The Tuesday in Auckland

Hi,

Very busy day at work yesterday.  Went out to a client site in west Auckland.  Henderson.  I'm not overly familiar with Auckland geography.  Lucky I had a local navigating.  Coming back was peak hour traffic.  But Auckland's traffic doesn't seem to have a thing on Melbourne or Sydney traffic.  We went out for a team dinner.  I ate a massive 500g steak as did everyone else.  I finished first - and that included three men!  Hahahah.  They really need to stop talking if they want to finish first.

2.5 kgs of steak on our plates

I drove a colleague home and we had ice cream and a tour around her new house.  I think they have slept in it for only three nights so far.  Loads of renovations.  Lovely view out over to the city and Rangitoto Island.

I missed catching up with Roz though.  But she did point out that with the All Blacks staying in my hotel and ice cream on the menu, I was having a pretty good time!  Hahahah.  Funny.

Had a good sleep.  Up early to ride the bike in the gym.  Beat yesterday's time - just!  By thirteen seconds.  Checked out and as I was leaving Ma'a Nonu walked in.  I ignored him.  He was at Maranui Surf Club cafe when I was there last with Aidan.  He's stalking me.

Coming home after a busy day today.  Wellington, here I come!

Love,
Angela

Sunrise this morning

The Monday in Auckland

Hi,

Happy birthday to Shona and Sharon for yesterday.  And in case I forget, happy birthday to Karen for Thursday!

I am in Auckland for work for a few days.  It is keeping me busy.  Out of mischief.  All those sorts of things.  I did meet up with Roz for dinner on Monday night though.  She took me to a great Mexican restaurant called Mexico on The Strand.  After a yummy dinner we walked down to the beach where Roz confessed she had never been.  I was showing her the sights!

Roz is camera shy, so there is no evidence of our meeting.  But her compromise was to take a photo of me enjoying my quesadillas.

Atmospheric Mexican place!

All this for me?

Great view - that's Rangitoto Island behind that building

Back to my hotel room for a cup of tea and a chat.  Very pleasant catch up with Roz.  I had no idea of the existence of this lake.  Lake Pupuke  It is very close to the hotel and I can see it from my room.  I think I saw it in this kids movie we watched with monsters in the earth.  What was it?  Under the Mountain maybe?  I thought it was a fake lake.  But now I know better.

Off to bed and a great sleep.  Up early and off to the gym to ride the exercise bike.  Now I have a time to beat this evening.  Hahahah.  Found a really nice breakfast place.  A cafe called Honey on Huron St, just opposite work.

At work and time to start the day!
Have a wonderful day.
Love,
Angela

The weekend with tramping

Hi,

Friday night I nipped out to Miramar to collect Toby from his playdate with Sam.  He had enjoyed his time there.  We went back into Reading to meet Sally and go see The Lone Ranger.  Sally and Toby loved it.  I thought the lollies we bought to munch on were quite nice.

Dropped Sally off at home and off to bed.  Mike got home with Andrew quite late.  They had been visiting a farmshed somewhere to brew up beer.  I think they enjoyed it.

Up early to finish packing.  Then we all left to meet Aidan and the boys at the train station.  Well, more specifically, at the McDonalds next to the train station.  After a fix of Maccas, we were ready for the tramping.  Mike dropped Andrew off in the wee green car and I went to Catchpool with Aidan and the boys.  How Mike managed to beat me there, I do not know.

The weather was stunning.  Short and t-shirt tramping.  We walked in ahead of the 9 other younger children and had a quick lunch at Midway bridge before continuing on.

Posing at the tree - mandatory photo stop

The walk was fast and easy.  Before I knew it we were at Turere Lodge.  A contingent disappeared to the river to make dams and bridges.  Josh arrived a little later after doing some necessary work on his fantastic stand up paddle board.  We only beat him there by about 5 minutes.  We were checking out the view and pointing, as you do, when we heard Aidan laughing behind us.  Apparently we are notorious for pointing.  She thought it was a Gilbert trait she had captured once more.  To add to her collection of Gilberts pointing off into the distance.

Aidan snapped us checking out the view.  We didn't know she was there until we heard sniggering.  I'm glad she didn't send me the one of me touching Mike's bottom!  Seriously - I thought we were alone!

The boys outside the lodge recounting the epic walk in

We found our rooms and sorted out the communal food.  After settling in I asked Aidan if she'd like to manage the dinner prep.  She was legendary.  There were vege preppers, and stirrers (that was me!) and other billy pot choppers.  All co-ordinated to arrive with a steaming mass of food.  And dessert was scrumptious (which she had managed too).

We went for a quick walk in the gorgeous night - a bit of high cloud only detracted slightly from the spectacular night sky.  Saw two shooting stars.  Heard no kiwis.  I want a night time kiwi hunting expedition now.  Then, we all went to bed and all went to sleep.  I think I may have been asleep by 7.45pm.  Aidan says she read until 9.45pm.  I did wake when she finally went to sleep.  And Mike and I were sharing a bunk, so we had to roll over in unison.  He got fed up with it when I asked for the sleeping signals and mashed his face into the wall.  Well, actually, he bravely tolerated the face mashing until about 5.30am, and then left to sleep in the lounge.  That might have been one face plant too far.

