Living for the weekends

A few weeks back we had a gorgeous day so me, Amy, Colin, Ben, Shanyn, Tim and Ash drove to Long Bay on the North Shore and set up camp on the beach for the avo.  We put on our togs and played Force Back (a throwing game with 2 teams that i have never quite understood the rules of so won't bother explaining - I also spent a good 8 months thinking it was called 'Four Spec' because of the kiwi accent), lazed in the sun and took a quick dip in the rather cold ocean.  We then went back to Colin's house, played loads of VR (Colin's a geek and spent money on a virtual reality head set which is AWESOME and a lot of fun) and had a BBQ.  Shanyn put worcester sauce in the mince and the burgers turned out delish.  We also played a really good card game called Punderdome. It's essentially a cards against humanity version of puns - there's 2 cards with a random word on and you have to make a pun that links them, and it goes to the vote.  Me and Ben were really good - my proudest moment was when we had to link 'snacks' and 'Sherlock Holmes'. I came up with "Watson your plate? Sherlock's good".  I still giggle about it weeks later.

Force Back on the beach

home made naan and daal. this bears no relation to our beach trip, I just want to prove I do cook every now and then. ha

Another weekend we went for an impromptu evening out at a local brewery.  It was very Peckham - they brew their own beer, the furniture is vintage and they had 2 dogs, one of which was a pug.  They also had a vintage car which we somehow managed to spend the night sitting in.  We ended up in Family Bar on KRoad which was a bit dead, so instead had shisha and kebabs (well the boys did, me and Amy sat there observing).

 The next day we went on what was meant to be a little walk to the Mokoroa Falls.  It was only 20 mins to the falls themselves, then we spent a good hour playing around them and ended up having a fun photoshoot from Shanyn.

Shanyn's photo

Shanyn's photo

We then decided to walk a different way back as it was a loop track - and oh boy was it fun.  Turns out the track basically follows a stream, and the track was super muddy....so we decided to just walk through the stream instead. It was brilliant - the water was warm and the stream base was mostly bedrock so not too deep or slippery.  We had to cross some waterfalls and do a little bit of climbing and clambering and it was the most fun I have had in ages - especially as it was so unexpected and unplanned.  We finished very wet and muddy but also on a right high!  I was exhausted at the end and pretty much ate a burger then fell asleep at about 7pm.

Me, Ben and Sam went to a weird play that was being put on in the city centre - again it was quite Peckham. The play was outside and set in a car, about 1 boy who was gay and struggling to find love and kept falling in love with his stright male friends instead of other gay guys.  It was good but being outside it started to pour it down....but in true Kiwi spirit everyone was soon chucking their umbrellas to people more in need and it was all very lovely and jolly.

I started climbing again. I went one week as I had no other plans and it was my first time in AGES and I really enjoyed it.  I don't know what happened but my attitude to it had completely changed and instead of being a baby and doing climbs I knew I could do, I decided to try hard ones that I knew I wouldn't get to the top of.  This led me to realise that I am stronger than I used to be and though I dind't get to the top of half the climbs I tried, I managed to get half way which I was very proud of!   I then went again the following week with Morry and I aced it - probably because I was trying to impress him and feeling a bit competitive but I managed to do one that had stumped me for a while, and one from last week that I failed at.  Woohoo!

I've bought a new car. My old one failed it's WOF (MOT) and needed $600 repairs on it so I decided to bite the bullet and repair it and sell - it's proving hard to sell which is annoying and in the mean time I bought a new car, a little Corolla as I don't need something as big as I have got.  The old lady I bought it from didn't want to come on the test drive so I left her in my house where she ate guacamole and nachos with Amy and Shannyn, then when I decided to buy it I left her in my house again whilst I went to go play netball and she waited for her partner to arrive to pick her up.  I love New Zealand.

Last weekend Amy, Colin and I went to Matakana in the morning for the markets - it's a really cute little town up North and the last time I went was with Morry but it was pouring with rain.  This time the weather was beaut and we had brunch from street stalls then headed to Goat Island, with the original intention to hire kayaks and then go round the island.  There were no kayaks, and it turns out it's a pretty rubbish thing anyway as you're not allowed any further than the bay and you're not alloed on the island with the kayaks, so instead we did a glass bottom boat tour which was fun and we saw string rays and lots of large fish.

We had our last netball match of the season.  We lost (obviously) but I felt a bit sad at the end - it's the last match we'll probably play ever as that team because people kept dropping out and the last 3 weeks it's been a nightmare to find anyone to play so we've decided not to play summer league. But I really enjoyed the games and I felt sad we won't be playing together any more!! We took a team photo at the end - except it's not the entire team because the boys couldn't make the match, and also we didn't have 3 centres and 2 defence haha.

This Friday me and Amy went out for cocktails - after a failed attempt on K Road we ended up browsing bars on the waterfront before deciding upon Sardine, mainly because they had a Lemon Meringue cocktail that featured lemon sorbet and french meringue.  It was nice to go out and get dressed up (I spend my life in my work clothes or active wear) and as an added bonus, as we were paying an old drunk man sat next to me refused to let us pay.  I told him that we were strong independent women who could pay for our own drinks but he refused and the bar lady refused to take our cards to pay, and put it on his tab.  I tried to pay for his beer but he waved me off and told me to enjoy my evening - it was nice that we got our drinks paid for (came to $70!) but I also felt bad and like I had to do something in return, I considered flashing him my boob but refrained.

Purple lipstick - yay or nay?

Yesterday was most productive. I got up super early to take my car to the garage, then picked up Ben on my way back and we tried out SUP (stand up paddleboarding) at this free event I saw on facebook.  It's harder than it looks!!! I spent most of my time kneeling as I was so wobbly standing.  Then I came home, did a food shop, then picked up Amy and we went to the shop and I bought a boogyboard (so excited to use it) and some surf booties and a kettle bell, then I mowed the lawn and did some house work, then I sunbathed, then I had a nap.  Then me, Amy and Ben drove to Orewa and met up with Morry and his sister and some of her friends, and we had dinner and a catch up then went to watch the fireworks on the beach, then headed home.

Today we were meant to be doing another awesome stream walk but Colin had food poisoning on Fri evening and spent all evening and Sat morning chundering and pooping, and then people started to bail so instead I drove to Shakespear Regional Park (it winds me up but there's no 'e' on the end) for a little wander.  It's really pretty and there's so many little islands just off the coast - I need a boat to explore them all!!