I was soon over my jet lag. After a lazy Saturday afternoon relaxing with Sharon and Aaron and giving Tabby cat lots of attention (she recognised me and gave me lots of hugs which was quite impressive as last time Harry was the only candidate for her affections). We went for a little wander and had a late lunch and then Sharon and Aaron dropped me off at my hotel. It was a good idea to stay one night in a hotel - I went to bed as soon as they left at 6.30 and woke up again for good at 9.15 the next morning. Fairly refreshed but not totally. I would have been lousy company for any of my friends or family if I had stayed with them. In the morning I ate a leisurely breakfast and had a long chat to a waiter from Russia. I think he was pleased when he knew I understood about the difficulties of living overseas, when some times are good and other times are just not so good, how it is a bit harder making friends when you don't sound like the locals and when there is a pull towards home even when you are having a great time. Sharon and Aaron came and picked me up right on the dot of 11.00 - a number of alarms had been set so that the two party goers woke up in time. We went for a nice walk around Oriental Bay and then had another late brunch. We then went home and I had my first go at playing wii games - a bit of tennis and some bowling - I can see how you can get quite fit - once you get the hang of it and don't swing your remote too near the television. Then I caught up with Jill and Graham and Rachel, Clare, Gareth and Mya for the evening. Which was great fun - friends that you can not see for ages and then when you do it feels like only yesterday are so special. I had such a treat when I learnt that Jill had taken the next day off and so we had a leisurely breakfast and then got dropped into town to get my drivers licence. This is a long story about red tape ... to keep it short... when we applied for our English licence the authorities insisted on taking our New Zealand one and destroying it. No reason - but we couldn't have the English one unless we gave it up and if we didn't give it up we couldn't drive. When doing some research to see if I could drive in NZ I found I had to have a current NZ one, do have but no proof of that in my little hot hand. So, Harry and I duly filled out lots of pieces of paper and sent the papers and cheque over, but not in time to get our new licences. So, I had to go and get a temporary one from AA and thankfully there were no problems otherwise Mum and I would be walking to Eketehuna. Incidentally Harry's licence has not yet turned up. Jill and I caught the cable car and then walked back up to Karori with my new temporary licence in my bag and stopped for a coffee and cheese scone (not common in the UK). The morning went by far too fast and in no time it was out to pick up Mum. It was lovely driving along familiar roads - not particularly busy. I drove past crumpled hills rather than the rolling English ones and they appeared so much smaller than I remember - probably because we always tell the English they don't have hills only little bumps in the landscape. Down through Pukerua Bay I drove and along the coast road which is one of my favourite places - not the road really but the cliffs falling into the sea below and waves crashing over the rocks and sometimes the road. Another revelation - I always thought our roads were quite narrow but actually most of them aren't much narrower than the English ones - just a whole less busy. Autumn is coming, just a few golden leaves falling and the weather is surprisingly warm for this time of year. Cheryl had borrowed a horse float for me to sleep in and so that was my bed for the next couple of nights - no horses thankfully. I am sleeping in the caravan area wedged between the cab area and the horse sleeping area - a bit like a static caravan really but with an engine. Lucky me - it was fun. The first night I slept up top but the skill it takes to climb up and down during the night with arthritic knees made me rethink and the second night was down below in a bed Marty kindly made through taking the table out and extending the seats and legs. Harry will be really surprised but I was up before everyone else (except Marty and his dogs who went off to work) and so I went for a walk along the road and got some lovely photos of cows, sheep, dogs and the valley waking up on an autumn morning.
Once everyone else rose we went for a drive to Woodville and Pahiatua. The Lavender farm was closed for day and so was Fantasy Land (a place that the Tourist Information person told us was absolutely worth going to) but we managed to go to a little doll and bear museum and then onto the cheese cake shop. We needed that cheese cake and coffee after wandering about the museum. I took photos of Mum and Cheryl sitting with an 85 year old bear and 45 year old cat. We had a long chat with the lady who's hobby had become what looked like a full time job and she told us how she had bought the old house and organised it be moved to their farm before telling her husband - her message was 'tell secrets quickly and get it over with' because she kept putting off the 'telling' almost until the house arrived. Just imagine the story in the pub - and I came home and there was a house sitting in my backyard!! We also had a wander through an art gallery which had some fabulous paintings (on canvas and car bonnets) and photos (a bigger bag and I would have come back with a book of black and white photos!!). I am rather annoyed with myself cos I have lost the name of the gallery, and there is a neat story about how the photographer and painter met on the beach at Kapiti.