Constanze thought we'd all gone for an amazing night time adventure lasting hours.  She had no idea we were all asleep in our room.  Too funny!

Sunday morning we were up early enough.  I like tramping with Tabors.  They eat things like bacon and eggs for breakfast.  Our Weetbix never got touched.  I had egg cracked into a piece of bread.  What did Aidan call it?  Egg in a frame?  Anyhow - it was yummy.  Flashbacks to a Kea sleepover a few years ago now where Aidan introduced me to this concept.

Cleaned up and off back home.  The walk back was lovely too.

The only hill - and it's short!

Posing tree on the way back

Nice looking swimming hole - lovely

Back to grab a pie from the best pie shop in Lower Hutt (thanks to Rex for discovering that one) and back to Sally and Andrew's to eat it.  They rushed off to a movie (well, Sally, Mike and Toby went - Pacific Rim - ask them how it was).  I went home to get clean and do some chores.  Then back to eat dinner with them all.  That was lovely too.

So, all in all, an awesome weekend.  9.5 out of 10 I gave it when Toby asked for a rating.  Not too shabby, eh?

Up in Auckland for work till late Wednesday.  Keeping me busy.  Seeing Roz tonight (and tomorrow if I can convince her to come over to the north shore again).  She's promised me a Mexican dinner somewhere here.

Have a wonderful week.
Love,
Angela

The Thursday with the Conquest of Everest

Hi,

I rode home with Mike for the first time in ages.  He is better through traffic than me and had a huge head start when we got to the hill.  I was stuck at the lights and saw him riding up the hill already.  But I managed to catch him.  Yes!

I collected Toby and Mike started dinner.  I got changed and headed back into town.  I was off to the National Film Archive to see the 1953 documentary film on the Conquest of Everest.  it was a snapshot of its time.  Pomp and pageantry of the British monarchy, the manly endeavours in the colonies, the rousing music, women weren't mentioned at all (apart from the young queen).  Even when two Nepali women were filmed, the commentary went silent.

Anyhow, I thought I was going to be date-less watching it.  Andrew ignored me.  And I thought Christine was ignoring me.  Turns out all the texts I have sent her in the last two weeks were going to a non existent number.  But her odd text came back to me in my text thread.  Of course, her texts had no context, because she never received mine. She looked at my phone and saw I had her number wrong.  Problem solved.  She does love me.  Phew!  She laughed at my texts that hadn't got through.  I did wonder why she was saying she was missing me, when I had been texting her.  Oh well.  Mind you, Andrew has no excuse!  :-p  Well, probably work.

Right.  Time to start the day.  We're tramping this weekend and apparently the weather looks stunning for it.  Bring it on.

Have a wonderful weekend.
Love,
Angela

The Wednesday with tramping club

Hi,

I rode home and collected Toby and we shot back into town.  Toby chose Strawberry Fare for dinner.  So as not to interfere with the main course of dessert for dinner, we ate two entrees to pretend we had proper food, and then ate our yummy desserts!

Let's eat the entrees fast, Toby!

Mike joined us and ate our dessert leftovers and we walked to the tramping club evening meeting.  This was a special treat as a woman from Vic Uni came to talk about tuataras.  They aren't lizards, you know.  Might look like them, but they are not lizards.  Reptiles, yes!  We got to touch one too.

Toby touching the tuatara.  Brian looking on.

Home and off to bed.  I was comatose!  A lovely morning here in Wellington today (Thursday).  I had a nice ride in.  The roads were partially dry, so it was a fast ride.

Have a fantastic day!  I am hoping to see a movie at the National Film Archives tonight.  The Conquest of Everest, from 1953.  Ooooooooo.  Here's hoping!

Love,
Angela

The Tuesday with nothing much

Hi,

Toby seemed to have a good time at Skids yesterday.  They went to H2oXtreme (a big pool in Upper Hutt with slides and inflatables) and Toby had a ball.  I rode home to collect him and forgot, tied up in my ride.  Got home and realised I had forgotten to stop by his old school.  Looked at my watch and also realised I had no time to walk back.  So I rode my bike back to Wadestown School and collected Toby with 4 minutes to spare.  He had just sent me two texts asking when I would collect him.  Yes, he was the last child standing.  I'll try to be a wee bit earlier today.

Mike was home just as we finished dinner, so I gave him the leftovers and it was yummy.  Toby had requested chicken schnitzels.  It was pretty good.

He ate most of it - apart from half the rice.  There was a lot of rice!

The earthquakes are abating nicely.  Mike was woken by one at 1am, and apparently he says I felt it, because I rolled over.  Hahahah.  He asked "Did you feel that?" and I did murmur a response in the negative.  But he told me I must have felt it and I promptly fell asleep again.

