10 Days in Aus

Sorry I haven't posted for a couple of weeks.  I've been in Aus for the annual Queen's Birthdays (yes plural) big catch-up. The Queen gets one birthday celebration in NZ the first weekend in June and the following weekend it's Australia's turn so I generally take the week between and head back across the ditch for a friends and family marathon, plus a little down time.  There was lots of food and drink involved, starting with babycinos and toast all round... 

then moving on to something a bit more grown up at Pizzini's long lunch.  There were 5 courses before this appeared, each with 2 matching wines.

I have absolutely confirmed that I don't miss the Sydney traffic (dont' worry, I wasn't moving when I took this).

And at the end of all that I came home to this...

snow down to 600 meters and a wind that will get through even the smallest chink in your layers.

Totally classy or what?

The Breakfast Club is still meeting each Friday morning at a cafe in town, we are still not really practicing our māori but we are getting better.  Mostly we order the same things each week but yesterday something finally arrived at our table that I have watched go past a few times.  Anna ordered boiled eggs.

Woolies count - 3

Top, tunic & socks.

A member of staff passed me on the smokers balcony when I was taking this and, no, I never do get tired of taking photos of the mountain.

Pink Shirt Day

Today is pink shirt day, saying no to bullying.  To support the cause we could wear a pink shirt to work.  Frighteningly I have 3; a 'business' shirt and two Tshirts - Captain Hedgehog and Perkins Paste.  Perkins Paste won.

I also discovered that no-one here has ever heard of it so have been educating my colleagues on the wonderfulness of this child friendly adhesive. 

A Wow Moment

Well, two actually.  I've just been in Auckland for a two day library meeting.  It was really great but basically just saw the inside of the hotel.  So wow moment #1 was when I did get outside - on the way back from dinner we turned a corner and saw this the Auckland Sky Tower.

 The next morning produced wow moment #2 - I indulged in room service brekkie and got this, totally posh muesli.  How often can you say that about toasted oats.

The Breakfast Club Graduates

And here we are (plus one husband).  The proud holders of a Certificate in Te Ara Reo Māori Level 4.  Who'd a thunk it, certainly none of us.

A small revolution

I spent part of yesterday at work helping people take over the museum.  You might remember that a while ago staff got the chance to write their own labels for items on display (here's mine), well yesterday we opened it up for everyone using special, extra large orange postit notes.  It was great fun and no real suprise to anyone that one of the most popular items was the shark.

 Mind you the Moa and a teeny tiny frog did quite well too.