Haera ra

Our last meal together with Livi, James, Erica and Ben in our local `One Fat Bird`

Well that six months certainly flew by and we are now just a few hours away from our flight tomorrow (Saturday) that gets us into Heathrow on Sunday afternoon.

I think we both have mixed feeling about returning, but we are ready and prepared for the worst the British summer can throw at us and looking forward to seeing our boy Kev and all our chums.. We have been following the UK weather forecasts and it does appear that the temperatures here in Wellington are only one or two degrees short of what is happening at home. Mind you, everybody here says this is not a typical Wellington winter, and today has been cold, wet and windy.

We will now have to wait and see when, and if, we are offered residency. There seems no reason why that shouldn’t happen but we have been advised it could take several more months. That being the case we will need to spend another 180 days here next year. I’m not complaining. We have really fallen for this place and all its little peculiarities and we are back mid-January, after stops in South Africa and Singapore.

Haera ra Aotearoa

(It’s speak Maori week in NZ)

A good dose of the `All Blacks`

New Zealand seems generally a safe place to live. Domestic violence may be a real issue here with the highest rates in the world and there are the usual drug issues, especially in parts of Auckland, but we have never felt uneasy, wherever we have travelled.

Our home in Karori is only a couple of miles from the centre of government, and we are regularly in the city, but never hear of security alerts, which are a day-to-day fact of city life in the UK these days. I was in a large department store recently and spotted an unattended carrier bag sitting by a lift. I reported it to a member of staff who was very indifferent. Customers just ignored it. If that was Britain, I expect the store would have been evacuated PDQ.

I mention all this for the other day I was mugged. Yes friends, and there was a bunch of them. At least six or seven, I reckon. I was having a cup of coffee and cheese scone in the cafe at Wellington’s fabulous Botanical Gardens with Pat and young Ben our grandson, when in a co-ordinated attack a flock of sparrows swooped down and took half the scone I was holding from my hand. Cheeky little buggers. I never realised how organised they must be to carry out such a daring raid, but it’s probably quite common. We returned there last week and I found myself consciously scanning the horizon for  incoming squadrons of feathered felons. 

The sparrow reconnaissance patrol .

It’s been pretty quiet here. We are now officially in Winter, and at times, it does get cold and wet, but not that cold. Not cold like we experience in Britain. I went to my regular Wednesday night ukulele club last Wednesday and they were all moaning how cold it was. It was 10C. Positively balmy, I thought. We are still getting sunny days and coldish nights, but there is little heat from the sun. But when it rains, boy does it fall. And it’s erratic. Last Saturday the grandkids were in the sea paddling – the day after was cold and windy.

Our routine has been altered though, by the arrival of Bella. She is a 14-week old all- black kitten, who we have now had for six weeks. Erica chose her because she seemed very calm around the children, and it was a good choice. Ben wants to poke and chase her all the time and she is very forgiving. I think she has only scratched Livi once and that was during play. I had forgotten what it’s like to have a kitten in the house. Basically she is just a naughty girl. But very loving. We will miss her when we leave here in a few weeks. 

Bella, our Kiwi `All Black` kitten makes herself at home

And helps with a bit of decorating

Last Saturday was so nice that Pat and I took ourselves off to Scorching Bay, a popular beach fairly close to the city, for a walk along the front there. It’s a lovely spot with some pretty expensive housing.  But Scorching Bay, like the rest of the coastline around the city, is very susceptible to  Tsunamis. Wellington Harbour sits on a fault line and we get shakes regularly. But if a big earthquake were to happen out in the harbour, a tsumami could decimate many of the coastline communities in and around the city. It’s something that every Wellingtonian is very aware of, and every house, ours included, has an emergency box in the garage with torches, bottled water, radio etc, just in case the big one hits. Out here in Karori, we are quite high up, but it is quite common to see the sign below  all round the coast. It directs people to the safest place in the area, in the event of a tsunami. This one was at Scorching Bay. 