My ride in was pretty nice this morning.  The wind is strong, but the roads are starting to dry after some rain.  We're going tramping this weekend and I think the weather looks okay for it.  I have had a hard week at work, so I am looking forward to some away time.

Have a wonderful day!
Love,
Angela

The Monday with a stay-at-home Earthquake day

Hi,

I rode into work to collect the laptops while Mike looked after Toby.  Work is looking pretty good considering.  A few joints have popped in doorways and there is a plaster dust all around.  But not too bad.  Nothing big seems to have toppled over.  And this morning (Tuesday) it looks absolutely normal around my desk.

I met Sally after getting the laptops and we had a hot chocolate/coffee from the one place open.  Mixed Business, in our building!  Then I got a ride home with Sally.  The Mighty Red Galant took me and my bike home easily.  It would have been a slow ride home as my pannier was very heavy with two laptops.

Sally stayed for a coffee with Mike and then headed home.  We worked from home and had lunch.  Wilf and Mike were there working on the plastering and the fence around the slab.  Mike went into town to meet clients and Toby played on the computer most of the day.

Eventually I stopped work and made dinner.  Macaroni cheese.  Yum.  Mike got home in time and we all ate.  I went grocery shopping and the place was devoid of people.  Great time to shop!

Home to bed.  I slept well, despite Mike waking up and reading in the middle of the night.  I did wake because of a wee earthquake at some stage, but rolled over and fell back into my coma.

Toby is off to Skids today.  I think they are heading to the pool!  He should love that.

Have a wonderful day.
Love,
Angela

The weekend with so much excitement

Hi,

Well, Friday morning we had a decent earthquake while I was at work just after 9am.  It is the first time I have ever dived under my desk, as did the colleagues around me.  It was a good shake.

Anyhow, I rode home and then got a call from Sally asking me around for tea.  Andrew was home earlier than anticipated and I was keen to hear all about his adventures.  I collected Mike from work on the way past and he was very merry indeed and we heard music very loudly on the drive over.

We also heard music loudly once we were there.  Sally and Mike are partial to a bit of Jethro Tull and Mike was definitely in the mood.

Andrew had had an amazing week.  I think he rode over 600km all up, through galeforce winds, heavy frosts and light snowfalls and a bit of rain!  Somehow, he said yes to going skiing for the day with me on Saturday.  So I dragged Mike home, found all my gear and managed 5 hours sleep before I got up early and collected Andrew.

It was so worth it.  What a fabulous day for the first ski day of the season.

Self portrait - look at my determination!  And see Mt Taranaki on the horizon...

Astonished that my old ski pants look okay with my new ski jacket

Moon rising behind Andrew on our last run of the day at about 4.20pm.

We skied all day and had a ball.  Only stopped once for a toilet break.  It was nice to get fed licorice allsorts on the chair lift - thanks Andrew.

Into the car at the end of the day and a drive back home via Ohakune for a chocolate eclair.  Scrumptious.  And a bacon and egg pie.  Yum.

Andrew drove home all the way.  What 600km ride?  He must have legs of steel!  I also had my first traffic run in with the law on the drive up.  I got a speeding ticket.  Yep - lack of concentration, straight road, tail-lights in the distance and my speed drifted up.  Got a cheerful policeman to pull me over.  Nice.  Yes, I am ashamed.  I haven't ever got so much as a parking ticket before.

Anyhow, home to see Mike and discover he had really worked hard tidying the house.  It looks stunning.

New doors wide open for the lovely Sunday morning

Ski gear drying on the deck

Mike got a trailer early Sunday morning and we cleared away a lot of building material.  The place looks good.  Marathon effort to get our big window up to the trailer.  Thanks John and Benjamin.

Huge heavy window gone!

I'm going to try and keep it tidy as much as possible because we're away for a few weekends now.  We did get a decent quake at about 7.05am, but Mike slept through it.  I prodded him and said "Earthquake, earthquake", but he thought I was joking.  And he fell asleep again in seconds.

Sunday afternoon Mike went out to see a movie with Sally, Andrew, Vivienne, John and Benjamin.  I wasn't interested so I got my ironing done.  I was just getting ready to head out to meet them just after 5pm when the biggest earthquake I have felt hit.  I had just finished going to the toilet so I stood under our new doorway and hoped the builder knows his stuff as I watched Toby's bookcase wobble a fair bit.  We've had lots of aftershocks, and many followed that one.

I drove into town and waited for Mike's movie to finish.  They had dived under the seats in the Embassy cinema.  Sally and Vivienne were careful to not spill any of their wine.  Skills!  The person next to them had no such concerns about their popcorn and apparently quite a bit flew around as they dived for the floor.  Even in the car I felt two aftershocks of a decent size.

Had dinner with everyone at the Beer n Steer and felt a decent wee jolt while we were there.

Nice steak for me

But Mike and I left to get to the airport to collect Toby.  His flight was earmarked to divert to Palmerston North, but fortunately it delayed departure from Dunedin long enough for a landing at Wellington.  Lucky for us.  Thanks to Andrew for teeing up Iona for a possible Toby rescue in her town!

