Author: sage

18th October

Bhavni was at the Rendezvous hotel in town, where she was presenting her poster on childhood obesity at the international conference on obesity.

19th October

Bhavni had her second day at the conference. In the evening Bhavni got picked up by Shelina and her mother who is visiting, to go into town for girba.

20th October

Our intention was to head to Newmarket for a little bit of shopping/walking, as Bhavni did not need to be at the conference in person. We walked into the Trade Aid shop and got asking about the tea pot that Bhavni had purchased previously. It turned out that it was end of line, but there were some other items in different stores – including Pononby. Apparently it was too far to walk, but we decided to go for it anyway and it was a nice walk.

After collecting a couple of mugs and cups, we had a nice lunch at a nearby cafe – brochetta and a holoumi salad, before going into the CBD towards the Rendezvous hotel – and managing to pick up some ice cream. On the way we had a look at Eliot Stables and found the Tea place that Bhavni had been told about, so we had to stop and have a brew.

We retrieved the poster from the hotel and went home.

21st October

It was a little wet looking, but we decided to go to go to Kumeu – which incidentally is where Silvia lives. We got there and headed to the farmers market nearby where we as usual purchased some bread and olive oil – lovely. After that we headed into Kumeu and saw the cheese outlet that had been recommended – unfortunately none of the cheeses were vegetarian, so we headed to the i-site for some more inspiration. The i-site recommended seeing some of the vineyards and also the bird colony at Muriwai, so we did that first, but did not get close as it really was chucking it down.

We went to a local vineyard – very non commercial as we went into the owners house and tried a couple of wines. I even purchased a desert wine. It was after 5pm when leaving, so headed back home.

27th October

We went shopping and bought some rainwear and other equipment for the next weekend.

28th October

Another day going north. We went to Wellsford up the SH1, taking our time and looking at the sights. When we got there, most of the shops were closed, so we had a drink and some carrot cake at a local cafe before heading back, but this time we took the 16 to the western side of the coast, which was a completely different ride.

2nd November

It was a very nice evening – going to Sue’s house for dinner. (Especially after packing). Peter from number 30 was there, and we all had a nice meal and sat around the table for a long time, discussing our upcoming holiday and peters trip to the UK (while we were in his house). I also helped to fix Sues computer – her other one had died the weekend before.

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4th October

We finally decided to join the Video store near our house and rented “Salmon Fishing in the Yemen” and another one that turned out to be rubbish (so much so I don’t recall the name).

6th October

With Bhavni at work I decided to finally move the arial from the back of the house in our room to the front, joining the old wire with some new arial wire and having to borrow a ladder from Peter in 30. All this while dodging the rain outside. Wow Tv in the lounge – finally. After picking up Bhavni from work, we picked up a new stand to assemble for the tv, which we spent a couple of hours fixing.

7th October

Another day with Bhavni at work. I went to Drury again as Norm had suggested I should. I ended up flying with Norman, for a good hour, mostly with him in the front trying to take pictures on his phone. After we had packed away I left and it was good timing as I picked up Bhavni from work directly. I was in the mood for chips, so drove to Mission Bay and sat at the Cafe next to the one we had been to with Shamil, having bread and dips, Falafel with salad and a bowl of Chips. It was nice just relaxing and there were space heaters which really helped as it was a little chilly.

8th October

Bhavni was at home with me at work that day. After I got home we got ready and went to the swimming pool in New Market as Bhavni had some swimming classes to try. I got into the pool which was heaving with people around 6 and got out by around 7. The trouble was that I had not got any goggles on, so my eyes were red after, but Bhavni had a good lesson.

11th October

We decided to rent some movies from the video shop – Tower Heist (which we watched that evening) and Rum diaries.

12th October

I was on a gliding instructor course and Bhavni dropped me to Drury first thing in the morning, where Russel – who I had never met before – gave me a lift to Matamata airfield. It was a really nice day, and after the introductory lecture (and putting the glider together) we went and flew until late – I had two flight one in a K13 where I had way more hours on type then Tim (a CFI), and a Puchaz. Meanwhile Bhavni who had a day off, went into town and got her Visa transfered into her British passport.

