School holidays are over and Miss 10.10 has proclaimed that these have been the “best fun, ever, ‘cos you were at home all the time Mummy!” which gave me a nice dose of the warm fuzzies and really makes me hope and wish that my next job will allow me to be there for her school holidays more often than I have been for the past few years.

As well as our trip to Auckland (where we indulged in gorgeous cupcakes, spent too much in Smiggle, feasted on Blitza’s fabulous pizza and went to Auckland Zoo – loving those meerkats) we baked chocolate cake, played Monopoly, watched cheesy movies, raided Whangarei’s extensive selection of $2 shops (I have a whole new respect for these establishments now I’m a roller derby girl: bandannas, fingerless gloves, stickers for your helmet, stripey socks, fishnet tights, all cheap as chips!), visited the library and had coffee and muffins and scones and hot chocolates in various cafes.

The last two days of the holidays Miss 10.10′s friend Nicky stayed over and they had an absolute ball making scrapbooks, going for long bike rides, cuddling Miss 10.10′s new pet rabbit Hazel Flopsy (must get some photos, oh the cuteness!), making huts in her bedroom out of sheets strung over chairs, cooking pancakes,  painting their nails, playing table tennis and raiding our dress up box – out came wigs, fake moustaches, beads, crowns and giant sunglasses.

It would appear some  items just didn’t manage to make the return trip but isn’t amazing how plastic can be so photogenic?

In October 2008, the Other Harf, Miss 10.5 and I took a 10 day holiday to the South Island.

During this time we spent three nights in Christchurch, staying in a motel that overlooked the gorgeous Hagley Park.

I loved Christchurch – the glorious Cathedral, the trams meandering in and out of the traffic, the sombre, stately stone buildings, Hagley Park bursting with tulips, bluebells, daffodils, azaleas and rhododendrons….

I consider myself fortunate to have visited and to have memories of this gracious, elegant city before Tuesday the 22nd of February, 2011.

As it no longer and never will again resemble the city it was then…

How you can help….

We’ve not long arrived home from our special “anniversary” weekend away – a night staying at the gorgeous Carrington Resort on the Karikari peninsula, about two hours drive north of where we live.

The resort is gorgeous, and way, way, way out of our price range normally, but I recently signed up with grabone.co.nz, and when I saw the deal for a night’s accommodation here, I snapped it up – almost a third off the regular tariff! Result!

And while we were north we had to take in some of my/our favourite places: Flying Fish Design Store and Hansen’s Cafe (the Other Harf is a Big Fan of their Big Breakfasts) in Paihia, Mangonui Fish Shop (World Famous), Matai Bay (I camped there as a teenager) and of course the usual swing past Kerikeri Bakehouse (Apple Turnovers, bursting with fresh cream!) and Kwan’s Garden Creations (hanging baskets full of petunias for $20, swan plants, a gorgeous dark purple geranium…)

It was lovely to spend some time with my beloved Other Harf, and in an absolutely gorgeous part of New Zealand. Life is sweet, lucky me

In true sub-tropical Northland style, shortly after I posted about the horrible boring silly drizzle it absolutely dumped it down with rain.
Which then found a small hole in our work computer room’s roof and proceeded to pour in, all over vitally important electrical bits such as servers, light switches and mains boards. Not vitally important enough for us employees to be evacuated, unfortunately, but they did have to turn off all the lights in the loos, which made things difficult for some.
The rain cleared in time for our drive home from work, and the sunset managed to slot itself in for a photoshoot just as we arrived home.
(While I was taking these the birds were going absolutely bonkers. Every single bird within a five km radius was singing/chirruping/trilling/squawking its wee birdy heart out. It was a gorgeous sunset symphony!)

Humpdiddly Humpday and today the weather is just plain annoying.

It’s been drizzling that damp, ineffectual type of drizzle that doesn’t actually soak your clothing but it does make your hair lank and fly-fly-fly away at the ends, and completely negates the 15 minutes you spent this morning carefully blowdrying those ends under, making you wonder why do I bother?

As well as that, it’s a sticky 17°C, which means the wearing of layers, tights, vests, wool and other winterish type apparels/materials has become rather uncomfortable, causing small pools of sweat to gather on one’s lower spine.

Of course there is no need for roaring fires, snuggly duvets, flanny PJ’s, electric blankets and the wearing of woolly socks once you get home either.

I am not seeing the point of winter if it’s not going to hold up its end of the bargain.

In other, better news, it is now officially closer to being the weekend!

Standing by…

There is a lot to be said for weekends away in the middle of winter, particularly to tourist magnets like Paihia, which will be absolutely teeming with said tourists in six months time.

We started our weekend away with a visit to Opua and admired the beautiful boats and watched the Russell car ferry come and go, and come and go. There was hardly anybody around, but that was fine by us.

Next, on to Paihia and lunch at 35° South on the covered deck, sun slanting in on our faces and tinting our cheeks. Fish and chips for Miss 9.10, Warm Salmon and Lentil Salad for me and Leek and Potato Soup for the Other Harf. Lovely.

Check in at the gorgeous Waterfront Suites Apartments (it’s amazing how cheap waterfront accommodation is mid-winter), then a walk on Ti Bay. The OH, aka “Camera Carrying Lackey” captures this rare photo of me who hates having her photo taken even from the rear.

After a bit of a lie-down, it’s off to a buffet dinner at King Wah’s which has the best Chinese food in Northland. We can all highly recommend their chicken and sweetcorn soup because all three of us had second helpings so we should know.

This morning it was up to watch the replay of the All Blacks thrashing the Wallabies (the OH stayed up to catch the real deal – I love how my English husband is even more dedicated than me when it comes to staying up late to watch rugby), then a Big Breakfast down at Hansen’s Cafe following by a visit to Flying Fish which is just about the most dangerous place in the world according to the OH as I always, always buy something. Or, somethings.

After that, we took a rain-drenched trip to Kerikeri with a stop at Palmco and a Wedding Palm and a Lady Palm later thanks to the guidance of the extremely helpful Susie we caught Kerikeri Farmers’ Market just before it closed at midday (Mahoe cheese, blue and mozzarella flavour; two huge bunches of radishes for $1.50).

We then paid a visit to Origin, an art/craft gallery on Kerikeri Road going north from the township, which has some gorgeous things including this lovely kingfisher, who is now sitting above the fireplace in the dining room.

Upon a vote (and considering the fact it was now properly dumping it down with rain) we decided it was finally time to go home next, and just over and hour and a bit later, we were.

It was a wonderful weekend.

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