A Holiday in Te Aroha

Martin and I spent last week on holiday in Te Aroha with his aunty and uncle.

The two of us in Martin's aunty and uncle's front garden

Mike and Elspeth have a gorgeous garden:

The view out our bedroom window one lowering day.

A flower on one of several gorgeous camellia bushes.

It was also fascinating to watch Uncle Mike (a fitter and turner) at work in his workshop:

One day we went into town (so I could see the dentist!).  After my appointment, I spotted this delightful dog sculpture on the main street.

It's all made of 'junk', and beautifully done.  I gather it's intended as a bike stand, although not used much as such, apparently.  (Photo credit Trip Advisor)

There's a drinking fountain for people on the head, and a water bowl and tap for dogs at the other end :-) (Photo credit Trip Advisor)

Martin went for a walk up Mt. Te Aroha with Uncle Mike.  They've had a lot of rain up there recently, leading to the uprooting of this mighty tree!

Another day, Martin and I went for a spa at the hot pools there.  Afterwards I enjoyed admiring the Te Aroha domain...

...and watching these folk playing croquet whilst we shared a gigantic custard square:

Back at Elspeth and Mike's place I was delighted to spot my first bears of the season (in far-off Alaska) on explore.org's bear cam:

All in all, a lovely week :-)

The trip resulted in the emission of about 85kg CO2e (only a little under the 100kg CO2e the planet can absorb per person per year).  The vast majority of that was on car use - around 300km of driving results in the emission of about 60kg CO2e.  The balance went on the spa, some treat food and a few other incidentals.