Scorching Bay

A common sight round the Bays of Wellington

The more time we spend discovering Wellington, the more we fall for its charms. New Zealand likes to give its cities taglines. So Auckland is the `City of Sails`, Christchurch was always known as `The Garden City`, though since their major earthquake it’s being called “The City That Rocks!” and everywhere in Wellington you see `Absolutely, Positively Wellington`, which started by accident in the early nineties and has now been adopted by the City Council. It’s a nod to the `Can Do` mentality that exists in the capital, and reflects the artisan spirit that prevails here. It hasn’t made it onto the hillside where the “Wellington” sign is though. A bit like Hollywood it welcomes the ferries and cruise ships and sits near the airport. Occasionally the letters get changed around. It’s been `Wellywood` when Peter Jackson premieres one of his films here, and the “All Blacks” get promoted during Rugby World Cups. The flyaway letters at the end of the sign is a nod towards Wellington being one of the windiest cities on the planet. 

Our thoughts have now turned to our impending return in early July. My, it’s gone quick. We normally hire a car in the UK when we need one, but we have decided that this time round we will lease one for six months. Our lives are quite hectic this summer and autumn, and I can’t see us getting out very much on `The Cat’s Whiskers`. That disappoints me, and we will go out cruising, but it will have to snatch a week here and a few days there.

I am still playing with `The Ukes Of Wellington` on a Sunday morning and `The Hutt Valley Ukulele Orchestra` on Wednesday nights. The man who runs the Wednesday night sessions is a very good player and pushes us. It’s improved my playing a lot, especially further up the fretboard.

The Ukes of Wellington Sunday morning session in Cuba Street. My mate Ann sits to my right

The Queen’s 90^th passed here with little fanfare. Ironically, her birthday is always celebrated in New Zealand with a public holiday, so it was no big thing. There was a gun salute from Government House. We went on a skyline walk above Karori and could see the little puffs of smoke in the distance. The average New Zealander was far more concerned how the new look All Blacks would do against the visiting Wales side who are in NZ for three tests . I picked up a national newspaper the day after the first match, and they had devoted eight pages to the match report, which was the first All Blacks game of 2016. I am not really surprised. This, after all, is their national sport and they are pretty good at it. Rugby infiltrates all parts of life in NZ. It is part fascinating and part infuriating,  but they certainly `walk the walk`.

It was our turn in Wellington to welcome the Welsh this weekend and my niece, who lives in Auckland, asked if James and I would like to go to the match. Her husband Mark had got some tickets. Now I am not a great rugby fan; I prefer a rounder ball, but I was not going to say no to seeing the best team in the world, on home soil.

Three Brits, one Welshman and a Kiwi get ready for the match

The Welsh Team run out at the Westpac Stadium

Essential lubrication

The game and all the razzmatazz around it did not disappoint. We had a great night. Mark brought along a Kiwi mate and his Finance Manager Mark, a Welshman, who flew over from Sydney especially for the match. The All Blacks just seemed to go up a gear when they needed to, but the Welsh were no push-overs and for much of the game it was a very spirited match. And then of course there was the usual pre and post match drinking.

And finally, I am thinking about buying a new boat, having seen this recently. Could be good for popping down the village and tying up at the pub. Just needs a small outboard. What do you think? Won't have to worry about it rusting.

So Toodaloo for now.

The Cape Crusaders

Wellington. Our part of New Zealand - We live middle left. 

It’s been school half-term here over for  the last couple of weeks so we thought we’d take advantage of the situation and go for a bit of a road trip around the North Island and then take a flight to Nelson in the South for a few days, to see our pals down there.

I was not sure how our little car would cope with the journey north, given that you never have to travel very far in New Zealand without ascending into the clouds and then there’s the inevitable descent back. And this happens with alarming regularity due to the country’s rocky backbone and contributes to the country’s  incredible beauty. I am delighted to say that our little Honda performed admirably, but if we change our car next year, I think we will buy something that’s two litre or thereabouts.

It was while we were way out East, stopping for supplies, that I was called “Bro” for the first time since our arrival. We were in Maori country – on the East Cape - and it happened after I bumped into a young fella in Opotiki. “Sorry Bro”, he said apologetically.

