We had a lovely comfy sleep and this morning Morg and Liv prepared a veritable feast for breakfast, eggs, fruit, avocado, toast, juices, hot cross buns, breakfast rolls, toast, and it just kept on coming out of the kitchen! It Is very nice being spoilt! They cleared up, and as it was really overcast we decided we would go to Waiouru have a wander around and get some food for Sunday lunch at the supermarket.
Waiouru is the gum boot capitol of New Zealand and it’s welcome sign is a huge corrugated metal gunboat. EVERYONE we saw was wearing gum boots (wellies) and they were mostly wearing them with shorts. Morg likened it to the Royal Welsh Show in Builth when it’s overflowing with young farmers, he wasn’t actually wrong in that comparison! It was quite quiet and we were able to park easily in the town. Almost all the shops were open, and we took our time roaming around it. There was a fabulous second hand and antique store, that was a bit like a tardis, more rooms just kept appearing with more stuff than you could shake a stick at. We didn’t buy anything, probably because we didn’t need anything, but it’s always good to rummage through stuff just incase ain’t it?! I was tempted by a cheap nasty pair of dappy things to wear in the water, but I just couldn’t get past the smell in the shoes so I walked away from them. I swear I could smell them for hours afterwards!
From there we went into a new shop. As in it sold new things. To save money Morg and Liv decided to buy a catifiere because they have reached the conclusion that they are wasting too much money on coffee on a weekend! I was seriously impressed. There are some really lovely shops around and the one we were in had a bit of everything, although I couldn’t tell you the name of it if my life depended on it! I could have bought so much had I the means to get it home. Such gorgeous little things for the little ones, but no room in the bag. I have a cunning plan in that front, I’m going to purchase another bag to take home with us. The flight allows us two 30kg bags each, but even with that magnificent allowance we’ll be lucky to fill a single 30kg bag, including presents! Out bag is only about 15kg now with our clothes in, and we will be leaving the majority of the clothes in New Zealand!
We need to talk Ice cream, my most favourite dessert, snack, breakfast, lunch or dinner, depending on the mood. Real fruit ice cream is a big thing here, and there was a shop advertising it, and despite being coat weather it seemed rude to walk past. We went in and both Morg and Liv decided it wasn't real fruit ice cream at all, merely a sub standard replica. I believe they are now experts on the subject so therefore take them at their word, and bow down to their superior knowledge of such things.We left the ship without poisoning ourselves with fake stuff.
Once we’d exhausted every single shop (there were 10 at the most) and finding nothing that we really wanted, apart from the cafetière we returned to the car and hit the supermarket. Filling another trolley with delicious eats and drinks, and not caring we were there for just one more full day we loaded it all into the boot of Morg and Liv’s car. Poor little thing must have been traumatised, I don’t think it’s ever had so many people and weight in it! We could tell it was struggling on the hills which, in its defence, were very steep!!! I was struggling too and was merely sat in the back, adding to its struggles.
On our way out of town we stopped to photograph the giant welly boot, and got Bob and Kev in on the act too. There’s an app called Roadie, and it gives you places of interest to go. You then take a photo at the location, tick it off on your list and there is an opportunity to win $5000 in outdoor vouchers. Not to be sniffed at! Liv is brilliant at using it, but we’ve noticed that you can’t add good things to it yourself. If it’s not on the list already you can’t tick it off. We’ve been to some epic places, but as they’re not on the list they don’t count. Luckily for us the welly was on there! Our roadie app is looking rather pitiful by comparison, also I keep forgetting about it and I think I’ll have to fill it in retrospectively!
After taking the pics we loaded back into the car and headed back to the house. The mountain was still covered in thick cloud and if we didn’t know better we wouldn’t have known there was even a mountain there!! About 10 mins drive from the house is a viaduct that Liv wanted to visit, so she and Morg went and walked it for a few hours. Si and I stayed in the house to keep an eye on the fire and keep the place warm for them when they got back. The temp dropped somewhat and there has been no sunshine through the glass to help keep the place warm. The fire was toasty and it was nice to get showered into snuggly clothes and watch the flames.
Rosy cheeked and chilled to the bone, when they returned the warmth hit them straight away, as it was supposed to, and while they put their feet up, we discussed food and what time they wanted to eat. We’d bought prawns at the shop and they’d been defrosting nicely, so as they only needed cooking through and then throwing some garlic and ginger in with it followed by ribbons of courgette, only a few minutes were needed to knock up tea. Before that we tried out the new coffee pot. It works, and the coffee they bought, was ok, much to Morgs disgust it was decaf! Not quite what he had in mind! Tasted nice though!
Once we’d eaten tea, and consumed chocolate for desert with fruit, we all kicked back, read books, laughed, chatted and stayed warm by the fire. As the fire had been going for quite a long time the bedrooms had heated up too, so it was nice and cosy for bedtime.
We concluded the clocks were changing tonight and we were all pleased to be getting an extra hour in bed, yay, who doesn’t love an extra hour in bed??? That being the case the boys had another beer, and we carried on as we were till (by our standards at least) it was quite late!
Plans were made for the morrow, and weather permitting and dependent on what time we got up, we would decide which choice we’d be going with. I love a chill out with the kids!
Much love
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