Kia Ora

The sun was shining Saturday morning, but I think it was impossible for any more rain to fall after Friday's downpour.We drove over the bridge to Birkenhead College where I was attending a Barista Course.

Most of the college was locked up and it took a while to find the room I needed,but it did help that coffee was brewing and I followed my nose!!!

The group was small,just 8 people.Two were English as well so we had a bit to chat about before the course started.Our day was broken up into several parts and the first section was the history and origin of coffee,the types of beans and grinds and harvesting and roasting processes,

After lunch we got down to the serious stuff of making coffee and tasting coffee for all the different flavours,for all those out there who thought making coffee was easy think again it is an art and a science which takes time to perfect.Our tutor reckoned that around 75% of coffee served in a shop is below par and not extracted right from the machine!!!!

We had a couple of machines set up and firstly tried our hand at the espresso ( the base for all coffees) and it went fairly well,although our grind was a bit fine so we under extracted the coffee.After some quick adjustments we remedied it and started knocking out good espressos.Once we had tasted "Cupping" the coffees and rated them we were back to making other drinks,including a Flat White,cappucino (which shouldn't be drank after 11am as it's a breakfast drink!!) latte and macchiato.

The whole day was really good fun and gave the whole group a taste of what is involved in creating good coffee,I will certainly pay more attention next time I order coffee,that's for sure.

At the end of the course we all got a certificate that goes towards your full Barista qualification and it was probably the most useful thing I have done since we have been here!!!!

We ran over slightly and Mel was waiting for me to tell me about her day mooching around Devonport and Takapuna which did involve a library visit,and Mel being Mel it involve some work stuff too.
Mel said that Takapuna had been closed off for a Triathlon, which I was going to enter but unfortunately I had already commited to the Barista Course!!!!!

Saturday meant that we had been at the motel for a week and luckily we have been busy so time has gone quickly,just one more week to go...

I woke early on Sunday and left Mel snoozing for a while as she doesn't get lie ins now with working.Once we had got sorted out we had a mission today and it was to sort out a couple of crash helmets.We had been to this shop several times before and tried on lots of different helmets,so today we knew we had it narrowed down,or so I thought.

The helmet I tried was perfect and the colour good too so within around 20 minutes I was sorted and happy with my choice.Mel had thought she would go for an open face helmet to combat her claustrophobia,but the sales guy coaxed her into trying on a few full face helmets too,until she became comfortable with them.We thought we had it licked until she spotted the AC/DC custom painted helmets and swiftly ordered in a small to try as the medium they had was too big.

These helmets are limited and only 20 exist in the whole of NZ so they are pretty scarce,we both left the shop happy with our choices and all we need now is a bike!!!

Next stop for us was the North Shore,where the Warriors were taking on the Cowboys in a pre season friendly.Before the game started we had a minutes silence for the Victoria bushfire victims and also for Sonny Fai who was a warrior player and was wept out to sea some weeks ago and has not been seen since,it was a tragedy and has hit the team hard.

Once the game was underway the 16500 fans got into it and the action was fast and the ref did a good job of keeping the game flowing.It was a close game with the Warriors chasing it all the way until the last 5 minutes when they went ahead and the crowd went wild.They have now won both their friendly games and are ready for the season which will start in around 6 weeks time.

As you might remember we spent last Sunday in Savage Memorial Park and Mel got sunburnt even though we were in the shade,well the next stage of getting sunburnt happened this evening and she started shedding dead skin all around the place!!!!

Lots of Love

M & M
xxxx