Now that is `very Kiwi` and is certainly up there alongside “ As Sweet As” “Yeah Nah”, and “Hot Chips”, which are chips, which are different from “Chips” which are crisps. Then Flip Flops are Jangals, and so on.

It was the first time I had been called “Bro”, and it came as we started the most isolated of our journeys, the 550 Km drive around the East Cape. I had been planning this for quite a few weeks. Our week-long road trip took us north to see our pals Helen and Kevin, who own a 200-acre farm, near Hamilton, where they keep, predominantly  cattle, and then on to Tauranga and south towards the East Cape.

Our pals from Hamilton, Helen & Kevin outside the fish `n` chip shop on the wharf at Tauranga

This area gets very few tourists and you can cruise for an hour around its rugged coast and maybe pass two or three cars. There are no towns to speak off and the road hugs the coast and then climbs to reveal spectacular views of sweeping rocky bays and the odd house and Marai (Maori Meeting House), before plunging inland for a bit. I was, frankly disappointed, not to see kids on horseback galloping bareback along the highway. Evidently that is quite common. It’s certainly a very wild place.

Tuihiaura Beach on the East Cape

There are not very many places to stay on the route, unless you want to camp, so when I saw this place advertised in the `Lonely Planet` I could not resist it. Nestled right on the beach, and I mean `right on the beach`, it’s higgldy piggledy stairs and driftwood furniture made it  pretty unique. We were there with a family from Auckland and spent the evening chatting around a fire, with wood we gathered from the beach.

The Beach Retreat at Maraehako Bay. Spot our little white Honda

Our room. Just a stone's throw from the water

The East Cape route finishes in Gisborne, which has a beautiful beach and has had a lot of money spent on it, but is a bit shabby in places. We would certainly re-visit though and watched a very popular Kiwi film there, “The Hunt For The Wilder People”. Gisborne is  where Captain Cook first landed in New Zealand and every street in the city centre is named after one of the crew. Naturally there is the ubiquitous Captain Cook Motel, Bakery, Dry Cleaners, Car Showroom, etc, etc.

The spot in Gisborne where Capt. James Cook is said to have landed.

The pier at Tolega Bay. Better watch out. The 11.30 is almost due.

From Gisborne it’s about a three-hour journey to  Napier, where we met and stayed with John and Diana, who are Kiwi boaters, and do what we do, but the other way around. Napier is the place I blogged about where they have the fabulous Art Deco weekend every February.  John and Di are off to the UK in two weeks to cruise on their boat “Molly Rose” and will return to NZ in October. We hope to see them sometime this summer.

Before we left Wellington I had bid on the equivalent of our “E Bay” for a Kiwi Long Stockman’s Wax Coat. I’ve been wanting one of these for ages, mainly for the back of the boat when it rains, or for stomping round the marina in similar conditions. There are frighteningly expensive in the UK and I had been looking through “Trade Me” here to see if one would turn up, and turn up it did. It cost me £25, and although it had been in a garage for several years, smelt a bit, and needs a good coat of wax, I am double-chuffed with it. We picked it up from a fruit farm in Hastings, close to Napier.

My Kiwi Stockman's Coat

Last weekend we flew over to the South Island to my absolute favourite place in New Zealand, Nelson. It doesn’t seem to matter how many times we visit this small city, neither of us tire of it. We have good friends there and the combination of a smart, clean, bustling, arty-crafty city, sitting beside a beautiful bay, with great sandy beaches, and with vineyards and a National Park just minutes away make it a great place to visit. We both think sometime in the future we might move there. There are some good drinking establishments too, though two beers and three ginger beers and a bag of crisps (chips) cost us £23 last Friday night. Ouch... Nice pub though, in an old church.

Nelson City Centre, with the cathedral in the background

The Free House, Nelson. Great pub, shame about the prices.

Since I last blogged we have had the tree surgeon in and what a difference it has made to the garden, opening it up to the light. Young Alex, arrived with his chain saw, and worked like a man possessed. I helped out, operating the industrial chipper he had brought with him. We have several large bags of mulch now, as well as piles of firewood. Don’t think I’ll be filling a suitcase with it mind, but I hear it will burn very well, especially the Manuka.

