All Things Must End

The Summer 2012 Scavenger Hunt has come to an end.
There have been over 70 people, from all over the world, taking part in this fun activity. All just to find and take a picture of 21 items throughout June, July, August and September.

When you look at it that way, there really isn't much too it.
Who couldn't do that??

Some of the items however were not your everyday on the shelf items, some you just had to be there to capture, others you had to hunt a little for.
But in the end we all managed to have some fun and find some crazy stuff along the way.
I even managed to get the kids involved and they had fun looking for items and reminding me of things I may need a picture of!

In this post I will show you the final things I needed for the hunt and also my favorite picture of them all.
As of yesterday I did still require 4 items. 1 could be subsitituted by a picture of either a heart shaped stone or a 4 leaf clover. I will let you read on to discover whether I had to resort to using either item!

#3 A Border
I really wanted to go for something creative other than the border of a flower bed in the garden, however I never managed to find anything, so I ended up with the border of the flower bed in my neighbours garden. I just like the way they have used the bricks slightly differently.

Although I did take pictures of the border round the sewing on the quilt my mum made for me a few years ago. I do love the purple colour she used.

#12 A Maze, Labyrinth or Trail
Funny story with this find is that tomorrow I am going to be attempting to complete the grown maze in Rotorua with the boys. Sure it would have been perfect for the hunt, shame it would be a day too late!
However for this one I got creative...
Firstly I can give you the game my cousin lent to the boys to play

A Game called 'Labyrinth' which is a moving maze game. You set the maze as the game is played but the idea is to set it so you end up at the finish but you opponent gets stuck at dead ends on the maze!

Secondly I give you the maze book that the boys like trying to do, although they are now finding them easy to complete!

#16 A Bride
This one I knew would be shear luck if I managed it. I sadly had no weddings to go to and knew of none coming up. We have a local Cathedral, the one I took pictures of here, however I never saw much activity during the last few months, but as I have mentioned once or twice, it is winter here so not really wedding season. This is another one of those items that give me another few weeks and I would be able to find brides all over the place for you!
The funny story about all this is that I thought my luck was in 2 weeks ago.
The boys and I had just walked home from soccer and my husband called to ask where we were as he was now free to come and collect us. We were just down the road from the Cathedral and I could see cars and people starting to mingle outside.
Steve came and collected us but I told him to drive round the block and meet me on the corner as I thought there was a wedding taking place (it was about 11am on a Saturday) and that I still needed a picture of a bride for the hunt! Would you believe he rolled his eyes at me at the craziness of it all!
So he drove round the corner and I ran up to the junction, crossed the road, camera at the ready and loitered a little on the pavement. I waited and waited as people slowly came out, dressed smartly, in black! Then it hit me, there was too much black! And no ribbon on the car!
Yep I was loitering waiting to get a picture of a bride at a funeral!

So I surrender on this picture and give you a heart shaped stone instead

#21 A Picture of You with Something That Symbolizes Your Nation
I asked a few mums at school what they would have their picture taken with if it was them? I didn't want to do a flag or passport (also small problem in that my passport is British not New Zealand).
Then I decided to go with something that all New Zealander's would immediately see and know as important to NZ mainly because this item is something that they would have all grown up with. It is iconic to New Zealand and if you didn't have one as a small child then I have found out that you had something missing from your childhood.
Ladies and gentlemen.....I give you the world famous Buzzy Bee. You can check out all about it here.
It is a true New Zealand Icon, something that any NZer would see overseas and immediately think of home.

Here in fact is a picture of my son when he first got this Buzzy Bee from his Uncle and Aunty for his 1st birthday.

So that completes the Summer 2012 Scavenger Hunt. It means I managed to find all 21 items, yea. Thank you to Rinda for organising something that has kept many of us amused for a few months. I would love to do another, people are mubbling about a winter one, or though for me that would be a summer one, so if that comes about, no requests for a picture of snow! But yes I  will be there for the next, if there is one.

My Most Favorite Picture of All
Part of the closing of this hunt is to choose my favorite picture I have taken from the whole hunt.
After reading back through all the posts and checking them all out I give you my favorite.....

My boys having fun with shadows

Happy weekend to you all x x

Scavenger Hunt Ending Soon

The Summer 2012 Scavenger Hunt is almost at an end. It finishes tomorrow Sept 21.
I still have a few to picture before then however I am not sure I will achieve all of them in that time, so I may have to cheat a little to at least have some form of picture available, although I may just confess all and accept defeat....we will see.

All I have left to find is the following:

• #3 A Border
• #7 Someone playing a musical instrument
• #12 A maze, labyrinth or trail
• #15 Someone dancing
• #16 A Bride
• #21 A picture of myself with something that symbolizes our nation

I guess I will finally give in and use the picture I took of the boys holiday programme teacher playing the electric keyboard at their breakup production back in July, I really was hoping to find something a little better but have seen nothing.

