Out and About to Wellington

I had a day out recently, which was very enjoyable.  When I saw this Tranzit day trip advertised, I knew I really wanted to take part.  It was a trip to Wellington, to visit the Te Whatu Stardome, Observatory and Planetarium.  Robin and I had been there with friends, more years ago than I can remember.  The small coach collected me from Levin, on the way down from Palmerston North,  and I climbed aboard, settled down to enjoy what the day would bring.  After stopping at nearby Otaki for morning tea, off we went to Wellington.  

It was a picture perfect May day.  As we drove along  along the coast road, I spotted Kapiti Island off the coast.  And if you look carefully at the horizon on the left, you can just make out the mountains of the South Island away in the distance.

Kapiti Island

A little later Wellington, the capitol city of New Zealand,  came into view.  There is a saying in these parts, "You can't beat Wellington on a good day".  And this day certainly was a good day.  Wellington sometimes shows a quite different face. Because of it's position in the "Roaring Forties" and being located beside Cook Strait, the city acts as a natural funnel for passing storm systems.  It is not named "Windy Wellington" for nothing! 

Wellington, on a good day

Up, up, up the bus climbed, right to the top of the Wellington Botanic Garden in Kelburn, and close by the Cable Car Terminal.  Just look at that wonderful view, looking over the city and the harbour.

Stunning view

This sign on the path guided us on our way.  Just a short walk and we were there.

Walk this way

And here we are

Our group was warmly welcomed, and we were free to wander around to check out the exhibits, before it was showtime in the Planetarium.  

There were plenty of interactive boards, press buttons to discover the full story.  

Myths tell of the god Maui fishing up the North Island.  But I hadn't heard of this story of Maui and the sun before.  In ancient times, the sun raced across the sky very quickly, leaving very little time for the people to hunt, gather food, weave and cook their meals before it was dark again.  Maui decided to catch the sun, weaving magical ropes out of harakeke (flax).  Maui and his brothers travelled to the pit where the sun rested at night.  As the sun began to rise, the men threw the flax ropes, tangling the sun in a snare and holding him fast.  The sun thrashed and struggled, scorching the men holding the ropes fast.  Maui left forward, beating the sun with his enchanted club, until the captive cried out and begged for mercy.  Maui demanded that the sun slow down and never again dictate the length of the day.  The sun agreed, the ropes were loosened, and the sun crept slowly across the sky, leaving the land with longer days.

The story of Maui and the sun

I climbed up the stairs to check out the historic Thomas Cooke telescope, manufactured in 1867.  This is used on clear nights when the public can come and look at the heavens

Thomas Cooke telescope

Then it was time to go and see the show.  We were ushered into the theatre, sit anywhere, we were told.  The seats sloped back to enable us to look at the dome above us when the film started.  We were shown a film about the moon landing in 1969, and the build up and planning to make it happen.  "One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind".  I certainly remember those words when we watched the wonder unfold on our TVs way back then.  My camera was put away, no photos allowed during the show.  I must say, the film was most enjoyable, reminding us again of this momentous happening. 

  

Inside the theatre

 Those reclining seats were necessary to tilt us back to gaze at the dome, but goodness me, was I in pain when it was time to leave, both my back and neck were rather sore.  But then, we all know I'm not as young as I used to be!

A short walk to the bus, but I just had to stop and take another photo.  There was a cable car waiting to make the downhill journey.  This is such a fun trip, but not on the agenda for our group today. 

Wellington Cable Car

Down we drove to the bottom of the gardens.  We were booked in to have lunch at Picnic Cafe, and our tables were set up and waiting for us.  Our choices had been prebooked so the service was quick.  After lunch we had time for a look around, or just to sit and enjoy the sunshine.  Then it was all aboard for the last time and we were homeward bound.

Transport for the day

I certainly enjoyed my day out, my first with this company, and will check to see what other day trips they have on offer.  

