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we all got an extra hour in bed this morning thanks to the clocks going back.  unfortunately i still needed to get up early to play bass at church.  the scheduled bass player had got stuck in wellington due to his flight cancelled so i had to sub in last night.

it all went well and it was fun to play.

i got back from church around 12.30 where upon we set forth to do a great deal of house hunting to see if there are any other areas round here where we might live if we don’t decide to buy here. 

i’m not sure how many open homes we went to, but one really caught our eye. all of us loved it.  That wasn’t part of our plan so we’ve been thrown a bit off course.  so we’ll need to think/pray about that further.

meanwhile mum’s off to a good start on her tour.  she texted this evening to say she had good weather driving up to paihia and for her 3 hour boat trip through the hole in the rock where she saw plenty of dolphins.  she texted from her veranda in her nice hotel room, so that’s good.

apologies for the lack of photos.  instead, here’s the original version of a song we did this morning which had a rather busy bass line (bass line kicks off about 1 minute in)

today was the first time i got to spend a decent chunk of time with my mum

  

the day started with breakfast outside then we headed in to auckland for some exploring

first of all we took mum to her hotel and got her checked in.  then we went for a coffee in a cafe with some nice views of the bridge.  unfortunately the views were obscured by the diesel containers

and here’s the maritime museum with its funky sidings

then we walked round the water front to the fish market

there were lots of free samples in the shop in the market which we all made the most of

then we had fish and chips in new zealand’s second best fish shop

 

then the ladies left us as esther had a church climbing party and kezia had a normal party

  

so mum and me walked back round to the city, seeing a big sting ray glide by at one point

and then we got the boat to devonport where we had an ice cream and a wander

here’s a giant fig tree called ‘Albert’

then it was back to auckland to take mum back to her hotel for her evening’s activities.  she’s texted to say she’s already met some nice people so that’s good.  she has said she’ll text us each day on her 17 day epic journey to visit all of new zealand so i’ll keep you up to date on her whereabouts

meanwhile, here’s a new zealand praying mantis.  it was on our bedroom wall last night so i threw it out the old front door

and this morning it was on the wall next to the old front door

here’s a little video of it with a very dramatic soundtrack

 

here’s a glove on a pipe in the street

 

jane took my mum to the mall today to buy a handbag and that went well.  then i think mum’s been packing for her tiki tour, and sitting on the deck

 

meanwhile jane took the girls to their after swimming club and then we all watched a dvd this evening (ice age 3)

that’s all i have to report today.  sorry

i got a different bus to work this morning to see if i can find a less crowded route.  it was quite chilly waiting for it in the stingy hands sort of before light chilliness which is actually quite pleasant.  and i got a seat which was nice.

i went for a walk at lunch to the bank to sort out mum’s new credit card and found these bits of rather funky graffiti-s.

esther and kez had good days at school and my mum looked after them after school as jane had parents evening (which went well) and a church meeting to learn about the kids work)

jane and my mum went to a cafe this morning with chums and then they went to an opticians to get mum some wrap around sunglasses.  fush and chups for tea and then mum did some book reading.

so there you go

normal day in the office for me.  that’s not my office.  it’s a cruise ship

jane was at school i think.  kezia’s tooth dropped out and esther got invited to a birthday party

i had sushi with buzz and we chatted greatly about life and families and houses

then it was back to work

this evening our friend john came round to have a look at our house.  he’s a builder.  he went right up in to the roof and even down the chimney so he was standing behind the wall in our main room which was a bit weird.  nothing conclusive however but really useful to get his perspective on the house.  he found some leaks and gave us some pointers for next steps.

 

my mum had a nice day too.  she was at home in morning pootling about, and then this afternoon she went to listen to kezia’s piano lesson.  she then stayed at school to walk home with kezia at the end of the day.  then they all went to the swimming pool for kezia’s swimming club session.

here’s some yellow pages in the street

and here’s kezia tooth

just a regular day for us natives.  school, work.  that kind of thing

i went for a walk at lunchtime in the sunshine

the glass divider to separate my desk from the coffee machine is going to be obscure glass, and is due to arrive in a week’s time.  exciting.

my mum had an exciting day though as she out with the mother of our friend debbie down the road (not that debbie, the other debbie).  she took mum back to north head, takapuna, various posh residential streets of devonport and remuera, the main shopping streets of auckland  and finally up a couple of extinct volcanoes – mount victoria, mount eden (i think)

here are kezia’s news quiz sheets.  as usual, a few gruesome and unsavoury real life stories to help the kids sleep well.  And as an extra bit of confusion, one of the names below is wrong.  should be Daniel Hughes.  perhaps it was deliberate so kids didn’t look up the story 

anyway, enough of this. to bed…

we got our building survey report today.  as expected it raises lots of areas of potential concern so we’re going to speak to a builder friend of ours to see what he thinks.  it’s not public knowledge that our landlords want to sell by the way, so keep it a bit hush hush (if you live in new zealand!)

in other news, they’ve nearly finished the kitchen at work.  The ceo came over to look at it this morning and pointed out my desk is very close to the coffee machine which it is.  we’re due a big glass screen at some point to stop the gawpers and chatterers. 

 

this evening we took advantage of the sunny evening for a walk down by the creek

esther went to the waitakere ranges with school today to do some learning about water and cleaness.  she went on the little maintenance train that we went on with jane’s parents a few weeks back.  she said it was ok, but not the best school trip ever.

meanwhile my mum went out for the ray with tracey and janine (shadows above).  they took her to the very posh takapuna beach cafe and then up north head to look back over the city

church this morning was good and we had a meeting after the service to hear about the kids work.  mum took kezia to the cafe whilst that was going on and they had lots of cake and coffee.

once we got home jane got down to organising the week on the giant planner thing and make sure mum isn’t going to be sitting round twiddling her thumbs all week (looks like she won’t be)

then this afternoon we went for a walk along long bay.  the rain had stopped, but the sea was really choppy thanks to an approaching cyclone

 

we then went to brown’s bay for a sit down and ice cream

 

then we came home and jane went for a run whilst the rest of us went to kezia’s flippa ball match.  she lost 1-3 but the team played well

then this evening it’s been the usual routine of practising and bed times.

my mum arrived this morning.  it meant a 6am departure from home to pick her up but it was worth it for the look on her face when she came through the magic arrival gates (after being de-planed, identified and biological cleansed)

we spent most of the rest of the day lazing about the house.  i mostly played with my new phone (present from my mum!).  jane went for a run and did a bit of shopping with the girls.  and then this evening we watched a dvd

everyone tired.  to bed …

well, the disappointing news of the day is that our house is a leaky house so that’s made things a bit tricky.  as it stands i suspect we’d be unlikely to get a mortgage and things like house insurance would be tricky. we’ll get the proper written report next week so we can get a fuller picture then

i worked from home today to meet the building inspector and the evaluator, and to chat to an emigration financial advisor on the phone.  The morning was a bit noisy as the church ladies group was here. 

the rest of the day (when i wasn’t working) was been spent unpacking cupboards so the man could get in to the loft, repacking, tidying and getting ready for my mum coming tomorrow.

somewhere along the line i managed to go out to the church men’s group and jane took the girls to their swimming lessons/club and went to school.

 

this bird is a magpie.  bit larger and slightly different marking to the uk version.  but very similar behaviour apparently.  that’s all.