2018 has wings and has flown again

The year is nearly 3/4 of the way through and heading towards Christmas again for another year.
This year has been a lot quieter and closer to home.
January saw a visit to the Australian Open Tennis in Melbourne and being my first time to the tennis i loved it.
March brought with it  a girls long weekend to the Taste of Rutherglen and a visit to several local wineries. With the evenings spent listening to live music at Cofields winery. While my boys went camping along the Ovens River at Porepunkah, near Bright. They got to cool off in the river, we tried to cool off with a few wines.

 


The lead up to winter saw me removing the weeds from what looked like a garden of flowers. To create a new fire pit area, a low maintenance weed free area for the whole family to enjoy.

               



I was fortunate enough to go to New Zealand for 1 week for training for work in June.
I had a fantastic flight over with Air New Zealand and the return flight was on a relatively new Dreamliner, now that was a nice smooth flight home to Australia.
While in the Bay of Plenty area, a 3 hour drive from Auckland, i stayed in Papamoa, where the population is growing and there are new shops and housing estates growing by the day. But it did have a gorgeous beach, and as i was there on the winter solstice, the shortest day and had limited daylight to get out and look about. So an early morning and a walk on the beach at sunrise was very invigorating and a fantastic way to start the work day.




1 worked in Auckland for one day and after meeting fellow staff members i was able to enjoy a lovely 24 hours in Auckland.
So what do you do if you have 24 hours in Auckland?
Option 1 if the sun is out and it is not raining to much, jump on a ferry to Waihiki Island and join the tourists on the Hop on hop off bus to see the sites. Along the way are some lovely wineries to visit and taste their wines. This is where my day became more interesting with chatting and meeting the locals and ending up joining them for a BBQ dinner in Auckland. Making for an amazing day and 24 hours in Auckland.
I can also highly recommend a small french restaurant LeChef, in the city. A small restaurant but amazingly yummy food and wine and i just missed listening to the live music on the Friday night when i had the pleasure of dining at this restaurant.

Walk around the city and see the sites, the viaduct with the hotels, bars and restaurants all light up and people enjoying a night out on the town. I didn't require option 2, because i was lucky enough to have a pleasant day to travel to the Island.

Mid year school holidays came upon us all to quickly, with a long weekend visiting the Geelong, Barwon Heads area along the Victorian Coast with the family. The weather was very wintery and perfect for taking rough weather photos at the beach and overlooking the jetties and piers and lighthouses. And indoors for cofees and hot chocolates. We found Annie's Kitchen in Barwon Heads was amazing and yummiest cakes and hot chocolates. With a fantastic assortment of wines and produce on offer. 

That's it for now, until my next adventure to Bali later in the year.
more photos can be found on my Instagram @genj68