Day 248-252: Auckland, New Zealand

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From the lack of pictures in this issue of our blog it should be apparent to the casual observer that not much happened in the last few days. We hope you still enjoy hearing from us even though pulling teeth might be more entertaining. Anyway, lets get on with it…

Happy birthday to our sister Lindy and our friend Megan! Hope you had a fantastic day and may God bless you with many joyful years to come.

Thursday, October 1st

Today we said a sad farewell to our van, The Three Sisters. We spent 65 days together, covered 7510 trouble free kilometers, and shared many many adventures. We'll miss the old girl, but on the upside, Escape was very kind and gave us a further discount!

Once all the formalities were done we walked to the nearest bus stop to wait for the bus back to Browns Bay. The first bus that was supposed to stop didn't even slow down, so we had to wait another half hour for the next one. We arrived back home just before lunch and Talita made snackwiches.

Later Mel dropped us off in town where we did a few admin things and walked through the shops. Talita was feeling a bit stiff cause she and Mel had started jogging this morning. Ferdi had slept in, unconvinced of the wisdom of jogging in the rain.

Today's highlights:
1. Talita started jogging again.

Impressions of NZ:
A rain jacket is an essential part of your NZ jogging kit.

Friday, October 2nd

We didn't do much today, just continued our hunt for a van and watched some TV. We don't know what to do with ourselves when we're not busy moving from place to place. There's a real and present danger of cabin fever setting in.

Talita and Mel went grocery shopping in the afternoon, but Ferdi couldn't face the shops so he stayed home and continued the hunt for a van.

Saturday, October 3rd

The weather over the last few days were terrible, with high winds and pretty much continuous rain. The reports for the coming days were not looking good either. The girls went jogging in the morning and after lunch Nicol took Ferdi to meet a friend of his from the Coast Guard. Chris has worked in the film industry for many years and over a few beers Ferdi got a lot of info, names and a few good ideas.

Later we walked around a huge hardware store looking at all the cool gadgets and stuff. We just want to buy everything we might need to convert our van, but we have to wait till we have it before spending any moolah. On the way home we stopped at a South African butcher where we got Maltabella porridge, Talita got Jellytots and Ferdi spoiled himself with biltong.

In the evening the Smit gang went to a friend's birthday party while we stayed home, got Indian take-aways and watched movies all night.

Today's highlights:
1. Getting some more info on the NZ film industry.
2. Biltong and Jellytots.
3. Delicious Indian food.

Sunday, October 4th

It feels like our lives have become all about money; the fear of losing it, the worry of not earning it, the senseless joy of spending it. Buying stuff seems to keep us happy. Mmm… does that mean we‘re unhappy? Or maybe it keeps us distracted from our fears for the future? And if we truly trust God to lead us, why are we afraid? It’s all backwards and stupid, but there you have it.

For breakfast we enjoyed delicious Maltabella porridge for the first time in decades, then accompanied Mel to the mall. We got a few things we didn't strictly needed and one thing we did. Oops, we did it again.

Back at home the ladies made delicious rusks and for dinner they rolled sushi. It was a treat! We hadn't had sushi since Vietnam.

Today's highlights:
1. Home made rusks and sushi.

Monday, October 5th

Another day on pause. The limbo was getting tedious. We continued the search for a van and also did some research. Just before lunch we went for a jog. Ferdi had finally gotten so bored that he gave in and joined Talita. It was a bitterly cold day because the north island got a heavy dusting of snow, so our jog was not only wet, it was also freezing. All in all it's not so bad to jog in the rain.

Today's highlights:
1. Jogging in the rain.

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Comments

[MA MINTY]

Ons MOET foto's kry!!!
Hello daar, Dis voorwaar n afskeep 'blog' hierdie ... ek dink julle moet 1-5 Oktober se foto's vir ons volgende keer aanstuur. Ons wil asseblief n paar foto's van elkeen en saam ELKE keer sien, anders word die verlange te groot. Stuur foto's hoe dit reen... hoe julle die matabela pap geniet en hoe die winkelsentrum lyk ... en wys ons hoe lyk die goedjies wat julle nie nodig net nie. Ek wil sien hoe julle draf!! Jou pa en Rudi gaan die naweek n vinnige 10km draf en ek gaan stap ... ek oefen 4km voor werk ...dis heerlik en vars so vroeg in die oggend!! Baaaaaaaaaie liefde en verlange, Moeder xx 00