13th October

Still at Matamata, we had a day of lectures as it was pouring with rain. Funnily enough Bhavni had to go on a transport to Tauranga which was just over the hills from where I was.

14th October

It was flyable again today, I was paired up with David Hurst, who basically said that this wont be a lesson flight, just a fun flight. So we had an hour on the ridge (dodging the rain a bit) and finishing with some aeros. We de-rigged around four and managed to be on hour way before 5pm. I helped out at Drury before Roy dropped me home.

It was around 7.30 by the time I was back, so with a quick change, Bhavni and I went to town for Divali festival that was taking place. We drove in and luckily found some parking close by. That is the most crowded I have seen Auckland and the most nuber of Indians here… There was a really crowed stage areoun, but we went for the food stalls having some Bhel Puri, Dhokra and Samosas, while waiting until 9pm when the fireworks went off. Not a bad display.

Getting home we watched “The Rum Diaries” which must have been good as Bhavni fell asleep.

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22nd September

The alarm was set for 6.30am, and getting up and ready we were out of the house by 7.45.We just went and spoke to our neighbor joy, to let her know we would be out for the weekend – she thought we were going camping as we had our backpacks with us. Catching the bus to Brotomart, we bought the tickets for the 9am ferry to Wahiki island and waited to board.

The 9am ferry went via Devonport before sailing past Rangitoto island to the port on the western end of Wahiki. Arriving near 10, we caught the bus all the way to Onetangi, where we got picked up by Susan from the Nikau villa where we were staying (in a green box car). A short ride later up the hill we were shown to our apartment and made ourselves at home with a nice cup of tea, sitting in the sun and enjoying the views.

After a little rest we left to go get the bus, walking down to Onetangi. Just a little down the road we heard a hoot and Gus pulled up in the green car – he was going to get some paint from Ostend – offering a lift and a mini guided tour, which we gladly accepted. At Ostend while he bought the paint we paid a visit to the really small local market there, buying some ciabatta and olive oil. Getting in the car with Gus again, he dropped us of outside the Stonyridge Vineyard. The first vinyard on this stretch of road was the Topknot Hill which was a family affair with archery and laser pigeon shooting activities going on. We went for the tasting, having one wheat beer, one white and two reds. Well the wheat beer was quite nice, and the white passable, but the reds were awfull ! We left not that impressed.

Next was the Stonyridge which was a a little walk up a road. The vineyard seemed to be a little nicer and we ordered another tasting, this time two whites and two reds (Stonyridge Chardonnay , Fallen Angel Riesling, fallen Angel Sauvignon Blanc and Stonyridge Airfield)  and sat outside with a lovely view over the vines. Wow what a difference, the wines were really much nicer and we sat and really enjoyed them.

Bhavni was getting a little hungry, so I ordered bread and olives and as we had already been recommended a red wine by the staff, the Stonyridge Luna Negra. A full plate of bread with olive oil and olives really hit the spot, before the wine arrived. Now that is an amazing wine, the colour was really ultra intense and the flavour was really nice (considering I dont really drink red wine).

The next stop was the neighbouring The Shed at Te Motu Vineyard. which sort of shares the road with Stonyridge. The design of the building really was like a shed, but the restaurant is supposed to be very good. We idled up to the bar and did our third wine testing. The man behind the bar had only been working there a couple of days (being a chef at another vineyard), but was friendly and explained what we should be looking out for on the pallet – Bhavni is better at this than me. We again had 2 whites and 2 reds, all of which were quite good. He explained that white wines – especially things like Rieslings that we were drinking for one of our whites, should always be drunk young (for most peoples tastes), unlike reds that age better. To finish of I ordered some vegetable crisps with lemon salt, which were good and crispy – though a little oily.

After leaving we took a short cut to the Saratoga estate, but when we went into the estate, there was not much going on, with the guy behind the “bar” in deep conversation. Bhavnis thought was that they were sharing life stories…. We left and as we had a little time before the next bus we popped across the road to the museum and talked to the ladies volunteering behind the counter.

