It has been quite a while since posting so this may be a long one. After Takapuna, I spent two days working with Paul on Safe@School stuff, spending a night on the grass verge in front of his house and the next back at the Takapuna Beach Holiday Park.

 

After that it was back to Waiheke for Auckland Day Weekend (much to my surprise). It seems that I became sort of a hobo for the week. I stopped by Tom & Christiane’s when I arrived to give them back their key, which I’d forgotten to leave behind when I was there earlier and they invited me to stay the night again. The next night, Friday, I stayed in the Bongo in my friend Russell’s yard, with power. Saturday, I went to dinner with Arnie & Fiona and they insisted that I stay with them for the next two nights,until I left the island.

 

When I left Waiheke, to go to meetings for Safe@School, I was invited to stay with Peter & Ann Robson, since I was attending the meeting with Peter. After being in NZ for nearly four weeks, I’ve spent nearly two staying with friends.

 

The weekend on Waiheke was pretty busy. The island was jumping with visitors and events, among them were two outdoor concerts, Little Day In and Culturefest,  (Culturefest was a multi-day affair with multiple stages, etc.), the opening of the Sculpture on the Gulf exhibition, the American Hot Rod Show n’ Shine and the premiere weekend of the Thieves & Vagabonds presentation of a Midsummer Night’s Dream (with Mark & Marine as the King and Queen). I actually saw all except Culturefest (at $80, it didn’t seem worth it).

 

 

While on the island, the notice came from the Dept. of Internal Affairs to send in my identity documents for my NZ citizenship application. Since I wanted to have my passport, which they requested, I called them to see how long they would keep it. They told me if I brought the documents to the Auckland office, they would make a copy of the passport and return it to me. This seemed the best option as it meant I’d be able to go to Boston (or anywhere else) at any time.

 

Since I was leaving Waiheke on Tuesday, in preparation for the meeting on Wednesday, I planned to do it then, Waiheke Shipping put the kibosh on that. I got to the ferry in plenty of time, but was bumped, even though I had an advance booking, by a pair of fuel tanker trucks. I did take the next Sealink ferry, but it was then too late to make it downtown. Waiheke Shipping did do a bit of compensation by giving me a complimentary return ticket.

 

I finally submitted the documents and got my passport back yesterday, after our business meeting. The rest of the day was spent fixing the awning.

 

I called Ellen this morning to find her slightly overwhelmed by the arrival of our shipment, but she was able to sleep in her own bed last night with a warm comforter (and Sam, of course). It sounds like most of the shipment arrived okay, so far, only a single broken plate and damage to the laser printer. I expect more will be found as it is unpacked. The bicycles are still packed and in the shed, I hope they came through okay.

 

We seem to have been mis-informed as to what the movers would do. We were told here that they would completely pack and unpack everything, but when the movers arrived in Cohasset, they said that they would only unpack and set up the furniture and place the rest of the boxes where Ellen wanted them.

 

Today was the day to finally start heading south. After leaving Peter’s I decided to go as far as Taupo as it would be only a half day drive and do a bit of cycling and sightseeing here for a couple of days. I fetched up at the All Seasons Holiday Park, about a mile out of town. I considered DeBretts, where we stayed when traveling with the Chisholms and Fishers, but this was a bit closer and not up such a steep hill. It is not as big as DeBretts, but has a tall hedge between each site, so there is a bit of privacy.

 

It’s off to get some food and find a hotspot to upload all of this. Hopefully, I’ll get a chance to work on photos this evening, but I’m not going to stay up too late.