BACK IN THE SADDLE....

 ...  or,as Ms Minnelli would have it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPBIYCN_4WY&list=RDMM&index=6

We've been out and about, getting used to riding buses and trains. The traffic here is mind-boggling!

But we'll skip that bit and get on with the story...

An old school friend in Taupo had suggested we head down there for a Memory Lane Trip.

He booked us a hotel (right on the lake front!) and the next day drove us over to the places we'd lived as children. That unleashed a veritable avalanche of memories!

Still some stands of old native bush.

Mangakino Stream, which ran into the Waikato River which, in early 1950s, became Lake Maraetai...

And this is the lake today. Gone is the old fenced-off swimming lagoon and gone, too, the Speed Boat club house. The town had a very strong following of racing boaters and throughout summers races were often held here. To the right (not in shot) is the golf course.

This taken and sent to me by a friend in 2023. It's drone shot, looking West to the township. The golf course is on the left.

Last week, we did a trial run to the City by train. Easy-peasy! So we repeated it two days later and met friends from England who'd arrived on a cruise ship and were staying ashore for a week before flying back to England. Via Doha!!

Bob, Dinah and Peter

               Kathy, Dinah and Peter

And back at home again we've made a start on revamping the garden. We might still get some mini tomatoes, but most of the salad leaves have bolted and will be replaced when I manage to get some seedlings. !And that nursery trip will also include bulbs for Spring flowers-YAY!

At lunchtime I came in from the garden looking like a kangaroo...my sweater's pouch-pocket was bulging with, not joeys, but feijoa windfalls. Yummy! 

We've managed to rescue one edible peach which looked and tasted like a Golden Queen and an apple tree has a reasonable crop, but they need to be a bit bigger and I suspect the birds might beat me to them!

But I'm loving having a garden in "easy" soil after long years of struggle.

left to right: basil,parsley,nasturtiums and angelonia- and- sweet- peas.