Author: dave

we packed the car and headed off.  including in the packing list was pearl who we dropped off at her friend’s house on the way

we stopped at whangerei for lunch

then a further stop for a tour of a glow worm cave which was low budget but all the more excellent for that.

tonnes of really bright glowing worms, but no photos allowed so you’ll just have to imagine

we popped by Paihia on the way to book a trip for saturday then got the car ferry to Russell

esther had an avacodo smoothie

our holiday house was in an amazing location

 

here is the view from the windows / deck

quite a nice panorama

the girls went down to the beach to look at some old crabs legs

and i watched the native pigeons in the giant morton bay fig tree next door

then we wandered across in to russell town

and back as it was getting dark

we saw a rare weta running wild (below)

the waves were quite loud in the night

we’re away until Sunday evening.  apologies for the break in the usual programming

i had work. everyone else did shopping things i think.  jane might say more.

I did not do shopping – jane

i had a three and a half hour meeting this morning on the 18th floor of a building

there was a big moon this morning

jane says:

 

jane says: hello

there was some welshness in dave’s office

we skipped church this morning and went to a special evening service today instead

we parked at the silo park and set off on a walking adventure

we walked the hour and a half up hill to newmarket to go to the Italian Festival, which was very busy so we just grabbed some food then walked back again.

esther was interested in fwaries.

and the girls found their long lost sister in a window

lots of people admired and patted pearl on the walk which was interesting.

we all ended up a bit sunburnt.  summer is on its way!

jane went out for a walk with pearl on the beach first thing

then we all went in to town to go to this arty thing.

so, after we had breakfast in a cafe we took off our shoes and went in

esther in particular loved it and pulled lots of faces

after that we drove out to the a homestead which was having a garden party

then we had pie/sushi sitting down on the beach before heading home for an afternoon of doing not much.

i went to wellington for a meeting today, had lunch with a colleague then happened to catch up with my friend sam and his girlfriend who also happened to be in wellington for the hour when i was free

everyone else had school  but have now broken up for two weeks of school holidays

esther spent most of the day at the boys school playing her instruments in her orchestra and big band for their prize giving.  she said it was incredibly boring

everyone had school and i had work.  i met up with an old coleague for lunch which was good and had a busy rest of day

esther had tennis.  kezia had orchestra

jane has now gone to her school’s disco.  i think she’s a sort of bouncer

esther got some of her mock exam results back (mock exams, real results) and even managed to get 100% in some of them!

our clocks change at the weekend. it’s a bit complex so there’s a video explaining it here: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=11518373

school for kez and jane

something musical for esther before school then a day off school so she went shopping in various parts of auckland (and spent no money – that’s ma girl) before going back to school late afternoon for her big band rehearsal

kezia bought a cactus

i had camera club and got an acceptance and a pass for my images which are the two worst possible.  hah!

the one above was the acceptance and the one below was the pass