Binding, and a Knitting Finish

Quilters are in two camps about quilt bindings, they either love it or hate it.  I love hand stitching the binding down, it's the last job to do and then you have finished.   Like this little baby donation quilt with the cozy fleecy back, all clipped up and waiting to go.

Binding time

I have a knitting finish too.  Remember this?  I was stitching it up back in April.  Then it got put aside for a while, don't ask me why, it just happens.

Stitching the sleeves in to the body

Then once it was all stitched together, it took me a while to go and buy some brown buttons.  This little cardigan was looking at me accusingly every time I passed it by - just get on with it, it was saying!  For this knit I've used hand spun wool from my late friend Merilyn.  I'll tuck this one away with the others in my great grandchildren crate for a while.  Maybe I'll donate it later, I'll just have to wait and see.

Finally finished, made with hand spun wool

And I've started knitting the  sleeves for my cotton summer jumper.  These are short sleeves, so won't go on and on as a pair of long sleeves seems to.  I like to knit two at the same time.  Most of my knitting is done in the evening while watching TV, but Gemma has been extra friendly lately and likes to jump up on my lap.  That puts the knitting on hold as she thinks those moving needles and balls of wool are there for her to play with.

Two short sleeves

I've just finished a book, and goodness, this was a scary one, all about a rather nasty serial killer and his followers.  I had to put it down and take a breather every now and again, and it had a finish I never saw coming.  This is the second book by this author, so I need to check if the library has the first book.

Don't read this if you are easily frightened!

Orange RSC Stitching, and South Island Memories

I'm running a bit late with my orange stitching, but this is now the last of it.  For someone who doesn't particularly like the colour orange, I think I did quite well.  It was time to have a dig into my bag of "bag bits" of fabric pieces, linings and cord to make drawstring bags for foster kids again.  And I had enough for seven  bags.  I found a rusty orange floral fat quarter with strips pinned together for the cord casings, and made two bags from that.  Then there were chickens clucking around, so they got made into a bag as well.

Florals and chickens

What's next?  Two bags featuring orange and yellow kiwis topped with bright orange, and two smaller bags made with clown fabric, and the same orange bands on top.

Kiwis and clown

And if you think that kiwi fabric looks familiar, you are right.  It was given to me by my friend Eileen quite some time ago now, and I used it on the borders and back of the table cloth I made to commemorate our 3 month 2012 South Island caravan  trip with three other couples.  Gemma is having a snooze on the dining chair under the edge of the tablecloth.  I'm pleased to have finally used up that last piece of the fabric in the two kiwi  bags.

Gemma is hiding under the tablecloth

Each day I wrote with a Micro pen on Rail Fence blocks of our adventures

What a great trip we had, way back in February 2012.  Here we are, aboard the Interislander, ready for our adventure.  Sadly, both Robin and Geoff C have passed away.

Robin, Jenny, Dot, Pauline, Eileen, Geoff T, Derek, Geoff C

And just one more photo from this long ago trip.  Here we are at Slope Point, the Southern most point of New Zealand.  My goodness, it may well have been summer, but it was blowing a gale down there.

Jenny and Robin at Slope Point, March 2012

Sew Wot Tuesday - Two Birthday Celebrations.

 It was such a lovely Sew Wot morning,  with both Helen and Mary celebrating their birthdays.  With us all there to help of course, it was so nice that we could all make it, no appointments got in the way this time.  And Helen's sister Rosie was visiting from Auckland, so she was warmly welcomed too. Carol was the hostess with the mostest.  

Helen had brought along a family gift to show us.  It was a framed poster with her birth year, showing all sorts of things which happened back in 1956 - what a great idea for a gift.

1956 was a good year

Just look at this wonderful pile of birthday gifts, waiting to be opened.  I think we all enjoy seeing those presents opened as much as the birthday girls do.

