Walking the Motorway
It has been a quieter week for all of us this week. The library hasn't been as busy now that NZ Library Week is over which has been good for Nicky. Claire has been on half term and nobody has been wanting me to fix their Macs, so it has been an opportunity for some father/daughter time. I'm not sure who suffered the most.
Nicky took a day off work on Tuesday (which was coincidentally a gorgeous day weather wise) for an induction course. She has joined an outreach group at church to minister at a women's prison. She and three others ladies went off together for the induction which lasted until early afternoon.
Nicky and I had a quiet day at home on Saturday doing our usual duties. Nicky popped down to see June (a neighbour on Matata St) in the afternoon, and we went for a wallow in the hot pools at Parakai in the evening, which was very pleasant.
On Sunday (today) Nicky and I participated in what I suspect is a bit of a Kiwi tradition - walking along new roads before they are opened to the traffic. Nicky walked over the harbour bridge when she was a wee thing, and yesterday the new road 4.5km from SH1 to SH20 was open for walking (though I only found out about this yesterday). What we did know about in advance was the replacement viaduct in Newmarket on SH1. A big chunk of the motorway will be closed next weekend for the switch over, but in a "once in a lifetime opportunity", the public were allowed to walk the 1.5kms today. I had initially planned to go in town on the bus and walk over to Newmarket due to expecting that parking would be almost impossible. Then this morning I came up with an alternative plan; drive to New Lynn and go on the train. This would get us much closer to where the walk was starting. We didn't have enough cash to buy train tickets there and back, but I didn't see this as a problem because there is a ticket office at Newmarket station so I could buy the homeward tickets with EFTPOS before boarding the train.
So, we packed a lunch, grabbed the wet weather gear as it didn't look too promising, and drove down to New Lynn. There were very few cars in the unofficial park 'n' ride car park, and when we walked over to the station we found out why - there weren't any trains running today so the station was closed. Rail buses were being provided as an alternative but we both know from our own experience that these can be unreliable, and if Newmarket station was also closed (highly likely), we wouldn't be able to buy tickets to get home. So, we got back in the car and decided to drive to Newmarket, and if we couldn't get parked at least we had had a trip out. As luck would have it, there was just one empty parking space on Nuffield Street when we got there, and it was free with is being a Sunday. This meant we were about 150 yards from where the walk started! Better to be born lucky than rich apparently.
The rain started to come down as we started the walk, but at the halfway turning point is started to ease and we had sunshine most of the way back. There was a very jovial atmosphere amongst all the walkers and we even met some people who we know. The views over the main shopping area of Newmarket were good, and it was nice to be able to linger and enjoy them. The weather wasn't good enough for us to have our picnic lunch, but as a travel time had been greatly reduced we drove home and had sandwiches and tea watching a film. In one of the photos below, the eagle eyed amongst you should be able to spot our little green Polo parked in the bottom left hand corner.
Steve has come over this afternoon from Scrabble, and Nicky has made scones which I have thoroughly enjoyed demolishing while writing this.
The weather has been changeable this week. As I said earlier Tuesday was gorgeous, sunshine all day. The rest of the week has been sunshine and showers, though not as wet as last week. The temperatures are also rising as the sun gets stronger, and on Thursday morning I even had to take my T-shirt off while out on my morning walk.
This is also our "anniversary" time of year - three years ago today we were having our first full day in Washington DC, having left the UK the day before.
See you next week,
Rick
Nicky took a day off work on Tuesday (which was coincidentally a gorgeous day weather wise) for an induction course. She has joined an outreach group at church to minister at a women's prison. She and three others ladies went off together for the induction which lasted until early afternoon.
Nicky and I had a quiet day at home on Saturday doing our usual duties. Nicky popped down to see June (a neighbour on Matata St) in the afternoon, and we went for a wallow in the hot pools at Parakai in the evening, which was very pleasant.
On Sunday (today) Nicky and I participated in what I suspect is a bit of a Kiwi tradition - walking along new roads before they are opened to the traffic. Nicky walked over the harbour bridge when she was a wee thing, and yesterday the new road 4.5km from SH1 to SH20 was open for walking (though I only found out about this yesterday). What we did know about in advance was the replacement viaduct in Newmarket on SH1. A big chunk of the motorway will be closed next weekend for the switch over, but in a "once in a lifetime opportunity", the public were allowed to walk the 1.5kms today. I had initially planned to go in town on the bus and walk over to Newmarket due to expecting that parking would be almost impossible. Then this morning I came up with an alternative plan; drive to New Lynn and go on the train. This would get us much closer to where the walk was starting. We didn't have enough cash to buy train tickets there and back, but I didn't see this as a problem because there is a ticket office at Newmarket station so I could buy the homeward tickets with EFTPOS before boarding the train.
So, we packed a lunch, grabbed the wet weather gear as it didn't look too promising, and drove down to New Lynn. There were very few cars in the unofficial park 'n' ride car park, and when we walked over to the station we found out why - there weren't any trains running today so the station was closed. Rail buses were being provided as an alternative but we both know from our own experience that these can be unreliable, and if Newmarket station was also closed (highly likely), we wouldn't be able to buy tickets to get home. So, we got back in the car and decided to drive to Newmarket, and if we couldn't get parked at least we had had a trip out. As luck would have it, there was just one empty parking space on Nuffield Street when we got there, and it was free with is being a Sunday. This meant we were about 150 yards from where the walk started! Better to be born lucky than rich apparently.
The rain started to come down as we started the walk, but at the halfway turning point is started to ease and we had sunshine most of the way back. There was a very jovial atmosphere amongst all the walkers and we even met some people who we know. The views over the main shopping area of Newmarket were good, and it was nice to be able to linger and enjoy them. The weather wasn't good enough for us to have our picnic lunch, but as a travel time had been greatly reduced we drove home and had sandwiches and tea watching a film. In one of the photos below, the eagle eyed amongst you should be able to spot our little green Polo parked in the bottom left hand corner.
Steve has come over this afternoon from Scrabble, and Nicky has made scones which I have thoroughly enjoyed demolishing while writing this.
The weather has been changeable this week. As I said earlier Tuesday was gorgeous, sunshine all day. The rest of the week has been sunshine and showers, though not as wet as last week. The temperatures are also rising as the sun gets stronger, and on Thursday morning I even had to take my T-shirt off while out on my morning walk.
This is also our "anniversary" time of year - three years ago today we were having our first full day in Washington DC, having left the UK the day before.
See you next week,
Rick
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