Cheryl has an interest in history and we enjoyed learning in the evenings a little about some famous New Zealanders that I hadn't heard of before. We did a bit of geneaology looking as well - as many of our family originates from England (not surprising) and she has managed to dig up some interesting things about our Maori family as well. Monday night was stormy - windy and wet. The horse float rocked and swayed in the night and I was reminded of our camping expedition in Wales. The next day we visited Mount Bruce with Jodie and I enjoyed watching the feeding of a young tuatara. At first, I thought he was plastic, but plastic tuataras don't blink and certainly don't eat vitamin coated grasshoppers and slaters. I think we were surprised at how fast this little creature could move when food was on the horizon - fairly natural when you think about it. The rest of the week was spent with Jim and Margot catching up with them in the evenings (and a bit of glow worm spotting in the dark) and lots of other friends during the day. Weather still great and between coffees, nibbles and chats I enjoyed the sun at the harbour, visiting the art gallery, wandering up and down Wadestown Hill and the rose gardens, revisiting Katherine Mansfield's house, and wondering how many Weightwatcher muffin bars, Marmite, choccy biscuits and Watties Indian Spiced Tomatoes I could fit in my little bag - not enough was the conclusion. Then it was off to Sydney to see Mike and Becks and that is the topic of another blog. Getting back from Sydney was long...10 hours in fact...and I managed to let Jan know I couldn't meet her but thought I had enough time to still meet Heather for dinner. Well, we were on the plane and that very very long flight path and an aborted landing meant I was very late for our dinner date but we still caught up over food in Petone and I had a great time chatting and eating ... then it was off to pick up Sharon and Aaron from the airport. It was about this time that I began to think about starting a diary 'The Adventures of a Stranded Passenger' as the flights to and from Europe were stopped due to the Iceland volcano have a temper tantrum. After a day of thinking about this we all came up with plans on what I could do (like go and stay with Jan in Napier, have more cups of coffees, dinners and walks with friends, perhaps buy a house) and besides missing Harry I thought I could cope quite well with being stranded (when I arrived back at to work - my work mates were quite sympathetic about me not being delayed!!). And all too quick the time had gone - and I was saying goodbye to Mum (after spending the night with her, having a nice dinner in Raumati with her and Sharon) and then waving goodbye to Sharon and Aaron at the airport. It was very hard saying goodbye and I shed a few tears in the plane loo - before drying my eyes and hatching my next plan to return back to this little island in the big ocean. My only regret is that I didn't take enough photos of my friends and family ... not sure why ... but I think it was simply because it was too good talking and we had so much to catch up on. I did take some photos for Harry though and the game is 'Where was I standing when I took the photos?'. He did quite well at this quiz.
Cheryl has an interest in history and we enjoyed learning in the evenings a little about some famous New Zealanders that I hadn't heard of before. We did a bit of geneaology looking as well - as many of our family originates from England (not surprising) and she has managed to dig up some interesting things about our Maori family as well. Monday night was stormy - windy and wet. The horse float rocked and swayed in the night and I was reminded of our camping expedition in Wales. The next day we visited Mount Bruce with Jodie and I enjoyed watching the feeding of a young tuatara. At first, I thought he was plastic, but plastic tuataras don't blink and certainly don't eat vitamin coated grasshoppers and slaters. I think we were surprised at how fast this little creature could move when food was on the horizon - fairly natural when you think about it. The rest of the week was spent with Jim and Margot catching up with them in the evenings (and a bit of glow worm spotting in the dark) and lots of other friends during the day. Weather still great and between coffees, nibbles and chats I enjoyed the sun at the harbour, visiting the art gallery, wandering up and down Wadestown Hill and the rose gardens, revisiting Katherine Mansfield's house, and wondering how many Weightwatcher muffin bars, Marmite, choccy biscuits and Watties Indian Spiced Tomatoes I could fit in my little bag - not enough was the conclusion. Then it was off to Sydney to see Mike and Becks and that is the topic of another blog. Getting back from Sydney was long...10 hours in fact...and I managed to let Jan know I couldn't meet her but thought I had enough time to still meet Heather for dinner. Well, we were on the plane and that very very long flight path and an aborted landing meant I was very late for our dinner date but we still caught up over food in Petone and I had a great time chatting and eating ... then it was off to pick up Sharon and Aaron from the airport. It was about this time that I began to think about starting a diary 'The Adventures of a Stranded Passenger' as the flights to and from Europe were stopped due to the Iceland volcano have a temper tantrum. After a day of thinking about this we all came up with plans on what I could do (like go and stay with Jan in Napier, have more cups of coffees, dinners and walks with friends, perhaps buy a house) and besides missing Harry I thought I could cope quite well with being stranded (when I arrived back at to work - my work mates were quite sympathetic about me not being delayed!!). And all too quick the time had gone - and I was saying goodbye to Mum (after spending the night with her, having a nice dinner in Raumati with her and Sharon) and then waving goodbye to Sharon and Aaron at the airport. It was very hard saying goodbye and I shed a few tears in the plane loo - before drying my eyes and hatching my next plan to return back to this little island in the big ocean. My only regret is that I didn't take enough photos of my friends and family ... not sure why ... but I think it was simply because it was too good talking and we had so much to catch up on. I did take some photos for Harry though and the game is 'Where was I standing when I took the photos?'. He did quite well at this quiz.
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