The bus was a little late arriving, which took us to Onetangi, where we had a little walk on the beach. While climbing the hill back to the hotel it started to spit a little. Just before the home stretch, Gus pulled up behind – he had dropped one of his workers at the ferry and was on his way back to the hotel, so we got the lift back.

After freshening up Gus dropped us for dinner at Charly Farly,  where we had a nice beetroot salad for starters. Bhavni having a risotto and a Mexican dish for me for mains. Desert was a creme brulee. All accompanied with a glass of wine each. We called Gus and got a lift back with him, after which we retired for the night.

23rd September

Although woken with the light streaming into the room, sleep pulled us back until just before 9am we got a phone call from Shelina, who was at Camilles house for dinner with Aruns house and Minul as well. Well after the usual birthday song (the slow one that makes me crazy), I got to say hello most of them.

For breakfast we had ciabatta that we bought yesterday from the market with olive oil and tea – alfresco, while admiring the view in the rain that kept on coming through. Eventually we checked out and got a lift with Susan to Onatangi, where we walked along the beach front and up the hill to Casita Miro, another vinyard. The heavens opened up on us just before we reached and turned into sunshine after we were through the door. Another friendly place, with one of the staff behind the counter from Germany having moved 2 years ago, and the other Spanish. We ordered another taste menu, with 2 whites,  a rose, a red and an enriched red with brandy. Our favorite was the 2011 Rose, which most people including those behind the bar like. We had some fun asking about the ins and outs of wine making, and got a bit more of a feel into different techniques used.

We tried to go to the neighbouring vineyards, but they were closed to visitors, so we made our way back to Onatangi and Charley Farleys for lunch. It was heaving inside, so we braved the weather outside and had chips and holmium salad. It was amusing watching the bus loads of tourist coming for lunch.

Catching the bus at 2pm, we got Oneroa and had a wonder around the shops – I got some chocolate, but was disappointed that it was just chocolate covered hard caramel. Walking to the port, we caught the 4pm ferry back to downtown, where we caught the train for the first time in Auckland to home.

29th September

With Bhavni still at work on her night shift, I went to the gliding club – It had been 2 months since I last had been flying. It was quite quiet as there was an airshow at Ardmore and most had gone there. John B (the ex CFI) was there however and we went over the training syllabus for instructing and I had a couple of flights – one winch and one AT. I got home around 5 and being lazy ordered pizza from Dominos for dinner, before dropping Bhavni to work for her night shift.

30th September

I forgot that the time had changed – summer time – so that I ended up getting up closer to 9am. I started the day by doing some research into vacuum cleaners, before I picked Bhavni up from her night shift – I had found a vacuum which had reasonable reviews in the UK and there was a sale at Harvey Norman, so we headed to the one in Mt Wellington. They had sold out of the one we were looking for – but apparently the store in Manaku city had 34 left in stock, so we headed there – 15 minutes down the motorway. They indeed had the vacuum – not bad for 69 bucks. After we went to Briscos and got some items we were missing before heading home.

Bhavni being tired from her night shift started thinking about outside furniture and what was on offer at Briscos, so we went back to Mt Wellington and ended up purchasing a swing seat….

While Bhavni slept (night shift), I ran some errands going to Newmarket. We had pizza leftovers before I dropped Bhavni to work at night.

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Friday 31st

I had to a OWASP (interent security as bhavni calls it!) conference which was being held in Auckland university, so I actually caught a bus in the morning which was jammed full of people and got off in the cbd. As usual I was the first from Sitehost there ! It was a good conference with lots of good talks going on and decent food as well. I got a lift from Nathan and went home as Bhavni had finished nights.

Saturday 1st September

We decided to go for a trip, so we headed out by 9am, (but had to come back from over the bridge as we had forgotten the camera). We eventually were properly on our way north and soon past Orewa. We had a stop in Puhoi, which is a historic town, to get some supplies – chocolate for Bhavni. Carrying on we next got to Warkworth where we got some advice from the I-Site about the route to take. We drove towards Mangawhai, where we stopped at Bennetts Cafe for a spot of lunch, including some chunky chips, mushrooms and a nice fried lentil dish, with some hot chocolate – the place adjacent to a chocolate factory – they do some nice different chosolates there. After food, the next town was Waipu, though we did not stop for too long as it was quite breezy. We then made it to Whangerei where we went and saw the falls, had a walk around the area, posed for a few photos and then went for dinner to “A Deco”, which is similar to the restaurant in Grimms Dyke, with some interesting dishes. We headed back to Auckland, with Bhavni having a little snooze, which I felt like until I stopped and had a nice cuppa.

