Saturday 17th October 2009

They are ALL asleep!!! grandpa, parents and kids.

Where did I leave you? I must enlarge on Akaroa; it was colonised by French people in mid 1800's, at a time when communication took so long that they were well established when someone told them "Sorry, its British" They must have said "Merde, quelle domage!" or something to that effect. Anyway the Frenchness has prevailed and it is really delightful, architecture, etc.

On our last day in South Island I had my eye on the clock, drop van off at noon, get to ferry terminal to check in by 1320 hrs, ferry leaves at 1415 hrs. to this end I kept onto John, press on, press on, but there was so much to see. We were in the Marlborough Sounds area, famed for its fine weather, aquamarine sea inlets, green mountains, orchards, tiny towns and villages, all so laid back, plenty of marinas, and of course it was a wow view every minute, the twisty roads providing a kalaedescope of visual splendour, it would have been easy to cancel the ferry and stay another week! We could easily be tempted to do a 6 month house swap, even tho you can only sail 2 hrs each side of high tide, which is what we got away from in UK! However we pressed on, we had to because we had picked up an Austrian hitchhiker who was hoping to get the 1315 hrs ferry. This was the first warning and I didn't heed it. I just thought hmm, plenty of ferries.

We dropped young Wolfgang off at the Picton ferry terminal and almost did a pub lunch but I was on edge, keen to get rid of van. Well! Lucky we did, because the van man said"2.15? that's odd" I had booked the ferry on i'net at Wayne's place and printed off the ticket so I checked it, and sure enough it said 2.15...................but from Wellington to Picton! AAARRRGGGHHH! Not much phases me these days but that did! PANIC...but the kindly van man said you'll make it, whizzed us to terminal where I confessed my blooper to the lady and she smiled and said we'll soon fux thet (honestly that's what she said, that's how they say it in Kiwiland). Next thing we were in the queue and boarding. Now I could lie and say it was my brilliant planning, but the huge grin on John's face was bound to give it all away. Since then I have regained some ground on personal behaviour issues (I won't go into details but it does involve alcohol) but I think I am still way behind. Had to ring Kathy and warn her of early arrival, which can really ruin your day with 2 small kids and a husband to collect from work, but she managed. Mucho chagrin.

We left Picton and its lovely fiords in calm blue water and sky, and as we approached windy Welly it got wilder and wilder and it reminded us of returning to West Wales after an outing or holiday eastwards; as you approach Port Talbot, the weather closes in and you know that that is it, put your socks and long trousers on.

Lovely reunion, kids in good form, not scared of us. Hawk too young to remember us but he pitched in with a will, got the hang of us. Hayden knows I worry about not having a bed to sleep in so he showed me to my room and wow!...4 large windows overlooking Island Bay, the shoreline about 15 metres away, lots of white horses out on the water, fishing boats bobbing on moorings, and in the distance the snowy peaks of South Island. Pretty specky. Nina the dog did her usual prancey dance and it was suddenly like we had never been apart for 9 months.

Since then we have revelled in the comforts of home and not having to drive anywhere. Its easy flat walking around here which is great for
k and kids, and the boys will play on the pebbly beach for hours; it reminds us of being kids, growing up on Sully beach 50+ years ago.

We have been keen to know what K and M will do next, when his contract expires in Feb 2010, and on Thursday he gave us the great news that he has been offered the job he wanted, with the building of the new Fiona Stanley Public Hospital in Perth, commencing late March 2010. So yippee they are coming home, now we don't feel so bad about leaving next Friday. They've got a very busy time ahead of them but it'll pass.

Mark's birthday on Monday, so a busy weekend, we went to Hayden's Kindy Gala today, seemed to spend a heap of money on little things but won 2 bottles of wine (a semillon blanc and a merlot, no less) and some chocs, so came out in front I think, plus BBQ tomorrow.

That's it, you're up to date and they are all still asleep.

Love
Po