So that takes #7 Someone Playing a Musical Instrument off the list.

When we went to the cemetery to get a picture of an angel statue, I was telling the boys what I had left to find.

Alex asked who I was going to take a picture of dancing? I explained that I wasn't sure. So he proceeded to dance for me in the street and kept telling me to take a picture of him doing it, then I would have completed another challenge.

I took the pictures because he was making me laugh so much with his silly ways, but I think I will submit then for #15 Someone Dancing anyway......

He did all this whilst singing very loudly to himself so he had music to dance by!

I really wish I had found a couple or dance troop to picture but I smile every time I think of Alex dancing in the street for me.

Unfortunately due to it being winter here whilst I am undertaking this hunt, it means that we have not had any weddings to see. Well there have been weddings, I know they take place at this time of year as today is my 4th wedding anniversary, so some people are mad enough to get married in Spring here in New Zealand

And yes, before you ask my husband did remember to wish me Happy Anniversary this morning!

However this does not help much with the scavenger hunt as I have been unsuccessful in finding a bride to picture. I do however have an amusing story to tell about this and will enlighten you all more tomorrow on the official last day of the scavenger hunt.

Have to go now as I need to find a border, a maze and something that symbolizes our nation to have my picture taken next to.

More Scavenge Hunt Finds

Sometimes it is all or nothing...!
I can find several items within hours of each other and sometimes it can be weeks before I find that 1 item I needed.
Seeing as this lovely scavenger hunt finishes next week then I had better get a move on...

#10 A Horse
Now how hard could this really be??? I mean I live in the middle of New Zealand surrounded by farming communities as far as the eye can see and there are horses all over the place BUT do you think I ever had the camera with me?? Yea exactly never!
Eventually I remembered where there was a horse and I was determined to picture it.
So we trapsed all the way to the field at the end of a road and here is what we found...

a sign that a horse is near by

even more of a sign they are near by

Oh look, there they are in the farthest field away

#18 A Movie Poster
The main cinema in town closed down due to 2 huge ones opening outside of town in the shopping malls. But the last time I went to either mall was ages ago. However when I had to go to the largest mall for another shop that too has closed its branch in town, I remembered that the cinema was out there.
So with camera in hand I zoomed up the escalator to capture a suitable movie poster.

Only problem I found is that this particular cinema has decided to go all high tech and the movie posters are now only shown on the screens high on the wall.
What happened to a nice big picture on the wall? What happened to them being advertised at bus stops nowadays? The internet and phone apps sure have a lot to answer to!

And just to add to it all, the pictures changed every 20 seconds.

Scavenger Hunt - #8 A Statue of An Angel

Even thought I still only have a few more items to find, the last few are not happening quick enough.

• A border
• A person playing an instrument
• A horse
• A maze
• Someone dancing
• A Bride
• A movie poster
• Picture of me with national symbol

Some are of course right under my nose but I just haven't managed to get a picture of them yet!
I know many of us have suffered with this concept.

We did have a weekend a few weeks back where we managed to find a few, but this did entail us walking round a cemetery to find a statue of an angel.

The boys were actually quite intrigued with this and fascinated too.
We got to view all the graves and see what was written on them.
It was obvious from some of the headstones that ones occupation was very important back many years ago, because as the following picture shows, this seemed the important thing to have on your headstone to allow all to see your current status within the community.

I did however find a statue of an angel.

It was sadly on the grave of a young 6 year old child, dear little Irene Doris who's headstone read "Fell a sleep on 16th May 1932"
From the size and beauty of the stone it was obviously from a family who loved her dearly and were doing everything they could to remember and cherish the memory of her.

The boys were intrigued by the cemetery and what it all meant. It did take us a few times to get them not walk over all the grave sites, showing them to respect the people and their graves.
There was a large Military area which they were interested in as well. We were able to discuss with them about the wars and what it meant and how some of these people had obviously been killed at war or in some of the cases, injured as the war ended but sadly lost their battle a week or 2 after the war ended.

We managed other items on the scavenger hunt list but will post about them another time.

Scavenger Hunt Mid Way Catch Up

We are now in August and this scavenger hunt is halfway through.
Would you believe there are apparently now nearly 70 of us taking part in this! There are some awesome pictures popping up all over the place.

So how are you doing? Having trouble achieving any of them?
I am more than halfway through which is encouraging, although only just at 12/21
I have decided to list each item and add a link to the post if competed.

1. A pier
2. A clothesline - 1st item I found
3. A border 
4. A roadside stall selling something
5. A train
6. A historical landmark
7. A person playing a musical instrument 
8. A person dressed as an angel or a statue of an angel - may have to start visiting churches and statues to find this one!
9. A fountain
10. A horse - would have thought I would have completed this one by now!
11. A shadow
12. A maze, labyrinth or trail
13. A library
14. Someone playing with a ball
15. Someone dancing
16. A bride
17. A church, chapel, cathedral, mosque or temple
18. A movie poster 
19. An outdoor stairway
20. A swing hanging from a tree (or hammock)
21. A picture of you standing with something that symbolizes your nation

This has turned into a great way to pass my winter, as New Zealand is down under and it is winter time for us. The family have also enjoyed helping me find items to picture.

