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i had the day off work today to celebrate the fact my car was going to pass the 123456km mark

actually, it was so jane and i could spend a day together after 5 weeks of visitors

we went out for brunch, a wander round the art gallery and a walk in titirangi then later we went for a walk at long bay

the girls went to janine’s house for a lesson in how to apply makeup (no pictures, sorry)

then esther went in to town with amy to eat sushi from a sushi train

can you see the light at the end of this tunnel?

back to work for me today.  boo.  but because everyone else has been on holiday too there wasn’t a big pile of emails, and it’s more a case of easing back in to the new year!

It was light before xmas when i got up at 5am, but a month later the mornings are drawing in.  but i had a nice walk to work with two cruise ships arriving

esther went to the cinema this afternoon to watch a korean film i think.  the cinema was almost completely empty, but the other people watching it (a few elderly people) decided to sit right next to esther and her friend anyway!

kezia spent the day with a friend going to the beach etc

jane did lots of house work

after 5 weeks of visitors it was finally our family again so we skipped church and went for a walk down the waterfront with pearl this morning

on the way back we dropped kez off at a friends house for the day

jane went to an afternoon tea for a friend’s birthday at a posh hotel in auckland

esther and i went to the library to pick up some books which she had ordered

we then went and bought some scales (my plan is to lose some weight, but esther is worried about me becoming anorexic)

then this afternoon/ evening it’s been telly watching and gradually bringing our minds back to real life – i start back at work tomorrow

it’s been quite windy and drizzly today but hot (car was showing 28degrees).  shopping trollies were blowing all over the supermarket car park.  and we saw some nappies called ‘moony’ in a Japanese shop

 

binky, sarah, jane and esther walked pearl at Long Bay then after some packing and briefly living the dream, we all headed off to the airport to farewell Binky and Sarah.

here’s a bonus picture from a moonlit swim by sarah last night

this afternoon jane and i went for a walk at long bay and i got a bit sunburnt

Binky and jane walked pearl round the back field at the cemetery today.  turns out the council are about to start building roads etc in preparation for it being used for graves so that might curtail dog exercising in that area.  we’ll see.

after that all the ladies went to the mall for shopping and sushi.

this afternoon everyone except kezia went to Muriwai to look at gannets, walk on the beach and watch some people being rescued from the sea.

this evening there’s been living the dream, a raclette and some racing demon

 

sarah has been in a pool every day of her holiday

Tawharanui – it was quite windy and the waves weren’t very dramatic, so there was no boogie boarding.  but there were plenty of rock pools and sitting around in the surprisingly strong sun.

on the way back we had ice creams from Charlie’s ice creams (thanks to A Barb/ U David again).  and we even managed a quick trip to see the giant Kauri at the Parry Kauri museum

almost as soon as we arrived Sarah spotted some rare Takahes just wandering around near a sign telling everyone that Takahes had been released in to the park

sarah went in to the sea.  although it was cold she said this was her nicest sea swim

we also popped in to morris and james to look at their fancy pots

when we got home kezia’s viola case had arrived so we could finally made her new viola (known as ‘Fiona the third) its special nest.

then this evening there was a bit of racing demons

here are some more photos from the ladies’ trip.  i think these are mostly binky’s ones:

the ladies came back from Rotorua via the red woods and i tidied up then went for a walk at long bay. The sun finally came out today in Auckland, though it’s been out all the time in rotorua apparently)

i’ve not got any photos from the ladies yet, so here’s some of Long Bay instead

today the ladies went to Wai-o-tapu and then the tree walk.

i picked up my old guitar from the packing company, then took it to the post office, had a hair cut, came home, did some tax things, realised i needed a print out from the bank, went to the bank and got the print out, bought some lightbulbs and an emergency defence kit (long overdue!) and then did the rest of my tax.  

Some time during the day, the band i photoed yesterday got in touch to say they loved the photos so that was nice.

here’s jane/kezia’s pictures:

 

 

so, i found out what the Rotorua contingent were up to yesterday.  After the luge they went to Rainbow Springs to look at New Zealand natures and go on the water ride.  They went back later after dark to look at kiwis.  i’ve also included some pictures of my walk with Pearl The Dog yesterday.