Winter Beach Visit

 Mount beach. Cold and windy.

Seven go down to the sea.

Seven people and a cloud.

Yellow Wins

 I was lucky enough to be invited to the semi finals at the cake tin this weekend.

TV gives you a better visual experience and expert commentary but no doubt about it the atmosphere and excitement when you are out in the stands is an all sensors experience.

 From inside the Hurricanes box.

Thanks for the invite boss. Great night.

 We moved to the Resene box and kept the celebrations going till we got kicked out as they were closing the doors.

Nice Little Story. Jay & Pop.

So most Sundays Jay and I end up on the streets around town. He loves to run about (usually with shoes on!) and look into shop windows at all the exciting stuff. The clock window in one of the jewellers holds a special facination.

So last Sunday we were doing our thing and I took a couple of phone pics (below)

when we noticed an elderly gentleman whizzing toward us on a mobility scooter.

He ground to a halt right next to us and began waving his hands around and pointing to us.

Typically (and shamefully) my natural instinct was to blow him off as a nutter!

However after a moment I could see he was trying to say something (with his hands)

I finally figured out he wanted to take my phone and use it to take a picture of both Jay and I together.

Beautiful.

Once I got with the program his face lit up.

When he handed back the phone I realised he had not taken one shot he had taken a burst of 30 shots! Funny.

I keep kicking myself for not taking his photo.

 This is one of thirty identical shots taken by the mystery mobility scooter guy.

Thanks mate....

The Strand Tauranga

Well a small segment of the Strand.

Looking East from Masonic Park.

Mount Apartments

The Mount is changing by the day. Apartment buildings, no parking, year round visitors, cafe's full all day. Sure its not Surfers or South Beach Florida but we are on the way.

Our family lived at the Mount in the early 80's when it was only the Xmas holidays that upset the locals daily routines. Now it's a free for all. But still a fantastic place to visit and we do so daily!

Pot Of Gold

You must be kidding...

Here we go setting off on the first hole at Tauranga. The usual positive attitude and enthusiasm confirmed by the beautiful rainbow.

Thats me at the back and thats how it stayed!

AS Carelia

Container AS Carelia ship slips into Tauranga harbour, with guidance from the yellow tugs, this afternoon with a very stormy and dark sky as a backdrop.

The container cranes eagerly await their next customer

Tauranga Council Buildings

Taken from the eastern side of the road.

This is to record how it looks now.

Maybe soon this will all be gone.

Check this out

Surface Tension

A newly polished or painted (hopefully not fat covered) table at a local cafe repels rain water after a shower. There is a lot of physics going on here.

 The water droplets and puddles that are forming could take your mind to another place if you are that way inclined.

Check this out

Grace On Green Rocks

A little enchanted secret location at the Mount that Grace and I explore when we remember where to find it.

From The Old Album

Our kids had guns, played war, just as my generation did.

But they never had too much TV and zero social media.

We need to get our kids out of their rooms, off their phones and having fun with their mates around the neighbourhood.

Discussion

But on the other hand the tele wasn't exactly a big draw card either...no wonder they took up guns.

Watching Scrooge McDuck between battles.

Link Up

Jay, the happy camper with his great aunty Francie.

Jay was a bit sick on the day.

 Great aunty Francie is actually a bit of a hard case and keeps us all entertained. Has done for years!

She will kill me for this one....

Lunch Hookup

The family from the mighty Waikato came across for a lunch catchup.

And the usual pre-photo chaos 

The Flamingoes (Early 60's)

I have told this story to the family several times but I don't think they believed me. Now here's the proof thanks to Graham Clark and his amazing book about the Tauranga music scene, 

The Right Note.

My older sister Lyn (Aka Gidge) sang as an all girls group with the Olsen sisters and her friend Joan.

Left to right

Lyn, Joan, Cathrine, Frances

 Extra from the text.

 The book. 

If you live in Tauranga and experienced the 60's music scene you want this book on your coffee table.

The guy on the far right is Murray Arden. He was a friend of Lyn's (a little older) and we also knew him as a family. We all lived in Gate Pa area.

4000 Days Ago

We all looked so much younger....

Robyn getting ready for Xmas day dinner.

Figure out the aerial perspective. 

Waiting

 

Crazy Apartments

A builders nightmare.

Surfers 2010

That Last Push

Surf champs Mt Maunganui

Feb 2010

From The Old Album

Very early 80's

My old B&W prints.

Totora St Mt Maunganui.

My old company car, a Mitsi Mirage. Today this street is fully industralised.

 Same era but Hewletts Rd. This is one busy road now. The cement silos are still there today. Note the power lines!

Stories

Butterfly Girl

Grace, 5 years ago at the Altex picnic

Late Evening Walk Around Mauao

A week back we went for a walk around the Mount. It was a little misty and fairly dark.

This is what we found.

The backhoe digger (spudded to the harbour bed with the retractable pedestals) drops rocks and sand into the barge alongside. This is part of the project to deepen the main channels so Tauranga can handle larger container ships. The backhoe dredge looks after all the difficult corners and inaccessible  areas that the main trailer suction dredge can't get to.

 A lone light shines down on the old fisherman's loading and unloading wharf on the harbour side of the Mount

 A dingy left to its own devises with the Mount wharf in the background.