My good friends Jane and Judith.... Yesterday Jane, Judith, Nola and I drove down to Margaret River for the Margaret River Ladies Classic. Today started with a delicious breakfast at "The Urban Bean".

Then we were off to the golf course for our game...Nola and Jane unpacking their clubs.

The course was in beautiful condition and as always I loved seeing all the birds and kangaroos.

On the way home from the club, we stopped at the Margaret River waterfalls. It was a really enjoyable day.

I passed this pavement painting this morning on my walk from the carpark....a nice cheerful start to my day. I am parking in a different car park everyday and trying to find my way to my building without the map. Curtin is huge and such a vibrant and exciting place to work (not at 7.45am though, the student don't start that early!)

A pretty nice place to have a restaurant in Perth, right on the river opposite the city....the restaurant is Mister Walker and I and my fellow Italian class friends had dinner there this evening. I must try and take a photo of the ladies next time. Below is the view , which was even more beautiful as it became darker and the lights grew brighter.

Isn't this a lovely place to have lunch and read your book? It is just around the corner from the Biomedical Sciences building where I am working at the moment, it is also where my good friend Nat works too.

Me and my four good mates...Mardi, Jane and Jessie. We had a most enjoyable day at golf with lots of laughs as we played Big Hole golf. I think our four husbands enjoyed playing together too.

A wonderfully warm afternoon and we had lunch at our place to celebrate Dean's birthday. Here are a couple of shots, I think my children are getting a little tired of me taking photos.

I am so enjoying walking around the Curtin campus, there is so much art on the building walls, here are a couple.

Every Wednesday the campus comes alive with food stalls, selling all sorts of wonderful international foods. There is also entertainment and it happens right outside the building in which I am working. Today Nat, Jacquita and I joined the many students eating lunch in the sunshine. 

My first full day at my new job at Curtin, and it was great. In the photo is Jacquita who is pretty excited about our new bed.

On our way home....

It was a bright, sunny day when we left Miranda early this morning in our van...

After returning the van we were shuttled to the airport and would you believe it started to rain. That's our luggage being loaded onto our plane.

Happiness is when Pete and I have three seats between the two of us...

Flying in over Sydney, above is Drummoyne and the Iron Cove bridge and below was taken above Stanmore looking towards the city. How do I know this? Well, amazingly using the iPhone (6) to take the photos it still gave the locations despite being up in a plane AND the phone being on flight mode. I was very impressed. Sydney did look marvellous from the air.

Whangamata harbour, which is on the inlet next to Whangamata Beach, with views to the hills behind.

Beautiful Whangamata Beach, said to be the best surf beach in New Zealand.

The tide was out, Pete and I walked for ages along the wet sand just soaking up the beauty of this place.

I like this photo because this is exactly what it was like on most days , winding road with the yellow signs, cows on the green hill and rows of trees.

Our next stop was another gorgeous beach, Whiritoa.

Pete kindly stopped the van on the side of the road so that I could take this photo. So often we would see the cluster of little calves in a pasture, I just really wanted to have a photo of them.

Waihi Beach , another great surf beach but what thrilled me were the shells...look at them all and look at the colours.

The town of Waihi is a gold mining town and we were able to view the mining pit which is almost in the centre of the town. This was operating until April this year when approximately two million tonnes of rock slipped from the north wall of the open pit. The engineers are still assessing the situation and the future of the pit. I'd never seen a mining pit before so found it all very interesting.

Anzac Bay one of the beaches at Bowentown which is south of Waihi Beach. We are up on the 128ha headland reserve that harbours the secluded beaches and historic sites . The view was terrific.

Karangahake Gorge, another place that is rich in mining history. The river that flows through the gorge was very pretty, Pete and I spent a while  walking the walkways along the river and one of the tunnels (which was one kilometre long).

Ray's Rest , a stop for free camping if you are in a self contained vehicle. We didn't stay the night here but just wanted to see the other side of the Firth of Thames (the Coromandel Peninsula is on the other side).  The whole coastline, they call the Seabird Coast is home to thousands of migrating birds from the northern hemisphere and there are only a few stops where you can get close to the water and wet lands. Below is another, near Miranda there is the Pukorokoro Shorebird Centre...our last stop for the day and the trip.

First thing this morning we set off to Hot Water Beach. It is named among the top 10 beaches in the world by the Lonely Planet Travel Guide. There are three places along the beach where the hot springs are present, and they are situated close to the water at low tide.  You can hire a spade and dig yourself a little spa. Sometimes the water under the sand was scorching hot. As the above photo shows , it is a popular spot.

Even without the glamour of the hot springs, it is a very pretty beach...

Not far away is Cooks Beach, named after James Cook who landed here.

After a coffee we walked the trail to Cathedral Cove, the views were spectacular.

Stingray Bay

Mares Leg Bay which is next to Cathedral Cove...

Still in Mares Leg Bay....looking into Cathedral Cove at Cathedral Rock...one of the most popular attractions on the Coromandel Peninsula.

Me...under the rock between the two bays.

The view from Cathedral cove over to the rock between the two bays. Pete and I had a swim in the cove, great little waves.

Hahei Beach where we stayed last night...

Hahei Beach...more birds..we had a fabulous day!