Got Toby, and he was excited to be home and full of news from his week away.  He seemed to have enjoyed himself.  I hope Mike's parents aren't too shattered.

Back home and a good sleep.  I was woken by a shake at 3.15am, but rolled over and went back to sleep.  None of the boys woke.

Monday morning is an odd place in Wellington.  Civil Defence say to stay home if you can.  No trains, no bus replacements.  So I rode in to collect laptops and Sally gave me a lift home (her building was evacuated so she was heading home).

Earthquake damage on Mike's desk - a glass and a cup have fallen over

So, I am working from home.  All good.

Hope you have a wonderful day.
Love,
Angela

The Thursday with dinner out

Hi,

I caught up with Fran from my old work for breakfast in the morning.  We went to Cafe Neo.  I quite like that place.  I had an iced coffee.  It was alright - also had marshmallows.  I think the people that add marshmallows don't actually drink iced coffee.  Marshmallows don't go with iced coffee.

Nice.

After a hard day at work, Mike decided cooking at home was passe.  He emailed Sally and me about going out and then told me he had no cellphone.  He'd left it in the taxi last night.  Ok.

When we were out at the Backbencher with Sally, the taxi driver came past and dropped the phone off.  Mike is a lucky chap.  Now we have to get a Green Cab whenever we catch a taxi, as they had such a great customer service returning the phone to Mike.

Great entre!

Mike and I caught the bus home.  And a pleasant surprise awaited us.  They have plastered the gib.  We don't have to do it.  Now all we need to do is bung up the wee nail holes, sand and paint. Yay!

Toby is having a good time in Dunedin.  He went back to Dunedin from his stay at Dunback.  I'm not sure what they have planned for today.  Toby is already looking forward to seeing us.

Andrew is getting closer to Picton after riding all over the top of the South Island.  He should be back in Wellington late tonight.

Have a wonderful weekend.  I was hoping to go skiing Saturday but that might not happen.

Love,
Angela

The Wednesday with nothing

Hi,

After a long day I rode home and enjoyed it a lot.  Nice weather - I think the strong wind was from the south and helping me home.  The wall has been gibbed now so we only need the plastering and then painting and it'll be done.

The gib is gib-board plus ply.  Super strong!

Mike got home after tramping club commitments.  We both talked to Toby.  He had a great day, taking the train from Dunedin to Palmerston and spending the night at Dunback.  Lucky him!

Went to bed and slept the sleep of the dead.  Until the alarm went off.  Yep - nothing like long days at work to make you sleep.

My ride in this morning was lovely.  Still dark, but the sky was clear and the sunrise looked like it will be lovely.

Have a wonderful day.
Love,
Angela

The Tuesday with no Toby

Hi,

I worked late to make up for the late start yesterday after dropping Toby at the airport and waiting for his plane to take off.

I had a lunchtime planning session for the user group and tried an iced coffee there.  It was pretty good.  Not sure why anyone thinks marshmallows in iced coffee is a great idea, but never mind.  The rest was pretty good.

Sluuuurrrppp!

I put the grapefruit from the Tabor tree out on the bench at work.  Turns out these new work colleagues in this floor are grapefruit mad.

Special elves.  Yep.  You should have seen that special elf in her tree.

After work, we met Sally and went out for dinner.  We went to the Wine Loft.  Pretty good it was too.  I like the atmosphere.  The cheese platter was excellent, but possible a little expensive at $35 for what we got.  my risotto was scrumptious!

No - I am not falling over.  Merely squinting against the glaring flash from my camera!

We went home to drop Mike off and check out our new door!  Yes - the door to our deck on the other side is now in!  It looks amazing.

New doors!

From the outside

They look great in the morning light too!

Toby is well, and telling me off for failing to pack chargers for his devices.  Okay - sorry about that.  He had a good night though.

My ride in was pleasant this morning.  Sunny, but a fresh, cold southerly.  Time to have a cup of tea and start the day!

Have a fantastic day.
Love,
Angela

The Monday with dinner n Waikanae and the Tuesday morning with Toby at the airport

Hi,

I have it on good authority that Andrew is not on death's door and is in fact cycling merrily (but a little coldly) through great swathes of the top of the South Island.  I hope he gets some of this sunshine we're having today.

Yesterday was such fun.  We drove to Waikanae, with Mike and Josh chatting animatedly (and me trying to sing quietly).  Then we had a lovely dinner - a curry recipe handed down through a few generations on Josh's side.  Scrumptious it was!  I wish I had leftovers around about now.

Toby had a great time there.  Even with Duncan feeling poorly.  Maybe Emerson liked the Toby time without sharing.  I know I sometimes don't like to share.

We drove back and picked up Toby's skis from a Trade Me deal.  Yes - he has his own gear now.  Skis and my old boots.  We're sorted.  Lookout mountain, here we come.

Toby all ready

Toby was dropped off safely for his flight this morning.  He's off to Dunedin for the week to visit Mike's parents.

