The Last Week of January 2016

The week following was to be mainly child care duties. On Sunday morning it was our usual trip to the Hillside Community Church. After this we set off to Point England. I have to say that at about this time the temperatures began to move to extremes. More than one person said that the temperatures were at the highest that they had known.

Last time we visited Point England was two years ago on the evening before we flew to our adventures around Christchurch. This time it was a very hot Sunday afternoon. Large family groups of Maori families had set up camp and were busy barbequing. We walked further than last time and caught a glimpse of the rear of the spit. From this view point it is hard to believe the amount of business around Mt Wellington. It looks quite idyllic.

On Monday we had our best ever visit to the zoo. Both girls were fully occupied. Zoe drew up a list of animals to be found. A very kind lady (Zoe’s words) pointed out that there were passports to collect animal stamps as we walked round the zoo. After seeing the animals on our list the challenge was to collect the remaining stamps.

The next day was more domestic. The first thing was to take the girls for a hair do. While they did this I went shopping at PAK'nSAVE. My next task was to take Emily to her tutor. Earlier Emily had reported ear trouble and so the next thing was to drop the girls off at the doctors. There was nothing serious and pain killer was prescribed. This gave us time for Zoe and Emily to have an hour at ‘Skate’. This is roller and in-line skating.

Simone, the nanny, collected the girls on Wednesday morning to take them to ‘Rainbows End’. This is something like Alton Towers. While they did this mum and I went to the end of West Tamaki Drive. There is a car park and an entrance to Tahuna Torea Reserve. This proved to be a good place for mum to learn tree names as there were many interpretation boards. We also saw the remains of an old Maori settlement. Among the remains are pipi shells. Last night they were cooking them on Master Chef.

After we got back we managed a short dip in the pool before the girls returned and then we played Muggins.

The next day there were some health issues with the girls and we were in for the day. Zoe had a stiff neck and the doctor attributed it to the possibility of over-cooling by air-con in the night.

It was an exciting start to Friday I drove her to endless dairies in search of jam for the pancakes. This ended in failure as all the strawberry jams had pips. Then I had a drive to take Emily to her tutor.

We had a much more interesting afternoon. We took the girls to Cornwall Park. On the way we called into a remodelled McDonalds. Mum thought it was good that you could view all the products and make an easier choice.

The trip to Cornwall Park was to the Star Dome. We were early for the 2.00 pm show and the girls had time to play. Once more there was a flying fox. We were fortune that at the swinging tyres a young mum was able to supply the energy needed.

 Star Dome is what it says. The show was about the work of an astronaut. It was followed by a presentation of the night sky tonight. At least 4 planets would be visible and these appearing to be in a straight line.

After this was a surprise. Apparently we had arrived for the last holiday session and we were taken over to the laboratory were the children played with scientific things. The session ended by an outside display of rocket launching.

Muriwai was our Saturday morning destination. It is on the west coast and we have been numerous times to see the gannet colony. After taking more photographs at the colony (I am particularly pleased with a couple) we drove down to the café for lunch. There was nowhere to park and we were obliged to drive along the road towards the beach. It was the last weekend of the summer holiday, it was hot and it was very busy. In places it was about as crowded as Blackpool beach in July. Unlike Blackpool the sand was volcanic black rather than oil black, the sea was blue and the waves white and ready for surfing.

On the way home we stopped for ice-cream in the café on the edge of Muriwai. Later we stopped for shopping in a large supermarket. The signs asked us to ‘Please enjoy the 90 minute parking’.

The last full week of the summer holiday ended in our usual way with our visit to church. In the afternoon we drove off to see Hobson’s Bay board walk.

The bay had gotten cut off from the sea, firstly by the railroad and secondly by the road. There were channels through to the sea. Consequently mangroves are taking over and the water level is dropping. However there was a small beach and speed boats skimmed across the water.

The board walk is a triumph of wood engineering. It is quite beautiful to look at. Along each part of the board walk was art work done by the local state schools.

And that ended the first month of 2016 which is, in this country, the last week of the Summer Holidays.