weekend 8-9 January

Guess what?! On Friday we: WENT FOR A SWIM! Ha! It was great. We went down to Narrow Neck beach, where there were lots and lots of other people swimming, including lots of little people. That made me feel safer and that things couldn't be that scary! Otherwise all the kids are just tough little kiwis (highly probable). Anyway, it was very fun. Except there are spiky starfish who very rudely like to sit on the sand (how dare they?) where I can step on them all too easily and get very freaked out. It was about 6pm when we went on Friday night, so we went again on Saturday around 4 or 5, and there were SO many people there. A lot of families and groups had set up tents or gazebos or shelters of another kind and looked like they were just in it for the day. It was a pretty cool atmosphere. The sea is very calm there and stays shallow for a long way, which is what I think makes it very popular for swimming.

On Saturday Adrian went to the spa from which Mum bought him a voucher for Christmas. He said it was lovely. I went to visit Anna in St Heliers on the motorbike. First time I'd ridden into the city. I went for a ride a while ago, north, because I hadn't been on the motorbike for ages but didn't feel I knew enough about the city to go that way. But yesterday I realised I was comfortable enough with the way to Anna's that I would be fine. It was a nice ride along the Mission Bay etc. waterfront but super hot on the way back. Don't think I've stuck to my gear like that before :/

Yesterday we went to Kiwi Valley over in Henderson. The price for an adult entry was $2 less than for a child, which we were puzzled by but happy with. After we paid the very nice lady there said "Now, usually the packets of food are reserved for the children but I can see you would like some" so she gave us a bag of food, and it became evident why children are usually more! Fair enough. Anyway it was really neat - started off with a cuddle from a cute white baby rabbit on my lap. Saw rats, fed baby chickens, saw little yellow ducklings, scratched lots of pigs and piglets, got our pamphlet eaten by a cheeky goat (Adrian didn't realise goats eat literally anything; he knows now), patted a donkey called Eddie, and walked around a little maze. It was pretty good value. Then we went to their nice little cafe and had coffee and white chocolate brownie - yum!

Last night Adrian and I packed a picnic tea which consisted of sausages, mashed potatoes and Fresh Up from the dairy (simple things we are). We went up North Head and our view was something like this, but without the zoom, and with more sunshine. It was pretty neat. After that we got ice cream from the same dairy and ate it on the Devonport waterfront watching the busy waterway for a few minutes.

I also have some sad news - it seems Nano has reached the end of her little fuzzy life. She has been slowly deteriorating since I took her to the vet on Wednesday. This morning she is very much worse and really obviously not happy, so I made an appointment at the vet for 10.45am today. I will be crying :`(