Mini break

Nicky has not been to work this week, except for Saturday. Monday is now part of her weekend, Tuesday was Waitangi Day (so a public holiday), and Wednesday, Thursday and Friday she took days owing to her for missing out on earlier public holidays which had fallen on a Monday.

So, with Bruce and Wendy being in the country, after Nicky returned from church last Sunday we packed up a picnic and headed off to Titirangi to buy some light-weight gifts for B&W. By the time we had found what we wanted it was almost 1pm, so we ate the first half of our picnic in the car park in Titirangi. The we headed south to Mount Maunganui, stopping in Ngatea for the second half of lunch and drinks and sticky buns. We arrived the The Mount in time for dinner and had a lovely evening with Bruce, Wendy and Marnie.

We started Monday with a good long walk down the beach with Wendy, concluding with a swim. Bruce greeted us with a wonderful cooked breakfast on our return which we ate al fresco. Nicky had got in touch with Andrew and he came and met us for a late morning walk around The Mount. We had a quiet and relaxing afternoon before moving to the pool and putting the world to rights in the spa. Our al fresco dinner was long and very enjoyable.

Waitangi Day started clear and sunny, so we headed off down the beach (which was much busier) for a walk before breakfast. 

After pottering round the apartment for awhile we drove down to the naturist beach at Papamoa, where B&W joined me in skinny dipping in the surf, the waves being much bigger and stronger than at “their” part of the beach nearer The Mount. We had a late BBQ lunch by the pool and a quiet and relaxing afternoon (read snoozing). We drove into town early evening to have pizza by the lagoon and watch a cruise liner departing. Nicky, Marnie and Bruce also had ice cream. When we got back to the apartment, B, W, N and I had a couple of games of Trivial Pursuit, the first one of which the mozzies ended up enjoying with having fresh blood to consume.

Wednesday started out much quieter and somewhat duller. It was just Nicky and I for the pre-breakfast beach walk and just me for a swim, but the water was lovely and felt warm compared to the stiff breeze. We went to Mixture, a recently opened café, where the five of us had an excellent breakfast. As Bruce, Wendy and Marine packed and moved apartment, Nicky and I packed and departed for home. We had another pleasant drive, stopping in Paeroa to by corn, avocados, peaches and plumbs from a roadside store.

First task when we got home was to shop for veg as we were heading off for Nicky’s house group BBQ and had offered to take roast veg. While Nicky was doing that I popped across the main road to collect a Mac for upgrading. We had a good evening at Jan and Johns’ and enjoyed the dishes provided by everyone. 

Thursday was forecast to be our last fine day for awhile due to a tropical storm heading our way, so I did three loads of washing. While it was drying I finished upgrading the Mac, returned it to the customer, got a new phone for an elderly customer who has moved into residential nursing care just down the road, and did the supermarket shop. Nicky cut the grass and did loads of baking with the fruit we had bought the previous day.

The rain arrived overnight. I had a job to do over in Greenlane, and just after I returned Bruce and Wendy arrived for lunch on their way to Waiheke Island. After they had snaffled their corn on the cob and headed off for the ferry, Nicky did some more sewing and I did some more shopping and we had nuts and hot cross buns in front of the telly for tea. Lovely!

Saturday continued with the rain as Nicky went off to work. I did the ironing and made bread and mince pies. Stella and Steve came over for Scrabble and we had a quiet evening.

Nicky only had a short time at church this morning as we knew Bruce and Wendy were on their way back from Waiheke, along with Elizabeth (Peter C’s niece), her husband Tim, and their 18-month old James. We had some preparation to do as B&W are staying over night. We had a good lunch and it was great to meet new members of the family. Bruce took them to the airport early afternoon so that they could return to their home in Sydney.

We spent the afternoon talking with B&W and then having a different game of Trivial Pursuit (Wendy and I won again) after dinner. It has been really warm and wet all day, and the humidity keeps setting the smoke alarm off, so I think we are in for a sticky night.

Hope you enjoy all this weeks photos.

Take care, Rick