Time is on my side...

Lots of you have been pointing out that we have been particularly slack with our blogs, so I thought I better write one and explain why. It's the end of the service year and so we've all been working hard to make up for all the trips away - so we thought we'd take some photos to prove it!

So, these days Saturday morning usually consists of a 7am start in Queen Street - it's amazing who you bump into at that time on a Saturday morning!

We're busy trying to persuade/prepare Colin and Jessamy for their move to London so were very excited the other day to see our first pieces of petty crime in Auckland. First of all, we saw a guy steal something from a shop in Queen Street, only to be chased down the road by the shop owner before he gave it back! Then half an hour later we saw him being escorted away in a police car. Then we were in 'New World' our aptly named supermarket and suddenly heard a great commotion going on, mostly involving guys yelling, 'nooooo' and then a thump! Now, I've shopped in Morrisons in Acton so I merrily carried on shopping without paying too much attention, whilst all the New Zealanders looked on aghast and basically it turned out that one guy (allegedly a security guard) had thrown another guy out of the shop and tussled with him until he ended up throwing him over the balcony! (There's about a 2 storey drop to the street below, so as you can imagine - it was gonna hurt!!) Suffice to say, it added a bit of drama to our day!

The other thing to prepare them for London (ministry in particular) is the frequent excuses to pop into shops or stop for coffee. In Auckland at that time of the morning, this is when the market comes in very handy, with some of the best pastries in the Southern Hemisphere - our treat for getting up early! (Don't worry Mum - they're all low fat!)

Of course, we do let ourselves have a little bit of time off, even when we are in Auckland so here are some highlights of the last few weeks...

Winter has been great this year in Auckland, and for much of the time has been blue skies and mild (having said that it is pouring down like there is no tomorrow as I write this!) and so we've taken full advantage to go out and about.

A few weeks ago after the Sunday meeting, the girls (and Clint) all headed to Bethel ('s beach that is). It's about 30 mins west of Auckland - the sea on that coast is traditionally much rougher, with many of the beaches being black sand and a lot more rugged but get them on a good day and they are great - as the pictures below prove!

Clint actually proving himself useful!


So its supposed to say LOL!!

Sadly no 'baywatch' style lifeguard in the tower...

The house phrase makes an appearance....

The great thing about our area in St Mary's/Herne Bay is that we have now become quite a little community with lots of us all living within an easy walk of each other. So Marcelle organised a progressive dinner party, with each house having a theme. The idea of this, for those that don't know, is that you walk around between each venue and have a different course at each. That's the plan anyway - slightly hampered though when it is trying to rain and blowing a gale outside. Fortunately, Dan became the hero of the night when he announced that he wasn't walking and would take his car between the first two venues, so the less adventurous (or to be honest, anyone in heels!) piled into his car to arrive in a slightly more salubrious manner!

At our first venue, we had to try a number of different bottles of bubbles and guess which one was the proper champagne! Guess who won!! (Hayley, you'd have been so proud!) On to Shi's for an Asian themed course before finishing at ours for a spanish/mexican theme! We had the advantage of having Mummy Bousie up for the weekend who kindly brought up more of Einstein for our spread! He's become quite a feature on this trip!

Raspberry mojitos anyone?

Joel takes the slow but steady approach - to mojitos, that is...!

Tim (and Ruth) sitting on the only bit of furniture in our house that he actually doesn't own!

Jessamy and Mummy Bousie - minus Einstein

I'm not quite sure when our house turned into the Waltons but it seems to have become a custom at the end of the evening when everything is dying down for Mel to put in a star performance at the piano and for her and Kz to lead a singalong, so after an energetic few hours of dancing and frivolity, we played out the evening to an assorted array of musical numbers...

Another popular place to visit in Auckland is Cornwall Park - one of the only places in Auckland that you can see sheep in the centre of the city! Housed in Cornwall Park is One Tree Hill, or Maungakiekie, one of many volcanic cones in Auckland.

One Tree Hill is famous because originally it had, you've guessed it, a tree on top! Interesting fact - it inspired U2's album, the Joshua Tree! However, there is no longer a tree on the hill due to Maori activists cutting it down in 2000 as a protest against the injustices that they felt have been done to them by the New Zealand Government. So now, it is affectionately known as

(N)one Tree Hill!

There is an obelisk on top though, which marks the grave of Sir John Logan Campbell, who is often called the 'Father of Auckland' and a bronze statue of a Maori warrior to commemorate his admiration for the Maori people.

It's not quite as exciting as the bubbling lava I once thought I'd see when I looked down into a volcanic cone but it's still a great view when we eventually make it to the top - led ably by Joel, who entertained us on the way up with his knowledge of 'dagging' - don't ask!

It is also interesting because it was the largest and most important Maori pa or village in pre-European times. It was easy to defend because of its steep sides and the volcanic soil was really fertile. They estimate that the cone and its surroundings were home to 5,000. You can still see evidence of the kumara (sweet potato, to those of us that don't speak kiwi) pits.

Kumara pits



Natalie and I being 'kumaras'

Fortunately, all those early mornings have paid off and by the time most of you read this we will all have finished our hours and be taking a well earned break in Arrowtown to refresh ourselves for September!