Kia Ora Guys

The last couple of weeks have been busy as usual, we went back and had a crack at the wednesday night quiz at the Masonic.As usual it was a busy evening with around 15 teams entered. We put in a gallant effort and ended up coming 7th which we were more than happy with. This was all really a build up to the weekend which found us in the City the whole time.

After an enjoyable Friday night with a few friends,it was back on the ferry on Saturday as the seafood festival was in town and we were looking forward to trying some lovely fresh fish and soaking up the music. As it was lunchtime we started with a nice big bowl of paella each and a cold beer while formulating a plan off what we were going to see.

As it got hotter we ducked into a marquee to watch a cooking demo and also cool off a bit,it was then down to the music area to watch the bands for the afternoon,which was broken up by visits to various food outlets to try what was on offer. The selection was good with scallops,whitbait fritters,fish kebabs,vietnamese,mussels and many other things to tempt you in. The event wrapped up at 7pm and we walked across the floating walkwway to Te Wero Island to watch the street performers on stage.

There were 5 acts and they ranged from juggling unicyclists,clowns and sword swallowers to violinists and magicians,it was a fantastic show that lasted well over 2 hours. By the time we got back home we were both exhausted and just flopped into bed. We woke up to drizzle and were glad that we had picked saturday for the seafood festival although it was back into the City today to see the street performers we had missed yesterday.

After a great pub lunch we watched a fantastic magician and a funny Irish guy who swallowed balloons,we bumped into a few mates and joined them for a drink before bailing out and heading home very pleased and also knowing that Monday was Auckland Day so a public holiday....

You will be pleased to know that we didn't waste our day off and set about booking our holiday. You will remember that we were goign backwards and forwards until we decided on Tasmania,and I can tell you now that the flights are booked and we are just waiting on confirmation for our campervan, we are both very excited and can't wait to get there and do some exploring.

Although booking a holiday is exciting the big event this week was AC/DC at Western Springs which we had been looking forward to for over a year. I took the bus and met Mel at the arena where people had been gathering all day long. It was still 3 hours until the main event but we made our way into the venus and parked ourselves on a little patch of grass which we didn't move from for the next 5 hours!!!!

The 2 support bands were excellent both Kiwi bands and both excited to be supporting Acca Dacca.Once dusk arrived the main event started with a video of a runaway train trying to be stopped then the giant TV screen split in half and a huge train was on stage, the band jumped off it and went straight into the first song. The set was excellent with a smattering of new stuff mixed with plenty of old crowd pleasers including Thunderstruck,TNT,Shoot to Thrill and. The show was so good that if they had been playing again on the friday we would have gone again.....

Mel had been clever and taken Friday off work so she dropped me at the ferry terminal and off I went to work with my ears still ringing from the gig last night.After work Mel met me in the City for our works quiz evening which although not very well supported it was a great evening and real good fun which saw us walk away with several prizes.

As February seems to be the best month for weather here we decided a BBQ on the beach was in order so Saturday morning we had a trip to the Fish Market to pick up some goodies then it was fill the chilly bin with food and head for the beach. We know we are starting to get the hang of things as one or two comments were passed at how good our set up was which pleased us!!!!

We sat in the shade and relaxed reading a while before cooking dinner. We started with some good old banana prawns with a seaweed salad and followed it up with homemade burgers and roast potatoes with a side salad it was delicious all we needed was an ice cream to finish off but I had forgotten to bring them!!!!!!

It was a lovely relaxing day and nice after the last few weekends have been taken up with lots of activities,so it was nice to slow things down for a day.It's now just after noon on Sunday,the sun is shining and I am sat writing this from a comfy chair on the patio just contemplating where to go for lunch as we are both getting hungry. Next week is the beer festival,then the next main event will be when Mum arrives at the beginning of March. We are looking forward to it loads and can't wait to show her around NZ and we hope she loves it as much as we do.

Take care

Lots of Love

M & M

xx