Lovely long weekend

It's been a fabulous 3 day weekend! Very relaxing and I managed to get a few things ticked off my to do list as well.

After being away last weekend the days all seemed to merge into each other and after an 11 day working week I was soooo tired by Thursday night. I felt that all I had been doing was sleeping and working for so long. But I'm pretty much recovered now.

On Friday we went into town and did a bit of shopping (including a visit to the new discount Dymocks store where I picked up Tales of Beatle the Bard for $11 - bargain!) and then took a wander through the Square to see the Waitangi Day celebrations. I couldn't resist a photo of the NZ flag given the occassion and also talked Graeme into taking a fabulous shot of the Clock Tower.

On Saturday we caught up with friends over coffee after a cruisey morning.

And today (well, I'm sure you will be as surprised as I was that I did this!) we cycled to the swimming pool and went for a swim! It was lovely. It's been way too long since we'd been to the pool (especially considering I have pre-paid swims so we don't have to pay) and we are committed to going back soon - hopefully next weekend.

Our neighbour was away for the weekend so we were dog sitting too. It's lovely to have 2 dogs and I was trying to convince Graeme we should make it a permanent number but he wasn't so sure after all the play fights and barking in the middle of the night! Oh well.

This week is a 4 day week for me as well. I am off on Friday then all of the week after and don't go back to work until Tuesday 25th February. I have some annual leave to use up before the end of the month. Plans at this stage are to scrapbook, walk the dog, go on some bike rides, pay a visit to some wedding photographers (and possibly florists and maybe even some cake tasting) and have a bit of a clearout at home. Plus blog some more! So you might hear from me a bit more often over the next couple of weeks.

Back Home

It always feels so lovely to come home after being in the big smoke.

Auckland's okay and I would certainly recommend it to anyone visiting New Zealand but it's not home.

I flew up to Auckland on Thursday afternoon and got home yesterday (Sunday) afternoon. I had a great few days...I was working but it's a great part of my job - welcoming volunteers into New Zealand and showing them the sights.

I was very brave (or stupid...I can never tell the difference!) and drove in Auckland for the first time...not only that but I was driving a 12 seater mini van (also for the first time) and I am pleased to report no crashes or even scrapes. I had to drive on the wrong side of the road to get in a supermarket carpark and then had a couple of minutes panicking that the van wouldn't go under the height barrier but it all came right in the end...phew!

We did the usual sights and despite already having hundreds of photos from Auckland attractions I still took more!
The top photo is the Auckland sky line taken from Devonport (my first visit - it's really cute and reminds me of little English coastal towns in the middle of summer holidays) and the second photo is taken from the Sky Tower looking down.
As well as seeing the usual sights, me and my boss also took a stroll round Viaduct Harbour to see the Louis Vuitton boats....we were also lucky enough to be in the same bar as Brad Butterworth (although some New Zealanders may deem that unlucky from what I've heard!) but didn't get close enough for photos or autographs.

So a good weekend but very tiring - I was up at 5am on Friday and 5.30am on Sunday and didn't sleep all that great knowing I was away from home and having to be up early.
We have a 3 day weekend coming up though so I will have plenty of time to relax at the end of this week. It's Waitangi Day. No plans at this stage other then relaxing and hopefully enjoying the sunshine.

Have a good week :-)

Mostly photos

Just a quick one tonight because I'm feeling yucky. I actually meant to post yesterday but ended up in bed early with a pounding headache. This morning I felt alright and I went to work but this evening I am feeling bleugh again so I am heading off to bed as soon as I hit the publish button on this post.

I'll just share some photos with you for now.

We went out to Ashhurst on saturday to meet up with some friends. It made a nice change from Starbucks and we met at The Herb Farm Cafe. Everyone had a piece of cake apart from me and they came with gorgeous flowers as garnish. My muffin didn't have anything so I stole Graeme's flower and took this photo...(the muffin was yummy by the way)

And then on the drive home we had the most awesome view...

And last week I came across these gorgeous little pansies (or are they violas?) in our front garden....aren't they cute?

I'm up in Auckland later this week and over the weekend for work so there may be a lack of posts this weekend. The following weekend is a 3 day-er though due to Waitangi Day and then the week after that is a 4 day week as I have the Friday (13th) and all the following week off.

I'm hoping the weather stays fairly decent for my time off and I'm hoping to get up to date with some wedding planning.

Okydoke, off to bed - hope you all have a good week!

An audience with Kate!

It's been brought to my attention that I do, indeed, have an audience (waving to Kelly and to Dad!) so I better do my jolly best to keep posting here!

I spent last weekend up in Auckland with work (Thursday to Sunday) so this week has been spent quietly trying to recover from early starts and long days! Wednesday was a public holiday in New Zealand - Waitangi Day - so we had a nice quiet day and took the dog for a long walk along by the river.

Yesterday (Saturday) we spent doing housework (yuck!) as I have realised we need to have a bit of a clearout. It's not my favourite job (far from it) but it's well overdue! So yesterday we had a clearout in the bedroom and I found pairs of shoes and bags I had forgotton I owned! Which is good as I should be able to get some use out of those for a while and forego the need to buy anything new! We finished yesterday off with a BBQ dinner. We had homemade herb burgers (which are yummy) and BBQd corn on the corn and pineapple with salad and fresh bread!

Today, we had a lazy start and met friends for a coffee. Our plan to have a 2nd BBQ in 2 days was almost scuppered as it's been raining today so we were back to our old style BBQ-ing....

Yep, that's right - BBQing in the garage! I'm sure we have used that BBQ more in the garage then we ever have outside!

We are grateful for the rain though as it's been stinking hot lately and we were in need of some water for the garden.

The tomatoes are coming on well - we've already had a couple and there's a few that should be ready this week...

And one last picture....during Graeme's foraging in the garden he discovered some mysterious grape like berries on a bush behind the lemon tree and we are wondering if they are grapes...
...Dad, any ideas? If you can't view the picture - let me know and I'll email it to you instead!