Another Family photo

As mentioned before the reason for the trip was to see this bach before DOC have their way with it so it was a fantastic opportunity to get another Rae family photo.

All too soon it was time to walk round to the Issy Bay wharf to catch the water taxi back to Auckland.

The taxi ride was very good & all the boys copped well even Brent who was up in the cabin. James was gently getting lulled to sleep sitting on Scott's knee out the back. We got back to Auckland & had an icecream before catching our bus back to the motel. 

What a buoy!

Under the bach there is a boat shed with a punt, a dinghy & also lying around was part of a mooring buoy. Typically James found it & then thought of a novel use for it to keep the sun of his head! You just have to laugh at his total boyishness & his sense of fun. 

The Bach

This is the bach at Islington (Issy) Bay. It has a rain water collection system for the water & an outhouse. Inside there is a main room with 2 rooms leading of it & then the kitchen area. The boys walked nearly all the way from the top of Rangi to Issy Bay. We had to carry James for about the last 10 minutes as his legs had got pretty tired. We were about the last to arrive & lunch was already set out in the main room. After lunch we had a look around the bay & a play in the little stream that runs through the area. The boys, especially James loved having a swim in the stream & looking for shells.  

Sunday 15 January

The whole point of the trip to Auckalnd was to go & see the Rae family bach at Islington Bay on Rangitoto Isalnd. DOC has decided that the bachs are an unnatural part of what has now been made into a reserve, so all unantural features like bachs have to be pulled down. This was a trip so that we could all have a look at the bach & possibly say goodbye before the court hearing in March.

Sunday morning at 7:30 saw us trooping down to the bus stop to catch a bus to the ferry terminal. We were at the ferry terminal with about 45 minutes to spare before the ferry departed for Rangitoto. We killed the time by having a coffee & a look at all the ferries leaving & docking. It started to drizzle but that didn't dampen anyone's enthusiasm with Brent & James very keen to get on board the ferry.

It was a bit of a damp crossing, we chose to sit outside though as I wasn't sure what sea legs my boys really do have or how Scott was feeling. We got to Rangitoto Island & started the climb up to the top. It was still drizzling but that just meant it wasn't hot so that was good. We walked through a lot of pohutakawa trees but unfortunately they weren't really out in full bloom, we were a bit late in the season for that. The one thing that I commented on that really surprised me considering I was walking through bush was the lack of birdsong. I was quite surprised because I would have thought there would be a lot of birds. It was a good hour's walk & the boys handled it really well. They walked the whole way up. It wasn't all that steep until near the end of the climb. When we got to the top the drizzle disappeared & the sun came out. We were very lucky in that respect because once the sun hit the scoria & volcanic rock the heat was amazing.

We sat at the top for a bit & very luckily there was a woman who volunteered to take this family photo of us all at the top. She didn't just take one photo though because at least one person from each section of the family had a camrea with them.

After a morning tea at the top we went back down for the long hike to Islington Bay. 

Woops Johnny!

After dinner Granddad Rae took some time to meet & talk to the boys. Unfortunately both of them were shy but he soon got them excited when he showed them how to do Whoops Johnny. James got the hang of that one faster than Brent. Then Grandaddad Rae did the "11 was a race horse" rhyme. Much to his surprise Brent could rattle it back to him with no mistakes, we had been saying it to him earlier in the year. Granddad Rae then told the boys all his names "Alan, Donald ..... " only those first two are his names the rest are just made up names but the boys enjoyed it & thought it interesting that he had so many names.

I think the boys enjoyed meeting their great grandfather & I am pretty sure he enjoyed meeting them. 

Rae family Dinner 14 January 2006

I know this is out of whack but hopefully I can move things around a bit later.

Let's go back to the Auckland trip & our first day in Auckland. To recap we arrived on the 14th, went to the motel & then went out to Bruce's place. After having a drink & play at bruce's place & on the diggers we went to the boys' Great Granddad Rae's retirement complex to have a family dinner with him. This is a group photo of nearly the whole of the rae clan that lives in Auckland plus those stray ones that live in Invercargill & Christchurch. I think Granddad Rae was quite overwhelmed by how many of his family turnede up en masse. It sounds like the family doesn't get together very often.

The dinner was in the dining room of the complex & was very reminiscent of standing at line in the Halls of residence for dinner. The only difference was that Scott wasn't at the front of the line & he didn't go back for 2nds. Brent & James were really well behaved despite their long day. It was quite an effort to get this photo taken, the young people (as in young & unattached) didn't really want a photo taken at all. 

Our pets

Surprisingly enough one of the two swan plants that we planted at the beginning of last year has lasted despite the renovations & now James has some pets outside his window. The boys & I have watched these caterpillars hatch from eggs & now they are in chrysalises. The poor plant is chewed beyond recognition because at one stage we counted 12 caterpillars on the bush. Accomadation & food is at a premium at the moment so it is quite common to see two caterpillars tring to eat the same leaf.

Interestingly though they don't seem to eat the leaf if there is already a chrysalis hanging from it. I was a bit worried about that so the very first chrysalis we got I brought inside. At the moment we have 2 chrysalis on a nearby rose bush, one on James' bedroom window, one inside & about 5 on the plant. I can't wait to see the butterflies emerge. 

White Rose & guest

The guest doesn't show up quite as well when it is a small photo but when viewed at a bigger size the guest turns out to be a green cricket. 

Red rose

Pretty rose but not much of a scent on it. 

White rose

One of the white roses growing in the garden. 

Macro

Last week I decided that I should get out in the garden & just enjoy nature up close. I got out my macro lense & really had a lot of fun with it & I think I got some pretty good photos. 

Layout I finished last night

This one has been sitting around for a week just waiting for me to get back to it. Scott & James having a snooze on the couch - 24/11/01. That means James would be about 2 onths old. Wasn't he just the cutest little dot.  

Been scrapping again.

I have been trying to get more scrapping done this year. With the computer going bust it has really given me the impetus to scrap some of those old photos that have been sitting in the developers packets. This is a layout about when I went to Australia Zoo in 2004.