Second Summer

There has been a tropical storm passing by the north of us this week. Parts of the far north have been flooded again, but down here in Auckland we have been trapped between two weather systems resulting in a wonderful week of mainly warm, sunny weather. This has coincided with Nicky taking a week off work. A little while ago the staff were strongly encouraged to take their annual allocation of leave during their "leave year" as it has been noted that those who don't take their leave take more sickness time than those who do take their leave. So Nicky booked four days this week, and with the long Easter weekend it has given her a 10-day break.

Nicky got some gardening done on Monday and I did a little Mac work. We watched a film called "Paperclips" about a school in the USA expanding the horizons of the students by studying the holocaust. In order to get some idea of what "6 million" equates to, they starting collecting paperclips. The film was moving and informative, and if you come across it, give it a watch.

Tuesday was a more exciting day as we had the morning at the cinema seeing "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel", and then collected Claire and went to Billfish in Westhaven for lunch. We both really enjoyed the "Marigold Hotel", with its excellent cast and heart-warming story, another film to highly recommend. I have wanted to explore Westhaven for ages having driven past it many times, and Billfish had a good review in Canvas magazine so I thought we could kill two birds with one stone. Billfish was more restaurant than cafe which I wasn't expecting, but the food was very good (Fish and Chips for C & N and King Prawns and kumera chips for me) and pretty good value. We thoroughly enjoyed it, and it was really nice to go out for lunch with Claire. We had a drive round the harbour before returning Claire to Mt Eden and her studies. On the way home we called into Nosh and spent Nicky's Christmas voucher on frozen croissants, ready to bake ciabatta, fresh crusty wholemeal loaf and some feijoa chocolate. We had the crusty loaf for tea with some cheese and salad because we didn't feel we needed much with having had such a good lunch.

Wednesday dawned clear and warm, so we decided to go to the zoo. I had never been and Nicky hadn't been since she was here with Claire in 1998. In addition, a little while ago she was given a free ticket for two adults due to her being a council employee. I was keen to use it as it expired in June, and would save us $44. So Nicky made up a picnic lunch with most of the remaining crusty wholemeal, and we drove off to the zoo, which must have taken us all of 10 minutes. We were very surprised when we got there as the car park was almost full, even though the school holidays hadn't yet started. Once we got to the entrance we found a large contingent of year 7 Dio girls had just arrived. With Nicky being a Dio "old girl" she couldn't resist a chat with a few of them.

We wanted to see as much as possible but top of the list was the NZ native section, which is relatively new. To get there we had to walk through most of park, which was a very enjoyable experience. We were both very impressed with the layout and landscaping of the zoo, and the husbandry of the animals. I am not a big fan of zoo's, but I found it a very pleasant place to be. We were even more impressed with the NZ native section when we got there. A great deal of thought and work has obviously gone into it. We had to break for a cup of tea by mid afternoon and noticed that all the school girls had disappeared, giving the park and even quieter and more serene air. Refreshed we walked round the remaining areas, still enjoying the warm sunshine and feeling we had enjoyed a wonderful experience.

We had a quiet day at home on Thursday, enjoying the warm sunshine and a visit from Claire. I popped out to do a bit of work late afternoon and Nicky went up to church in the evening, and then again on Friday morning. Ann came back with Nicky for a cup of tea and a good long chat, and then Nicky spent the rest of the day cleaning the venation blinds while I did the ironing.

Saturday morning was again sunny, but the afternoon cloudy. We started the day with a sumptuous breakfast of croissants and scrambled egg. With the croissants being frozen we had to put them in the cold oven the night before so they could thaw and rise. After brushing them with egg and heating them through they were some of the best we have had. Nicky continued with blind cleaning and I did some shopping and helped with laundry. In the afternoon we walked down to the beach and have not seen the tide so low before. We were able to see sand banks which we didn't know existed and walk out into the bay around the boat house. There was nothing on the telly in the evening so we decided to watch "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1" on DVD.

Today has been another day of clear skies and warm sunshine. A number of ladies came back from church with Nicky for tea and coffee, and we said good bye to Jancis as we probably won't see her again before she returns to the UK next weekend. Before lunch we decided to continue our Easter tradition of going up a volcano. This year we did an ascent of the east side of Mt Roskill, without oxygen, muffins or hot cross bunnies. At least, I think it is Mt Roskill. The sign at the entrance and all the maps call it Winston Park, but it is the only hill in the suburb of Mt Roskill and I don't think even the locals would call a suburb Mt Something if it didn't have a similarly named hill. Anyway, it was a gentle stroll to the top which gave us some lovely views. It is our closest volcano so gives us the closest view of where we live from a high vantage point, so I have marked this on the photo. Blockhouse bay is just behind the hilltop indicated by the arrow.

This afternoon we made lost of Vitamin D by laying out on the deck, though Nicky did take a break for awhile to wash the car. This evening we have watched "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2". So now it is time for bed.

Good night and take care,

Rick