High Tea, slime green and the zoo!

Last Sunday was a particularly busy and sunny day - with all kinds of fun things happening. First up was the Wellington Sewing Bloggers Network second birthday!

To be honest, I can't believe that the WSBN is ONLY two years old - I feel like I've known these ladies for the longest time, and I mean that in the best way possible.

To celebrate the WSBN second birthday the decision was made to got to Martha's Pantry for high tea, this was a pretty great decision as high tea is delicious. Also everything at Martha's Pantry is super adorable - look at this bird, and the spoon and the sugar bowl!

When you visit Martha's Pantry you get fans - like this particularly striking pink feather one. Fancy!

They had their Christmas tree up and it was full of super cute birds!

There was a lovely selection of teas available, which for a tea lover like me makes this place pretty much perfect.

Also at Martha's Pantry they use all kind of old vintage tea spoons - mine was from the Euro Tunnel! They are usually have more of a local flavour though.

After eating all kinds of delicious treats, we decided to head outside to have some photos taken. Including this group one - this isn't everyone in the WSBN though - I think at the moment we have 32 members!

Back Row - Mel, Me, Alison, Wendy, Gillian, Gemma, Zara and Sandra
Front Row - Nina, Nikki, Jenna, Kat and wee baby Amos!

I decided I needed something new to wear to the event, but as always I waited to the last minute (obviously). On Saturday afternoon I quickly sewed up a simple shift dress from slime green lurex - lurex is my power fabric.

Thanks to Mel for taking these photos! This dress is actually a little bit on the big side, I think it could be taken in a bit - but its made from lurex and that's all that really matters.

Oh and in case you were wondering if "windy Wellington" lives up to its name - here's the evidence that it really does.

The rest of the WSBN headed off to Made on Marion after the high tea for crafting - it is after all our spiritual home. I couldn't join them, but that's ok because I was heading off to the zoo which is also awesome!

We were going to the zoo to see our friends choir perform - they sun a whole bunch of fun animal themed songs, including "Eye of the Tiger". It was a pretty great performance.

This weekend I'm off to the art gallery (fancy) and also to do some crafting with some friends - also I want to sew, sew and sew some more. Have a super weekend, whatever you are up to!

Summer Zoo times!

I texted my friend Diane last week to see if she and Kai had time to catch up with us before the Christmas Break - I was thinking maybe dinner or a coffee. However, when she suggested the zoo as they had just obtained some Tasmania Devils and mentioned the fact she knew where we could get some 2 for 1 vouchers online, I was so keen.

Our little zoo is organised in regional areas - first we went to Asia to see the Sun Bears and Tigers.

We made it to the zoo in time to hear the tiger talk and see the zookeeper feed the tiger.

 The Sun Bears were just sleeping and hanging out.

I'm not really sure what this dragon is all about - maybe something Lord of the Rings/Hobbit related? Anyways he's pretty rad.

We went to the zoo hospital to watch a penguin have an x-ray - but it all ended up being a bit upsetting. Another exotic bird's heart had stopped and when we arrived the vets were trying to revive it. They tried to restart the poor wee birds heart for maybe 20 minutes but it wasn't meant to be and he died. It was all very sad, especially when all we turned up to see was the penguin x-ray! But that's how things go in the zoo I guess. We finally did get to see the penguin x-ray - he had hurt his leg and they were checking how it had healed. He was a feisty wee thing! We also saw these "preserved" animals at the hospital. Some people will find them super gross - but I thought they were pretty cool.

 After all the sad times at the zoo - it was time to check out the pygmy marmoset - tiny and adorable.

It was then time to check out some of the creepy, crawly things.....unfortunately it was hard to get any really good photos here. But they were huge stick insects, a lizard that looked like a snake and spiders the size of my hand.

We stopped off at Nepal to see the Red Panda's and also check out some of the Nepalese birds - there was one with pretty metallic feathers. Also don't you love the Nepal enclosure with all the rainbow flags!