Alex, and his trusty chainsaw, set about taming the garden

While Roger works the chipper out front

The work Alex did, has opened up a corner of the garden which was very much out of bounds, and  James and Erica are now pondering the best use for it. It looks likely to be a children’s play area.

So now I can see the sky, I am now slowly working my way around the garden and have made good progress over the last few days. The weather continues to be bright and sunny though we could really do with some rain.

We follow the weather at home and see you are due for a heat wave over the next week or so. Our Lodge, on the Marina, continues to be well used by hirers. It was busy in March and April and we have odd weeks booked through the summer.

A busy morning at the zoo is.....

...followed by a snooze with Granny

This week we finally send off the 101 documents we need in support of our NZ residency. Everything is in place so we are hopeful that by the time we return at the beginning of July we will know how the land lies.

Finally. the Kiwis may have rejected the fern for their flag, but it still pops up everywhere.

Toodaloo

Cool Fun In Hot Water

In the limited time we have spent in New Zealand I have always thought of the country as being a fairly conservative place; where the status quo is rarely troubled, and where traditional values are still seen as important.  But stick some hairy guy in front of a microphone and all that changes, for it seems that practically `anything goes` on the radio over here. I tuned in the other day and there was a phone-in on pubic hair and the use of mirkins! I heard of another station that had sent an undercover DJ to spend a night with a local hooker and then asked him to describe his experiences live on air. This wouldn’t be so bad if they were broadcast after the water shed, but this is on Breakfast Radio at 8.30am, for all to hear! And yesterday afternoon as we were driving down from Rotorua, some adverts came on the radio with a gentlemen pleading for `my poo`. I kid you not. I guess he must run some sort of sewage disposal business emptying septic tanks on the Kapiti coast. His tag line was `We are number one for your number twos!` We had to laugh.

it’s been over three weeks since I last blogged but it certainly doesn’t seem like it. The weeks seem to flash by and here we are with Easter come and gone, four weeks into the kiwi autumn, though you’d never know it. For here, in Wellington, and throughout much of the country, it’s still very much T-shirt weather, though the sun is reluctant to put its hat on much before mid-day. But as we get most of the sun in our garden in the afternoon that’s fine by us. I suspect these 20+ temperatures can’t last any longer.

We’ve been here now over two months, but I still find myself continually comparing prices and services with those in the UK. I know it’s crazy. The UK has a population of around 64 million, while little old New Zealand has less than five million. Things are bound to be more expensive here and the choice a bit limited. But there is one area of the High Street where NZ wins hands down and that is the DIY superstore. There are two major players: the Aussie company Bunnings and the Kiwi equivalent Mitre 10 – and are they on the ball.

Our local Mitre 10

Walk into a B&Q back home and you can easily spend 10 minutes playing `hunt the assistant`, and when you find one, and ask for a particular product you are usually met by a glazed expression. Here, there always seems to be someone with a smile on their face and a spring in their step ready to advise or take you to that elusive zip bit you need. Their assortment is extensive and varied and you don’t have to wait at the checkouts for 10 minutes because the person in front has a pot of paint with a barcode missing. Having now just finished the tree house I am on first-name terms with `Dan` and `Jimmy` at our local Mitre 10 at Crofton Downs.

The tree house was a big hit at  Livi’s fourth birthday party a couple of weeks ago. A bigger hit though was the fairy and her helper who played games and enchanted the children for two hours. The day was bright and sunny (that was a first for her birthday) and the garden was the perfect setting for the event. And Livi didn’t burst into tears, though the fact that I was banned from singing `Happy Birthday` on my uke might have had something to do with it.

The fairy and her helper were a big hit Livi's birthday party

Our little White Honda Fit (Jazz) is going well. We took it for a long road trip over Easter and it never missed a beat. It’s a bit of a pain for James to keep moving the child seats out of their car into ours, but it is really handy to have a second car and all the family (who have driving licences) are using it.

