Not the Office Roof

On Thursday morning Zoe had a special treat. Sally went off to work. Karen picked up Emily and took her to child care. Later we took Zoe to see mummy at work in her office.


As you can see, Sally is in the beverages business. Zoe stayed longer than we thought she would and we were able to join in with enjoying the chocolate cheese cake being shared to celebrate the departure of one of the staff to maternity leave.

Having dropped Zoe back to child care we returned home to do a few jobs. The wind was getting stronger and the weather was deteriorating. As we sat eating lunch there was the most almighty metallic crashing sound. We rushed to the window thinking that something had blown off the house to see part of the roof of the park building opposite on the other side of the car park and another piece blow across, hitting the power cable, causing sparks and landing across the end of our drive. There was no disruption to the power.


We watched as the council workers on the park calmly did nothing. However, the foreman was soon on his mobile phone. We watched as the wind threatened to bring the corrugated metal sheet up to the drive and into the front of the hire car. No one would believe it if I saw two cars go to the body shop in one holiday. (By the way, Sally had her car back and it looks better than it did before the collision - even the rust had gone.)

In a short time a fire engine appeared and naturally started the proceedings by putting out cones.


As you can see the council work men had the wisdom to run a digger on to the sheets in the park to prevent further damage.


Once they got going the firemen and the workmen quickly got the bits of roof removed and tidied up.

No one was injured and, apart from the roof, no serious damage was done. The lady owner of the white car in the picture above returned to her car to find the scene of devastation, but was obviously relieved to see her car completely unscathed and was escorted off the scene by the firemen.

I checked with a fireman whether it was safe to leave and we set off to the local garden centre. The wind was getting more furious and the coast road was getting drenched by waves breaking on the sea wall.

We arrived at Palmers Garden Centre as it started to rain. The centre has a collection of brollies for customer use. (Great idea - UK garden centres take note.)

We collected the girls, had tea, spent some time on our own before rejoining Sally for another episode of 'Boston Legal' before going to bed with the wind howling and rain lashing down. Aucklanders were warned to keep off the roads between 7 am and 12 noon, but by morning it was calm so we took the girls to school and then went off to do some shopping in Newmarket and Slyvia Park.

We were pleased to find a letter from Jenny when we arrived back. (It was a little soggy -Please note the mail box. Papers are put in the round hole and letters through a slot in the box below. The box has a rear flap which blows about in the wind.)

The weather looks brighter and the wind has dropped.

Seaside Holiday

Today has been one of those we are on holiday days.

After doing some work around the house this morning we had lunch. I made a cuscus concoction. I have never had couscous. But, warmed up with chopped fresh tomatoes and sweet chilli sauce it was nice.

Then we smothered ourselves with suntan lotion, grabbed our books and went off to the beach at St Heliers. The sea was out and it was a very low tide. We headed 0ff in the direction of the rocky headland.

We were able to scramble a good way round until we came in sight of the Lady Bay steps. However, we reached a point were we could go no further. There had obviously been a connecting bridge from the flat rocks where we were to the rocks of Lady Bay, but erosion had long since removed them. The strata was very horizontal and at times looked like a man made wall. In places what looked like pipes of hard rock stood out.


In other places the soft rock layers had been undercut and the platform of hard rock and been worn into an overhanging jigsaw pattern.

The people who live near the edge of this place have wonderful views.


We tried to find some shade, but decided to sit on a bench overlooking the bay and read our books.

We did a bit of shopping and back to the house.

Zoe and Emily played their usual evening games on the swings and the trampoline. Zoe also picked the first of the raspberries. I am hoping that Zoe will settle down earlier than last night so that we can join Sally to enjoy another episode of Boston Legal

Crystal Mountain and Botanic Gardens

Today we went our separate ways.

Mum, Sally and Emily went off to the Botanic Gardens and Ian, Zoe and myself went off to Crystal Mountain.

The range of charges was daunting.

Crystal Mountain is an area some distance away in Auckland. It is trying to be a theme park for adults and children, but it fails in being a theme park and children friendly. It has number of activities for children, but these are hourly and children just won't wait. There is a roller coaster which Zoe went on, a tractor train, which we had to give up on, pony rides, crystal panning. There was also a display of crystals and a well stocked crystal jewellry shop.

We regrouped at the house and had a leisurely afternoon. It was too hot to be out for long. UV burn times, with blocker, were extremely small.

In the evening Sally and Ian went for a meal in Parnell while we baby sat. When Sally got back we sat and watched the first episode of 'Boston Legal' - strange but enjoyable, with William Shatner playing a comic part as an aging head of a law firm.

It is now Sunday morning, the day is starting, the sun is starting to blaze and we are promised temperatures near to 40 C with burn times of 3 minutes. Keeping cool and out of the sun is the priority. There is no actual air conditioning, but the heat exchanger between the roof space and the house is on and I expect all the fans will soon be buzzing.