Will you still love me to-marrow - John Mycroft and Multiple Myeloma

Enough of the big Smoke of Auckland - yesterday I packed up most of my goods and chattels and took a slow leisurely drive to daughter Georgia's house in Waihi.  We have a few odd jobs lined up to keep me busy while I'm here, starting with building a low retaining wall and removing a chunk of chain link fence.  The local council is offering grants of up to $300 for roadside improvement projects such as this and she hopes to get some cash from that.  Nothing like hefting lumps of 150x50 timber around to get the circulation going.  Needless to say, this activity will be followed by falling into the Pacific at Waihi Beach.  The water there is a bit cooler than Orewa but I think I will survive without wet suit. Georgia and I celebrated New Year's Eve last night with a barbecue (actually steamed food) at a house she used to own on the edge of Waihi.  A very nice group of people there, only one of whom insisted on talking about Trump (he was pissed so I'll let ...

Tut tut - 3 weeks since I updated my blog.  Put it down to bone idleness or the blazing New Zealand sun which makes it impossible to see a screen outdoors (including the one on my camera which has led to many interesting shots.  Talking of camera, I think it has either developed (pun not intended) a hair trigger or a minor fault or I have developed even more clumsiness as it keeps doing things I don't really want it to do. So, how have  I been busying myself?  Susan & Sam arrived a couple of weeks ago and are getting ready to fly back to the snow.  We've done most of the tourist sites of Auckland, sploshed in the South Pacific (we're on the east coast - only I have braved the Tasman which they tell me is unusually warm but I must have skipped that day) and socialized mightily with our 5 wonderful grandkids. [Note to self - blogger is being a bit uncooperative at the moment so I must add pictures later]. Susan & Sam arrived a day late courtesy of Ame...

My wheels at Leigh (thanks, George) It's been an absolute social whirl this week mixed in with a couple of idle days.  On Thursday the weather turned very windy so it was time to venture northwards to Leigh and Goat Island to check out the snorkeling but with no intention of getting in the water.  They were quite surprised to see me at the snorkel shop and were very quick to point out that I'd be wasting my money going snorkeling as visibility was pretty grim.  I explained I was only checking them out  anyway so that was no problem.  I'd abandoned the GPS many miles before getting to Goat Island as it kept giving me bizarre instructions, some of which I followed, some of which I knew instinctively were crap.  Later examination of the GPS revealed that I had selected the wrong town and it was trying to take me to the South Island.  Still, I did see some parts of rural New Zealand I'd never seen before.  I have still yet to see a sheep, th...

Today brought a mixed bag of things to do.  I was a bit groggy when I got up at 6 this morning - it took me until nearly 8 to be ready to roll, not that I needed to have bothered as nowhere I intended to go opened until 9.  And so at 9:30 on the dot I parked outside New World supermarket where I planned to shop later.  First job was to try to open a bank account with the Auckland Savings Bank.  The lady there couldn't have been more helpful and even found the account I had opened in 1989 and said it might be easiest to reactivate that.  OK, provided you don't want 14 years of fees for doing so.  Neat way of proving my address was that she wrote me a letter and mailed it and told me to bring it in when I got it.  OK. Next job was to find the place we're staying over Christmas - as it fronts onto Orewa Beach that was dead easy.  Except I couldn't find it - having the address would have helped.  But I did get to walk the entire length of Orewa ...

The third night in New Zealand is always a killer - you're over your ability  to sleep from sheer exhaustion but your body hasn't adjusted to the fact that, in NC terms, you are going to bed at 4 a.m. and want to sleep til midday.  But last night was a completely normal night's sleep. So time to get busy. I got up finally at 6:30 to be greeted by Murph demanding another walk on "Red Sand Beach".  The tide was right in so our usual route down the slipway at the surf club ran the risk of possibly getting our tootsies wet.  Shock, horror and no way - Murph chose to clamber over the granite boulders rather than risk it.  By the time we had walked to the end of the beach, he was in, shoes and all, up to his backside. After breakfast, we all went the other way to jump off the rocks (about a 4' jump into 5' of water - not quite the cliffs at Acapulco.)  Somewhere along the way I managed to step on an oyster shell so there's probably a shark out ther...

My Mum would be horrified to know that I arrived here Thursday morning and took until Saturday morning to dive into the sea.  I'd describe the temperature as "not at all bad", about halfway between Cape Cod and Murrells Inlet.  It seems to be seaweed season, though, possibly due to yesterday's high winds.  I was up early again and, being civic minded, took an empty supermarket. bag down to Red Beach to pick up any litter and crap brought in by the tide.  Having walked the entire length of the beach, I brought an empty shopping bag back with me. Nonie, Murphy, Mack & Cassie stayed the night last night, camped out in the living room and on the deck.  Only Murphy was awake when I went for a walk so I took him with me.  Still no sign of  severe jetlag in my sleeping hours yet but tonight is the dread third night.  I have a fairly short list of things I have to do which is fortunate as the only  one I have done is "Buy food".  On Monday ...