2 Girls in Pink

On Friday evening, the cruise ship, Queen Victoria, was all lit up in PINK, in Sydney Harbour. This was in aid of Breast Cancer, what a sight it would have been to see first hand.

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And today, Miss Immy in Auckland was also decked out in PINK, when she attended her first day at pre school kindy. Bit exhausted at the end of it - so many games, but at age 2, she is up and running, before number three arrives in early April.

A special person moves on.

Sunday 21st Feb. Early morning (6.45am) we decided to go to Burleigh for a walk, it was raining when we left home, but 5 minutes later at the Beach the sun was forging through. (This weekend there was a large surfboard championship - the "Breaka Burleigh Pro", with professional riders from all over.)

Looks like it is raining north- at Surfers Paradise and Broadbeach

We spent some quiet time walking in the National Park around the coastline, to think about the sudden loss of a very close friend.

This has been a tough and extremely disturbing week after hearing of the sudden and sad death of a dear friend in Portsmouth, Maine. Al's sister, a very close friend of mine, let me know on Valentine's day that he had been found by his Father that same day at his home - he was only 60. His funeral was yesterday in Londonderry, New Hampshire. Al and I worked together for some years, but during that time - and ever since he was a really close friend to both of us.

As soon as we came out of the National Park, a plane zoomed overhead, and the sun's rays were streaming out from behind the clouds and the waves were bursting onto the rocks below us, this reminded me of his effortless natural spirit and his love of the sea- and I thought to myself, Al will be okay, but we will all miss him so very much.

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Al and I - Friday night, cards with friends - mucho years ago in the U.S.

Last weekend was a "Humdinga"

Saturday morning was overcast, however we decided to head to the beach early to get in a good walk. We arrived at Burleigh around 6.15 am, the clouds to the east were misty but pretty and the waves were definitely "punching" this day.

The Brig heading south down the beach - wonderful hard sand to walk on.

I turned around to check out the north, and the sky was already a brilliant blue.

Just glorious - the beach at 7 a.m.

Then came the rain

Saturday afternoon and night - the rain pelted down, actually we received over 200 mls (8 inches) and other parts, 'specially in the Hinterland were drenched by up to 400 mls and the rivers and streams belted down to the coast.

Many roads were flooded and destroyed

"NO WORRIES" is the caption on the tyre cover of this auto????

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Hundreds of boats and pontoons were damaged, huge houseboats just floated down the Coomera River with their broken pontoons wiping out everything else in front of them - what a mess.

This truck had it's problems, as does it's contents!!

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Sadly many livestock were drowned, 'specially cattle and horses - however, this bovine took the human route through town. Just hate to see young ones play around in swollen rivers and roads - this is when tremendous accidents can occur - the unknown and unexpected just happens, causing injury and sometimes death!!

This canine ain't gettin' wet for anyone!!

Of course the sea was still up on the Sunday, swimming banned at some beaches, but not "surfboarding".

This crazy lot would start off at Snapper Rocks

But they would end up at Kirra Beach and have to hoof it back to Snapper to start over again.

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GOOD NEWS - many of the drought stricken areas out west have also received loads of rain - courtesy of Cyclone Olga.

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We were among the lucky ones, not too much suffering at our place - just didn't spend any time outside - HENCE THE 'OVERACTIVE' BLOG - Sorry!

BLACK SATURDAY - One year on!

Today is the 12 month anniversary of Australia's worst fire catastrophe ever. Saturday, 7th February, 2009, with the temperatures reaching 46 degrees in areas of Victoria, over 600 fires were fought, some caused by lightening strikes and sparks from downed power poles , high winds carried others at a terrific pace, of course some joined up, and man played his part as well, with a couple being deliberately lit.

4,500 Firefighters from all over OZ, and very soon NZ, USA and Canada fought from every angle.

Many stayed to defend their own property - though few were rewarded.

2,029 homes were burned, along with 430,000 hectares of prime land, forests and National Parks

HOWEVER, the human death toll was the major disaster - 173 people lost their lives, with another 414 being injured.

The extent of the loss of our wildlife with such ferocious fires will never be known.

It has been estimated that over 11,000 grazing livestock were burned.

These cattle were saved, but have no food.

Kid's toys were burned

This little bloke is trying his hardest to understand his loss.

And this young lass has planted some flowers in the ashes of her garden

Nature starts her work very quickly

This is a photo of a couple back on their property some months after it had been destroyed by these fires, yet so quickly "brushed up" by nature again!! TODAY, many memorials have been held to remember those who perished and suffered, and the work still to be done to re build these small towns, but from what I have seen today - "The Spirit is Strong!". It also seems that all the financial help from Australia and around the world has been managed and distributed extremely well - (my understanding from many of the interviews and reports!)

Waitangi Day - New Zealand's National Day

Today is the 170th Anniversary of the signing of the "Treaty of Waitangi " between the Maori Chiefs (the traditional land holders) and the Pakeha (in this case the colonial powers from the British Crown) at Waitangi in the Bay of Islands in 1840.

On the Gold Coast there are two huge celebrations being held, one today at Southport, and the other tomorrow at Cararra - literally thousands turn up for these events. A little bit of trivia - Kiwis top the list of immigrants to the Gold Coast, in fact 50 percent of all New Zealanders moving to OZ live up here. Just hope the weather holds out for both these celebrations - hangis, guitars and hakas everywhere!. (UPDATE - 20,000 plus turned up at Southport yesterday, but today at Cararra would've been a problem - the Gold Coast has had 200 to 400 mls of rain in the last 24 hours - it's damp!!!!!!)

A visit to Waitangi many moons ago!

It is over 40 years since I first visited Waitangi - we called in and spent time there during a most eventful, never to be forgotten -3 week drill, loosley called cruise, to and from the Bay of Islands on a 30ft Trimaran - I was probably very relieved to get off that boat for awhile!!

Waitangi Reserve and Treaty House

The next visit to Waitangi was some decades later in November 2006 (this time via automobile), when Frank and I rented a Bach up at Russell in the Bay of Islands - we spent quite a bit of time touring the Northland - truly gorgeous.

The Colony's abode - Where the Treaty was signed!

Lovely gardens at the house! We don't have long now till we fly to Wellington on March 22nd, then up through the Hawkes Bay area for a week, onto Whakatane on the Coromandel with Col and Den for Easter then up to Auckland. Home on 8th April. Really looking forward to catching up with everyone and touring more lovely parts of NZ!