Normal service will be resumed as soon as possible

Apologies for the late posting. I have been quite busy and we have had broad band problems at home.

I have made a couple of changes to the blog. Firstly SiteMeter has been added to give an idea of how many people are browsing here and where they come from. Secondly I have enabled feeds, so you can get notification of when new material has been posted without going directly to the site. Lastly I’ve restricted the display to one post per page. Hopefully this will improve load times particularly for those on low capacity lines.

Right, down to business. I have become very attached to my moustache. So much so that I have decided to name him. So please say hello to Mowbray (known to his friends as Melton).
There is even a street in Wellington named after him

Expect to see some changes in his appearance over the next few weeks while I work out which style I prefer (and what I am allowed to get away with!)

The weekend weather was hot and sunny. We danced on Saturday morning over at Brooklyn Fair, another traditional engagement. Nico has some pictures.

While at the fair I bought a pittosporum seedling (if you look closely you can see Sam playing silly buggers behind the door!) ...

and planted it up on the bank. (Behind it are a ngaio and a pink flowering manuka).

Also up the bank, this young cabbage tree seems to be thriving. With luck it will get to 15 metres tall in about 50 years time.

As Nico has mentioned, on Sunday morning Jane took part in a run and swim event over in Eastbourne. Noreen was supposed to participate but got called into delivery suite (an occupational hazard!). Nico has made a rather good short documentary of the event which I am trying to persuade him to post on YouTube. Zoe organised the event and here are the proud mother and daughter.

In the afternoon we went for a walk around the Karori Sanctuary fenceline. There are some excellent views (on a clear day). This is looking north across the city and harbour, up the Hutt valley to the Tararuas.

One of the features of the walk is the Karori Wind Turbine. I think this was the first wind generation in New Zealand when it was installed in 1993. Here is the group in the information area shelter. The turbine is fairly small these days and a much larger installation is planned for Makara .

Finally, on the way down we had a great view of a very elegant Kereru. These are lovely birds that we don't see too much of around Wellington. They are relatively large and heavy and sometimes get slightly tipsy on the fruit they eat.