That's his plane taking off!  You have to stay till it's in the air.  Rules.

I do have to stay late at work to make up for the late morning though.  The flight was delayed due to the bad weather yesterday and the day before.  Knock on effects.

Have a wonderful day!
Love,
Angela

The weekend with nothing

Hi,

Our weekend was uneventful (that is coded speech for boring).  Friday night Toby and I had Burger Wisconsin for tea and watched television for a bit.  Mike eventually got home and we all went to bed.

I had a very lazy Saturday morning in bed reading.  Mike ferried me and Toby tea and toast (well, tea for me).  We went out to buy a few crucial things in town.  I even scored an iced coffee at Joe's Garage at the end of it.

Back home to relax for the evening and watch a movie.

Sunday morning I was up for the trip to the market with Vivienne.  The weather was awful and got worse as we were there.  Ramble had his jacket on too!  Confusion over a playdate with William coming over meant we had to miss brunch with Vivienne!  Stink!  We have lovely pate and cheese for it!

Did the ironing, watched some television and stayed as warm as I could.  I even wore a woolly hat on inside!  Never been that cold before.

Andrew is riding his bicycle around the top of the South Island in this awful morning.  Crazy man!

Toby is off on the train to Waikanae now.  He'll meet Aidan and the boys at the other end.  We'll drive up to collect him (and score dinner! - I've heard it is curry!) and come back home.  He is off to Dunedin tomorrow morning to spend some time with Mike's parents.  He is quite excited about that!

Have a wonderful week.
Love,
Angela

The Thursday with user group

Hi,

The day I had yesterday is really best left in the past.  Manic day.  But, my work colleagues went to the pub after work and I went along.  My manager bought me a cranberry juice, so I can't complain about being looked after.  And the user group session went well.

I met Mike for lunch yesterday too - so that was nice.  He ate the other lemon tart that Ilske made for us.

He looks appreciative!

However, I think I made a big mistake.  I wanted a V with my lunch so Mike bought me one.  And he had one too.  I got a message from him late that afternoon (I was busy) that he was going home with a migraine.  Oh no!

It's the last day of term for Toby today.  Three weeks off!  He's off to Dunedin for most of the second week.  He'll be at Skids for the second week, and a computer holiday programme for the third week.  I think he's looking forward to the break.

He had swimming yesterday and seemed to do okay.  I think he came third in his race.

We have a weekend at home this weekend.  We need to paint.  Nice.  Something boring to relax us to a comatose state.

Have a wonderful weekend.
Love,
Angela

The Wednesday with lunch with Aidan

Hi,

I had a great day and a pants day yesterday.  Lunch with Aidan was the highlight.  I heard all about her trip away and we caught up on news.  A sign of how long she has been away was that I think she hardly got a word in for long stretches at a time.  She usually has a bit more to say than me.  Usually.  But not yesterday.  She had the car in town so she collected me and we went to Maranui Surf Club for lunch.  Somehow I got the best table in the place.  We had tea and a yummy lunch of eggs Benedict.  I washed it down with... yes!  an iced coffee!

Pretty good iced coffee.  If only I could stop talking enough to drink it!

My view!

Aidan dropped me back at work to endure the pants part of my day.  Such a frustrating day trying to gain access to a particular site.  More of the same today too.  Although I do have a presentation to a client to do.  So, not all doom and gloom looming today.

Rode home and managed to avoid any rain.  It was cold though.  Mike went to get a haircut and tramping club.  I collected Toby and cooked dinner.  I also ate a yummy lemon tart that Ilske had made and given me on Tuesday night.

Lemon tart, anyone?

Ummmm - yeah.  About my hair!  Hahahahah.  I had just ridden home on my bike.  No wonder Yingting's parents look at me funny sometimes.  Actually, last night when I collected Toby, Yingting's father felt my hands and legs!  Then he showed me that under his jeans he had thermals on.  He was freezing.  I was hot.  I think I need to get changed from now on when I collect Toby.  Yingting's father must think I am mad.

Time to start the day.  Please be better than yesterday (apart from lunch - it can't get much better than yesterday's lunch!).  Actually, a cup of tea about now will make it all wonderful, I'm sure.

Love,
Angela

The Tuesday with quiz night

Hi,

I had my first ride home with Mike yesterday in absolute ages.  I think this is because it was the first time in absolute ages that Mike has ridden home.  He kept going and collected Toby.  I got ready for quiz night and he started cooking dinner for himself and Toby when I left.

I drove back down the hill and the rain had well and truly kicked in by then.  I walked into the pub all by myself and secured a table.  Eventually Ilske arrived and we completed our quiz form.  Christine and Andrew arrived within a few minutes of each other, so we had a good table.  We're claiming fourth place.  We were placed quite well going into the last few rounds, but didn't come first, second or third.  They don't have any way to telling you your score as you go apart from reading out all the team names and their points.  So you have to keep track of any numbers yourself.

