it’s very hot here you know. my car said 30 degrees when i got home from work and i think i got a little burnt sitting in the garden reading the newspaper this evening. nothing else to report really, other than i thought this was a typo, but butterflied lamb leg is a real thing.
no word from the rest of the team down in rotorua today so we can only assume all is well and/or jane forgot to charge her phone. they should be back tomorrow evening though. hoorah.
so we went to rotorua for a few days and here are some pictures from day 1
we set off quite early and stopped for morning tea in Hobbiton (or Matamata as it’s actually called)
this allowed us to get some family photos
we passed many strange sights on the way including these giants cows. there was a giant burger near by too
eventually we arrived at our holiday house which was a bach belonging to friends of friends
it had this fantastic view of mount tarawera
little did we know but this view was about to disappear for the next three days …
the bach also had this fantastically decorated toilet
and lots of great instructional signs
anyway, it then started raining rather heavily so we went in to Rotorua town to go to the museum
and then we went to the supermarket to find more wines off the Consumer reviews
i got some nice beers
and this was the wine which was drank and it was good apparently.
we went to bed and the winds howled and the rains poured on to the tin roof. that was the first day. tbc
well everyone seems to be having a good time down in rotorua. i had a text from jane today telling me she’d just gone down the luge and now her parents were about to venture forth. i assume all went well. jane forgot her camera though so i suspect they’ll be no evidence.
here’s a christmas tree i saw today. at least it’s still january
and here’s a moth that was hiding inside the bbq
here’s a closeup
almost as soon as i got home from work this evening i met with warren and walked up to the church office for a meeting, and then walked back again. i’ve only just got back
on the way we saw this fantastic machine
it’s late now and i’m hot and tired, so time for bed.
oh, i forgot to mention. the title of the post is to do with my obsessional monitoring of weather forecasts over the last couple of days to see if we should book up a family boat trip to a bird sanctuary on sunday. a very fast and very nearby cyclone was due to hit on sunday but it looks like it’s running early and should all be over by sunday. so i’m going to book ‘em.
spare a thought for our friends in the states where it is so cold they can throw cups of coffee in the air and they just evaporate
hello
i’m back but i’ve left the rest of them back in Rotorua. I’ll fill you in over the next couple of days, but for today have a look at the visitor centre i saw on the way back
the local church had entered in to the spirit (pun intended)
as had a local wool shop
i can report our house is still in one piece which is lucky with all the weather we’ve been having. have a look here to read the auckland story
here’s some videos of the rotorua weather
(just popped off for another holiday. normal service will be resumed soon enough!)
the holiday makers went to kelly tarltons today to enjoy it’s aquariumly goodness
kezia was in control of the camera. it’s particularly tricky to take photos in there, so i think she’s done well considering
it looks like someone has been eaten in this next photo !
after the aquarium they went to mission bay which was windy then came back
this evening was spent getting ready to go to rotorua tomorrow
meanwhile i went to work.
i had lunch with a colleague
and popped in on a leaving do
this was today’s wine. general view was this is the best so far
it’s slightly unfair that i get to write the daily blog when i didn’t get to take part in most of the day’s activities !
but anyway, here goes:
kezia went out at 5.30pm to a party at the local indoor ski place. it’s 9.30pm and she’s not back yet, so we assume that means she is having a great time !
everyone else in the family (except me) went to muriwai to look at the black sand, the mad sea and the gannet colony
it seemed most of the fun of the day involved looking down binoculars
when i got home from work jane’s mum was still looking down here binoculars, this time at the birds in the reserve behind our house
jane cooked a fab roast chicken
then after tea we went to long bay for a walk to … granny’s bay
we had to walk over the top of the hill, but got a nice view (today’s first picture was taken from the highest point in the walk)
esther and jane went for a swim when we got to granny’s bay
then there was so posing for pictures
if jane’s mum looks a bit strange below it’s because she had the giggles. she’s pulled an amazingly funny face just before and i’d caught a picture of it as i’m quick on the draw. i was forbidden from showing it to you of course, so he she is giggling about it in front of a sign which says granny’s bay
and finally, here’s today’s win review
jane and party liked this one better than yesterday’s, but pooch and me liked it less.
esther preferred just juice
here’s jane’s parents planning their itinerary for the next four weeks. they’ve got everything they need. a calendar, a map of auckland, coffee and chocolate
here are some lollies (sweets) i saw outside a supermarket at lunch
kezia had her swimming try out for a swimming squad today and passed the test. she’ll now go on a waiting list for swimming sessions twice a week
then they both had violin lessons whilst granny and party (i’ll use their familiar names) went for a walk down long bay
we had barbie burgers for tea and jane’s mum was quite distracted by the local bird life (rather than implying we’d given her small portions)
this evening esther and kezia took them for a walk up to the library and the play park whilst jane mowed the lawn and i sold my ticket to the big day out to a young chap who is more ready to party than i am. he probably also doesn’t have his parents in law staying and isn’t going to be driving down to Rotorua the next day and hasn’t run out of leave days at work. so you can’t blame him (and i got my money back on the ticket so that’s good)
here’s the pacific pearl which they should rename the pacific hurl as it’s spent the last couple of weeks out in the churny seas of the pacific. we know this as debbie’s brother was on it and abandoned their holiday half way through and flew home !
here’s is today’s wine. it went down a treat. he said it was ‘VG’, but not ‘VVG’. a high benchmark so early in the wine tasting, so we’ll see where we go from here !
the gorgeous weather we’ve been having for the last month or so just disappeared yesterday as two cyclones and the low that caused all the australian flooding descended on new zealand. you can read more (and see an interesting satellite video) here
but the big news of the day is that jane’s parent have arrived for a month of kiwi holidaying. shame about the weather which they avoided on the plane, but have been less lucky with down on the ground.
the girls left home before me this morning to drive to the airport to meet them. they also saw buzz and wendy at the airport who were waiting on their daughter who had been on the same flight for one leg of the journey. small world
according to my sources they had a nap this afternoon but otherwise seem very awake and as jane said they have ‘journeyed very well’. better pictures to come over the following weeks (if the sunshine ever comes back !)
highlight of the day for me was having lunch with warren who was visiting my office today for an interview. the job was a no-goer unfortunately but our commiseration lunch was excellent (and really rather large – it’s not a trick of the camera)
oh, and i decided to sell my ticket for a big music festival on friday as the weather looks rubbish (or alternatively it’ll be really hot) and the thought of being squashed in some metal pens with 10,000 other people didn’t really appeal once i thought about it a bit more. it’s on the NZ equivalent of ebay at the moment and i’ll at least get back what i spent on the ticket judging by where the bidding has got to
here’s some christmas decorations which are still up in town. we took our tree down at the weekend in case you were interested
meanwhile jane and the girls had a very busy day. they met up with Fleur and her daughters and had some good chatting (and no doubt some laughing as they do). then jane took the girls to various shops and was remarkably successful buying school things ready for going back to school in a couple of week’s time.
jane’s parents are now above the pacific and all being well they’ll arrive in auckland before the cyclones do !