Ann & Peter

in New Zealand

Kia Ora

On our way back from Coopers Beach we went down the west coast, stopping at Tane Mahuta, the largest Kauri tree alive, with a girth of nearly 14 metres.
	A short cut saw us go via the ferry at Rawene reducing our drive home by 80 km
Jaz and Maxie both got out to sample the sea air (Maxie was helping Peter to take the photo).
	Mike helped Ann with the gardening whilst Peter was at work. We think he may need a bit more practise with the mower before we let him loose on the grass!
What a hard life!!
Say cheese!

Ann was testing out sounds for her school play and one of them, a cat, set Jaz off racing all over the house for 5 minutes trying to find the cat whilst Maxie just lay on the sofa watching Jaz running round like a loon. Ann didn't help by playing the sound every time Jaz ran past the computer.

With both of us tied up with the Bonsai Convention, Maxie and Jaz went to stay with Rachel at Hydropaws, our local kennels for 3 nights. Although they had a good time with Rachel they were very happy when Ann picked them up Monday evening.

The Bonsai Convention took up a lot of Peter's time, he spent the Wednesday getting the last few bits ready, Thursday setting up the exhibition, Friday finishing off the setup and running the afternoon and evening events. Ann was in work but managed to get there on Friday to help with the last bit of the setup before the opening ceremony. Saturday was an all day effort with an evening meal and after a full day on Sunday we had to take everything down. On Monday Peter was at a workshop all day with Robert Steven, our guest demonstrator from Indonesia. On Tuesday he hosted a demonstrators workshop at IT Partners before taking Robert to see the glow-worms in Waitomo, then hosting an evening meal at our place for all the bonsai workers. Wednesday was spent tidying up the garage and putting away all the display boards. Then he went back to work for a well earned rest!

The last two weekends have been hot and sunny (despite it still being early spring), allowing us to do a lot of gardening. Peter has been cutting down more of the berberis hedge - he reckons two more days working on it and it will be done. We have moved the bamboo plant from the gravel area to make way for a water feature. This has meant making the gravel area larger and Peter made the mistake of suggesting we have a bridge connecting the two areas (more work for him).

News from Home

Mel has a gorgeous new friend called Charlie
	Meet Young Marine Private Lynch who has just graduated from the Young Marines
Mark’s had more film work – this time playing a German soldier.
	Lisa and Paige had a great time in Spain – sun bathing, swimming and relaxing on the beach.