I dropped everyone off at their respective homes afterwards.  It did mean I was late home, but that's okay.  The rain was really hard so it wasn't pleasant driving.

Up this morning after sleeping to within a minute of the alarm.  Choice!  Way better than the usual thirty minutes before the alarm.  Might have had something to do with the late night, I guess.  I left the boys running around and hopped on my bike.  It wasn't entirely pleasant riding in, but it wasn't too horrible either.  Everything is wet.  I hope the crucial bits dry before I have to pull them on at the other end of the day.

Hoping to see Aidan today.  Mind you, if it wasn't urgent for her to come in, I wouldn't bother.  She has to drive and it really isn't very nice.  But I have no idea how urgent her collection in town is and if she can delay it.  So, I might get lucky enough to see her.

Mike has tramping club stuff on tonight.  I'll ride home and sort out Toby.  Andrew told me about his next epic adventure.  He has next week off and wants to ride 600km around a loop at the top of the South Island.  Wow!  If it isn't too cold, that is going to be a great trip.  Picton to Nelson, to St Arnaud, to Murchison, to Lewis Pass, and then I got vague but Blenheim was mentioned.  And possibly back around Port Underwood in the opposite direction to what we did.  Awesome!

Have a wonderful day.  Stay dry if you're in Wellington.

Love,
Angela

Van trips to Ruapehu Lodge - the first of many

The Wellington Tramping & Mountaineering Club's Ruapehu Lodge is an absolutely fantastic place to see.  But we seem to be very good at keeping that fact a little to ourselves.  I thought I might have a go at changing that by seeing if I could find ways to try and get people up and into the place, who might not know about the Tramping Club.

So about a month ago I took the plunge with a lot of help and encouragement from Jaana, who helps organise the 'Wellington Tramping Group' on meetup.  Before I knew it she had me set up as an organiser and was giving me tips on how to get a trip up there.  So rapidly enough and with minimal effort, there I was on Friday afternoon meeting a vanload of punters from as far afield as Riga and Kilburnie, and all keen to ski and board and run and hike the marrow out of the mountain.

Everybody arrived at more or less the same time, so I introduced myself to a steady stream of people climbing into the van - Anita, Lihong, Inese, Christa... until Christa slightly sheepishly climbed out again and wandered over to the Adventure Wellington van that was loading a similar number of people heading the same way.

Traffic was heavy but not dramatically so, and 10pm saw us pulling into the Top of the Bruce car-park and offloading.  Other cars were sparse, and certainly we had the WTMC Lodge to ourselves.  I was expecting conditions to be grimly bare of snow but was pleasantly surprised.  We saw our first snow all the way down at Whakapapa Village, and while thin, there was a good base all around the Top of the Bruce and the lodges.  It's early days yet and couple of decent falls and the season will be rocking.

Saturday morning decided to ignore the MetService and dawn crisp, clear and blue-sky sunny.  People appeared from the bunkrooms and rapidly started cooking, demolishing and cleaning up after breakfast.  I slowly figured out what was around and brought it out so there were several courses, of toast, bacon, scrambled eggs, fried mushrooms (I found about 10kg of mushrooms and more mushrooms in the food locker!), baked beans, oats, weetbix, cornflakes and coffee.

We loaded ourselves into the van to leave Whakapapa with its 20cm of snow and head to Turoa with its 170cm of snow.  But as we were about to head off, we saw Christa and the Adventure Wellington team, again, driving up the ski road.  Whaa-?  I wandered over to chat to the Ruapehu crew who were herding the cars.  Turoa may have lots of snow but it was also being battered by high winds and was closed.  Gah!  So out of the van we piled again, and off to make the most of every millimeter of snow cover that was available to us.

The mountain grimly fought the MetService forecasters, but at 11:30am the clag rolled in and the temperature dropped.  Still, as long as you thought of being able to see as an unnecessary luxury, conditions were still breezy but liveable.

... and that's as far as I got with this post.  It was a great weekend with food, fun and hot pools, and the first of many great weekends to come.  The Ruapehu Lodge becomes a great deal more popular with van transport, that's for sure.

The Monday with nothing for me and Toby but lots of work for Mike

Hi,

I had the best ride home ever.  Gorgeous evening.  I raced up the hill in record time.  Well, I think it might have been a record time, but I don't time it so I don't really know.

I collected Toby and cooked tea for us.  I made two extras for lunch today.  Little did I know that when Mike eventually got home (I think I woke up) he decided to eat one of them.  It must have been very late when Mike came to bed.  I have no recollection of it at all.

This morning is another gorgeous morning.  It was 2 degrees when we woke up and I certainly felt it in my hands as I rode to work.  Freezing.  My hands are now tingling!

Mike was in for an early meeting and will have to work at home tonight.  I am off to quiz night.  I hope more than Ilske turns up for the evening.  Could be scary with me and Ilske as a team of two.

Have a fantastic day!
Love,
Angela

The weekend with lazing for me and Toby, busy for Mike and a Wimbledon win for Andy Murray!

