First NZ Holiday

Monday Oct 22 was my first holiday in New Zealand (Labour Day).
It was chilly the night before.  Moosie and the boys (farmer & kiwi) wanted to get close to warm up.

I did not go up the Mount on Labour Day, I just wandered the beach a bit.  Nice change of pace and just as beautiful.

That's the edge of Moturiki above, and the edge of Mount Maunganui below

 

moving farther up the beach away from Moturiki

and closer to the Mount

Again to the Mount

I experienced my first work holiday on Oct 22.  It was a Monday and it was Labour day here.  Yes, that is laboUr (with a 'u') cuz that's how they say it here. 
According to this NZ history site:  "Labour Day commemorates the struggle for an eight-hour working day. New Zealand workers were among the first in the world to claim this right when, in 1840, the carpenter Samuel Parnell won an eight-hour day in Wellington. Labour Day was first celebrated in New Zealand on 28 October 1890, when several thousand trade union members and supporters attended parades in the main centres. Government employees were given the day off to attend the parades and many businesses closed for at least part of the day."

Since I had a long weekend, I had no excuse not to go up the Mount again.  This time I lingered longer at the top:

 

a boat in the distance is heading around the Mount, into the bay from the Pacific.

looking back along the track to the top

 

looking forward along the track ahead and back down

near the upper left on this picture you can see a park bench where you could sit to enjoy the gorgeous view.

farther along, looking back, another bench with a great view.  the bench is on the right in this picture

what would a trip up the Mount be without pictures of the lambs?

back at sea level, on the bay side, the birds enjoyed looking for nibbles and watching the sailboats (as did I)

We've had a bit of a cold snap again, but nothing like the US Midwest.

Springtime

I think it is officially spring.  At least it seemed like it three weekends ago.  It's been chilly a time or two since then but it's definitely heading warmer.

The local plants are in agreement.  Here is something pretty from my October 20 walk to/from the grocery store.

Internet Phone

MagicJack is a great utility but sometimes it determines when a phone call should end.  I guess that's no different than cell phones dropping a call.  Apologies to my brother Greg for MagicJack dropping the call yesterday.  It does that sometimes but all & all it's a great service/utility.
Good to hear you Greg.