There were so many exciting goodies to oooh and aaah over, pretty soaps, plants, tea towels, various sweets  and fabrics.  Even a lovely pair of pillowcases, hand knitted slippers and a pretty crochet face cloth.  This wonderful wool cushion made from a recycled blanket was passed around for us all to see how it was constructed.  This was one of Mary's gifts, from Helen.

Very clever and much admired

And lastly, Mary presented Helen with a very special gift, her 70th birthday quilt.  So special, and it certainly brought a few tears too.  Helen had made one for Mary when she turned 70, so the favour was returned, this quilt was made with much love.

Helen's 70th Birthday quilt, made by Mary

Whew - after all that excitement it was time for morning tea.  The table was set, we settled down, and candles were lit on the shared birthday cake.  After singing Happy Birthday to the two girls, the Eat-a-Lots enjoyed their morning tea.

Morning Tea is served

Show and Tell was next.  Jude proudly showed her finish,  I remember when she was working on it a while ago.  Such a pretty quilt, made with a variety of neutrals and assorted colours.  

Jude's lovely quilt

And Carol had some baby knitting to show, before being donated to the Neo Natal ward.  She had made three little vests with matching hats, and a knitted teddy.  Such a lovely selection.

Carol's baby knitting

What a wonderful morning we had, celebrating two birthdays, chatting away as we do, and enjoying morning tea.  Many thanks to Carol for being the hostess, and  Carol's hubby kindly took a group photo of us all.

Jenny, Carol, Heather, Helen, Jude, Mary, Susie, and Sandra in front

Another Lovely Day

I can't believe this run of calm, mild, sunny weather we have been having lately.  No complaints of course, but Winter is starting tomorrow 1st June!  I've been sitting outside for an hour or two, once again, making the most of the gentle warmth.  Gemma joined me too, once she woke up from her afternoon nap.  She is always very interested in this small bark garden when she comes outside, especially in the far corner.  I can't see anything which would catch her attention, but maybe there are some tiny ants running around in the bark, who knows?  But it certainly holds her interest.

Wonder what she can see?

I was working on my New Zealand Land and Sea panel again.  The other day I went to my favourite quilt shop, Foxes Cottage, In Foxton, and purchased two skeins of Perle no 5 which I needed.  But I still needed a couple of shades of turquoise which I couldn't find on the stand.  The helpful staff member then directed me to another stand, which had reels of Sue Spargo threads, including the colours  I was looking for.  I didn't realise that this brand was available, so that is certainly another option  for me in the future.

Filling the gaps for my stitching

So today I worked on finishing up this gull, he needed his head, face and feet completed.  Slow stitching indeed, but so restful, and nice to be sitting outside.  And I gave my thread bag a tidy up, so that is good.

Hello, Mr Gull

How about a knitting finish?  This was easy and simple and was my evening TV knitting for the last wee while.  Some time ago at my Monday craft group, one of the ladies bought in a box of stuff she was going to take to the Op Shop, she wondered if any of us would like to check the items out first.  We certainly did, we were like bees around a honey pot!  There were all sorts of goodies, I selected a pink fat quarter and  some eyelash yarn to take home.

Eyelash yarn

Then I cast on 25 stitches on very big needles, and set about knitting a scarf.  Each evening I would knit some more rows, and it grew, and grew, till I had used up all the yarn.  It's a little bit prickly so I'll give it a wash and maybe add some fabric softener to the rinse.  I will be donating this to Grandparents Raising Grandchildren, and maybe a pre-teen girl might like it.  When I met the co-ordinator Fleur last week, she told me she was starting to gather up Christmas gifts for all the children, so the scarf may be just what someone will love.  

Pretty white scarf

So that's what I've been up to lately.  It's time to wish Autumn goodbye today and say hello to Winter tomorrow.  I do wonder how much longer the weather will play nice and allow me to sit outside?