Next stop Africa, the lions were asleep - but there were some wise words on the gate of their enclosure.

 There is this "African Village" display at the zoo which includes two very fat goats - here's one of them.

 My favourite - the meercats are also part of the Africa display - how cute are they?

 We also saw the giraffes and stopped by for the daily talk and got to feed them. They are so friendly!

We also saw the chimps - but they were mostly sleeping in the sun.

Also - because we live in Wellington, even our zoo has a fantastic view!

Soon it was time to visit our neighbours in the Australian area - after all, that's where the Tasmanian Devils are!

They had some pretty awesome prints in the entrance to the Australia area - including the Tasmanian Devils in space print. How did I NOT get a photo of that? Next time for sure!

So here's the star of the show - the Tasmania Devil! They have four of them at the school. The zookeeper told us they are most active at dawn and dusk and tend to sleep most of the day.

 Fans of Aussie soaps may be familiar with a few of the places on this street sign.

 This lizard dude was pretty happy to see us.

 Some washing out to dry at the "neighbours" exhibition.

 In the Australian section, some of the animals are wandering around free. I remember when I was young we went to Brisbane and visited a lot of animal parks and this was really common. At Wellington zoo you can hang out with the kangaroo, wallabies and emu!

On the way out of the zoo we met up with a zookeeper who was showing off an Australian blue tongue lizard. We were allowed to "pat" him - he wasn't as cold as expected.

We left the zoo via the gift shop (as you do) I really wanted a postcard of some of the cool prints they had in the Australian area. Sadly they didn't sell any - fortunately I DID get to try on a pair of Tasmanian Devil ears.

Well that was my most recent visit - as always the Wellington Zoo is awesome. I'm looking forward to my next visit early next year with the Wellington Sewing Bloggers Network.

zoo fun times!

Basically every year I want to go to the zoo for my birthday and every, single year it rains and rains and rains. That's what you get when you're birthday is mid-July at the height of winter - Rich knew how bummed I was about missing my birthday zoo AGAIN due to rain, so a couple of weeks ago when it wasn't raining we went to visit Wellington zoo - hurrah!

I didn't actually take photos of ALL of the animals, just my favourite ones - well actually my favourite animals that weren't sleepy or snuggled up due to the cold.

First up is the Kunekune - I learnt this time round that kunekune means chubby or round in Te Reo Maori. Also they are the greatest pigs in the world - fact!

We went to check out the most excellent kiwi enclosure they have at the Wellington zoo - until I went to this zoo a few years back, I don't think I had even seen a kiwi up close and I had been to quite a few kiwi enclosures. I think this kiwi enclosure is pretty much the best one in the country - every time I visit I see at least one kiwi and this visit we saw two!

I don't even remember what kind of monkeys these are - but they are adorable and that's all that really matters.

Since we had last been to the zoo they had totally revamped the tiger and sun bear enclosures - it's now an area for awesome animals from Malaysia. The sun bears are my favourite - but they were sleeping.

The lions were one of our next stops - mostly because we could hear them long before we could see them. I guess that people who live near the zoo must get used to all of the zoo sounds (also if I lived nearer the zoo I would have a year pass and go pretty much every weekend).

In the "African Village" part of the zoo we met these two goats, who literally couldn't stop eating - they were pretty fun though. 

The baboons always kind of freak me out a little bit - but I did like the fact they included a mirror where you could check out your own butt!

I have to admit - I loved the art work at the creepy, crawly section and I love seeing the big spiders safe in the knowledge that none of the ones on display are native bugs I'm going to find in my apartment.

Finally I left the best for last - the meerkats! Basically I could just go to the zoo and watch the meerkats for three hours. They are my favourite!

Meerkats forever!! Well that was our wee day out at the zoo - hopefully I can go back again soon when the weather is warmer and more of the animals are out enjoying the sunshine. Enjoy you week xoxo