happy feet lantern 
cellist lantern 
valentines day on tiri tiri Feb/March 2007
Back in Auckland in our little 1920s villa this month its all work work work. Getting intensively involved in the building renovations and moderately so in nursing at North Shore Hospital, the weeks flew past. With temperatures above 25c each day and humidity around 70Rog sweated it out taking the roof off the garage, repairing and raising it, increasing the height of the outside walls and replacing the back door and side windows with secondhand ones we found at a demolition place. The kiwis lifestyle that everything has a secondhand value certainly helps us when we look for replacement materials. Why buy new when the authentic stuff is just around the corner and cheap too? Part of the reason for this it seems is the costs involved in chucking stuff out. Rubbish is only collected in prepaid bags (bought from the supermarket). Other than that, one has to hire a skip to deposit broken glass, wood and other demolition scraps. Rog is supreme at salvaging what he can fortunately. A national hardware company did us a huge favour by opening a mega store around the corner from us, just as we moved in. Wonderfully clean, spacious, huge and overrun with underworked friendly helpful staff, it makes regular trips there quite a pleasant experience. My work at the hospital had also improved quite a bit. By working regularly 32 hrs a week (4 shifts of 8 hrs 14 30 to 23 00hrs), I am becoming familiar to the staff there, whilst gaining confidence in myself. The variety of work I get offered- maternity,casualty, medical, surgical, orthopedic and geriatrics means I dont get a chance to be bored either.. When Im not at the hospital my vocation seems to be painting- inside , outside, upside down, on top of ladders; cleaning with high pressure washer and clearing up after rog. Not forgetting the gardening either. The new flower beds have surpassed themselves.I havent worked so physically hard for years -no wonder nursing has become more appealing- although thats not easy either- am on my feet most of the time there too.
Out time out has been a minimum- we keep in touch with our mews friends, swopping meals for labour. The boys wanted a hand with balustrading, and us with demolishing a roof and ceiling. Another day we drove off to watch Queen Mary 2 sail into the harbour. Having awoken us at dawn with a deep throaty hooter, we were fascinated to watch the largest liner in the world on her maiden voyage. What a monster. We learnt a little about aucklands road system too- getting stuck in traffic for 3 hrs with the rest of its inhabitants!. On valentines day we took the whole day off sailing off to an island nearby which is run as a nature reserve. A wonderful day out- calm blue warm waters, beautiful birds ( 4 species we hadnt seen before and many others) ; then a swim in one of the many coves. Rounding the day off with a Chinese take away just complemented the day. One Saturday we went off to watch an airshow with quite a mix of planes flying from the nearby NZ airforce aerodrome. Chinese new year fell on a balmy evening, we helped them celebrate by walking the streets trying out different asian cuisine, whilst looking at quite an array of beautiful lanterns. A kiwi experience not to be forgotten was one evening when 3 earth tremors were felt in Auckland- measuring between 3 and 4 on the richter scale, many locals were surprisingly concerned. Rog went out to the look at his handiwork the next day and immediately added some strengthening trusses!! To end then- a necessary 3 week trip back to the UK at the end of march will bring an abrupt halt to the proceedings. So tune in and you may see us face to face!!
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