Trip Blog – still in Kiwiland 27 November 2013 – 5 December 2013

With heavy hearts, we are about to bit New Zealand, our family and new friends farewell….till we meet again. BUT before we do that, still some blog to finalise.

I forgot to mention in my recent post, our trip to the gannet colony.   I can’t remember ever seeing a gannet before.  What amazing birds.  They nest on the cliff above the sea, each gannet has his/her own nest (breeding pair).  Right now, there are eggs about to be hatched. Unfortunately we will not be lucky enough to see the baby chicks as our time is short.  I will have to rely on the family to post some pics for us to see the hatchlings.

So back to now… last week was curry Wednesday. Norma and Peter took us to their favourite curry restaurant in Browns Bay.  Wednesday evenings, everything on the menu is 10 Dollars.   You can byo (bring your own) wine, for which there is no charge, believe it, no charge.   I had a scrummy ‘very mild’ beef curry with naan bread.  I am happy to advise that the ‘very mild’ curry this time was eatable, unlike the first curry we had in Mission Bay…their ‘very mild’ was sort of ‘quite hot’. LOL.

On Saturday we had an early family Christmas here in Murrays Bay.   The whole New Zealand family were invited, it was so amazing to have the family all together again.   A group effort included, gammon or (ham as they call it here), chicken, pasta salad, potato salad, green salad, garlic bread, sweet bread rolls, followed by the most delicious peppermint tart made by Gilly AND cones with ice cream.   All in all far too much good food and plenty wine.

With full tummies, we all settled back to watch the ‘family cine’s’ that John had painstakingly edited, with music onto a disc.  These were of John’s parents, grandparents and his and his siblings early years.

Sunday morning John, Norma, Gran and Lawrence, with baby Zac took a walk in Cornwall Park.  Gran says it is the most beautiful park in the whole of Auckland.   Jenn and I went for some ‘girlie time’ with Shane, to the local park.   Sunday afternoon, we all crashed…definitely from the after effects of Saturday.

Our last few days in Murrays Bay… spinning to say the least.   Jossie has just left Michigen on her way to Mexico, to join Nick, Tanaelle and the kids for Wesley and Kate’s wedding.  This will be the first time she has seen her brother and his family since they left Cape Town.  So, you can well imagine her excitement.  We await the photos and news of the wedding.

Last minute bits and pieces before we pack our bags and wing our way to Sydney, then onto Johannesburg.   Tonight is ‘roast pork’ with the family, our ‘goodbye’ dinner, then tomorrow, our last night, is curry in Browns Bay, at our request.  Thursday morning, we leave at 4.30am for the airport.

So the next time I post, it will be back to reality, campervan, dogs and our travels.

Hope you all enjoyed our blog as much as we enjoyed sharing with you.

Till next time    bye