4/1/2026 St Luke’s and more recovery

Another restless night, not helped by the palaver of the bank payments yesterday. A nice cup of tea, some strawberries and a hot shower helped humanise me a little bit. 

I decided to leave the trip planning alone for a while, until I was in a better frame of mind. My thought process is really scattered today and I'm struggling to hold it all together somewhat.

Deciding I probably needed to get out of the motel and have some fresh air, I went for a walk, and found a coffee shop just down the street and had a big mug of coffee. As I was sitting there mulling things over and looking at photos, Morg rang and said he’d be over to pick me up shortly for a trip to St Lukes,  Another Westfield Mall, but one that has a Kmart. He was in the market for new bedding and as the Christmas sales are in full swing it seemed like a good idea. St Lukes is a nice Mall and so much quieter then when we went shopping before flying to Fiji, because that was just hideous. 

Morg failed to find what he was looking for, but I was mesmerised by all the brightly coloured clothing I was seeing in every shop window. This is definitely my spirit home! The colours, the warmth, and the price point. Although that's only because the exchange rate is fully in my favour!

I made an instant decision to buy some new clothes to go home with a bit closer to the date purely because I've seen so many things I love. Also I have an awful lot of luggage allowance. I fully intend to use this time even if it means purchasing new luggage. Although that feels very wasteful as I have absolutely no need for more luggage. I think a laundry bag will suffice and I'll get it wrapped at the airport. Good plan.

I saw a fabulous pair of lilac Ugg slip on mules, I don't know if they're supposed to be slippers or not, but I fully intend to wear them out if I finally decide to buy them.  I've always been put off buying a pair of Ugg boots in the past as they seem to collapse and it's an awful lot of money to shell out if they are going to get  ruined. Morgan said that these are all genuine uggs and the ones he bought Liv over here were far superior to the ones he bought her when they were in Edinburgh, and they were sold as genuine uggs . So I may splurge, although that's not helping me get rid of my shit is it by bringing more stuff in! 

I was telling him about the ant situation and he said when he came home after Si’s funeral, it had been particularly hot, and his food cupboard was crawling with them, he had to chuck the lot out. Apparently they love his honey and he has to wipe the jar down after each use to try and deter the little buggers. I've learnt my lesson, I won't be leaving any empty tuna tins out until after i’ve eaten, i will be rinsing them straight away and then putting them in the bin!!

St Lukes is a nice little place, and was originally swampland and known to the Maori as Nga Anawai which referred to the water filled lava flow caves that formed in the area that were formed by Mount Eden and Mount Albert more than 30,000 years ago. Due to the rough terrain the area was a lot slower to be developed. In 1962 an industrial area was built and in 1971 the st lukes shopping centre was opened, it was the second modern shopping centre in Auckland. It was funded by the council and in the early 2000’s it was extended. In 2018 Chemist warehouse, which is what its name implies, opened its first store in New Zealand in St Lukes. Morgan's boss worked on the owner of  Chemist warehouses’ new build house. It was an incredible construction that cost millions to complete and had every single hi tech thing you could possibly imagine. 

It was an unsuccessful shopping trip, so Morg took me to lunch, a cheeky nandos! I had a salad bowl and he had a wrap and we shared coleslaw and dips. It was so nice to have salad and we ended up asking for a takeout box for the leftovers, of which there was a lot! That's lunch tomorrow sorted! The server came around and asked us to fill out a survey for the service we'd received from them today. Morgan said that as we'd ordered via the app and we'd only seen someone when they dumped the food on the table, that he thought it was a bit of a cheek!

We called into the New world supermarket for Morgan to get some essentials and then he dropped me home. 

I opened up the laptop after he'd gone and straight away found a fabulous deal  for the Cook Islands with full luggage allowance, it met all my requirements and I was able to book it without any problems at all much to my delight. On Saturday morning I fly to Rarotonga for 23 nights. I will extend my stay here another two nights as it's perfectly serviceable and is close enough to the airport. My return flights are 10am so I'll be back in Auckland by lunch time. I'll book into the Alexander hotel opposite I think when I return, and I can use that week to plan the next leg of the trip if I haven't done it while I'm in the Cook Islands. I will be there for the anniversary of Simon's death and I want to be on my own that day. Again I just want to be in a place where we have very special memories! I considered going back to the same place, but there is no internet and as it is a little self catering studio on the beach, whilst it's truly beautiful,  that would potentially be a very lonely experience. It suited us because we were only interested in spending our time with each other and had no desire to speak or mingle with other people. Obviously the situation is very different now and I need to have the option to be around people, not necessarily to mingle or chat with them, but just to hear voices I think, and to have the safety net of security guards and resort staff to make me feel safe. I will also have an internet connection to the outside world pool and beach on the doorstep. winner Winner chicken dinner.

The deal is bed and breakfast with the breakfast being fruit, yoghurt juice and toast. I know where the supermarket is, and I know how the buses operate, (there are only two on the island) so I'll be able to sort myself out with food and get about.  The hotel also has a restaurant and bar if I decide I want to eat there so there are plenty of options available to me. I've made up a shopping list for tomorrow as it's the wet season there so the mosquitoes will be out in force, horrible little beasties.

Again I’ve not taken a photo today!  I am seriously slacking! Tomorrow I will do better. 

Much Love

Mrs Leonard

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