Fleetwood Mac

Many, many months ago Duncan booked us in to see Fleetwood Mac. I thought he had got a special deal through American express, but I thought it was cheap seats, but in fact it turned out to be very pricey seats, but the best seats in the house. We stayed Saturday night at Jackie and Simon's and then drove up to Auckland, staying at the Ibis which is walking distance  from the train station which gave us a quick trip to Mount Smart stadium.

The opening act was Angus and Julia Stone and you can see from the two pictures below the view we had of the stage, and the view of the big screen, so we had the best of both worlds

 The audience filled up as we moved onto the main act - lots of amazing graphics displayed behind the band but they were tricky to photograph.

Stevie Nicks with John Mc Vie behind

Christine Mc Vie

 Occasionally this was the only view we got - but they were a very nice family infront of us. The jeans belong to the mum - an aging rock chick with an enviable figure. The two 20 something daughters were altogether broader and taller.

 The centrepiece was Mick Fleetwood's drums

John Mc Vie

Mick Fleetwood

Stevie Nicks and John Mc Vie

Lindsey Buckingham did a lot of the vocals

What amazed us was that their were no hassles getting food, getting wine, going to the toilet or geetting the train home. A lady security person gave us a running comedy commentary as we filed quite quickly into the train which dropped us back in the station.

A throroughly enjoyable night! - and when I found out that John McVie and Mick Fleetwood  had started their music careers which John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers it all started to make sense!

We had a good run back to Gisborne  - the Te Puke Bypass makes a great difference.

By the sweat of his brow

One thing that Duncan likes to do is to work hard in his garden, and the results are often spectacular! This cauli for example fed seven families and we still have some lurking in the crisper.

The cabbage looks small by comparison, but it is still supplying us with many days of coleslaw along with the grated raw beetroot.

Another endeavour that Duncan enjoys is running, but it has not been so easy for him of late. However with two longish runs along the beach at Ohiwa as training he entered the Quarter Marathon, hoping to get inside his age in muinutes (ie 65mins for the 10.5 km run)

Once we had watched the World Cup win I was again thrust into the role of runner's supporter, carrying towels and jerseys.

The course is different to what it was in the old days - around the beaches and the bridges.

And right on cue he appeared - looking quite fresh - but apparently had struggled for a bit of the run. And the time? 65mins and 2 seconds. Thank goodness he is 65 1/2 years old.

Grandies' Photoshoot.

I managed to contain myself until Claudia was 3 weeks old, then off we went to Hamilton for the first viewing  - and to start with here are the family photos:

 And now for the close-up....

 She has a little frown, and quite mobile eyebrows, but otherwise beautiful regular features.

Grandad was "pop"ular

 She also pursed her lips very tighly and then relaxed them into a lovely full mouth. She seems to track for sound and often turns towards the speaker. The eyes really aren't focusing yet - but I'm sure Duncan checked that out!

What's that flash of light??

A nice peaceful sleep with Gran

which went on for quite a long time!!

Time for a chat

 Of course Theo wasn't left out of all the action and there was much ball playing and pottering in the garden. We bought him a kite so it was off to the park to teach him the skills of flying. Spring is a good time to learn this because of the strong gales!! The first park was a bit swirly, but Hamilton has plenty of parks and the kite flying lesson Number 1 was complete.

And finally - Yes Jill shes very kissable!!
Love her to bits!!

Vaguely Addictive

I remember my mum doing that wobbly lettering on our birthday cakes, and I thought that when I grew up I would be much better than that. This was not to be, so when I had to provide a shout for work I bought the lettering! I also bought the icing and THAT is not to be recommended - very artificial tasting!

One of the things I have on the list for the summer holidays is colouring in - the new relaxation craze.

First choose your picture. I bought two books one on paisley cats and another one which I dont like as much on Art deco. I thought I better give it a whirl before inflicting it on others.

First choose your painting.

I was doing it while watching TV. This is the first nights effort - about 2.5 hours worth!!

