Here we have come!

We have now been back in New Zealand for one whole week and it seems quite a long time since we were in Cornwall and Whitehaven catching up with all of Len's family. It is always so good to see them, have a bit of time sharing their lives, be amazed, yet again, at how all the teenagers have grown and be in awe of how young Wils and Esme still are at 93 and 88! And because we went over later this year than normal it's now only 7 months before we return.

We had a good flight from Bangkok to Auckland on ThaiAir and found Debussy still snug under it's cover in the corner of Jacki and Tim's garden. No apparent dampness inside at all although the Damp-rid sachets and cans we left dotted about had all absorbed plenty of moisture.
For some reason though the TV is no longer working and we are still waiting for this to be looked at. The extractor fan also only gave out a burnt smell when I turned it on and this now needs to be replaced. We're just hoping that things don't always "come in threes"! At least the bus started first time and sounded really pleased to have us back.

Our new baby!

It was good to have a night catching up with Jacki and Tim and the children before we left the next morning on a car hunt. We were looking for either a Mazda 3 or a Ford Focus, no more than 2-3 years old and quite liked a red Mazda 3, and the price they would have reduced it to, at the Auckland Ford/Mazda dealership but wanted to look further to see if we could find a Focus as we liked our last one. There were none for sale privately on Trademe so we headed south to Hamilton and Fairview Motors where we found a silver 2011 Focus Ambiente - only 1600 ccs but very zippy and economical. We thought about it overnight, parking in the quiet cul-de-sac just down the road by the Te Rapa Racecourse, before heading back to the dealership where we used all our Thailand bartering skills and managed a $1500 reduction. Then, an hour or 2 later I was enjoying being behind the wheel of a car again as we headed, separately, back over the Kaimais to Tauranga.

We spent the first night back parked on the wide grass verge in front of Colin and Carlenes and then went to The Mount Camping Ground for 3 nights, being parked for the first 2 nights next to Sandra and Matt as they had holiday tenants in their house, not that they were there much with Sandra working and Matt helping friends move house. However their friends parents, Kay and David, were in the caravan on the other side of us and our friends, Shellie and David were parked further up the row in their 5th wheeler so we were all able to get together for "Happy Hour" before dinner!

It was so windy all the time in the camp ground, especially on our first night there. I found it hard to sleep with thinking that a gust of wind might catch up and blow us right over - however all the vehicles were still upright when we looked out in the mornings!

Trish - bin laden!