Secret Sewing Gifted

 I've been working on two different lots of secret sewing recently, and I'm pleased to say that one lot has now been gifted.  You may remember that I like to donate to Grandparents Raising Grandchildren.  The co-ordinator, Fleur, is bringing up three grandchildren herself, one girl and two boys, and when I asked, she told me that the children didn't have their own quilts.  Oh dear, I thought, so I mentioned to her some months ago that I would like to make them one each.  Finally, I finished the last one, this was delayed with my South Island trip, and then my Bernina needed servicing, so the completion took longer than anticipated.  But last week I met Fleur for morning tea, and handed the quilts over.

All packed up and ready to go

The first one was made from some Rainbow Scrap Challenge butterfly blocks, stitched last year.  In fact, I remember making several different types of blocks featuring butterflies  over the year, and all the fabrics came from the stash of my former neighbour Dorothy.  She had a real love of butterfly fabrics, and I still have plenty left to work with.  I assembled this top back in August 2025, using purple, black, pink and cream blocks and  decided to use it for the girl in this special family.  Having this top already made and pinned up was a real bonus, I was ready to start quilting.  There is enough left of these blocks to make a similar quilt........sometime.

If they dare to flutter, I'll pounce on them!

Plenty of butterflies for a special girl

But what to make for the two boys?  Then I remembered I had purchased some boys fabric about a year ago, I just had to remember where it was.  Spiderman and bike racers - that should do fine.

What to make with these?

The dirt racing bikes should be suitable for the older boy, I thought.  I picked out the colours of the fabric and framed each block with co-ordinating solids.  And I had some leftover striped binding fabric in my basket which finished it off nicely.

Tricks on bikes

And I really hoped that Spiderman was still a favourite of the younger boy.  There was only a smaller piece of this fabric so I had to think how best to use it.  Luckily the red and black came from my stash, and I purchased extra Spiderman fabric for two of the borders.

Here comes Spiderman

I'm really pleased with how these three quilts turned out, and was more than happy to make the children a quilt each.  Fleur does a wonderful job helping these families, passing on the various quilts I had donated, so I wanted her own family to have their own.

I also gave Fleur my recently stitched drawstring bags for the foster kids.  She told me that she takes them along to the families, and the children can pick their own.  These have been another RSC project this year, I've been stitching bags with the colour of the month so far, so having the colour prompt certainly gets me motivated.   I'm trying to empty "another bag of stuff" with these bag bits in - you know what that is like, I'm sure.

Draw string  bags for the kids, for pencils, treasures, toiletries, or whatever

South Island Holiday - Final Days

 Just the final few days to go, the holiday was coming to an end.  After a wonderful two days in Dunedin, the weather changed and we traveled to Oamaru in wet and miserable conditions. We stopped out of town to collect two local guides, who hopped aboard our coach, suitably attired in Victorian clothes, ready to tell us all about their hometown.  Oamaru, known as "The white stone city" boasts a wonderful collection of historic commercial buildings built with local white Oamarua stone.  It was discovered that the limestone could be sawn after it was quarried, and hardens when exposed to the air, making it the perfect building material in an area where timber was in short supply.  

Our first stop on this rather miserable morning was to board the Oamaru Steam and Rail (founded in 1985) vintage train, ready and waiting for us at  Habourside Station.  

Vintage train

The short 1.7km trip took us through the historic part of town, arriving at Oamaru's Victorian Harbour.  There is a blue penguin colony taking over the old wharf.  We were not able to depart the train to get a closer look.  But Robin and I had seen these birds up close on an earlier trip, very interesting, but rather noisy and smelly up close!

Can you see the penguins on the wharf?

So it was back to Harbourside Station to farewell the train, climb aboard the coach which dropped us at Whitestone City attraction.  Set in an original grainstore, this is not a typical museum,  instead being one where "hands on" is encouraged.  We settled down to watch a film about the beginning and growth of the city

What's this?  Wonder of wonders, it is a Penny Farthing Carousel!  Some of the more agile ladies climbed up on the bikes and had a wonderful time as the carousel went round and round, playing a tune.  Such fun for them, and fun also to watch.