Next night I was keen to get back into it - this was about another 2.5 hours worth. I was definitely finding it very relaxing and vaguely addictive.

And here is the final 2 hours worth - quite a bit of checking to find little snatches of colour missing. Duncan reckons it looks good from a distance, and I've got to admit I made the mistake of not working with a sharp pencil at one stage and I've gone over the lines a bit!

Give it a go, though.

What we are spending the kids' inheritance on now.

1. Physio.

Even though my physio is covered by ACC it is usually another $15 to $20 each time. I have now had 10 of my allowed 12 ACC visits and helped by Nurofen and icepacks we have made great improvements. I have now learned to do my own strapping and the K tape is quite expensive. I've switched to purple now.

OOps I can't seem to rotate it now! Still if that was my thigh not my calf it would be wonderfully slim!!

 2. Two chookies. Meet Kylie As you can see she is quite a bit lighter in colour than Kath

 Kath, infront has most of her back feathers grown back now. She hasn't got back to one egg a day - still one every second day, but Kylie has been most diligent. So they are back on pellets or kibbled grains now.

 3.This is a Karcher window cleaner. The window cleaning part is hopeless, but the little water vacuum is brilliant at removing condensation from our window.

4.OK so this was quite a big expense - a cover for the caravan. But at least it covers a big asset . It's a little tricky to get on, but I think we'll get better. I stand at the side and read the instructions while Duncan tiptoes around on the roof!! OOOhhh a few nervous minutes.

Tropical Day

Sunday 12th July 2015
A much sunnier day today so we took a bus, then a small ferry to Hideaway Island.

Hideaway Island is the small island in the bay

The beach is covered with coral and much easier to get in with reef shoes (or for Duncan his trusty crocs) rather than flippers. The beach goes down very steeply so you need only go a step or two into the water before flopping in and the fish were right there - just going about their day to day life as we snorkelled above. Big fish, little fish, black, white, lime and pink, blue and yellow, and just plain grey. 

Coming into Hideaway

We had a break on the beach, but the sun was very burny, so we moved under the palms. Then we had another snorkel. My highlight was a bright blue starfish, about the size of a dinnerplate.

We had lunch at the kiosk, then got the ferry and bus back to Nasama for a nap before going to Cafe du Village right on the waterfront in Port Vila. It was very peaceful and serene with Venus and Jupiter clearly visible. Small boats plied across the harbour with no lights on, just the put-put of their motors - a great setting for a murder mystery!

Monday 13th July 2015

Our last day - warm and cloudy. The flight to the volcano never eventuated, so we think we will just relax at the resort today.  But I persuade Duncan a walk over the rock pools at low tide would be interesting as we have seen the locals out foraging every low tide.

 There were lots of huge black slugs. Suely the people weren't going to eat them?

 More slugs and to the left an octopus  scuttles away.

 Long multipede worms rhythmically move through the rock pools

A very small version of the bright blue starfish I saw out on hideaway

 One of the slugs tries to disguise itself by having sand stick all over it.

We could bear it no longer so I send Duncan scampering across the reef to see what the locals were collecting. It appeared to be some very small welklike shell with something inside. Looks like you would need heaps to make a meal out of them.

Looking back at the resort from the reef - you can see the area in front where you were able to see a few things when snorkeling.

Back to the unit for lunch and a beer.  This was Nambawan beer. You need to say that out loud so that you can see how Pidgeon english works.

Reading and catching up on the world via the cell phone were all part of the days we spent over here. We went to the resort restaurant tonight. They were extremely busy, but we still had a nice meal.

And finally we had to pack. Our pick-up was at 10am next morning, and we had a good, but cramped flight back. With extensive fast forwarding I was able to watch the end of Gone Girl. Not a very satisfactory ending though!

Vanuatu - a great place to spend a week! Not quite as sunny as we hoped and a little more expensive than we'd planned but an excellent mid-winter break.