All Whites' Parade

This last week Wellington turned on a parade to honour the All Whites’ performance at the World Cup. It culminated in Civic Square with cannons fired coloured paper.
I was deputed to represent te whanau as Jenny was attending a conference in Rotorua.

The parade was also an opportunity for the Phoenix to take part ahead of their pre-season friendly with Boca Junior.

Sensing a photo-opportunity several dignitaries turned up and made speeches. Sitting above are Kerry Prendergast (Wellington mayor and a former midwife colleague of Noreen’s), Prime Minister John Key, the Argentine Ambassador and Terry Serepisos (property developer and owner of the Phoenix).

Ricki Herbert is coach of both the All Whites and Phoenix so he had to make a speech

as did Terry.

The Phoenix players looked on

and then it was the ambassador’s turn.

When the speeches were over there was time for autograph hunting but I had to get back to work.

On Friday we went to see the game between Boca and the Phoenix. It was a bit bad tempered (but not as bad as in Melbourne by all accounts) – I blame the fiery South American temperament – but very entertaining. Phoenix won 2-1 and we thought they played jolly well.

Brooklyn Windmill

It’s been a glorious weekend. I went for a walk up to the windmill. It was the first wind turbine erected in New Zealand and has recently been repaired and refurbished.
When Sam was little we used to trek up the path with his bike and he would hurtle back down.

From the top there are panoramic views north over the harbour,

east over the airport,

south-east out to sea

and west to the more recent West Wind development.

There are no great views over to the South Island as the terrain gets in the way, but floating above the hills are the mountains from the Kaikoura range.

Steam at Plimmerton

Just a short post to give you something new to read!
On Saturday we went up the coast to some friends who have a large property with surplus wood and fir cones. We filled the car up with fuel for the fire and on the way back came across a steam engine at Plimmerton.
It was J1211

owned and operated by Mainline Steam.

Sorry about the low quality of the pictures – I only had my phone with me.

Only one more week of the World Cup. Can anybody stop Germany? We will see. I have really enjoyed the way their young side play. At least all the remaining matches are on at the slightly more reasonable time of 0630 here. Will be late to work a couple of times this week but no more setting the alarm for 0200.

Our football season kicks off in a couple of weeks. First up Te Phoenix have a friendly with Boca Junior from Argentina. The big question is - will Maradona be coming with them?