Even Ben wants to drive our new little car

Last week we entertained Pat’s niece, Julie from Australia. She was on her way to a conference in Auckland, with three of her pals, and they decided to see a bit of the north island on the way.

It was great to see her again after several years, and her friends, David, Glenda and Danii, were delightful and great company. David and Glenda are boaters as well, but his craft on the Murray in Mildura, might be as long as `The Cat’s Whiskers`, but it’s about five times as wide, complete with all mod-cons. He has invited us over next Easter for a few days for a bit of a cruise, and it is possible Pat’s sister Monica and her hubby Gary, might join us as well from Vancouver Island, Canada. Should be an International hoot. The Aussies are also keen to visit the UK in 2018 to try narrowboating, so we will have some serious planning to do.

Danii, Pat, Julie, David and Glenda, when they came round for dinner last Wednesday

We spent much of Easter in Rotorua. It’s very much the centre of geo-thermal activity in New Zealand, about 400 miles north of Wellington, and as you travel into the city, you encounter big plumes of steam coming up through the ground on either side of you. We did Rotorua back in 2003, and hit all the tourist spots then. It’s a bit smelly (the sulphur smells like rotten eggs), though not nearly as bad as I remembered it being last time.

Julie and her pals were also in Rotorua on Saturday, en route, for Hobbiton, from `The Lord Of The Rings`, which is down the road, and we met up at their luxury B&B accommodation for a barbecue and several drinks on Saturday night. The main reason we went though, was that my niece, Lucy, her husband Mark, and their two children Imogen and Ben, were spending the weekend there, driving down from Auckland. We hadn’t seen them this trip, and we had a great time catching up and playing with the children. On Easter Sunday morning we went to one of the most popular thermal parks to see one of the geysers erupt. They tease it into action by pouring down a substance that looked suspiciously like soap powder to us, and it responds accordingly shooting water high up into the sky for several minute. Mark is MD of Unilever in New Zealand. I told him he should consider sponsoring the event with `Persil` as the detergent of choice at the Park. Non-bio, of course!

My niece Lucy, Mark, Ben and Immy with the erupting geyser in the background

After lunch we caught the cable car up high above Rotorua, where you get spectacular views of the town and lake, and then took the gravity luge down, though we had to queue for nearly one and a half hours for our turn. I think every tourist in town turned up at the same time. Good fun though. The kids seemed to like it, though Pat has never been that keen on cable car or chair lifts.

The Skyline Luge with Rotorua in the background

This week its back to normal, looking after the kids and after many weeks, Livi has started to want to come out with us, so we hit the zoo last week and are planning some other days out, if the weather holds up. Inbetween we getting the 101 documents together we need for our residency application. We got the medicals sorted out today, so that is a big step forward.

Toodaloo

Flying the flag

Good Morning. It’s just before 8am and I’ve just been chased around the house by an alligator; prior to that I completed a complicated underwater jigsaw, with a running commentary on what could kill you and what was friendly; put a play tent up... put it down... and put it up again; made a camp from 12 pillows and a blanket and designed and build a railway track to accommodate `Thomas`, `Gordon` and his pals. No wonder I have been taken afternoon naps.

I say I, but I really mean we. I may be Entertainment Secretary in this arrangement, but Pat is Laundry Operative and chief Chalet Maid. I mainly do the cooking for the family’s evening meal. Pat does nappies, wash-and-brush ups and mediates during temper tantrums.

So what else is new? Well March sees New Zealand voting for a new flag. Now if Scotland had voted for independence and David Cameron decided tomorrow that the UK flag no longer reflected the current make up of the United Kingdom and wanted  to change the Union flag to something more in tune with the 21^st century, I suspect much of the nation would be up in arms.

Well, for the last three years New Zealand has been wringing its hands over whether they should ditch their current flag and go for something more.. more... Kiwi.

This is what has been appearing in the daily papers. I really like the new proposed design with the silver fern.

It is argued, and I think it’s right, that the New Zealand flag can easily be mistaken for the Aussie one, and I leant very quickly on my first visit here, that Kiwis don’t like to be mistaken for Australians. (Apologies to our Aussie family and friends.)

