BACK IN ALICE...

A wonderful family Christmas, and the best of everything for the New Year to all my dear family and friends in NZ.

These beautiful icons of our NZ Christmas I took last week in Brown's Bay, Auckland.

I have been back home for a month- consequently not a lot of blogging going on!!!! I went home primarily to attend Anna's graduation ceremony- what a wonderful day attended by so many proud parents. I am so proud of Anna- she has really worked her little bum off- and has now the joy to be able to be employed doing what she loves,working with families at a very special time of their lives. She has a job as a locum in Ranfurly until mid January, and then joins 2 midwives in their practice in Ashburton early February.

Anna Talbot, B M , !!!!!

Anna and Craig

As well as the graduation the girls and I spent some time together,I really enjoyed reaquainting myself with my grandson- Hugo 11mths. Madison and I spent a day at Orana Park-we did have a lot of fun meeting the tigers for lunch, and the giraffes.

Before I returned to Alice, I spent some time staying with Sara and Thibaut in Auckland.Even tho it was wet each day, it was such a change to ALice's dryness, and didn't stop us doing much.

Sara,Hugo and I drove down to see some old friends,(not that old-but longstanding!!!!) of mine south of Hamilton for a day.Hugo enjoyed being a farm boy for the day.

Here he is being introduced to the farm dogs....

My friends have just built a beautiful new farm house, this is part of the view from the lounge window. It is so typical of the green rolling hills of the Waikato, but to me it was such a contrast to my red earth here.

It was great to catch up with a lot of you over the time I was home. I am now house sitting for 4 months, with a pool.It is so nice being out of the "accommodation"- I think I am too old for communal living. I now have a landline so look forward to hearing from you.

Have a Happy Christmas and may the New Year bring you joy.

OUT OF ALICE FOR A MONTH......

I am actually in Christchurch- just enjoying time with my family, and reaquainting myself with my grandaughter and grandson.

Before I left Alice I spent a weekend north of Alice in Tennant Creek- about 450kms from Alice. It is a small town made famous for its gold 80yrs ago. There is not much there, but I enjoyed fossicking around. My friend I went with was working, so I had time to explore, and take pictures.

This is the Telegraph station in Tennant Creek. It was a booster for messages from the Station in Alice. It is well preserved, and really interesting to wander around.

The Devil's Marbles in the early evening light are really spectacular. We spent a short amount of time there, but judged the timing well....

On our way south we met a guy who was travelling thru central Oz with a vehicle being drawn by 2 camels. Interest overcame us, so we stopped and chatted to him. He was German and had been in Oz for 40yrs. He was very interesting, keeping in contact with outside world via a laptop powered by a large battery. He introduced me to his 2 camels.

This is Blondie- she loved her ears being scratched to the point that she laid her head on the ground quite mesmerised.

My friend made sure he was enrolled to vote- and did a postal vote so he did not miss the election.A very interesting experience...