Kiwikly Into 2016

New Years Eve was one of the hotter days so far. Sally drove Irene, the girls and me into the city. The events started underground where the girls did a sensory maze and we all did mini golf. A 'rocket' lift took us to street level. Over the years we have watched the civic square develop. One year there was an 'Occupy' camp on the grass. Now there is a funky looking arch. This was near the Coffee Club where we had lunch. I was a bit disappointed to find that there was only one helping of pancakes available. I let Irene have them and I went without my bacon and banana pancakes.

 After lunch we were driven north-west to a PYO strawberry place known as 'Big Red'. In the heat of the afternoon we picked about a ton of the fruit. Emily counted her collection to be 240. 

Emily nearing 240 strawberries

In the evening there was a water-balloon fight before we watched 'Inside Out'.

Then the rain came. It continued throughout new years day and the next day. Many Aucklanders go up north to camp after Christmas. Many of them returned home just as quickly as the rain was more than enough in that part of the country. There were  reports of congested roads, poor driving and bad behaviour. I had an exciting day. Talking to Joe and Julia was a highlight, particularly since we found out that Joe would be starting work on 12th January. I also had a ride out with Ian in search of a computer part.

The next day we stayed in and this time it was the turn of Tim, Isla and Izzie to be on the other end of the Skype connection. Iona was out. She had been to New Year celebrations in London.

On Sunday the rain had passed over, but we had decided to go to the church that we have attended in this country. I looked at their website and saw that the service began at 11.00 am. When we got there at 10.30 am we found that the service had already begun. The leadership, in their wisdom, had decided that, because it was holiday time, they would combine the 9.00 congregation with the 11.00 one. It was a good call since only 1000 people attended. Irene and I sat outside, drinking the free tea and coffee and watching the end of the service on a big screen.

In the afternoon Irene and I went up to the school playground to play with Zoe on the climbing frames.

Ian left for Australia on Monday morning and our plan was to go to the Zoo and MOTAT (Museum of Technology and Transport). Admittedly, it was a public holiday, but  there simply was no way to park near to either place. Even if we walked a long distance we would have experienced severe overcrowding, so Sally decided to go in the opposite direction to the Botanical Gardens. Here we also came unstuck with the usual parking. However, they did have space for an overflow car park.

 The girls enjoyed a good hour or so exploring. then, as we went up to the cafe word came that they had run out of food.

All of the above has never been experienced before, but given that it had been a wet weekend, many people had returned early from holidays and that tomorrow they would be back at work, it was not surprising.

Failing to get to these venues Sally took us to an unknown tourist hot spot, which was a cafe in Ellerslie. Here I almost got my pancakes. It turned out to be waffles with bacon, banana and syrup.

After tea Irene and I drove down to the beach to have a walk along the front. We stopped to talk to a family we know.They had made the decision to be on the beach.

Today it is the 5th. Sally is packing for Zoe to go off to the Jamboree tomorrow. Irene and I have been out to post cards off to the UK and to buy cross stitch material from Spotlight. Now she is happily working on it. The sound of Master Chef is in my background.