Rick, Nicky and Claire in NZ

We have had a busy week. I have had a goodly amount of Mac work which has been good. Claire has done a couple of essays along with her usual timetable. Nicky has been busy as usual at the library. On Tuesday evening, Nicky was at Maori, Claire was laser striking, and I went to a massage meeting at the College in Newmarket. I took Claire to Ponsonby to meet her fellow laserists and had a BurgerFuel burger (very yum) before going off to Newmarket. Yesterday, as we are approaching Easter, Nicky was involved with the Church handing out over 500 free hot cross buns to the morning shoppers in Blockhouse Bay. Then in the afternoon Nicky and I went to a surprise 60th birthday party for Jan from Church. It was a surprise and we all enjoyed it. In the evening we dropped Claire off at Ryans on our way to wallow in the hot pools in Paraki. We won another bottle of cheap bubbly in the raffle. Today Claire made some Millionaire shortbread for Ryan as a birthday treat (last Thursday was the actual da...

The highlight of this week has been Claire's attendance at Ayesha's wedding as bridesmaid. Ayesha is one of Claire's work colleges, along with Olivia and Sue who were also bridesmaids. On Tuesday evening she and Nicky went to the mehindi night where Claire had a henna pattern applied to her arm. The main event was on Saturday, which ended up being a very long day for Claire. Nicky and I attended the evening celebrations and reception which we enjoyed, and then went back to Olivia's folks for hot beverages and a chat. Work has been much as usual for Nicky, and included Saturday morning standing in for a colleague who was off sick. I have had some modelling work and some Mac work which extended into the weekend with a troublesome laptop. The night time and early morning temperatures have dropped significantly as we are moving into autumn, but we are still getting into the mid-20's during the day. Rick

It is two and a half years ago today that we arrived in New Zealand, so we may celebrate with a bottle of wine this evening. It has been a fairly routine week for Nicky with work and Maori class, and for Claire with Uny, sofa testing and Whitcoulls. She had been asked to swap shifts this week and worked Friday instead of Thursday. I have had quite a busy week. The vicar's fiancé Murray runs an IT support company, most of their customers using PC's. However, they have a few with Macs and Murray asked if I would be available to do some Mac support for them. So, on Monday I went off to their office in Onehunga for induction into their systems and procedures. Then on Tuesday I went to see one of their customers with a couple of minor but irritating issues. On Wednesday I went with one of their existing staff to a couple of their sites which they visit every week, but there was nothing which needed my attention, so I spent some time rebuilding a Mac in their office. They have taken ...

March 1st was officially the first day of autumn, and the clear mornings are noticeably cooler, but we are still getting some very nice late summer days. Claire is getting back into the University routine now and is getting to grips with a range of assignments. Nicky has been busy at work (as ever), Maori class, life group and quilting group. I have had a bit of Mac work this week and a very enjoyable evening out playing pool with a bunch of chaps from Nicky's church. Nicky and I spent yesterday at home doing domestic duties, but due a good weather forecast (which turned out to be accurate) today we went up to the beach at Uretiti. We had planned to have "second breakfast" on the way, but discovered the café we were aiming for had closed. However, we still had a great day on the beach though the surf was very strong. There were not many people at the beach - we only passed one clothed couple while walking to the naturist section of the beach which seemed to be much closer...