Days 40-43 Leaving Auckland

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Blog 40-43

Hi folks, sorry the blogs have been a bit sparse lately, but there's been a lot happening and the internet access has been a bit expensive, and every dollar spent on internet is one less to spend on shoes, there's a credit crunch on, remember! (Phyl keeps threatening to write a blog so that she can deny all these rumours about shoes)

The weather has been really good in Auckland this week, resulting in several trips to the beach. It's been really handy borrowing Terry's car, as it means we can have a quick trip to Mission Bay anytime we want without having to traipse to the bus stop. I just hope Terry is prepared for a sheaf of speeding tickets to arrive, knowing my track record! They're very sneaky over here, and they hide the cameras behind trees and bushes, so you can't see them, and you don't get warning signs like you do in England. So you have to stick to the limit all the time and not just slow down for the cameras. Makes sense, I suppose. (But I have been really careful, honest!)

You have to be a bit careful with the sun here in NZ, as we are told the ozone layer is thinner here than in the rest of the world, and we have to limit our exposure, so we don't have the deep suntans you might expect from all the trips to the beach. Still, we are not complaining, as the weather in GB and Europe sounds dreadful.

On Wednesday night Roy & Terry came over to our apartment for dinner. This was quite nerve-racking for Phyl, as these apartments are never as well-equipped as home, and you don't have the stuff in reserve, like herbs and spices etc. But she did a marvellous job, the food was superb and the evening went well. Our guests stayed until midnight and we got through a few bottles of wine (now there's a surprise). During the evening there was a spectacular thunderstorm to the east, over Coromandel, which could be seen clearly from Auckland. It was all over the news the next day, something like 6,000 lightning strikes were recorded; the most exciting free show for years. And guess what, we never saw a thing! There we were, engrossed in our after-dinner conversation, totally oblivious.

Thursday night saw another dinner party, this time we were the guests. Becky invited Matthew and ourselves over to her apartment for dinner, and again we had an excellent evening, eating fajitas. These were extremely tasty, and I must have been hungry, as I ate even more than Matthew, which is a rarity these days. Thanks, Becky.

Friday we spent making final preparations to move out of our Metropolis apartment, which was a little sad as we had enjoyed the luxurious surroundings and the excellent view during our stay. In the evening we had to return the "Mercedes" to Terry, so we had yet another meal out; Roy cooked us some fish on his barbie and Terry did the chips, so we spent another pleasant evening swapping stories. We sampled Roy's notorious home-brewed Rakia, but Terry insisted we had no more than a sip as we had to be up the next day and she knew well the effects it could have on the unwary!

So, a pleasant, sociable few days, and now we had arrived excitedly at the eve of our first-ever cruise. More about this in the next instalment. Bye for now.

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Photos

Adonis emerging from the waves
Daniel Craig, eat your heart out

Preparing for the trip
You can't escape it even on holiday!