The city I am leaving

Before I continue with "London and beyond" - here are a couple of nice shots (taken by my brother) of Auckland at dawn. This is the city I am leaving, for the time being anyway.

Here's another shot that I love - taken by Lynn Clayton of the Royal New Zealand Yacth Squadron in 1997 - dolphins frolicing in front of Rangitoto, the volcanic island in the middle of Auckland Harbour.

I'm London bound (again)

Well, I'm off again to London in early April. As a "pioneer", not a "settler" there is a pattern forming here that my close friends will clearly decipher. A couple of years here, a couple of years there, and so it goes .......

This is a city that no doubt will provide plenty of subject matter for my future blogs - predominantly featuring pets and their owners no doubt. It is also a city where one bumps into the most extraordinarily interesting of people. Stay tuned.

To be precise, I am heading straight for Canary Wharf to stay with a good friend - I love this part of London. It's new, fresh, bright, breezy and by the River - it's so important to me to be by the water, having been brought up in Auckland which is surrounded by the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean.

Click on this link to view a plethora of photos of this unique part of London.

http://images.google.co.nz/images?hl=en&q=Canary+Wharf&gbv=2

Gannets of Muriwai

Not too far from where I live is a large colony of Gannets - Muriwai Beach on the West Coast of New Zealand near Auckland is wild, rugged and wonderful.

Refurbishing my cottage

Private, sunny courtyard entrance

Sunset over the Waitakere Ranges

Favourite New Zealand Beaches

Looking towards Pakiri

Piha (Lion Rock) - not far from where I live

Tawharanui - Mahurangi (1 hour north of Auckland)

Coromandel Peninsula

Swimming with the Dolphins in Israel

Dolphins dining - please note the cat "we are not amused, but we do like our own yellow bucket of fish!"

Watching, watching, watching

Lovely scruffy salty dog - enraptured with the dolphins - sat and watched them all day long and often couldn't resist jumping in and joining them.

Mother and baby dolphins in the Red Sea - Israel.

Here is the link to a story about the Red Sea dolphins who are very special.

http://www.thetemple.urj.net/Sermon1.html

The Red Sea - Egypt

Self explanatory - me and camel and bored male who really wanted to watch the football World Cup finals on TV (true story). Aren't men just the same everywhere!

Kira of Cairo