Long, long weekend

Last weekend was Queen's Birthday weekend. It was an extra long weekend for me as my school very kindly gave us the Tuesday off as well. We got the weekend off to a good start with dinner at the Petone home of one of my colleagues. She had also invited another friend from school & her partner, so it was a really nice evening. Will had kindly offered to be the sober driver for the evening, so I got to enjoy a few vinos. The other couple lived between us & Petone so we also gave them a ride there & back which was appreciated.

On the Saturday night we had a 50th birthday to attend. The theme was 'Pasifika' & it was a brilliant night out. The hosts had pulled out all the stops with Cook Island dancers & drummers, plus a whole lamb & pig spit-roasted over the fire. The food was amazing, washed down with beverages from the very generously stocked bar. Below you can see the birthday boy busting out the moves with one of the dancers.

Sunday was bit of a recovery day after our nights out. I'm at the age where it's getting harder & harder to back up 2 nights in a row! On Monday morning dad flew in from Hamilton. He had a meeting at Head Office on Tuesday so stayed with us Monday night. The weather was atrocious so we pretty much spent the day holed up inside with the cosy woodburner, reading the newspapers & women's weekly type magazines courtesy of the Koru Club... We are lighting the fire most evenings at the moment and the heat it pumps out is pretty impressive.

Tuesday was a 'duvet day'. The weather was lousy once again so I didn't feel the need to get out of my PJ's all day. I had a lovely day & managed to read a whole book in one day, something that usually only happens in the holidays!

With only 3 days in the week to work, it understandably passed by pretty quickly. School has quietened down a lot now that all the reports are finished. I'm still really enjoying it there, it was definitely a good job to get.

This Saturday was fairly quiet. Will had quite a lot of work to do. I did a bit of schoolwork, then spent a very pleasant afternoon/evening watching rugby. NZ Maori, followed by the All-Blacks, followed by the Aussie/England game. I started to watch the South Africa/France match as well but decided that enough was enough & it was time for bed!

Today I paid a visit to the zoo. When I was a lady of leisure in October I had joined the 'Zoo Crew' giving me unlimited access for a year. I hadn't been for a while as it's not quite so convenient to visit as when we were living in Newtown. Today I went to watch Cara, one of the chimps, have ground-breaking ear surgery. Wellington zoo has a new state of the art animal hospital with plate-glass windows where you can watch all of the action unfold. They also have TV screens showing close-ups of what is going on, & a vet inside the operating theatre giving commentary. Cara had been sticking sticks & stones into her ears for the last 6 years or so, & it was badly infected. The operation was to remove her inner ear. This has never been done in a chimp before, so they had enlisted a human ear/nose/throat specialist to carry out the op. It was pretty interesting, I arrived about an hour & a half into the 5 or so hour op. This was one of my best visits to the zoo yet, with the animals being a bit more active in the colder weather. The sun bears were especially playful today.However they weren't the only cute animals on display...

In garden news... The tamarillo tree is absolutely laden, so hopefully they will all ripen, & not get blown off the tree! I've never grown them before, so don't know a huge amount about them. Somebody told me that they need to go through a winter before they are sweet enough to eat, but if anyone else has any ideas/advice then it would be much appreciated.

No more news. I think I really need to get back into the habit of 'little & often' or else my posts end up being over long. 2 weeks left of school before 3 glorious weeks of holiday. I can't wait...