27th December

On Thursday Joanne got up at a quarter to six to join Len and Val at the gym. I decided this was a silly idea so stayed in bed.

The rest of the morning Joanne and I spent with Val. We headed to a garden centre to check out ideas for flowers and plants and water features and the rest for our garden. It was my idea. I suggest going to a garden centre. I still can't believe it. I just thought it would be a good idea to draw on Val's expertise in that area.

We also spent some time trying to find an open tile shop to get somes tiles that Val needed for their front door step. This was harder that it should have been though. Lots of NZ trade places (and indeed smaller shops) seem to just close down for at least a couple of weeks over Christmas. I guess it does make sense but having summer holidays and Christmas holidays coincide is something else I am going to have to get used to.

In the afternoon Joanne and Val headed off to the city - they wanted to check out the sales at Smith and Caughey while I fancied a bit of fresh air and to stretch my legs so I went for a walk in Cornwall Park and up and around One Tree Hill. I never tire of the view of Auckland you get from up there, with the Sky Tower, the CBD, the Harbour Bridge, all the volcanic peaks and craters all there for all to see.