What a great weekend! We had a fabulous time in Auckland visiting family. I started it off well with an iced coffee with Rex at work to catch up on news. Mmmmm.
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| Mixed Business iced coffee |
Then Toby came into work and I was a little delayed by my company meeting that went way longer than usual, before jumping in the car and finding Sally and Andrew in there with Mike. Oops. We hurtled off to the airport and ate our way through a mountain of food using Sally's koru club membership. The food was pretty good. Toby enjoyed the on tap lemonade.
Eventually we boarded our flight. We were in the last occupied row in the plane. But it was a fast trip and soon we met Sally and Andrew at the Budget rental office (they were seated in row 2 so got off way earlier than us).
We headed to our accommodation on the North Shore. Some holiday park on Northcote Road. It was clean. Our car was a hybrid Camry. Very nice. It started with just the push of a button. No key needed (so long as the key was close by). Andrew and I enjoyed driving it over the weekend.
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| Iced coffee at Honey Cafe in Huron St, Takapuna |
After a late night, it was a hard morning to get up and shower. Even harder for my boys, because I am pretty sure they never saw the inside of the shower. They chose a further sleep in over personal hygiene. But we drove to Honey Cafe in Takapuna and had breakfast. I haven't been there at the weekend before. The iced coffee was not as good as I have had there before (despite an extensive iced coffee menu now) and the service was quite slow. But I enjoyed my eggs benedict when it arrived.
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| Rangitoto looks great from Takapuna Beach. As do my feet. |
We popped over to Takapuna Beach as we were quite early for lunch at Aubergine. Checked out some shops and enjoyed a wee walk on the beach. It certainly has a stunning view.
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| Social interaction on the beach |
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| Sally and Andrew enjoy a wee walk |
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| Toby graffitis the beach |
Aubergine was very pleasant. The food was quick and cheerful. It was great to catch up on Mike's cousin's recent events as we don't see them all that often. Bev is in a new house in West Moreland so we have to go see that. Her view is stunning of the Southern Alps.
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| Aubergine for lunch |
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| Aunty Claire's lounge for a cup of tea |
From there we headed to Aunty Claire's place to enjoy a cup of tea and Vivienne's fruit cake. As a celebration of her 90 years, we went around the circle relating our fondest memories. It made for a bit of entertainment.
We then dropped Toby off at the Sampson house and had a cup of tea there. A place to relax after the social pace of the day. The Sampson family are in fine form - as always. Toby slotted straight in and we left him there for a sleepover.
We had to buy a toothbrush from the local dairy for him to use. A Colgate rip off called "Calgote" and the description on the packet was hilarious.
From here we ate at Hallertau Brewery and enjoyed ourselves immensely.
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| Hallertau Brewery - Mike contemplates his flight of beer |
Back late to our accommodation and after a little breather in our room, Mike decided against further social activities that evening and we were soon fast asleep.
Mike got up pretty early because Sally was frantic for coffee. I stayed and packed up and showered. Relaxed reading before meeting everyone to check out.
Sally, Andrew and I then went to find breakfast ingredients to meet Andrew's cousin Dot at her place for brekkie. She made this scrumptious breakfast with beans and eggs and rice. Wow - I need to learn to make that. It was great to see her house. It was in a coffee table book on small eco friendly houses. It felt really lovely.
Eventually I got too antsy about Toby being at the Sampsons house too long and Mike and I decided to leave Sally and Andrew there and go collect Toby and come back.
We got a tea with Wally and Lesley and Toby even got lunch. But we left and collected Sally and Andrew from Dot's on the way to the airport.
A little diversion to Icebreaker (for me) and Carls Jr (for Mike and Toby) but we got checked in ok. Our late flight was delayed so they fitted us on an earlier flight. Sally and Andrew got the 5pm one and we got the 5.30pm one. Yay! So much better to be home early to get ready for the week ahead.
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| My boys are cheeky and using the wheelchairs for seats while waiting for our flight |
Smudge was happy to see us. And Toby fed her and she was even happier then. I ironed for the week. Mike tidied up. And I fell into a coma in bed. What a busy weekend.
This morning is stunning here. My morning run was really pleasant. And my ride in was ok (only ok, because I still have knobblies on from the previous weekend).
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| Wellington turns it on |
The week looms large. But this weekend Toby and I have a house booked in the Wairarapa. Woot! Can't wait for that. I'll do a long bike ride by myself Saturday morning and Toby and I will go an off road ride Saturday afternoon. Then the rest of the weekend will be enjoying ourselves.
Have a brilliant week!
Love,
Angela
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