Family gatherings home and abroad.

The last Blog saw us easing into summer and the joy of catching up with family and friends. In September, Lynn's niece, Jessica and boyfriend Jacob rocked up in Sydney which prompted Richard and Rebecca to travel across the world to see their daughter and, after 5 and 1/2 years, his sister. R and R arrived here in NZ after 3 weeks of quite humid weather in Sydney , early Feb. Along with joint adventures exploring our neighbourhood, they did some of their own things including walking around the mount, canoeing and exploring the regions walks and waterfalls. A good time was had by all.

Due to the alterations at Auckland Airport and the 1k you have to walk from the drop off point, we decided to make life easier by booking Valet Parking for the car while we spent 20 days in Sydney. The drop off point for this is right outside the International Departures.... perfect.

Our time in Sydney was all about family time and it was great to catch up with Simon and Sarah's families and their children ......another two years older! When we all met up at the Pub across the way from our accommodation........ there were 15 of us. 

Our first day in Sydney saw us venture out to Kyle Bay, just south of where Jill used to live, to meet up with Jan. Jan is a friend of Lynn's from college whose son lives in Sydney. It was lovely to get out of the city and even lovelier to spend the day with Jan and her family. She had stayed on in Aussie for a few extra days so we could visit to discuss her and Flo's impending trip to NZ next year. Clearly when she admitted she had no idea which Island we lived on she was right to hand over all travel arrangements to Flo!

In Tom's garden after a fab lunch.

Glebe is a great place to stay and Glebe Point Rd has every restaurant known to man. We found a lovely small Sri Lankan Street Food restaurant called Dish. The food was great and different. Well worth a visit if you are in Sydney but you have to book.

The climax of our time in Sydney was to hire an apartment on Freshwater Beach, which is next to Manly.

Simon, Sarah and Antony visited on our first day. The apartment was lovely except for the 15 stairs up from the garage! Still we managed it once a day before our trips out. If you are ever in the area we can recommend Teddy Larkins Seafood restaurant which we ate at twice. Once meeting with Jacob's parents who had arrived from the UK to visit him and his brother who was also in Sydney. The other time was just Jill, Lynn and I for half price lunch of lobster or steak! What a deal!

The other place to recommend for lunch is Long Reef Golf Club which was in a beautiful setting.

All was going swimmingly well for our return to NZ until we got to the airport hotel the night before our flight. Air NZ cancelled our flight on the Sunday and rebooked us on one that arrived into Auckland at 11.55pm. After much complaining/negotiating/refusing offers we came home a day later with Air NZ paying for our extra night at the hotel and the two taxis to Sarah's on Sunday as we had invited ourselves to lunch with the Blakes!

Dave and Vron's friends from the uk were on the same flight from Sydney as us so too were delayed by one day. Vrons and Bella visited for coffee leaving Tony and Dave back at base. Tony had to phone the UK from Sydney for two hours to alter their flight, so we had a few stories to swap over coffee.

Time back here in NZ has been full of social time both in person and catch up with FaceTime in the UK. Good to catch up with Jenny C, Barbs and Eileen and Dave. Also good to talk travel arrangements with Flo and Marshie and Steve......both parties planning to visit us in Feb 2025 but not at the same time!

The first Saturday we were home two friends down our road organised a street party for all of Kereru Place. We were very lucky with the weather and met even more of our neighbours as well as those we have become friends with since our Covid Lockdown morning coffee gatherings. 

We have been to the cinema twice in the last two weeks. One to see The Escapee about the old chap from Brighton going across the channel for D day celebrations. Glenda Jackson's last film before she died. The second one was also based on a true story with Olivia Coleman called Wicked Little Letters........ a story we had no idea about.

I remain on the list for my second knee operation. The first one has been excellent but the other knee restricts any real progress. It is coming up for six months since I saw the surgeon so hopefully before the next Blog I will have some better news.

As the Easter weekend approaches Jessica, Jacob and Jacob's parents have sent photos from The Great Barrier Reef......... somewhere they have both had on their bucket list for some time.

The weather has definitely turned Autumnal today but tomorrow it is going to be 23 deg so we are keeping our fingers x that the weather holds for Simon and Tamara and the two girls who arrive on the 18th April for one week.

All that is left for us to do is wish you all a Happy Easter.  Your clocks go forward this weekend and ours go back next Saturday making the time difference 11 hours instead of 13 so much easier to call at reasonable times for both.

Hope all is well with you and look forward to catching up with your news soon.