Car accident

So I made it home to NZ and surprised my parents. Mel, Finn and Karla picked me up from the airport and drove me south of Christchurch to where my parents live in Rakaia. Mum was very shocked and surprised.

I had been home nearly 2 weeks when Mum and I were involved in a car accident. A guy did not see us and pulled out in front of us. We were doing 100kms and we only had time to say to each other "OMG we are going to crash!" before we hit a white ute in the side. On inflation airbags pump out white powder which we confused for smoke so we tried to jump out of the car straight away. It was very scary and the impact has bruised us badly.
I was driving and have seat belt burns, a burn from the chemicals used in the airbags on my hand and bruised knees. Mum lost a tooth and cut her lip. We were lucky no one rear ended us as we may not have been so lucky. The other guy was fine as we hit is front wheel rather than crushing in his driver door. He was lucky.

We were all very lucky.
Wear your seat belts and drive carefully out there.


















See more photos here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=129030&id=561306197&l=507e211647

Beached whale in Brighton, NZ

While in Christchurch there was a beached cuvier's beaked whale new Brighton where Mel lives. The poor thing unfortunately died as the tide was heading out. She was injured in some way as she was bleeding internally. Very sad.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/2985812/Beached-whale-dies-at-Christchurchs-Southshore/

nic and dee enjoying the country air on canal boat in warwick

-- I sent this from my 3 mobile --

I LOVE TURKEY!!!

A few weeks ago I joined Walls and 3 of his mates in Turkey where we chartered a 42 ft yacht to sail around for a week. We were on the south coast of Turkey, near the popular tourist town of Fethiye. We had good winds of up to about 15 knots and were able to sail every day. The Turkish were sooo friendly compared to the locals in Croatia last year.

Here is the crew at our last supper






Our crazy Captain Nick










First Mate John aka "Cowboy"










Deck hands Neresa, Rowena and I








Now here are a few of my favourite shots:

Photo shoot at pimms o'clock

And we saw a DOLPHIN and a TURTLE!!!! I was soooo excited that I did not want to leave the dolphin to go get my camera and so we did not get any photos which was a bit sad. But I have the memory firmly in my head so I just can't share it. The dolphin we saw was a Striped dolphin and looks like this:

For more photos see my picasa album:

2009 07 sailing Turkey

Birthday drinks at the Oxo Tower

For my birthday this year I decided to tick another London box and go somewhere new. So to the Oxo Tower we went on a lovely hot summers day to have a few drinks and make the most of the view.


Check out the Afghans I made for my morning tea shout at work... mm... yummy....


Me, Jo, Nic, Vicky and Cynth



Me and the flatties Bron and Lisa

After the sun set things stared to get a little messy...

I wonder how many shots it took before we got this lovely one.....

1....

2....

3....

4....

Great night girls. Thanks for coming and helping me celebrate

D x

Mum and Dad visit London

Mum and Dad visited London a few weeks ago for the first time in 35 years. It was a great trip down memory lane for the both of them. We visited a few new London landmarks, went to Harrods, saw the Lion King musical and brunched at the kiwi Providors on Marylebone High St (yummy french toast). Top priority on the list of things to do was visiting flats where mum and dad used to live oh so long ago. Dad lived at 30E Greencroft Gardens near Finchley Road Tube and mum loved in Putney. 30E was a bit of an institution in its day, being a 5 bedroom flat with about 5 people to a room plus dossers in the lounge or any other free space. We were luck enough to run into a lady who lived in one of the flats and she let us into the lovely back garden (the perfect size for rugby games before they strategically planted some trees 30 years ago....).

Mum and Dad then headed off to Ireland for a conference and some sightseeing and then San Diego on the final leg home.
Then...
and now...

Mum and I check out the Diana memorial at Harrods

Dad gets tries out some London Pride

To see more photos click here:

2009 07 M&D in London

Dee visits the Dorans

I headed up to Scotland to visit friends Kate and Steve and their daughter (my goddaughter).
We had a great weekend as it was lovely and sunny so we were able to head out for a picnic. I also got loads of cuddles and smiles from the gorgeous Rose.
We had a mini photo shoot with my lovely 50mm fixed focal lenth (prime) lense. I love it!!

Baby Mozart time...clearly Rose is enthralled

Yummy food time... Rose is learning to eat all by herself.

Rose is constantly laughing and smiling. Very cute.

It was fab to see you all and hopefully it will not be too long until I see you again.
Rose I promise I am NOT behaving myself and setting you a good example! ;-)

Dee xx