They have already whittled down the designs in previous votes and its now down to two, the original flag with the union jack in the corner and the four red stars, or the new blue/black flag with the silver fern. What is quite interesting is how little interest this seems to have generated. I have asked numerous New Zealanders what their opinion on the new proposed flag is, and most shrug their shoulders and show a general degree of indifference.  Some say their fathers and grandfathers fought, and died, for the NZ flag, so it should not be interfered with so it will be interesting to see the result at the end of the month. I think the new design is rather good. The age of colonialism is long gone. I’d vote for it. The NZ Prime Minister is also hoping it will be the more popular of the two. He is staking his reputation on a yes vote for the new flag, so watch this space.

`Pops` starts painting the tree house

Politics aside, things rumble along here. I have almost finished the garden treehouse. The steps are in and I have replaced several rotting floorboards and constructed new railings. It looks quite smart in its new coat of `Mission Brown`, and it will need another coat before autumn kicks in.  Not sure what will happen to the inside. That will be up to the grandkids, but it’s now safe for them to use. It’s also got a trapdoor under it, that I only discovered last week and a hidden ladder up to it. Pretty cool eh!

Almost done now. Just the back to paint.

We had a carpenter round last week to look at partitioning our large room into two. Looks like it will be a `pocket` wall, but we await the quote.

We finally `bit the bullet` on Saturday and bought ourselves a car. It will be the first one we have owned for nearly five years. A colleague at Erica’s school was selling a large Hyundai. I liked it, but it had high mileage and Pat wasn’t that keen. Then we saw a Ford Fiesta advertised privately. It was priced for a quick sale as the owner was off to Australia. We agreed a price and shook hands. The following morning I got a text to say that overnight a bus had hit it! Were we still interested? I think you know what my answer was.

So after visiting dozens of dealers’ web sites in and around the city, we travelled around the coast to the Hutt Valley and have purchased a Honda Jazz Sport. It’s a few years old, but nice and clean. Erica says it’s an old man’s car. Well, that should suit us perfectly then. We pick it up on Wednesday. That is if a meteor hasn’t hit it by then!

Our new runaround while in NZ

And the spending doesn’t stop there. Or no. Pat wanted a set of wicker outdoor furniture and one now stands on our patio. Hopefully I will be able to post a picture of her imbibing a large G & T, before dinner.

Pat enjoys her new patio furniture

We have also heard that our application for NZ residency has passed its first hurdle and been approved. That is the difficult bit over with. But with us it seems nothing is straightforward. NZ Immigration sent the papers to Erica’s old address two weeks ago. The new tenant there signed for them, then realised they weren’t for her and has sent them back. NZ Immigration have no record of them being returned, only signed for. The woman must be a couple of slices short of a full loaf, I reckon. Apparently we have four months now to get all the relevant paperwork and medicals in place. We anticipated this might happen while we were here, and have everything we need with us. Having residency will give us the ability of coming and going when convenient. So, bring on the stethoscopes, I say. The Filler’s are ready.

At the balloon festival at Otaki. That our grandson Ben, getting into the picture

It is now officially autumn here, and the mornings and evenings are getting a lot cooler, but we are still getting very hot afternoons. We popped up the coast on Sunday morning to a big kite festival at Otaki, an hour up the Kapiti coast. Our pals from Napier, John and Diana, are keen kite enthusiasts and it was quite a spectacle, though the grandchildren were more interested in the carousel than the huge structures hanging in the sky.

Well that’s all for now folks, so toodaloo

Putting On The Ritz

There is a view held; though I am pleased to say is has somewhat diminished in recent years, that New Zealand is a mirror-image of Britain a generation or two ago. I guess this is based on where New Zealand sits, being quite isolated, and it’s relatively small population, but I suspect some visiting Brits do expect to see Ford Capris cruising the streets, folks paying for their shopping with cheques and shop windows displaying black and white TVs hooked up to video players.

