Napier sunset

Sharing this photo cos I feel it would be rude not too, Napier sunset from Ahuriri this evening, looking all gorgeous 😻😻

Had a lovely dinner at The Gin Trap with Aunty Kay and Uncle Terry who are camping in my driving for the night (in their caravan so fancy camping lol). Was a lovely evening catching up and just general chatting. Went for a wander after dinner and this was our wonderful view 💜

Recycled awesomeness

Made myself a nice warm awesome as jacket for winter 🥰😻💜 fully recycled too which is cool.

The grey fabric is my old girl guide blanket, the blue is an old blanket from Jenny. Both woollen blankets.

The lining is an old duvet cover that I’ve had for years but don’t use anymore.

The cotton was from Gma’s stash.

And the buttons were a nice surprise from my boss Michelle. She loaned me her button collection when I mentioned I didn’t have any suitable ones and really didn’t want to buy ones cos was able to not pay for anything else for the jacket. She’s a cool boss 🤗

Now just need the weather to cool so I can wear it lol 😻🤩😂

Rotorua as a tourist

Last weekend Jenny and I went to Rotorua to be tourists.  I know, it was a bit of a weird experience for me because I am so used to going there to see Bro.  Don't worry we did call in to see him so I could show Jenny his place.  Did I give him a say in the matter, nope but I did let him know roughly when we would be going past so he could be out if he wanted to avoid us lol.  Pretty sure that is a kind little sister thing to do 😇😆

As I have been to Vegas many more times than Jenny, I was left to plan what to do.  Jenny wanted to do a maze which was good cos so did I, but other than that she left it to me.

First off we did the walk around part of the lake from Government Gardens to the Lake Front.  Very enjoyable and a nice little wander.  Then we headed off to the 3D maze, we picked that one because it is my favourite.  Also because the other one is a hedge one and with how much of nature is making me react in a not great way these days we thought it would be best to not have me stuck in a hedge for an hour or so.  The 3D maze was a lot of fun.  We did get lost a couple times, perk to being tall(ish) is being able to see over some of the walls on the upstairs parts so I could work out where we needed to go to get back on track.  We completed the maze, and found most the answers to the scavenger hunt properly (one was found by me looking over the wall lol), and had a great time.

We then headed back to our accommodation for lunch and to rest our tired legs.  In the afternoon we went to a cat cafe.  I do NOT recommend this experience.  I don't know what I was expecting but it was not what I got and I just felt sorry for the poor cats.  There were so many of them in the small space and no outdoor area.  Not even very many interactive things for them.  Jenny said it wasn't a good one, but that they are all pretty similar with the no outdoor area and lots of cats.  Definitely not something I support.

That evening we had dinner at our accommodation (same as the first night we were there, we were doing Rotorua on the cheap lol), watched a movie then had a dip in the hot tub/spa.  Many laughs were had and it topped off a great day.

The following morning, our last morning there, we detoured to find Fred a tyre cos she had had a something (I don't want to call it an accident or incident, but it was a something) at some point that required me giving her attention and money.  Typical female I know... 😜 After this we headed off to a 3D trick art gallery.  I wasn't sure what I expected from this but it looked intriguing online so we figured why not (it was also raining so we didn't want to do anything outdoorsy lol).  While we were wandering around I must admit I thought it was a bit lame and not worth the entry fee.  However once I got home and looked at the photos I changed my mind, it was totally worth it!!! The photos turned out awesome.  Everything was just 2D when we were there, but the photos are not.  Very cool.  Below are some of my favs. 

Overall I would recommend Rotorua as a tourist, however most of the activities are quite expensive now.  We wanted to do things that were below $30 and we achieved this, but it did take many many things off the table.  Doesn't mean I won't be back to do them some stage though 😊

2025 in books

It's that time of year again, that time that I sum up the last year by what I read lol.  I mean it's basically tradition now lol.

This year I knew I wasn't going to get a max amount of books read in the year because I ended up reading both Gone With The Winds and Ulysses.  And neither of them are small books.  Ulysses was a harder read than I expected so it took me about 4 weeks I think, Gone With The Wind was very enjoyable and I will be reading that again at some stage.  Took me about 3 weeks from memory to get that one done.  And yes while reading both I did have another book on the go, usually do these days.  Sometimes I am only reading one book but it would be less often than the reading two or three at a time.

Anyhow, here is the summary:

Total books read: 68

Total pages read: 26,287

Shortest book: 106 pages (thank god cos it was terrible lol)

Longest book: Gone With The Wind (no surprises there)

Average book length: 386 pages

Surprisingly, the book I read that the most other people also did (on the site I use anyhow) was Gone With The Wind, that one surprised me a lot.

Also surprisingly the book with the highest rating on the site was a WWII book - The Forgotten Highlander.  Didn't expect that, it has an average rating of 4.53 (I gave it a 4 if you are wondering).

Genres of books I read are as follows:

Fantasy - 38 books (no surprise its still well above the others)

Sci-Fi - 2

Fiction - 5

Chick-Lit - 12

Crime/Thriller - 3

Non-Fiction - 7

Other - 1 (horror if you were wondering)