Oh, Hi there and welcome to my nest here at Sulphur Point in Rotorua.  You will of course, know exactly who I am and I'm glad to make your acquaintance. To check my identity, hold down your left mouse button and run your curser between the two stars below      *   I'm a baby cormorant and of course my Mummy loves me    * Below; progress on the Sydney Opera House ...
Right; John with Grant and Smillie - evidence that we are being led astray ??? Below; skydivers and an impressive rig at Taupo Skydivers plane marking ... "Fear is temporary.  Achievement is permanent"
	Left and above; Napier Botanic Gardens		Waipunga Falls between Taupo and Napier.  We've passed that one several times without seeing it.  Watch out for the sign, it's at the rest area.
	Right, the Opera House is finished.  Now, who shall we give it to? (Note the campervan) Left; a Christmas card from 1850 ? No, it's Norwich in February 2012 and below, NZ at the same time Paul, Keta, John, Cynthia, Mani, Carolyn, Molly, Derek and Wendy
Omokoroa The Fountain Garden, bamboo and avocados above; Happy Hour at the Domain			Record avocado crops this year means the growers are giving them away. We've discovered that we especially like them as a dip; add a little mayo and sweet chilli sauce.
We are impressed with this simple water feature made from half round roof tiles Right and below:  the February motorhome sale at Paeroa ... Something for every budget
Above; a day trip to Tiritiri Matangi Island, sanctuary for many lovely birds.  Sugar feeders are provided so that visitors can get a really close up experience.  The birdsong around the feeders was amazing.    Tiritiri Mantangi     is administered by the Department of Conservation and volunteers are available to show visitors around.  Get there by ferry from Auckland or Gulf Harbour.  The birds above are Bellbird (1 + 2), Robin, Saddleback Tieke and Tui.  The robin almost walked up my lens!
Back at Gulf Harbour Chips got treated to a few more scraps and looks very contented.  I hope everyone will look after him while we are away.	Back on North Shore, time to harvest the sunflower seeds Daniel thought the sunflower might be dangerous so he put his bike helmet on Below; Paeroa street and the Opera House finds a friend and (final?) resting place		Snuggled up with RoamNZ for the night at Ambury Park
Paeroa RV Centre is our winter base so Tantalus is now tucked up in their shed and we have fled back to the UK.  We didn't travel very far this year; the far north down to Napier but it was all good - apart from the weather !!!  Hope we shall see more sunshine the next time.  Thank you to everyone who made our visit another brilliant experience.

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