Sydney

We've just spent five days in Sydney with Connie and co. We arrived early Saturday morning and went to see Connie play soccer.  So cute - little 2 and 3 year olds running around in maroon and white uniforms. I was impressed with their ball skills and their ability to follow directions.  Next year I think Connie will have all the ball skills to play a game.

We brunched at the little corner coffee shop where the cooks and staff know everyone by name and their order.  Poached eggs and toast with Baby Chino for Connie please.  They make the best vege burger I know.!!

We stayed at a place  in the countryside just outside Kiami - about two hours drive from Sydney.  I must admit I enjoyed the ride down driving through Woollongong and along the coast.  Kiami was a coastal town - a bit bigger than we first realised.   We wandered around the  lighthouse, blow holes, markets (great pies), bouncy castle and swings.

Great choice of a weekend bach Becks.  Foxground Road about 30 minutes drive from Kiami.  The house didn't look much from the outside but inside it was close to a mansion - plenty of space and rooms and a fire (yes we lit the fire in October in Sydney). Almost every kitchen appliance you could ask for - and we didn't use one!!  We arrived to a number of kangaroos greeting us and in the morning New South Wales cockatoos chirped hello.  Connie loved her little green dinosaur that Helen had knitted - what a special creative friend.    I went for a wander up one of the side roads in the evening. It was rather a steep walk - similar to the start of Khandallah Bridle path but much much longer.  It was an interesting walk, signs said 'No Dogs, No Cats, No Tresspassers'.  Barbed wire followed the road - houses hid behind trees and iron gates (didn't get the impression they were mansions).  I stopped going up hill when I found some rather frisky cows grazing and playing close to the only house that wasn't hidden behind wire and iron.

 On the way back we drove through some typical Aussie countryside and stopped at a historical town called Berry for lunch and play while a 3 way skype call for work and failed rather dismally.

On Tuesday and we thought we would hang out with Connie but Connie had other thoughts.  About 10 minutes after Mum and Dad left she was sitting on her bike waiting to go to Daycare.  So, off we went.  After dropping Connie off we wandered around the harbour on a warm sunny day, enjoyed the new architecture, the Bangaroo seaside park, ate fish and chips beside the opera house before going to see My Fair Lady.  Great venue - acoustics fantastic - even the clapping sounded better.  Show was well worth seeing, though I felt rather under dressed in my casual clothes.  In the evening we watched the team prepare for the annual dance at the awards ceremony and then looked after Connie while mum and dad and went out for a well earned relaxing dinner.  Gradconnection won an award later on that week.  We played games with Connie (Old MacDonalds Farm lotto) before heading off to bed.

The next day Connie was happier to spend the morning with us.  So we took a trip to Darling Harbour, played on the flying fox and slides, experimenting at the water park and then Mike arrived to have lunch with us.

After dropping Connie off we had a wander to the Chinese Garden - I always love the oasis set amongst the sky scrapers of a city.  This garden was particularly well presented and cared for.  Then it was time to go back to the airport.  Another fantastic time in Sydney.  We love you all.

The week went fast at work (it was after all only 2 days).  We did some more work on the garden - Harry went and got trailer loads of dirt and I shovelled it into the garden.  We planted the feijoa tree bought for us a couple of years ago that had not been enjoying being in a pot, and I talked to the boysenberry and blueberry plants to encourage them to grow - it seems to be working!!

This week has been windy and wet in Wellington - it has lived up to its name.  We went to Pilates to try and get our muscles over the shock of all the weekend work and I said goodbye to an umbrella.

Question of the week:  Why does Tabby insist on sitting on one particular chair in our lounge?   It doesn't matter whose lap it is, and what is on that lap (eg knitting or laptop), she wants that chair!!  If there is no lap - then the couch is preferred.  That's cats for you!!

 It has been a quiet couple of weekends due to me managing to get my umpteenth bug this winter.  However, we did manage to get to the stage show Sister Act and Beyond the Barricade - both very enjoyable.  We managed a few walks in the botancial gardens - spring has sprung!! and also around the harbour.

 It is local body election time.  The wharves have painted hearts on them, encouraging people to feel positive about our little city - how could one not - and of course to vote.  Boy, is the single transferable voting thing hard to get your head around (not the process it is just ranking 8-12 candidates for 4 different bodies etc very time consuming). I am not surprised the turnout is low.

I diverge - its all about the hearts.  On them are little sayings that only Wellingtonians get.  Someone had a great deal of fun creating sayings.  Others from outside our city would ponder over and come up with different conclusions!!  Not sure they will encourage people to vote, but it did create some fun.

Second week in September

"How are we going to live in a cashless society"?  I wondered as I stood at the cafe with my friend.  "Our internet is down" the sign said "you will need to pay by cash". Five dollars floated around in my wallet. Carrot cake or coffee? Why couldn't I be trusted "Have what you like and pay later" the sign could say.  St Johns Ambulance also had a street appeal last week.  I imagine takings were down and I dreamt of collectors walking back with a few coins jangling in big white buckets. Will street collections soon be a thing of the past?  Then there are the beggars along Lambton Quay - the numbers seem to be growing - occasionally they receive a muesli bar when I have one but that doesn't help to pay for a nights accommodation.  And the buskers whom I love supporting especially bagpipers?  

