The reason for the lack of blog updates is I have been gallivanting around, enjoying my own country as a tourist to places I have never been, Northland, and as a repeat tourist,Wellington. I spent a few weeks travelling around Northland, first going up the east coast then back down the west coast. I have only been to Whangarei as a day trip to the 'city' when my family (minus 1 sibling) went on a last family vacation to Kelly's Bay (near Dargaville). I didn't want to mar the entire Northland with memories of that trip so it was nice to see some other parts which lived up to their hype. Beautiful scenery, beautiful beaches and a lot of important history. It actually left me with a desire to read up on New Zealand history but I was pleased to recognise some of the events and places that are important in the area. I was also really pleased to note how much my generation has picked up Maori vocabulary and use it naturally in everyday language simply by being exposed to it in a lot of settings (schools, public documents, slang even).
Some of the highlights include:
Russell - beautiful stone beach and lots of history including the place of our first capital (Okiato)
Waitangi - where the Treaty of Waitangi was signed (what some would call the founding document of our country)
Cape Reinga - you can see where the Pacific Ocean and the Tasman Sea meet ( just don't run out of camera battery half way down the long, steep and windy path - true story!)
Rarawa Beach - fine white sand that squeaks (especially if you kick at the ground with your feet - true story)
Buried Kauri - the sheer size of them is impressive to say the least.
Finally I can say I have been to the tip of the North Island, Cape Reinga, and the bottom of the South Island, Bluff, and a lot of places in between. Next on the list is the Nelson area.
On the crafting side of life I whipped up a UFO [UnFinished prOject] page for my Goal's book. I created it from leftovers from the Simple Stories layout by Natalie May from CAD 2015, old alphabet stickers from my stash and bits and pieces from my pre-punched planner stash. Pretty simple but done. It means I can tick something off my to do list too.
Maybe I should add 'Update Blog' to the UFO list...
Materials:
Papers: Filofax, Simple Stories, Scraps
Stickers: Simple Stories, unbranded alpha stickers from the Warehouse (seriously old)
Stamps: Technique Tuesday
Ink: Ranger
Punch: Franchville (pennant)
Die: Spellbinders (arrow)
Pen: Sakura