Penny Farthing Carousel

There was a street full of shops to admire, a general store, barber and dispensary (chemist) looking through the windows at the goods of yesterday.  There were games to try, skittles, croquet, even cards, and old toys to admire.  I was very interested in the vintage gowns on display, I love seeing this sort of thing.  What an amazing place, I had not been here before.

Beautiful gowns

It was still raining and we had to walk to a cafe for lunch.  I got a bit lost walking up and down the historic street, couldn't find where to go.  Luckily I spotted the guides and tagged along with them to a very nice cafe indeed.  And yes, Southland cheese rolls were on the menu, so of course that's what I ordered, together with a nice hot coffee.  Just what I needed to warm me up.

Historic street and buildings

Our hotel was at Omarama that evening, quite a small place which is well known for the famous Clay Cliff Walkway, and the area is very popular for gliding.  This is all because the unique geography naturally generates three powerful types of uplifting air currents, thermals, ridge lifts, and mountain waves, which sends pilots to extreme altitudes.  Not for us though of course, it was late afternoon when we arrived, just time to settle down for a bit, before dining in the restaurant.  

The next day was our last driving day, heading for Christchurch, with a couple of stops along the way.  The very pretty Church of the Good Shepherd is rather popular for weddings, you can see why as it is in such a beautiful setting.

Church of the Good Shepherd, Tekapo

Lake Tekapo measures 27kms in length and is 6kms at the widest point, and is 710m 2330 feet above sea level.

Lake Tekapo

From here we drove on to Geraldine for lunch.  Geraldine dates back to 1884 when surveyor Samuel Hewlings built the first bark hut in Talbot Street, and planted a totora tree.  There is a lovely memorial at this site, and the tree is still growing well.

Hewlings family and their bark hut

Totara tree planted by Samuel Hewlings outside his family hut

Geraldine is a pretty little town and we lunched at Barker's Eatery, a lovely cafe indeed.  Barker's products are a New Zealand favourite and include jams, chutneys, sauces and syrups.  Their tasting room is very popular, and their are products for sale.  

Barker's for lunch

From here, it was foot to the pedal all the way to Christchurch.  We drove over the long bridge crossing the Rakaia River, which is one of the largest braided rivers in New Zealand.  A braided river is made of multiple, shallow, and interconnected channels separated by shifting gravel bars, causing the river to constantly divide and rejoin.  In New Zealand, they are only found in the South Island.

Crossing the Rakaia River

We arrived at  Christchurch in the late afternoon, back at the same hotel from where we commenced our trip, 12 days ago.  And I ended back in the very same room I stayed in previously.  There was a farewell dinner in the hotel that evening, with plenty of reminiscing about the highlights of our time away.

Our farewell dinner

After one last breakfast together the next morning, my bag was packed and stored in the office, and I vacated my room.  Everyone was being taken to the airport at different times, some had left bright and early for their flights back to Australia, but I wasn't being picked up till 2.00pm or so.  Which gave me the opportunity to catch up with my son Michael.  He collected me and we went off for an early lunch.  Then he took me to his favourite book shop, and look what I found, a book about the Tudors.  I love reading about this part of royal history.

The Rise of the Tudors

Michael said goodbye, and my transport arrived to take a small group of us to the airport.   The journey was almost over.  It was a nice fine day for flying, so that's always a bonus.

Goodbye to Christchurch

Door to door service meant that I was collected from Palmerston North Airport and driven home.  It was nice to sleep in my own bed again, and Gemma was collected from the cattery the following day.  I had a great time, enjoyed the Trans Alpine train trip, the Taieri Gorge train, and the tourists rides we did.  The Milford Sound cruise was a real highlight, as was the visit to Larnarch Castle.  Yes, I admit to a few sad moments in the evenings, traveling on my own, and missing Robin.  All in all, it was a wonderful trip, full of wonderful South Island scenery, and visits to interesting attractions.  And of course sampling all those delicious Southern Cheese Rolls at stops along the way.