Hi,

Wow - Andy Murray, eh?  Wish I was still living in London now to soak that up.  So cool!  Pretty happy about that.  Bet he is too.

Toby and I had a lazy weekend.  Mike left early Friday evening with a van load of punters for a weekend at Ruapehu in the lodge.  I'm sure he'll tell you all about it.  Toby and I went out for dinner with Lewises and Gilbert/Bichans (well, the Bichan part was held up at work, but we saw him!) to celebrate Benjamin's birthday 6 weeks ago.  18.  Wow.  Yummy Mexican at Flying Burrito Brothers.  So full.

So much food

I drove them home from town and Benjamin drove them the rest of the way.  Toby and I watched half of the first Lord of the Rings movie (well, I watched a third and fell asleep but luckily Toby has more sense than staying up too late and he turned it off by himself about halfway through).  Woke up and chatted to Aidan for a while on the phone while Toby watched the end of the movie.

Did a mountain of laundry during the day.  Toby went to play with William for a good portion of the day.  Back home for tea and another movie.

Sunday was also lazy.  We got away for the party drop off (Toby's friend Sam had a birthday party at The Lanes) and I went to lunch at Sally and Andrew's.  Had a nice lunch (awesome brownies courtesy of Marion) and left just as quickly to collect Toby.

Back home for television watching while ironing great portions of the laundry.    Got ready for the week and Mike eventually got home and told us about his weekend.

A superb day today.  A cracker!  Wonderful ride into work.  Blue sky, no wind, dry roads.  Yep - a great day to live in Wellington.

Mike is busy at work and will be late home.  Oh well.  I'll collect Toby and cook tea and make sure homework is done.  Last week of term for Toby.

Have a great week.
Love,
Angela

The Thursday with an early night for Mike... yeah, right

Hi,

I rode home last night and collected Toby and cooked dinner.  Yummy steak with salsa.  Mike has the leftovers in his lunchbox.  Lucky him because it was yummy.

Mike was supposed to miss the beer tasting session for the work social club completely in favour of coming home and packing for his weekend away to Ruapehu.  I got a text at 8.30pm to say that plan had been ignored in favour of vast quantities of beer tasting.  Right.  Hahahah.

Eventually he came home and tried to steal my phone quietly to listen to raucous music before bed, but I caught him.  Glad I wake up when a huge man in a bulky jacket sneaks into my bedroom at night.  Self preservation I call it!

This meant he had to get up early this morning to pack.  I wonder what he has forgotten.  Anyhow, we drove in because he has to collect the van from the Interislander ferry terminal to take all the punters up this weekend.

Toby has a party on Sunday so we're footloose and fancy free.  Tonight is Benjamin's party.  Choice!

Have a wonderful weekend.
Love,
Angela

The Wednesday with a movie date with Toby

Hi,

Another evening of Gilbert logistics.  Toby got off the bus in town and walked to work.  I sat him down to do homework but I think he got distracted and only made finger puppets.  Okay.  We drove to the Roxy cinema in Miramar for a school fundraising evening.  We saw Man of Steel.  I thought it was a bit boring.  Toby thought it was quite good.  I think any movie is a bit boring after World War Z kept me scared silly for over two hours!

Toby with a dwarf

Another figurine Toby liked

Ready for the movie Mum.  Do the curtains go away?  Hahahah.  Yes, they do!

We drove back home and collected Mike on Oriental Parade after he popped into tramping club.  Home to work and put Toby to bed.  Mike dashed out to get the key to the lodge for the weekend trip up to Ruapehu.

Today is gorgeousness itself.  Such a lovely day.  Everyone would want to live here today.

Have a wonderful day.  July 4th.  Had breakfast with my team at work.  Huge affair.

Team brekkie at Drexels

Love,
Angela

The Tuesday with quiz night

Hi,

Well, there is a surprise.  John said he'd collect Toby and feed him so I could go out to quiz night with Mike and Christine.  Yay for John!  I waited for Mike (he had a work session for his major project that finished last week - an unwinding session) and then we walked up to Tinakori Road.  Linda and her brother Stu were already there (we work with Linda) and we got some food and the quiz started soon after.  Christine arrived and after two rounds, Megan arrived.

Megan is really the reason we are trying to start a quiz night team.  She met Mike in Sydney after knowing him a little from tramping club here.  They went to a few quiz nights when Mike worked there.  Then she moved back to Wellington a month or so ago.

Anyhow, we had a lot of fun.  We had a solid middle of the table performance.  Stu showed unbelievable knowledge of Celine Dion songs.  Behind that gruff southern man exterior (he is from Chch) beats the heart of a softie.  Only shows itself in obscure quiz questions about random song lyrics.

Christine took us home via her place to collect Toby.  Straight to bed.  Late night.

Up this morning to hear that the Tabor family have arrived safely in the country.  Can't wait to hear all about their adventures in Hawaii.  Some of the places they visited looked stunning.  Mike had checked their place at the weekend too (and gathered some grapefruit! - I wondered why we had grapefruit in the bowl).  So when they get back from Auckland today, it should all be good for their return.

