Video test

Here is a video from Youtube inserted using the embed code from Youtube.
This produces a black square on my phone.

  

Here is a video from Youtube inserted using the Insert a video widget in the tool bar.
This produces nothing on my phone (or on my laptop in edit mode?)

Monday 6th April - Home again! Home again! Jiggety jog!

Monday morning we got up a little more gingerly! Last night had been rather riotous and that's all I'm going to say about it!

The boys cooked breakfast again and then it was pack up time and heading off into the traffic to get home

Brian gave us each a handsome bag of Kumera to take home!

Sunday 5th April - Kai Iwi Lakes and Omamari Beach

This morning we had a "Croissants and Coffee" breakfast cooked again by the "boys"!

We then got the picnic organised and set off for the Kai Iwi Lakes. Every trip started with a bone shaking drive along the metalled roads that surrounded Robyn and Brian's place!

The Kai Iwi Lakes are unusual in that they are rain fed fresh water lakes with almost white silty sand around the edges. There were heaps of people there; Japanese tourists as well as locals - all with boats; jet-skis, yachts, and family boats.

We enjoyed a sitting down picnic this time, but Christine got a wet bum and spent the rest of time standing with her "bum to the sun" trying to dry it out.

Some of us got a bit weary with being out in the sun:

Brian having forty winks

Howard thinking about something - I asked him afterwards what he was thinking about and he couldn't remember!



A white Faced Heron came for a look at those two, but they weren't good to eat so he just carried on:

Off we then went to Omamari Beach on the coast, accessed by, you guessed it, a metalled road. The beach is impressive with expansive views up and down the coast as well as out to sea.

Here is Howard finding a place to cross the river.

I got my trousers wet!

Here we all are enjoying a walk along the sand on a perfect day!

At the end of a leisurely afternoon we piled aboard and drove back home.

We organised a barbecue tes of: sausages, potato and kumara wedges with a salad. Glenys prepared a feijoa and apple crumble for dessert.

After tea we sat outside and watched the sun go down and enjoyed the mild evening turn into night while we enjoyed a few whiskies and a jug of Pims - whoever heard of Pims these days!

Saturday 4th April Tane Mahuta

This morning after a full Scottish breakfast with haggis we set off to the Waipoua Forest where Tane Mahuta - God of the Forest lives:

Here we are disembarking:

Here he is wrinkled with age:

Here he is looking down on us:

Later we went a bit further down the road to find the Four Sisters - four big Kauris in a group:

Then we proceeded to a picnic lunch in the carpark:

Here is Glenna taking a photo of me taking a photo

and the rest enjoying a stand-up picnic:

The maintenance man in the course of collecting his rubbish had collected a body!

Once back home we got the barbecue dinner organised: Brian and Robyn's steak, baked potatoes and salad followed by Robyn's cheesecake for desert.

Christine had a bottle of Black Label Whisky that she was keen to share. The problem was to get the whisky out! It had a tricky little gadget inserted into the neck that only allowed a dribble, so Howard got serious with Brian's wrench while Christine watched anxiously. 

Then after  half an hour of struggling with it we discovered that if you held the bottle at the right angle it poured just fine!

In the evening we watched "Danny Boy" a Scottish comedian - very funny.

Arrival on Friday 3rd April

Here is a view of the gateway into the house:

... and then as we drove in:

The first thing to do on arrival was to sit down and have a catch up:

Then we had to admire the view and Brian's vegetable garden. The fence is to keep out the chooks:

Here is Brian hiding behind the washing:

The chooks were really curious to see what was going on: