Lantern Festival

For the last few years I've wanted to go down to Auckland to see the Lantern Festival.  This year it's celebrating the Year of the Dragon and many of the lanterns are specially imported from China. The festival is held in Albert park and one of the roads next to the park is also closed and what seems like millions of food stalls are set up, all serving the most amazing Asian food. I thought it was going to be good, but it exceeded all expectations! It was absolutely spectacular, and absolutely packed with people! It's become so popular the park was literally bursting at the seams.
We had the best time!
This is just a small selection of the lanterns.

They look pretty good in the daylight, but look really spectacular once it gets dark.

After our amazing night on Auckland we headed back north, but only as far as Tutakaka. We were stopping here to meet a crowd of friends and go to the "Winery Tour"  Concert. It was also amazing! What a weekend we had. Now we're home and Lloyd has just got back from picking up the dogs - they were on holiday too!
After my few days off I'll be straight back into the veggie garden tomorrow!