It is, of course, nonsense. There may not be the huge variety that we take for granted in the UK, but New Zealand is a modern country, with a sound economy, and very different in many ways to its big brother Australia across the way. As a developed country with a small population it is an ideal place from multi-nationals to test-bed new products and services. We experienced `chip and pin` here in 2003, several years before I saw it in London, and companies such as McDonalds and Coca Cola are trying out new concepts here today before rolling them out around the world tomorrow.

But there is one place here that, for a few days of the year anyway, deliberately takes a look over its shoulder and celebrates its past in a riotous weekend, that is a cacophony of music, dance, wine and vintage cars, and that’s up the coast in the city of Napier.

Pat beside a sculpture in Napier City Centre

Back in February 1931 a huge earthquake levelled much of Napier city centre and it was quickly re-built almost totally in the Art Deco style. It is now the Art Deco capital of the world with dozens of preserved beautiful buildings which form the backdrop every February when it remembers its past and the whole city centre is transformed back to the 1930s.

This is were we stayed. Very much in the centre of things, but very noisy

And this is view from its balcony of the vintage car parade Saturday lunchtime

Rog, dappered out, beside a classic Austin

We experienced `Art Deco` last year, after meeting two boating Kiwis in Liverpool who invited us up for the weekend. Unfortunately, we seemed to be the only couple not in the appropriate dress, which was remedied this time. Again, this year, we were entertained by natives John and Diana, and our UK/NZ pals, Vic and Liz, also joined us. I thought I might not have enjoyed it so much this year, but what’s not to dislike. Impromptu music and dancing in the streets; Vintage planes flying overhead; over 200 vintage cars lining the streets and a grand soapbox derby through the city centre on the Sunday morning. At the `Gatsby Picnic` that follows on the Esplanade, the local ukulele group entertain passers-by with a repertoire of songs such as `By The Light of the Silvery Moon` and `Charleston`. I got myself an invite to play along with them. Nice spot on the beach, but it was steaming hot and I was dripping after 20 minutes. But a wonderful weekend and how unlike a similar event would be at home – no litter to speak of – no graffiti – no discernible police presence – and nobody throwing up in the gutter – just a few thousand people out and about, having a grand old time. See you next year Napier.

I haven't worn that jumper in over 30 years. As you can see it's a bit small. Thanks for picture Diana

Saturday night dinner with Vic and Liz and John and Diana. Nice hat John!

Two interlopers. The other fella is from New South Wales, and just popped along
Photo by Diana

Phew. It was pretty hot on Sunday morning. Photo by Diana

Back in Wellington it is still pretty hot. Everybody you meet mentions it as it is not typical for around here, and it will have to break soon, but we are still enjoying it. We have also entertained our first guests, Sue & Geoff, who came through Wellington the weekend before we went to Napier. I worked with Sue at John Lewis Welwyn and always got on with her husband Geoff, so it was great to see them, and show them a bit of the city. It was a gloriously sunny day, and I think they were more than a little impressed with the city and the waterfront.

With Sue & Geoff at the top of the cable car in Wellington Botanical Gardens

Five minutes from Wellington City Centre you can be on the beach. Pat at Oriental Bay

Later that week there was another John Lewis connection. I worked at Oxford Street for five years in the 1990s, and one of my pals there, moved to Wellington after finishing his degree and taught history at one of the university’s here. We saw Andy and his partner Heather when we toured in 2003, but I had been unable to track him down since. I managed to find him, via Linkdin before we left the UK this time, and I had a really good catch up with him in a city-centre pub last Thursday. He now works for the Waitangi Commission. It’s a complicated job and I won’t bore you with the details, and I am sure we will meet up a few times before we return home.

With my old pal Andy who I hadn't seen in 13 years

Working on some new steps up to the tree house

The tree house is coming on a treat. I couldn’t save the old steps – they were rotten, so have had to make new ones. There seems a bit of a debate about what colour it’s going to be and the jury is still out on this one. I hope to paint it through next week, if the weather stays settled.

And that’s about it. We have a builder popping in next week to talk about partitioning our room. Pat knows what she wants so I will not interfere.

Toodaloo chums