Viewing Dunedin from on high :-), but first a little bit about our next adventure..

This post and the one before it have been 'scheduled' as I wrote both on Tuesday evening. Because early on Wednesday morning DH and I will have flown to Sydney...

'But you've only just got home from a holiday!' you say...and yes that is true. But being self indulgent retirees we organised this other trip so we could get some 'culture'! lol  

Last year, while holidaying in Victoria about this time, my relatives there said they would take us to see the Archibald Prize finalists' exhibition...but they had got their dates wrong and that exhibition was actually opening after we had gone home...bit of a disappointment. So DH organised a trip so we could see this year's finalists while they were being shown in Sydney (Art Gallery of NSW) which we'll see either Thursday or Friday . 

But on Wednesday we are going to see a show, The Addams Family. Originally we were flying down on Tuesday morning but we rebooked so we could attend a funeral of an elderly friend on Tuesday. We don't have much time between landing in Sydney  and when the matinee performance starts so we've just got carry - on luggage. On Thursday evening we will be attending the opening of a Photographic Exhibition in Surrey Hills,which will showcase work of my nephew's wife. (We just want to show support for these young members of the family...the photos are ...ahem... a bit risque. 

Then on Friday, our last night there, we're dining with my nephew and his wife quite early (5pm) and then making our way to the Circular Quay area to look at the illuminations for the Vivid Festival which starts that night. 

Now, some more of Dunedin...on the afternoon that we arrived, after we had explored a little of the centre of the city, we drove up to a lookout. 

At the lookout, there is a memorial to the early settlers...these 2 young men had climbed up on top of the memorial...I think they did that to impress the young ladies ... :-/

The plaque explains the strong links to Scotland...

There are some wonderful old buildings in Dunedin and unfortunately I didn't get many photos of them. On the next day we took a little tour of the city and then went on the most wonderful rail excursion...but I'll tell you all about that next time I write my travelogue :-)

Day 1 in Dunedin...

We've been home a week now but I mentioned that I would occasionally do some more posts of our travels in NZ and this is one of those posts.
The last travelogue post was about our time visiting Invercargill and Bluff. We then travelled to Dunedin, a busy and bustling city with a lot of interesting history. It is also a  'University city' with the University of Otago there. One thing we noted on this visit was the difficulty in finding somewhere to park the car but maybe this just seemed to be a problem after those quieter places we had visited :-) such as Te Anau and Wanaka. Arriving in Dunedin in the early afternoon, we just had a look around that first day.

This is representative of the beautiful country that we drove though to get to Dunedin

One view of the Cadbury factory in Dunedin...

The next photos were taken at the front of the beautiful old railway station...

This photo below is taken at the street behind the station...

And the following photos are taken inside the station...

A closer view of the beautiful mosaic on the floor of the station...

Now these are some other photos taken on the outside of the station building...

I took a photo of these columns at the front of the station because the dark stone reminded me of Edinburgh 

This is the view looking across the road from the station...

If you look closely you can see a cylindrical building...that's another view of the Cadbury factory. We didn't bother to go on a factory tour this time but DsD1 did and she told us that unlike the Cadbury factory in Tasmania, in this one you can still walk around the factory on the tour.

And here is a photo taken of one of the busy streets...this one had lots of cafes, bars and restaurants which were all very busy on that Saturday afternoon. (But Knit World was closed by the time we got there)

 In the next post that I write about Dunedin I will tell you all about a lookout that we went to which had great views of the city.

Building progress...

I've already started documenting the 'goings on' in the building site next door...and unlike similar projects around here, this one is going ahead without delay.
On Saturday the man with the heavy equipment worked until mid afternoon finishing up his part of the project...Now as well as doing more digging and levelling, he also took lots of measurements...I could hear the beeping of the gadget that he used... it's attached to this long pole...

He stands it up and the beeping starts...

Then he checks it... 

 I zoomed in on the gadget that is taking readings...

Then when his job was done he put his machine up on the truck and off he went to enjoy the rest of his weekend...

And this is what the site looked like on Saturday afternoon...

We have noticed that Eduardo the cat has been coming home covered in dust and dirt...











On Sunday morning we discovered why... :-) Standing on our front footpath, I caught sight of him rolling around in the dirt next door...by the time I got my camera out and turned it on he'd stopped his indolent rolling around...

Look at the drop here....

On Monday morning the action started again...
Two trucks came bringing supplies needed for the 'footings' etc of the buildings...

Those supplies were stacked neatly and then the second truck came along...

After lunch, the surveyors came along to check things out...

 Everything must have been okayed by the surveyors because then Brad the Builder came back and marked out shapes...

All 7 houses and the garages have been marked out

Now it looks like I sit around waiting to take photos of the building site, but Monday was my designated stay at home day to catch up on jobs around the house and do more sewing up of donated squares. So it all worked out well. In a later post I'll explain the special reason that I am documenting this build...

And I have one more photo to show...this wheelbarrow contains the contents of my compost bin. The bin is also now on our side of the temporary fencing! Woot woot! :-)

Out and about...

Well after the excitement of the Knit and Natter last Saturday it was good to go out to Stitchers Inc on Sunday with no dramas, but instead,  lots of stitching time, laughs and conversation with fellow bloggers.
Lots of Show and Tell...Helen shows us this magnificent creation...

We got Helen to stand up so that we could take some photos...

Helen is a very witty lady and she soon had everyone laughing!!








Lynda and Noela show us their Christmas wallhangings from the April SAL...

Noela is now showing us the beautiful bag that she made...it's like the paparazzi with all those cameras clicking! lol

Here De is showing the group the bag she completed for the May SAL...it looked gorgeous!

And here is Susan with her version of the bag...sorry the photo is  a bit blurry! :-(

Here Sandy is showing us her stitching project...see what I mean about lots of laughing???

 Debbie, Noela, Susan, Sandy, Lynda, Maree, Marilyn and just a glimpse of Marie

The very talented Tatyana! 

Maree organised this regular venue for us; it is in the Community Room at Garden City, Mt Gravatt. The amazing Maree also brings tea/coffee and sweet treats as well as a lucky door prize. There were fifteen of us there yesterday. Maree has more show and tell photos in a presentation on her blog, here.

Sandy, Maree, Lynda, Marilyn, Jeanette and Marie

from the left; Val, Moi, Cheryl, Tatyana, De, Debbie, Susan is hidden, Helen, Sandy, Maree. 

It was a great day!

Then tonight I went out for the twice monthly Sit and Stitch at that favourite yarn shop of mine, Yarn Over. Here are a few photos of what the clever ladies there have been working on...
Jenny's gorgeous crocheted hat and she is wearing one of her crocheted scarves...

And sitting opposite me tonight was another Jenny and this Jenny was working on a 'Spiderman blanket' for her son...could you hold it up please Jenny?

Look at that! her son will be so thrilled as it is a surprise for him!