I hope Andrew and Sally had a nice meal out last night for Andrew's birthday.  Boulcott St Bistro is what I heard.  Mmmmm.  Nice.

Have a wonderful day.  I'm off to see the Man of Steel tonight with Toby in a fundraiser for his school ( a team flying somewhere for something) so it needed car in town and complicated logistics.  This is obviously the week for complicated logistics.  Also trying to sort out Toby's school holidays.  Phew!

Love,
Angela

The Monday with dental appointments

Hi,

Happy birthday to Andrew for today.  It's lovely out there - he has a nice day for his July birthday!  I wish it was freezing cold and snowing buckets on the mountain.  But then again, I am a February baby and can hope for horrible weather all winter because it's not my birthday!

Last night Toby got off the school bus in town and did his homework at my work before our dental appointments.  I'm going back for a hygienist visit on Thursday afternoon.  My smile will be radiant!  Hahahah.

After the dentist, we went out for tea.  Mike joined us and I managed to order the right dinner for him.  It was on the table when he finally prised himself away from work and got to Leuven to meet us.  I had a bucket of mussels to chomp though.  Yum.

I ate all those mussels. Every last one.

Back home via a taxi and off to bed for Toby and a bit of homework for Mike.  I had a great sleep.

Tonight is quiz night at the Speights pub.  Mike is going to try and go to it tonight.  Hopefully he gets more punters than Andrew and I got last Tuesday.  Should be fun.  I'll ride home and collect Toby and cook tea and generally potter around.

Have a great day!
Love,
Angela

The weekend to myself

Hi,

What a great weekend.  Friday night Sally suggested we go see World War Z.  After a bit of a kerfuffle in getting so many Gilberts to a movie session without any fore planning, we all ended up seeing the 8.30pm session in 3D.  With Alex!  And that was after dinner at the Steer and Beer next door (not a bad steak, but not as nice as my last visit there).

World War Z was so scary.  Mike spent half the movie hiding Toby's eyes.  I spent the whole movie tensing up because when we left I felt like I had been running the entire time.  Hahahah.  After about ten minutes into the movie I kept asking Mike if Toby wanted me to take him out.  He said no.  So I had to sit there and watch the entire thing.  It was actually a great movie.  It's just that I hate scary movies.

Back home after a quick trip to the supermarket so Mike could cook the meal for Saturday night's tramp.  Yes - he had to pack and cook close to midnight on Friday night.  The funny thing was, I emailed Aidan and she was just awake and ready to catch her airport shuttle bus.  I was heading to sleep and she was getting up.  Very weird.  I told her to avoid World War Z on the planes at all cost!

Up early Saturday so Mike and Toby could get away for their tramp.  Eventually they scampered out the door.  I started the mountain of laundry.  It never really ever finished for the weekend.  The washing machine was going constantly.  Sheets, towels, clothes.  It all went in.  Heaps of it.

I read and generally relaxed.  Watched a movie.  And it was dinner time soon enough.  So I nipped out to collect Sally from home, and drove over Haywards to Mana to have dinner with her at Hetal's Indian restaurant.  Hetal is a chap in my team at work and shamelessly plugged his restaurant at the company meeting on Friday during his personal presentation.  I had told Sally about it so she suggested we go.  And it was good. Sally is a convert to mango lassis now after Hetal gave us a complimentary one.

Dropped Sally off and went home.  Fell asleep after chatting to Ma on Facebook.  Slept like the dead (or is that the undead?).

Up early Sunday (I am hopeless at sleeping in).  Had breakfast and Vivienne came in to get me.  The music might have been a tad loud for me to hear her knocking and I may have yelped when she called out.  The market was great!  Lovely weather.

Back home and I started painting my wardrobe doors.  Couldn't find the roller tray or our decent paint brushes.  But I was determined.  So I found a brush and found some paint that looked right and started.  I was in a t-shirt and bare feet while outside.  At the end of June!

Evidence of the lovely weather

My doors probably need another coat.  Mike says I used the wrong paint and the brush wasn't the best.  Never mind.  The idea was there.  And they are almost done!  I can see them hanging on my wardrobe now!  Well, in my mind's eye I can.  After the next coat!

Mike and Toby got home and jumped in the shower.  Toby had missed a playdate at the movies.  He was a bit upset.  But we keep telling him there is no reason to be upset if there is nothing anyone can do about it.  He did enjoy the tramp.  It was hard.  Mike has photos of Toby in the snow!  Snow!  And it was a steep walk up and down.

Notice Toby's homemade gaiters

Love his eyes here!

Maybe Mike will blog about it separately.  It certainly sounded amazing.  Made me want to go tramping.  Aidan?  Christine?  Vivienne?  You keen?

I went out to the family dinner to celebrate Andrew's birthday.  Fun to catch up with everyone.

Have a great week!  The weather is lovely.  Not so good for dumping lots of snow at Whakapapa though.

Love,
Angela