Over Easter, the engineer and I flew to Nelson to walk on the Abel Tasman coastal track. We were joined by my sister Kerry, her husband Dave and three friends. The walk began on Easter Friday in reasonable weather, but it soon deteriorated into rain for two days. We did enjoy walking all over, nevertheless, ending up at Onetahuti Bay and taking the sea taxi back to Marahau. All in all, we walked about 50 km. We are now organising next year’s walk, perhaps over Banks Peninsula or Coromandel.
The engineer and I spent the weekend at Waipatiki, a beautiful, unspoiled beach north of Napier (and in the Hastings District) It is going to be our “home away from home” as we plan on spending a few weeks each year there, hopefully to lure the overseas off-spring home for a short time every now and again. We were joined by two other campervans, so shared the weekend with 6 other like-minded campers. My dog Ludo found a new BFF and fell in love with one of the campers Rosemary. He spend a lot of the time staring at her with adoring eyes! He even abandoned our caravan to sit outside her van! What a fickle dog!
The surprise candled cheesecake
Last weekend the engineer and I travelled to Gisborne to help my mother celebrate her 87th birthday. This involved going out to dinner at the Coliseum on Friday, then to lunch at the Works on Saturday, finishing the celebration by having Thai takeaways at my sister’s house. My mother has been widowed for over five years and manages to fill in her days playing a great game of Bridge and Mah Jong. She is an amazing, sprightly lady.
I am now in the South Island and have passed Blenheim, getting closer to Bluff. In less than three weeks we will be walking on the Abel Tasman tracks, that will help my step number considerably. Only 7 more days of school. The Rugby World Cup has a lot to answer for making us work two more weeks just to free up buses in Auckland during the semi and final games! The result better be so worth it!
My iwalk to Bluff is making very slow progress. I spent the weekend with the engineer at a Rotary conference at Wairakei, the highlight of the weekend was listening to Sir Ray Avery. If you ever get the chance to hear him, do it! He is the most amazing, amusing, self-deprecating, generous and successful business man I have heard speak. His success in business now enables him to give back to thousands of children in the developing world. Once you have heard what he has done you understand why he was knighted.
