Kia Ora

Well it seems like an age since I posted my last blog and to be honest it is.Things have been so hectic here that I just haven't had time to sit down and tell you about everything. The rest of February seemed to pass quickly with us going to the movies on Tuesday's and the quiz on Thursday but it was always in the back of our mind that Mum and Geoff would be arriving in March.

We collected them from the airport and got them settled in as we had a fun packed time ahead for them. Over the next 17 days we covered a lot of ground and as well as showing them around The City of Sails, we had a weekend in Rotorua which saw us go luging and visit the glow worm caves and we also had a weekend up o the Coromandel Peninsula, with BBQ's on the beach and visits to a spa.

The only downside was the time went too quickly and before we knew it we were back at the airport waving them off. It also meant that we had to go back to doing full weeks at work!!!!

Well as you all know it has been Easter Weekend and we took the opportunity to visit Wellington,our capital City for the weekend.We were up at 5.30am on Good Friday so we could make the train at Britomart that would take us on the 12 hour journey to Wellington. In true rail style it was delayed 90 minutes which drew a few sighs from the assembled crowd waiting for it. But after a long wait we were aboard and rolling our way through the suburbs of Auckland.

After we got out of Auckland the landscape changed from buildings to rolling hills and lush green forests,I read the brochure and was told on the 681km journey we would cross over 300 bridges and pass through 20+ tunnels as well as negotiating the Raurimu Spiral a masterpiece of railway engineering that enabled us to climb the hill. The further South we got it became apparent we would not make up the time we had lost and things were not helped when we made a stop at National Park and then had to stop a few kms down the track as someone had not got back on the train.

The darkness crept in and our 7.25pm arrival time became just a statistic and by the time we rolled into Wellington it was 9.40pm and we were shattered and ready for bed.Luckily the hotel we had booked was just a short walk away.

We had a great nights sleep and after breakfast we set off for a walk around the City down by the harbour, as usual it was quite blustery but the walk was nice.We ended up at Te Papa the national museum and had a poke around in there for a while before heading to Cuba Street for a late lunch and a drink.

We went out for dinner in the evening and were struck by how quiet it was and we weren't sure if it was because it was Easter or whether it was just that there are only around 0.5 million people in the Wellington region but it made it easy to find a restaurant to eat at!!!!

After another great sleep we woke up pleased that we didn't have to take thet train back to Auckland as we had managed to find a super cheap flight and instead of 12 hours on a train it was 42 minutes on the plane. We checked out and boarded the airport flyer which dropped us at the terminal and we sat and waited for our flight.

Thankfully it was on time and we touched down right on schedule and again took the bus into Auckland before stepping straight onto the ferry for the ride across to Devonport. The clocks had changed this morning and so by 6.30pm it was starting to get dark but we were home and realxing after great weekend in the Capital.

It also made it sweeter knowing that we had Monday off so it would be another short week at work!!!!

Lots of Love

M & M

xx