The weather is not great, it’s raining, but I think that’s the first time it has ever rained while I’ve been in Rotorua. This time I’m staying at The Heritage Hotel and I’m very happy to report it’s perfect. I’d definitely stay here again, unlike Rydges or the hideous Ibis.
BONUS: As I was typing this a lady knocked on my door and offered me “turn down service”. Chocolates, blinds drawn, heater turned on and bed turned down. I declined the heater bit!
On my way to see a play tonight near the Town Hall I caught a very quick glimpse of an amazing exhibition displaying incredible images of both nature and modern technology. Not sure what the exhibition was all about, but I will definitely be going back hopefully if it’s still on when I return from Rotorua. Yup I’ll be down in Rotorua for work this week.
Look what I spotted on my way out to get an ice cream at lunch time today. Seeing the huge Santa always reminds me of being a kid and Dad taking a big detour on the way home form wherever to drive us past the Farmers department store to see Santa wiggling his finger and winking… great memories!
I’m very excited about Xmas now.
A good friend of mine tried to get me to read this book ages ago saying I’d love it. Another friend of mine also said the same thing, so begrudgingly I took the book and thought one day I’d give it a go. I’m not a fan of war stories and this certainly looked like that’s what it would be about, BUT as they say… “you should never judge a book by its cover”… and that couldn’t be more true in the case of this fantastic story.
I loved it. It’s incredibly readable and as it’s set in Auckland it has the bonus attraction of making me want to drive to where the book is set. It was a wonderful insight into life shortly after the war and it sure made me feel incredibly grateful to be enjoying life as we know it today. I rate all the books I read and this one gets the highest rating of 5 stars!
Congratulations Michelle, you are the winner with a total score of 19 out of a possible 24 points. Second place goes to Fluffy, followed very closely by Navchick.
Michelle you are amazing, I’m not sure how you managed to answer some of those questions and your Google skills are very impressive.
Thank you to everyone who joined in and played along, I had loads of fun doing it and it gave me an excuse to get out and take photos while trying to keep up my blog (which was hard at times).
Sorry the results have taken so long, there are not enough hours in the day when you have eaten too much and simply must exercise when you get home from work. Plus recently I’ve had a bit of extra part time work which has been very cool but it’s kept me very busy.
So Michelle what have you won? See the picture below, it’s a magnetic wood/perspex block photo frame (my favourite type) plus your choice of printed photo to go in the frame, so let me know which photo you like the most. It can be any of the pics in my Flickr account, would you like me to post it to you or would you prefer to collect it in person at Christmas time?
Here is the complete set of questions and answers:
1. What is the name of this church and what street is it on? St Patricks, Wyndham St
2. Which famous car parking building can you see through the windows of the bus in the photo? Farmers Car Park
3. What is the name of the flowering plant in this photo? Impatiens (Busy Lizzie)
4. What two streets is this building on the corner of? cnr Wolfe and Federal
5. What is the name of the mountain I climbed, mentioned in the previous paragraph? Mt Hobson
6. Where was I standing when I took this photo? Mt Hobson
7. How much weight did I lose in the biggest loser competition and did I win? 13 kilos & No I didn’t win
8. This is the rear entrance to a very well known building in Auckland City. What building is it? Event cinemas/Sky City/Imax complex
9. What is the old official name of the building this is the roof of, what is this building currently known as and have I ever worked here? Auckland Customhouse, DFS Galleria & No
10. What is the name of the hotel that used to be here? The Royal International Hotel
11. What is the name of the office tower? The ANZ Centre (Coopers & Lybrand Tower, Robert Jones Tower)
12. What was the name of this building when it first opened? The Fay Richwhite Building
13. What is the name of the building seen between the Twin Towers in my photo? The Woolworths Building
14. What building does this magnificent ceiling belong to? The Britomart
15. What was the name of this hotel back in the 80s? The Regent
16. What programme was I trying to record? Wipeout
17. What street was I standing on when I took this photo? Queen Street
18. While having a drink here in 1992 I discovered I needed something. In a small way that discovery was life changing. What was it? Glasses
19. What building is this? Sky City
20. What is the name of the company I first worked for? ANZ Bank.
Originally uploaded by beejayge
At last I found something to use in my blog, worthy of the very last question in my quiz.
I’m standing on the corner of Fort & Customs St looking at the place I used to work at back in 1982, it was my first job straight out of school. Back in 1982 the building looked nothing like this and it wasn’t a souvenir shop. I don’t know when they remodelled it to look like a stack of sardine tins!
Competition question number twenty: What is the name of the company I first worked for?
As one door closes another opens, or so they say. So as I close the door on my fun little quiz, I open a big shiny flash door and what’s behind this door? In case you haven’t guessed yet… I’m retracing my work history, which means I get to revisit all my old jobs, well not actually the jobs but the buildings I worked in. I have already started to create a PowerPoint presentation for anyone interested to look at. Mainly this will be a cool trip for me, down memory lane as I remember the people I used to work with and the jobs I used to do.
Smiley Mart
Originally uploaded by beejayge
I found this little corner store on Commerce Street I think. The name made me smile.
I would love to go shopping at a place called: “Smiley Mart”… wouldn’t you?
When a cruise ship is docked in Auckland’s harbour and the weather is beautiful, Auckland comes alive and it sure does become a city I’m so proud to live in.
While out for a walk in Blockhouse Bay we saw all these cute wee fluffy ducklings and their Mum.
As promised, here are the two photos of me posing for the camera on top of the Auckland Harbour Bridge.
New Horizons 