Rick, Nicky and Claire in NZ

The most notable event of the week happened at 5am this morning. The right turn road rules changed, bringing New Zealand into line with the rest of the world. So now the rules here are the same as we were used to in England. Even after four and a half years of using a different regime (which I am not willing to explain because it will just fry my brain cell) I still have to think about what to do. I am hoping that I can go back onto autopilot but am interested to see just how long it takes to get back to my "old ways" and keep my eye on what the locals are up to. The week started very wet, and continued to be quite damp until Friday, and though we had had showers this morning Sunday has turned into a sunny and breezy day. It would be great for drying the laundry, if we hadn't already done it! It is still quite warm with night time temperatures in the mid-teens. Some parts of the country had two months of rain in two days, leading to some significant flooding. Wo...

It has been quite a full week, one way and another. I was pretty busy with Mac work on Monday, Tuesday and Friday. I spent most of Wednesday and Thursday at Claire's as she had her wisdom teeth out on Tuesday and was in need of some company. Nicky had a busy week at work, culminating in a special event on Friday evening as part of Pacifica. She organised people to come and read stories in different languages from the islands, and discus the stories. Nicky and I spent Wednesday evening cooking, in preparation for the International Food evening up at church on Thursday evening. Nicky made Apple Strudels, and I made the filling for Banger Pie (pork sausage, black pudding and apple in an onion and cider sauce). I made the pastry on Thursday morning before catching to bus to Mt Eden (Lilly was in for her service and WoF) and then put the pie together and cooked it just before going up to church. We had a good evening with a great range of foods to sample - I even managed to get the ...

It would appear, dear reader, that we are not alone. It has come to my notice this week that there are at least TWO other regular viewers of the blog. Amazing! Anyway, on to this week's exciting adventures. Nicky has been back at work. Not fully recovered but gradually improving. I have had some Mac work too, Friday being a very long day by recent standards. Claire came over for lunch on Tuesday, and sneaked in a watching of Notting Hill and a massage from me around our trip up the road to Bay Kebab for a burger and a falafel. A couple of weeks back I had a yin to watch "The Full Monty" again, but we don't have it on DVD so I ordered it from the library and it came this week. I watched it one lunchtime and was reminded why it is one of my favourite films. So many of the scenes in Sheffield appear familiar, and I can so easily identify with the characters and their situations. I first saw it not long after being made redundant. I had gone to London for a sales pres...

A busy week in some respects. Nicky has been off work all week with a virus which is giving her headaches, nausea, and aches and pains. It seems similar to a bug going round at work but the locum who signed her off for the week has run a couple of blood and urine tests. The weather on Monday and Tuesday was lovely and sunny. Mike returned from Hamilton on Tuesday and took us and Claire & Ryan out for dinner at Malt. Tuesday is also their quiz night, so we participated. We don't know quite where we finished up because we felt it was past our bedtime at the end of the last round but and didn't want to wait for the final scoring. We know we didn't win or come last. We enjoyed the evening and the food (though the music was a bit loud), and I bumped into my senior massage tutor (Shelly) from three years ago. It was good to see her and catch up. The weather was a little dull on Wednesday. I had some Mac work, Mike went up Sky Tower, and Nicky popped along to the Church AG...

I can tell from my expanding waistline that we have been involved in quite an entertaining week. On Monday, the vicar (Sarah) and her mum (Glennis) came over for a BBQ. It had been a gorgeous day and it was a lovely way to end it. Nicky had made a coleslaw, I did a potato salad and a green salad, and barbied a few steaks. The visitors brought some great wine, and we finished off with a lemon yoghurt cake and some chocolate cake. Mike Wall was with us too and we had a grand evening. Tuesday was much more humid and ended with rain, but the household was very cheerful as Claire and Ryan came over for pancakes. I made vegan ones with soy milk and no eggs. It took me a little while to get my eye in when cooking them because the soy milk gave the batter a different consistency, but they were very good. I put some on one side for Mike to make into a crepe suzette type dessert. Another good evening of company and food. Wednesday's weather was quite dull. I had a very long walk due to follo...

Nicky has been on holiday again this week, but we haven't been away. The weather forecast for the week was not brilliant, but turned out to be wrong most of the time, and we have had some lovely weather; just a few rainy bits. This has enabled Nicky to do lots of pottering round the house and sewing, and I have done a few Mac jobs here and there. On Tuesday Nicky went over to Glendowie and had lunch with Ruth. At some point during the week, Nicky was with me at the bakers and we bought our first batch of hot cross buns for the year, and have been thoroughly enjoying them. On Friday we went to the airport to collect Mike Wall, a friend from the UK who is visiting NZ and staying with us for awhile. On the way to the airport we called in on Claire for a quick tour of the NZ Archives where she is doing her internship. It was very interesting to see the place and the material that she is working with. We then popped over to one of the Icebreaker stores so that I could spend my Chris...

You may remember, dear reader, that last August Nicky and I had a weekend in Thames on the Coromandel peninsula. We liked it so much we decided we would like to go back for a holiday sometime. You may also remember that we had planned some holiday in February last year, but that Nicky used up all her annual leave taking time off work because of her suspected TIA's. Nicky is a member of the PSA Union, and the PSA own a number of holiday homes which are available at very reasonable rates for PSA members. They have a place in Whitianga, on the east coast of the Coromandel, so back in November last year I made a booking for us. That is where we have been this week, and we have had a wonderful time, so much so that I am now going to bore you with all the necessary details though just a few of the 670+ photos. Monday was Waitangi Day and therefore a public holiday. We had a quiet day at home doing laundry and getting ready for going away. Claire and Ryan came over for tea and brought us ...