
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<b>May 4</b><br />
We flew up to the Waikato for the weekend to meet with Generation Homes and further develop our plans for the new house build. We also went to visit the section we would be building on. It was hard to envisage how it might look six months later in a near finished state but it was exciting to dream all the same.<br />
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<b>June followed by July followed by August</b><br />
We moved halfway up the country at the beginning of June and settled into our rental in Cambridge which is less than a kilometre away from the new house. During the cold Waikato winter we started a new life with new schools and new jobs and waited for the title to come through on the part of the subdivision where our home would be built. Patiently we waited through the depths of sub zero frosts, chillblains and crisp winter days. <br />
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<b>September 10 - Week 1</b><br />
Then at the end of August, we got the news the title had been issued and this meant work could now begin. While Noah and Mark were away on school camp, I got the news that the digger was on the section starting the excavation work - of course I hightailed it round to see progress that afternoon. It was very exciting knowing the project had finally officially begun!<br />
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During the first week the foundations were excavated and the area of the house was pegged out with wood. We couldn't get over how small the house looked once it was pegged out.<br />
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<b>September 17 - Week 2</b><br />
During this week the concrete pad was poured.<br />
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<b>September 24 - Week 3 </b><br />
This week the wall frames went up - it changed the whole look of the house once we could see where the rooms started and finished.<br />
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<b>October 1 - Week 4</b><br />
The roof framing goes on and the shape of the roof adds a whole other dimension to a previously square looking box.<br />
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<b>October 8 - Week 5 </b><br />
This week the roof tiles were added and after a month of building we were nearly one third of the way through the build!<br />
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<b>October 15 - Week 6</b><br />
We have windows! This week all the windows were put in and we were loving the look of the bifold doors into the courtyard.<br />
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<b>October 22 - Week 7</b><br />
This week the bricks are added to the exterior - and suddenly the weeks and weeks of umming and aahing over the brick colour were worth it as it looks just how we wanted - we love the silver joinery and how the mortar matches it so well.<br />
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We'd originally been building in a black brick but after seeing some other houses go up in the subdivision we soon changed our minds as the overall look just didn't do it for us. Thank goodness we made the decision to change - we are so much happy with the lighter coloured brick!<br />
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<b>October 29 - Week 8</b><br />
More bricks and the outside of the house is looking pretty well finished (apart from the linea boards at the front which still need painting).<br />
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<b>November 5 - Week 9</b><br />
This week the walls are put up inside and all the plastering is done - now when we peer in the windows we can really envisage living in each room.<br />
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<b>November 12 - Week 10</b><br />
There's more happening inside like doors and cupboards being added but we can't see too much peeking from the outside, but we do notice the kitchen cupboards arriving and being installed.<br />
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</b> <b>November 19 - Week 11</b><br />
This week we had an official site visit where we discovered they had put the wrong colour benchtop on - white instead of black whoops! Luckily it wasn't our mistake and this was soon rectified. We also got an extra treat when we got to walk around inside on the weekend and with some undercoat on the walls the place was looking so light and bright!<br />
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<b>November 26 - Week 12</b><br />
This week they levelled off all the dirt round the outside and inside it was all hands on deck with painting and more painting - walls, ceilings and doors.<br />
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<b>December 3 - Week 13</b><br />
Outside the concrete kerbing went on for the landscaping whilst inside the tiles were being laid in the kitchen, bathrooms and entrance ways.<br />
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<b>What's left?</b><br />
With only two weeks to go till our move in date on December 22/23 - there's a lot to still come together like carpets, electrical finish, and some plumbing but we know it will all happen - because it has to!<br />
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Stay tuned for Part 2 when we actually move in!<br />
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And just for fun - here's a time lapse of the build so far!</div>
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<img height="66" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_A2MUftSDYw0/TY6FrDqE2EI/AAAAAAAALjc/Z76oTrjGN9c/s144/Signature.jpg" width="144" /> Meghan Maloney Photographyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03506040925450598933noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7811255357730454183.post-14566053938200231682015-12-02T07:00:00.000+13:002015-12-02T07:00:02.443+13:00How to embrace life when it's hurtling along at breakneck speed..........for a start you better just hold on for dear life and hope you don't fall off!<br />
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Far out brussel sprout, it feels like the last few weeks of this year are rushing toward us at the speed of light.<br />
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It's a busy time of the year anyway with lots of end of term activities - athletics day, hip hop dance recitals, Christmas parades, cricket practices and games, and Cubs badges to be achieved. Then there's baby showers, guests coming to stay on several weekends and my photography sales which have gone better than I could possibly have imagined with over 20 calendars sold and some prints as well - I'd like to know all these sales were last year when I so desperately wanted sales when I was launching the <a href="http://www.meghanmaloneyphotography.co.nz/">Meghan Maloney Photography</a> site and trying to sell at the Thorndon market which was such a disaster - ha ha - ah well I'm not complaining really!<br />
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And when you throw in the mix a looming house move that's right around the corner - it's less than 3 weeks away now and the added inevitable craziness of the lead up to Christmas sourcing gifts for friends and family - it's a sure fire recipe for high blood pressure and more than a few fraught moments as we also try to deal with slack phone/fibre providers who can't pull finger to organise an installation date and an online furniture company who cannot seem to provide good service and products despite our patience in trying to sort some issues out with them for the past few months.<br />