They are always asking me what is on the list? I put the list on my phone so I had it with me at all times to refer to when out somewhere, very helpful.

Easiest Items to Find

Clothesline - as there is one in my back garden

Library and fountain - as these are both in the same area downtown

Simple Ones I Should have Achieved by Now

A horse - I live in a huge farming area and there are horses everywhere you turn

A movie poster - we have at least 3 cinemas in Hamilton, just shows how often I don't go!

Hardest Items to Find

A bride - it is winter time so brides are not exactly popping out at present but come December January and they will be everywhere

A person dressed as an Angel or a statue - the Cathedral didn't have an angel so will have to keep looking

Item I Wish I Could get a Better Picture of

Historical landmark - have found a place that is on an historical heritage trail showing you places of history to the town, but it is nothing that is widely known around the world. Would like to have found something better to take a picture of, something more significant.

Item I May Not Achieve

I would say probably #8 person dressed as an angel or statue of an angel, but apart from that I should achieve them all. Hopefully no having to find a heart shaped stone or four leaf clover for me!

Well I look forward to visiting you to see all the wonderful fun you have been having this summer so far.

Remember if you are not part of this hunt then you can always still join in. You just have to take a picture of all the items lists before September 20, 2012. Also go over the Rinda's and let her know you are playing along.

Happy Hunting to You All

Scavenger Hunt #19 An Outdoor Staircase

As mentioned in my last post I almost used the cathedral stairs as my outdoor staircase

but I knew I could do better than that.

I firstly saw these stairs and thought they would be something different

A set of stairs not yet complete

But then again whilst at our caravan weekend I spied these semi natural made stairs and knew they were perfect for the picture of an outdoor staircase

How more outdoors can you get with these? They lead right down on to the beach, just perfect.

Scavenger Hunt #17 A Church, Cathedral, Temple or Chapel

We have a beautiful cathedral that we drive past everyday.
Unfortunately it is right on a major junction so a little difficult to get a really good picture.

I actually made sure I had the camera in the car and then over a week tried to take a picture. This meant trying to be the first person at the lights so I got a clear picture of the place or by driving really slowly round the corner hoping that a bus wouldn't go past as I was taking the picture.
The boys were always asking if I had managed to get a good picture or not. I think it took about 5 attempts to finally get a nice picture that was good enough to show here!

Just a shame it has a traffic light slap bang in the middle of it!
I did also then decide that I could use the stairs leading up to it to achieve #19 An outdoor staircase but then I managed to find something much better to use instead.

Isn't it funny how you see something that is what you are looking for but you want to find something better?

Here is one of the pictures that I got of the place during my attempts

2 seconds later and the bus would have blocked the view! Plus the cars behind were beeping at me to go a little faster through the lights, obviously they wanted to get through before the lights changed!

Scavenger Hunt #1 A Pier

This item was going to be one of the slightly more complicated for me as we don't have places like Blackpool and Bournemouth to rush off to. Piers are not a widely seen item in this country, however we do have small wooden structures that could be classed as the same sort of thing.

Again whilst at the caravan for the weekend, I got loads of items that 1 weekend!, I found a pier in the estuary.

Tide was out at the time, but when the water is near it is used a lot for fishing off of or just sitting and watching the world go by.

Because as this picture shows, when the sun shines it is beautiful.

Scavenger Hunt #20 A Swing Hanging from a Tree

This 1 was successfully completed by my family and not me, well I took the pictures but they found it.
Whilst at the caravan for the weekend a few weeks ago, that is when I told them family about the hunt I was taking part in at Rinda's Place. The list that I need to complete is just on the right hand side panel.
Whilst going through the list of things to find and picture, they told me they knew where there was a swing in a tree, down by the water.
This took us on a little adventure as we walked round the estuary towards the front of the houses that over looked the water and low and behold someone had been a busy beaver and put up not 1 but 3 swings of different types.
As it was winter time then there was no one around so the boys got to have lots of turns on the swings.

This shows you the trees in the distance with 2 of the swings, Alex is stood by 1 of them and Steve the other. What you can also see if you look very closely is Ben sat on the 3rd swing on the right hand side, just between the grass and the tree.
They had a ball playing here and I had a ball taking pictures so Be Warned there are a lot of pictures in this post!

the swing in the tree that fulfills the hunt requirements 

2nd swing just for good measure

little help required

and away we go....wee

This was an awesome family moment, everyone out on a mission to find a swing for me and all having lots of fun at the same time