Sunday 2nd

We woke up a bit late and headed to the shopping area near Mount Wellington to do some shopping getting some useful items such as glass jars from Bricoes and household items at Bunnings. After getting home we did some sorting and packing.

Friday 7th

Bhavni takes her first step inside the new house we are renting.

Saturday 8th

After dropping Bhavni at work, I carried on moving into the new house and I got the neighbours to help move some of the heavier items like the fridge. I helped them reset their wireless router as someone seemed to be stealing all their bandwidth. In the evening after picking Bhavni up, we did some moving together, befor going around to the Grants to watch some rugby.

Sunday 9th

After dropping Bhavni at work again, I went and bought a microwave as well as some items for the new house such as a microwave, mats and bathroom bits and bobs. I managed to finish most of the moving befor I went and picked up Bhavni. Together we did a final  clean of 30 Dunkerron Avenue, leaving it spotless..

Saturday 15th

Bhavni and I were not feeling very well, and the weather did not help, so we stayed around at home until I had to drop her for her Transport shift. On the way back I picked up a computer desk (from the Wharehouse).

Sunday 16th

We both woke up late and did not do much. In the evening Bhavni had to go to Christchurch on a transport shift

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Saturday 18th

We spent the morning looking at properties for rental. Bhavni found one she liked and called me over to see it so this was definitely a possibility. It was around 11.30am when we left home again, we drove to Drury, but there was no flying taking place as the field was soaking wet. So we concocted a plan and drove to the Hunua ranges, just a little to the east. The first place we saw was the Hunua Falls which was quite impressive – we just had to wait for a tourist bus crowd to dissipate. We had a little walk around the area – not wearing our proper shoes. After we drove to the closest of t he reservoirs in the ranges and admiring the views found a table and had a very late lunch.

Instead of going directly back we went via Clevedon where we stopped for a coffee then to the coastal road where we had some beautiful beach views and Bhavni did some shell collecting. Eventually we drove past Beachlands and Botany Downs before getting home.

Sunday 19th

I finished booking a new flight for Bhavni and I from Queenstown to Auckland with Jeststar for our November holiday changes, then we went for a trip to Sandringham (it had been quite a while), where we bought some rice and other items as well as banana crisps which we had not eaten for a long long time. The next stop on out agenda was to Newmarket whee we bought some shoes each, and some decent rain proof jackets for our trip in November. While shopping Sue called and invited us around for coffee, so we quickly got home and went over.

It was rather pleasant – we spent a couple of hours there, talking about Fiji and surprising her with where we had already been in New Zealand over coffee and wine. When we got home we did some cooking and housework.

Friday 24th

After about 2pm (taking a late break at work) I went with Bhavni to pick up a rental van from Parnell, which we drove to Phil’s house, loading up some furniture then dropping it home. Bhavni left me at work, collecting me after 7pm and meeting the guys (well Quentin and Nathan).

Saturday 25th

Leaving by 9am we went to Phils house again for the second pickup of stuff, getting there for 9.30. They were a little unorganised – considering that they were vacating the house, but it still looked like a mess. Well Phil and I loaded up most of the stuff into the van, before he rushed out to try to sell his car. We dropped of the items back at home then after lunch dropped of the van. As we were in the region parked in Parnell and had a walk around, stopping at the chocolate cafe where we had (as the name suggests) chocolate drinks. In the evening we ordered pizza.

Sunday 26th

A little trip to Sandringham for a few more items, then a little walk in Cornwall Park (it stated to get a little chilly), before home as Bhavni had a night shift. Peters daughter came to drop Peters car back after driving it over the weekend. (Peter is the owner of the house we are in)

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