Autumn 2021

April- May 2021

With the weather turning colder, we made the most of the last sunny days with as many day trips as we could. One weekend we went to the Sculptarium with Ben's family, situated up north not far from Matakana.

An outdoor set of galleries featuring an eclectic range of art collected over many years by the owners, it was a fun wander. The piece below reminded me strongly of the Doctor Seuss book 'Horton Hears a Who'.

April brought with it my best friend's birthday, and as usual I tried to plan something fun. This year it was a set of cryptic clues leading to a ferry ride over to Rotoroa Island, one of the many islands around Auckland I had never visited. 

Now a bird sanctuary, Rotoroa island was once used as a rehabilitation facility for recovering alcoholics. It was quite successful, but I suppose it would be when the individuals were on an isolated island with no opportunity for alcohol anywhere!

We spent the day wandering the many beaches before picking one for the perfect picnic spot. All in all, a good daytrip and hopefully a good birthday celebration!

Over Easter, I attempted to make hot cross buns, which were time consuming and turned out a little ugly, but the taste made up for it!

Signs of Autumn slowly crept in, with the changing colours of the leaves in our local park.

Once mushrooms started popping up, I knew winter was truly on the way.

I always wished mushroom foraging was a more popular pastime in New Zealand, with classes you could attend to know which ones to pick, how cool would that be?

 As it is, I think unlike the pharmacies in France, if I tried to bring mushrooms to my local for identification, they would think I was quite mad.