The other question for this week is why after a good amount of exercise do I have a bad nights sleep? I tried walking home and going to Pilates one day and had a really rough night floating in and out of sleep that night.  Google tells me exercise and diet affects sleep patterns - so perhaps I should have opted for the caffeine rather than the carrot cake.  What would a nutritionist say?  

Weather this week a mix of winter and summer.  Walking home up the Bridal Path was a picture some days.

The weekend was wet.  The rain started Friday night when we were at the movies watching Sully.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sully_(film).  Saturday it rained most of the day (in the half hour it didn't I put some weedmat on the garden box in the hope of rescuing the worms who were losing the fight against birds or drowning.  We went to Don and Judy's, played rummicub and enjoyed a cauliflower kedgeree.  The cheesecake I made was pretty perfect compared to other attempts (no I did not buy it).  It was still raining on Sunday (it feels like a years rain in a weekend) and so we tried making Malai Kofta - came out a bit weird but tasted ok, but that is the story of my life when it comes to cooking.  I won't share that receipt at the mo.

Even though it is a bit cold and wet (proven by Tabby), the flowers still think it is spring time.

Well, it is nice to see someone is following our restarted blog, by asking where is Caramello?  He stayed at home during our last trip - probably not out of choice, but being bad parents we forgot to take him!!  Anyway, here is a photo of him lounging around with friends in the garden.

It was another domesticated weekend.  We started off by going to see Poi e which we really enjoyed -  a move with a bit of kiwi culture and humour  http://www.nziff.co.nz/2016/auckland/poi-e-the-story-of-our-song/.

Saturday dawned cold but not wet, so we ventured off to get top soil for our new garden.  It took two trips to get two cubic metres and a few hours to move it into the garden.  This was the story of a role reversal - perhaps us woman shouldn't have fought so much for liberation!!  We scooped the soil from the trailer into the driveway and while Harry returned for the second load I shovelled it into buckets and moved it into the garden.  Arriving back, he was surprised I hadn't cleared a small path for him to go through the gate and then said "the car was a lot lighter with only one person in it"! How to stay friends with your wife in one easy lesson!  Men, do not consider Harry as a role model.   Harry then hopped in the car, returned the trailer, bought fish and chips and returned to about a little pile of soil which I left for him.  I planted a couple of blueberries and a blackcurrant - the beginning of our edible garden.

Saturday night (nursing a rather sore knee) we went to Melissa and Rob's for dinner.  We really enjoyed the drive over the Eastbourne and catching up with them. They cooked a great vege curry and I took a cheesecake which looked fine but wasn't quite set.  I think when using agar you need to double the amount that is recommended for gelatine in the recipe. Sunday dawned, we watched the Pumas and All Black game with a couple of cups of tea and then went for a gentle stroll around Plimmerton Beach.  The seagulls and shags were out in abundance.

 

 I had read in the paper a couple of weeks ago that egg shells make great incubators for seedlings. Lots of calcium! So, here is the start of our cherry tomatoes for this summer.  When you plant them apparently you crush the bottom of the egg shell, this means that the roots are left in tact.  Seedlings at my place will appreciate that as I usually just pull the little blighter out of the soil and hope for the best!!  Maybe that is why I have mixed results from my vege garden.

 Off to cook some meals for the week.I was given this recipe the other day, and it is really yummy particularly if you stir it all up and then put in the fridge over night.  I didn't even make little balls, just dolloped little drops in the pan to shall fry.

2 cups cooked lentils, 2 large eggs, 2/3 cup breadcrumbs, 1/2 cup ricotta, 1/4 cup parmesan and lots of pepper.  They go great over spaghetti with a tomato sauce (being lazy we didn't make out own, but I did throw some spinach in so feel o.k about that).

A rather quite weekend

Well, our hammies and glutes hurt today.  A result of an all affair with creating garden boxes.  They are taking shape now, and its top soil ordering this weekend and beginning to think what will be in our edible garden.

During the week we caught up with Helen and Andrew at the quiz, I played bridge, Harry did a night class, I went back to Pilates.

On Saturday night (complete with aches and pains) we wandered to the Cuba Street food markets and then on to the Symphony Orchestra (courtesy of David and Marion who are currently in Warsaw).  Great show - the colours of the orchestra pairing up with the brashness of the Roger Fox brass band.  We walked back along the waterfront - it was one of those clear, calm Wellington spring evenings.





Sunday, we decided a walk was just the thing for sore legs.  We drove to Raumati South and walked to Paraparaumu Beach.  A gentle stroll along the beach!! Yeah right.   Reasonably high tide meant that at times we were negotiating round little headlands and going up and down side streets trying to find the next dry spot to get back onto the sand.  It is years since we had been up that way and I was reminded of the erosion, as many of the sea walls were falling down around the waves.

We had brunch at Raumati Beach (when it rained - great timing) and got rather wet feet on the way back - playing soccer with plant balls and not quite making it before the waves did.

All fun.