What a weekend!

Easter - eggs, a holiday away and bad bad weather.
This year I received one egg only and I generously gave the calories to the HD3QBEM!   This small egg cup is a remnant of my childhood -  cute isn't it but eggs must have been bigger in those far off days!

We traveled down to Lake Taupo, through torrential rain and gale force winds and were most thankful to arrive safely.  

Our hotel was near the first geothermal power station in New Zealand.   We drove past the warning signs

and up to the look out.

The water needs to be cooled before it can be released back into the Waikato River and so a Prawn Park was established to use the water at one point in the cooling process.   They produce prawns of amazing sweetness and size and have a thriving restaurant and fishing establishment which appears to be on the must-do list for every tourist!   

I indulged in a Mud Wrap Thermal Spa and massage.   It was a wonderfully relaxing two hours and my skin feels super smooth still.

Good Friday we drove through to Rotorua, another city describing itself as a thermal wonderland.   In wet wet weather it merely smells of sulphur!   We did find this yarn bombed tree though.

And in between showers and excursions I found time to finish tacking up all the hexagon templates I have - 150 of them.   This isn't enough to complete the runner I want to make but as I only need another 50 or so I have decided I will start sewing these together and free up some templates to re-use.

Then I made a start on C A Wells Cottage Etui.   This is pretty and enjoyable but will now get put aside while I finish off my other projects.

I have stitched the pincushion/pinroll with its appropriate ends, the scissor fob and the lid of the cottage.   The satin stitch saw tooth border was easy compared to the cross stitch over one.   My aged eyes don't really like that too much but I am determined to persist.
Here's a closer shot.

And then on the way home my car mileage turned over to 100,000 kilometres.   Probably significant only to me but I wanted to record the event.   Unfortunately it all happened in a place where I couldn't stop and take a photo!
All in all we had a happy time away and both feel quite relaxed after the break.