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Add to that it's the busiest time of the year at work too and I find all I can do is *sigh*......................<br />
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Oh and then our 13 year-old fridge decides to pack it in the last few days and it's taken to freezing everything inside - what utterly impeccable timing!<br />
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So that aside........ what else have we been up to?<br />
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For a start enjoying the warmth that is the Waikato - we have already had a few mid twenties temperatures and it's only just officially summer this week! The boys got a taste of just how hot the sun is after getting rather sun burnt at the local pool on the weekend - oops - Mark was left a bit red faced after that experience (not to mention a red body too!)<br />
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Noah's sunburnt face after the afternoon at Cambridge pool :-/</div>
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Loving these stunning red roses in the garden of our rental - we will miss the awesome big backyard and all the established garden when we move to our new place - we'll be lucky to even get grass to grow moving in the height of summer.<br />
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Loving finding the gem that is <a href="https://www.facebook.com/fastflavours/?fref=ts" rel="nofollow">Fast Flavours</a> - a local dairy free and gluten free takeaway option in the heart of Cambridge - it's been my Friday night go-to when the boys have had their $5 Dominoes Pizza during Friday night cricket games - this was their yummy seafood paella.<br />
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Loving recognition of playing so well at his first game of cricket - even if he was pretty peaky the next day when this photo was taken, poor poppet.<br />
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Not loving long road trips that have to be made within a single day - but loving the reason for it - so we could all celebrate my gran's 90th birthday in Taranaki with her - at least we all went together in the shuttle - it made the time pass quick enough - the boys are enjoying a quick stop at Pio Pio to stretch their legs here.<br />
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And I even got to drive the shuttle partway home again - my first time in all the years Dad has been a super shuttle driver that I've even sat in the drivers seat!<br />
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Loving being able to sneak away for an hour to watch the kids on athletics day at school.<br />
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Loving (well that might be a stretch) that I got to sleep over at school one Thursday night with Mylo and 30 other kids on the floor of his classroom. I was dreading it (I'll happily admit that) but it was actually pretty fun. I got a few hours sleep which was more than I'd bargained on - plus it was a great way to meet a few more of the parents in his class too. I was pretty tired come Friday afternoon though.....yawn.......<br />
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Tickling the kids on the Burma trail that night was pretty fun - and watching their shrieks as they came up against things they didn't recognise with their masks on!</div>
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Loving that we got an unexpected sneaky visit into the house when our good friend Jules was staying for the weekend. It felt so much lighter and brighter than just a few days earlier when Mark and I had our official visit with the builders.<br />
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Not loving that they put the wrong colour bench top on our bench - it is meant to be black - but loving that we realised pretty much straight away and it's since been fixed - an expensive error on someone's part - just glad it wasn't ours!<br />
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Loving 22 pieces of snail mail arriving from Noah's classmates back in Wellington - he enjoyed reading every single one and we must must must write an email back before the term ends in the next 2 weeks!</div>
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Loving that I made it home safely after a flying day trip (AGAIN!) to New Plymouth via the bus to drive my gran's car back home as we are buying it off her for Mark's parents to use when they arrive in January for six weeks. And loving the company of Charlie (Charlotte) to make the journey back whizz by in the blink of an eye!</div>
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Loving having dinner cooked for us by Charlie while she stayed - what a rare treat for us not to have to cook on a weeknight!<br />
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Loving that hubby's Saturday morning coffees rival anything you might get served up at a cafe...I think I'll keep him on!<br />
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Loving this indoors temperature one day last week - ah yes I feel summer right down into my bones!<br />
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Loving being able to get to assembly to watch Noah get his Principals award in the final assembly of the year.<br />
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Loving drinking bubbly from Batman cups at Friday night cricket and that the rain held off (just!) till the end of the game.<br />
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Loving having Charlie to stay so we could enjoy a rainy Saturday in putting up the Christmas tree, making and consuming mulled wine, painting Christmas nails (red and green) and helping Nana and Poppa choose their Christmas tree...<br />
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Might need to wait another year or two for that one though Mylo!<br />
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Loving that I live close enough to family now to be able to take part in my lovely sister-in-law Alesha's baby shower, and loving that it's only six weeks or so till I get to be an aunty again to a precious new babe in the family!</div>
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And last but not least loving that I can still find things to love despite the madness that is our lives right now....<br />
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This weekend it's Noah's hip hop performance, plus we have tickets to the UCI world track cycling champs at the velodrome, the Cubs (and therefore Noah) will be parading in the Christmas parade and we have friends coming for a BBQ as well.<br />
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The garden desperately needs a tidy, the windows need washing and we are really struggling to find the time to get any packing done...I know there will come a day (very soon) where we will just have to knuckle down and get to it if we ever want to move out at all!<br />
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Meghan Maloney Photographyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03506040925450598933noreply@blogger.com0