Working Sucks!

Some things are good about New Zealand but the conditions of employment suck! I am so fed up ofhaving to get to work at 8am every day and not leaving until 5. Honestly, it's enough to make you want to leave the country!

Cheesewatchers TM

In view of the high price of cheese, action is required to economise. Jo is restricting us (mainly me) to 700g per week. She is going to cut the block into ten and freeze the pieces, taking one out each day. It's the best way to deal with the situation...

A trip to Tauranga

Because we have had a visitor, we decided to take a trip to Tauranga, a place we have not previously been. This is what happened:

We were blown away by the scary metropolitan atmosphere, the three lane roads, large roundabouts and shopping centre. Mum remarked that it was nice there was a choice of shopping streets. It was a bit like Bromley.

We shared a room with Lily. She woke us up each morning with singing and laughing. "Ha ha ha!" she would say. "Lily's laughing at licking her hands! Ha ha ha!".

We visited a tourist theme park based entirely on the kiwi fruit (Kiwi 360). They have a giant 10m high kiwi fruit in the carpark. It was $20 to go round though, so we didn't - I can't believe you would get your money's worth.

Granny Goes Home

For the last couple of weeks, Mum has been staying with us, which has been nice for us and great for Lily who has loved the huge increase in attention. A couple of days ago, it was time to say goodbye.

We watched Granny board the plane at Palmerston North Airport. We waved to her as it taxied away into the night. And we watched the flashing tailights ascend into the darkness, explaining that Granny was going back where she came from. The light seemed to be going straight into the air and it looked like she was going back to heaven.

Lily was quiet for a bit in the car home. Then she said "We've left Granny behind."

It was the saddest thing I've heard in ages.