I arrived back from my big UK/Slovakia/Prague/Singapore trip on Thursday 25th July 2019. At the end of the previous year I had resigned from my 'proper' teaching job in order to do some relief teaching, giving me the flexibility to travel without being constrained by the school term. While I was in Singapore I was contacted by my school, asking if I would be prepared to take on a part-time maths teaching job for Terms 3 and 4 (the remainder of the school year). I agreed, as I had finished my big overseas trip for the year, plus it would be good extra $$$ towards future trips. Due to a staffing reshuffle they also called back my friend Denise who had retired at the end of the previous year. Denise currently lives in Nelson, so I said that she could board with Will and I for the rest of the year. It worked out well and it was nice to have her around. She tended to fly back to Nelson on a Friday night and return on Sunday night so Will and I still had a bit of space to ourselves. Denise enjoyed pottering around the garden and she LOVED the meals that I cooked for her. She likened it to a culinary adventure around the world!
As has become the norm, as soon as I got back in the country I was off on a badminton trip, this time to Auckland. I flew up on Friday afternoon and we stayed at the Quest on Hobson Street which had good views of the Sky Tower from our rooms.
The badminton was fun, we took the opportunity for a new team photo. Sam actually missed the photo, but Mac put her photo-shop skills to good use and managed to slot her in. The colour of her legs is the only real give-away!
A group of us weren't flying out until 3pm on Sunday (taking advantage of super-cheap Jetstar fares) so we went for a wander around the waterfront in the morning.
Denise arrived that Sunday night and the new school term started on Monday. It was fine and my classes were lovely, but the busyness and marking/preparation demands did remind me of why I had given it up in the first place! As part of the conditions for returning I had negotiated a prime onsite car park (in hot demand due to being an inner-city school with a tiny footprint) so that helped make life easier.
One month later I had another badminton trip to Rotorua. Our team LOVES our trips to Rotorua, mostly because of the accommodation we stay in: The
Sport of Kings Motel. This place has a fantastic heated outdoor pool which is the perfect place for relaxing after a tough day of badminton. Even our mascot got in on the action!
I believe in the pic below we are 'pirate dancing'. It's a running joke in our team after one of the members (who shall remain nameless!) genuinely thought Tina Turner was singing about 'pirate dancing' in her song 'Private Dancer'!
Mum and dad came and watched the badminton then I drove back to Hamilton with them, stopping for a nice brunch in Tirau on the way.
I stayed Sunday night with the folks, then flew back to Wellington on Monday afternoon, getting stunning views of the Central Plateau mountains from the plane. Conveniently, it was Founders Weekend at school meaning Monday off, and a staff-only day on Tuesday.
At the end of September we had visitors from Dunedin. Our good friend Rachel Roe, her sister Rowena, sister-in-law Debbie and daughter Georgia. They had come up for WOW (World of Wearable Arts), the annual Wellington spectacular. I was going to go with them, but Rowena made a late decision to come as well. I had already seen WOW a couple of times previously so she took my place. I had had my badminton club champs that day anyway (where I won the doubles with Isla) so I was more than happy to have a quiet night in!
Mid-October I had my final badminton event for the year: The Masters Nationals which were conveniently held in Hamilton. My teammates Isla, Rich and Macaela all stayed with me at mum and dads. Below you can see Isla and Mac just picking up the badminton essentials at the supermarket!
The badminton was really good. You play in 'boxes' where you play every other combination in your box, meaning plenty of games. It's a great opportunity to play against the best in the country. They actually live-streamed one of the courts on
YouTube, and Isla and I happened to have one match on that court.
As the weather warmed up, I started to spend more time in the garden. At the end of our street is a native botanical garden which has a native plant sale once a year. Will attended and came back with various exciting plants for the garden.
A big job was to tidy up the garden bed by the front side of our house as it was super overgrown and full of weeds, and hadn't had much attention in a long time. Not ideal when it's the first thing that visitors see when they come to the house!
I put in a row of lavender, a couple of hellebores, and also the two kaka beak that Will had picked up in the native plant sale.
I also made a little fernery in front of some existing hebes. The whole area looked MUCH better by the time I was finished.
I also got on with growing and potting on my seeds, ready to plant out in either the greenhouse of outside beds.
I always go a bit overboard and try to cram as much as I can into the greenhouse especially. The tomatoes, chillies and cucumber I grow in the greenhouse help keep us fed for months!
Our strawberries were really good this year, it is so satisfying going to the garden and picking fresh berries.
The beans were also awesome, half of them came up again from the previous year, and the rest I planted from seed.
We do love where we live in Wellington, surrounded by the green hills (even if they are occasionally under a layer of mist!). You don't feel like you are only a 10 minute drive from the CBD of the NZ Capital!
Being so close to the bush we get the most amazing bird life. One day I drove up our drive to find a Kereru (native NZ wood pigeon) absolutely gorging itself on the broom flowers, right next to the car. I waited in the car until it had enough and flew off as I didn't want to disrupt its feed!
On the 23rd November Will and I went to watch Greg Johnson play a show at Meow, a cool little bar and live-music venue in Wellington. It was the third time we had seen him at the same venue and he always puts on a great show.
Beforehand we enjoyed some yummy Vietnamese for dinner from the Capital Market foodcourt next door.
School finished for me on the 6th December, then Will had his last day of Uni for the year one week later. I did my usual Christmas baking, producing in total four big fruitcakes (with about 3kg of fruit in each!). A couple of the cakes I cut up into smaller portions, wrapped up nicely and gave away as gifts. Denise got a good chunk to take back to Nelson with her, we enjoyed some ourselves, then one whole cake I took up to mum and dads on our Christmas holiday.
On the 19th December we loaded up the car with camping gear and drove up to Hamilton, ready for our summer adventure.
