I will never fail to be amazed by the colours, the shapes, the sizes, and the diversity of the Orchidaceae family ... the absolute beauty of them. My Relationship with Orchids ... My parent's have grown, sold and competed in shows with their orchids for most of my life, hence I have had a long and loving relationship with these beautiful plants. Last weekend the North Shore Orchid Society held their spring show, so I went along with mum to help set up, and ended up recording

Lake Nakuru National Park, Kenya ... famous for being the original safari country, Kenya has over forty national parks and wildlife reserves set aside for the conservation of wildlife and natural habitat. My travels to Kenya ... My travel experience of Kenya was on an Intrepid Travel tour, making it easy and fun. I was there in June-July, it was a camping tour, small group size, with all the on-ground details being taken care of for me, pre travel and on tour, when necessar

An ode is a lyric poem that addresses and often celebrates a person, place, thing, or idea. Originating in Ancient Greece where they were originally sung, odes are typically serious, dignified, and formal, though their style, subject, and form can vary ... this is Maureen's ' Ode To WOW 2025. ' Behind the scenes with my blog I have my amazing daughter Jess guiding me with any help that I may need along the way, especially of the moral support kind, and today I want to welcome

Part three of our WOW Experience brings the show to life and the fun we had around the whole event. WOW is all about " taking art off the wall and adorning the body " and we jumped onboard ourselves with our own bit of creativity. Creating our own ideas of taking Art off the Wall and Adorning the Body... Planning our trip, I put out the challenge to our group, for whoever felt inspired, to take our experience further by dressing up as per one of the six WOW section themes; Ao

Some highlights of a bit of fun to be had in Wellington ... WOW Show 2025 and some highlights of Wellington, NZ ... After our day of train travel down to Wellington on the WOW VIP Train Experience , (also known as the Northern Explorer Train), for the WOW 2025 show, we had plenty of spare time in Wellington to take in the waterfront area, Te Papa Tongarewa Museum of NZ, and Wētā Workshops. All thoroughly recommended and if you add on the Crocodile Bikes and scooters you'll be

Join us for some highlights of our WOW Train VIP Experience with Great Journeys NZ , 02 October, 2025. On Thursday 02 October 2025, we set out on a unique three-day journey as mum, (aka Maureen), took fourteen of her "girls" to Wellington to attend the WOW (World of Wearable Arts) Show; this reel is some of the highlights from the first part of our trip, on the WOW Train VIP Experience from Auckland... To learn more about the experience: "WOW" The World of Wearable Arts Show

Riding the WOW Train, Great Journeys NZ We started planning for this trip over a year ago, and it grew into an experience that far exceeded the actual show, and instead extended itself into a few days of creativity, fun, laughter, talking and, most importantly, love... and not just for our group, as our frivolities seemed to touch many others along the way! I hope that you also find some pleasure in this account. ... and, a few more laughs! WOW VIP Train Experience with Grea

On a blustery day at Big Manly Beach, New Zealand's young sailors head out to sea to compete for the right to be crowned Champ! New Zealand has a proud history of sailing success and it is when you see young sailors heading out in wild conditions to compete for the New Zealand Youth Championship, on days like today, you fully appreciate the tenacity and determination that success takes. You have to have passion to be a success and today showed that. Good luck to them all ...

Bringing life back to my grandparent's garden ... You never know who you will influence when you follow your passions, and the many gardeners that our family have is a testament to the beautiful garden that my grandparents had. Flowers, trees, lawn to run on, a little forest to explore out back, apple trees to pick from, and plants of all kinds; and yet, it was much more than that. It was an area for family and friends to gather and eat and drink and talk and grow up together

Be prepared to be amazed and uplifted by the energy of Egypt .. there has been a lot of human thought focused upon this place! Also, be...

Enjoy the culture and the artistic flair at the local markets. Kigali, Rwanda. Intrepid Travel Tour My travel experience of Rwanda was...

"The love of gardening is a seed once sown that never dies." Gertrude Jekyll, British Horticulturist and Garden Designer. At 89 years of age, my mum has sown a lot of seeds and reaped a lot of harvests, in her garden and her life, and one of the greatest gifts that she has given her family is the love of a garden, and being outside in nature. A gift that, personally, I can't thank her enough for. As well as selling plants and flowers, Mum's won many awards with her floral ar

Enjoy a photo-journey with me through the dynamic continent of Africa, from Egypt and Morocco up the top down to Namibia and South...

Enjoy a photo-journey through the UK with me... Looking deeper into the UK, past the well-known and commonly photographed images to how I...

Take a canal boat ride, bike or walk the pathways along the canals, and through the parks .. it's a beautiful way to explore London, the...

"It's gonna take a lot to drag me away from you, There's nothin' that a hundred men or more could ever do, I bless the rains down in...

Exploring the world with W.i.T.W.a.Y ... Whether you are planning a trip, are on your travels already or wanting some help with collating...

' I said to the man, "are you trying to tempt me? Because I come from the land of plenty," And he said, Oh, do you come from a land down...

From Cape Reinga, at the tip of the North Island, to Stewart Island, at the bottom of the South Island, I have hiked, biked, played,...

Watching ideas forming reality gives a very uplifting feeling in the experience of ' thoughts becoming things' ; even more so when...