The weekend in Wellington

 Hi,

This post is bringing all the content to you. Iced lattes (okay - no one wants that except me) and cats! I know who you are that ask for the cat content!

Friday was stunning. Gorgeous weather. I rode to town for all my appointments. Gym. Haircut. Eyebrows. And added in a lunch with Quentin and Andrew. So social!

Rode to town on Friday

Went to the gym

Had lunch with Quentin and Andrew

Saw a cool van in the car park. Mystery van.

Can I count this as an iced latte pic?

Friday turned it on!

Moxley chilling on my chest

Saturday was chill because Mike got a migraine during the night. So no park run for him. And no gym for us either. He slept for a bit then we watched some videos. Cats were happy.

I got the bikes ready for the big bike ride this coming weekend. Woot! My chain is so clean. You could use it to cut your sandwiches!

Home made iced latte

Mitre10 Mega iced latte

Sunday saw us decide it was time to sort out Mike's new shelves for his shoes in his wardrobe. Mainly so Smudge doesn't decide it is a better place than using the kitty litter. Yuck!

Wardrobe work commences

And done!

Mike now has a super tidy wardrobe and his side of the room is so tidy! It looks amazing. So - yay to a job well done.

And as I type this, Toby and Tessa are on board their flight back to Aotearoa. They had such a good time. I am so pleased for them.

Have a wonderful week.

Love,

Angela

The weekend before Waitangi and then our trip to Waitangi

 Hi,

I feel like I have been away for so long. I want to do a special post for my trip to Waitangi for the actual Waitangi Day event. But I will touch on it here.

No cat content below. You are warned.

We were lucky to tag along with people from work with koru membership. So we got to eat as we flew the length of the motu from Wellington to Auckland and then to Keri keri.

Koru lounge iced latte

Flight to Auckland

Dining hall

We were met at Keri keri airport by our bus driver and he expertly got us on the bus and whisked away to Lonsdale Park accommodation. Totally old school camp. But work supplied new sheets for the DoC style rubbery mattresses and it was luxury compared to tramping.

Lonsdale Park

We got bedding

And all the stuff to stay healthy

We got settled in and discussed the logistics of Waitangi Day. Really dived into the tikanga of it. What to expect so we were culturally safe. All the risk assessment dialogue and what to do should it need to be enacted. I will explain more in a later post.

Up at 3am after a 9pm bedtime. Bus left just after 4am and we parked at the petrol station in Paihia. Walked up to the Upper Treaty grounds through the dark. The service had started - but only just.

Dawn service

Sunrise

So many speakers. All with short kōrero. Then the piper and the flag raising just as the sun peeped over the far hill. Stunning. Cold! Standing in the dark we all got a wee bit chilled. Okay - Mike was shivering for ages.

Selfie

The rest of the day was in hot sunshine. And so much fun. A real family festival vibe. Stalls for kai. Clothes. Crafts. The sort of celebration of a bicultural country you would expect.

I teared up a few times at the emotional side of it. Seeing the unity of Aotearoa. Seeing the pride. The passion. I loved it all.

Hikoi flags

Selfie on upper treaty grounds

Hot now

Navy weighs in

Ladi6

After the dawn service and the hikoi kōrero, it was a real festival scene. Stages with kapa haka groups. Ladi6 at the end of our day. She had the audience up and dancing.

Back for fish n chips at the camp. And so tired. Off to bed. Up to clean and pack up. Then our flight home was delayed. But they held the plane in Auckland for us.

Mike explores

Ohh - the flagship shop is here

Auckland looks stunning

Hello beautiful maunga

Cats happy to see us. Good to be home.

Thank you for such an amazing opportunity.

Love,
Angela

The weekend in Wellington

Hi, 

Doing this on my phone. Goodness knows what you'll see. 

Friday was terrible weather.  Raining all day. I stayed inside the entire time.  Cats were happy. 

Did see a great double rainbow though. 

Saturday Mike did 10km Park run while I did 5km in the gym and some bench with Sally.  Ana had Moko run with her too.  Then iced latte at Buzz. 

Picked up a lend of a bike from Mark at work.  Thank you.  Looks good. 

Tidied the garage.  Yes!!

Hurt my back lifting heavy things into the loft.

Rang Toby in Hawaii so he could talk to his grand parents. 

Pole saw work on Sunday.  Then picked up the Subaru from Wally.  Woot.  Drove it over the hill to collect Andrew from his bike ride. 

Poppies for wine and snacks.  Balter for tea with Aidan and Janne.

Home to pack for Waitangi trip. 

Have a great week. 

Love

Angela

The Wednesday with a migraine for Mike and a nice walk for us

 Hi,

Busy day, now I see it all unfold in pics. Had lunch with Barb and Juliet and caught up with all the summer break news. Barb has been painting in Havelock and doing a mighty fine job. She is heading back there soon too. Nice!

Lunch with these two

Mike had a migraine and slept off a lot of it during the day. But he was still a bit woolly. So when I got home after work, we went for a lovely walk in Otari Wilton bush.

The evening was so still and warm. And we are lucky to have this on our doorstep. Mike found a tuna lounging around in a deep pool. And when he approached it, the tuna lazily sawm over. I reckon he is fed regularly. Hahahah.

Walk

Mike eyes the tuna - or it eyes Mike

Memorial seat

Mike is astonished at the size of the Kaiwharawhara catchment

Some sort of flood and slip event

We ended up at Ian Galloway park and walked back along the road to our house. Such a good walk. Smashed my steps.

Did some gardening when we got home. Mike found convolvulus to tackle. I plucked out weeds amongst my beloved mosses. But the warm, still dusk meant I was soon getting attacked by mosquitos. Yes! Mozzies. So I fled indoors when I was taking as much time to weed as slap my legs.

Slept well. Up for my ride in and gym. But Mike didn't make it. Still too fuzzy headed. It was also Ride your Bike to work day. I checked the set up before my gym.

Ride your bike to work day - set up

Did deads this morning. 67.5kg 4 reps x 5 sets. Then met Andrew and enjoyed an iced latte with him before we wandered over to the cyclists.

Look at those forearms!

 

Iced latte

Into the sun iced latte

In full swing

Chatted to Paul before heading to work and kicking off my day. Bike ride with Maureen after work. And I am a little nervous as it left me with only one battery bar the last time. And she wants to do a longer diversion into the beach this time.

Gulp!

Have a brilliant weekend. We're off Monday to Waitangi for the Waitangi day events. Cannot wait. But you might not get a blog post until Thursday next week!

Enjoy the national day for Aotearoa! Think about your connection to our bicultural country and the tāngata and whenua. Deepen that knowledge if you can.

Love,

Angela