A Weekend Away

It's Tuesday.  The weather is absolutely wonderful.  The sun is shining.  There is a slight cooling breeze.  It's perfect.  We were away for the weekend at a golf croquet tournament in Wanganui.  The weather excelled itself which is more than I can say for my play. There were flashes of my old self with some wonderful wins and there were some flashes of utter mediocrity too.  However my partner and I did manage to come runners up in the handicap doubles which was a reasonable result.  I'd never played with Clair before.  In fact I'd never met her before.  We did, however, have something in common.  We both drive Mazda MX5s.  Hers is called Rossee.  Unlike mine, Rossee races in the New Zealand Targa Rally.

 

I hadn't played at Wanganui for a couple of years.  It's a lovely club with a lot of lawns and a wonderful location up on a hill overlooking the (not-so-beautiful-from-this-angle) city. 

The Club's notice board amused me:

PS It's Wednesday now.  I started this on Tuesday but it was that sort of a day!

Birds

How do they do that without getting sore necks?

It's in here somewhere

Feeling blue

Love you

What the budgie saw.

I Saw It First

When we were in Wanganui we went to Virginia Lake which is just a short walk from where we were staying. There is an aviary there.

A Straight Line

Now that's a straight line! I wish that, on the odd occasion that I do the lines, I could get them that straight. This is from the lawns at Wanganui earlier in the year.

Thumbs

I just couldn't get over the way she holds her thumbs!

Wanganui Revisited

The following pictures (except of Ruapehu) were taken from the top of this tower above Wanganui. The elevator inside the tower goes through the hill to a tunnel at street level.

The River Whanganui

The paddle steamer which plies the river

Looking down on the town centre and St John's hill opposite (with the croquet club)

A closer view of the croquet lawns

More of the town centre

Down to the sea

Mt Ruapehu as seen from Wanganui

A Garden in Wanganui

Perhaps not my choice of garden adornement. But amusing nevertheless.

A Saying a Day

Signs like this are quite common in New Zealand. I don't recall it being usual anywhere else I've been. Anyway as a lover of quotes I enjoy it. This one was near where we had breakfast in Wanganui.

Breakfast in Wanganui

One morning in Wanganui we decided to go out for breakfast. I just love street café life and the weather was ideal so off we set:

No it wasn't wine - just water - even we don't have wine for breakfast!

I usually have muesli, honestly

I love arcaded shops: dry in the rain and shady in the sun.

Moving House

In Wanganui we went up to the Durie Hill Elevator Tower.  From there one has the most marvellous views across Wanganui.  What really took my eye, however, was just below the tower where there was a house which was about to move.  I blogged about moving house last year. This was the first one I'd seen since then and, looking at the location, how they were going to get it away from the site completely escaped me.

Wanganui: Leaps of Faith

We were out for a walk in Wanganui a few evenings ago when we came across al the young men showng their prowess and lack of fear by jumping off the bridge into the murky waters of the river. Where did the faith enter into it? hat there was no jet-ski hurtling under the bridge unseen. Not my idea of fun, but then I'm not an adventurous teenager in need of excitement.

Wanganui: The Rutland Arms

The view back to the street

Jane and I went exploring on Wednesday after the croquet.  Thirsty work, exploring.  What did I manage to have a pint of?  Boddington's!

Wanganui: Flowers in Victoria Avenue

Wandering down the main street of Wanganui a few evenings ago I noticed that some of the flower holders had figures in them.  How absolutely wonderful.  I wonder how many people actually see them and, at that height, can see the detail that my long focus lens picked up?

Croquet at The Nationals: Conclusion

This was the result of the final shot in the Doubles which which was fired by Aaron Westerby from 17 yards away:

All in all I've enjoyed The Nationals. I made the top 16 from which a significant number of the Country's top players had been eliminated. I've increased my index points which brings me just that little bit further towards my goal of bringing my handicap down from three to two. I've enjoyed the games and the company of most of the people whom I have played against. I've not enjoyed the politics nor the attitude of some of the top players in the sport which has been in very marked conrast to my experiences up until this Tournament. But wotthehellarchie wotthehell it doesn't matter to me one iota. I have no desires nor expectations of ever of playing for my Country (whichever that is).

The Open Championship Singles was won by Chris Clarke (the World Number One) who played Tony Stevens in the final.

Chris Clarke (born 1971 in Lancashire) is an English croquet player who has been ranked among the world's top players since the late 1980s and won. two World Championships. Chris now lives in Christchurch, New Zealand and was married on 30 January 2008 to NZ rep Jenny Williams.

As a post script and as a small repitition of that seventh deadly sin I will add that Tony Stevens (and his wife Colleen) are two of my idols. Colleen was (and is) one of Hawkes Bay's top women players and Tony is the Bay's top male player. Colleen plays for Marewa (the Club I belong to) and Tony belongs to our rival Te Mata. The dealdly sin bit? I took one game off Tony a few weeks ago (his first defeat, I discovered today, for 34 games).