7/1/2026 North Shore Sightseeing.

Hurrah for sunny mornings in the Southern Hemisphere! Blue skies as far as the eye can see and temperature mid to high 20’s for the day ahead.

I went to reception first thing and extended my stay until Saturday and exchanged some notes into coins so I could do the washing before the weekend. While I was doing that they were serving breakfast so I decided to order some for myself along with a ginger and lemongrass tea and went and out my washing in the machine. When I got there the machine was full, but the cycle had finished. So I unloaded it all onto the tumble dryer. Unfortunately the previous user had left a napkin in his pocket and it had shredded in the wash.  I had to scoop out the top loading machine before I could out mine in. As I was doing that the owner came in and started putting his stuff in the dryer. I don’t think he noticed all the napkin fragments all over the clothes.  I don’t tell him, although I would have thought he’d had to have noticed.

With my wash on I went back to the restaurant and my food was waiting on the table for me.  It was ok, the tea was lovely. The scrambled egg is more like a quickly stirred omelette. Big chunks but very nice. We’ve been very spoilt on the food front recently and whilst this was completely edible it was very much like I’d cook at home. But for less than £8 for a pot of tea, glass of juice,  omelette, toast, mushrooms and tomatoes it was a banging deal. By the time I’d finished eating my washing was done so I went and swapped it from the machine into the dryer. The man who had the napkin wash was just emptying his stuff and the floor was covered in bits, but they were dry bits now! I cleared out the filter, and threw my stuff in. I’d got lucky because there was still credit left on the  dryer,  so I was hopeful it would be enough to mostly dry the light stuff. The makeup came out of my new shirt which pleased me and I hung it in a hanger in the window to dry when I went back for my next load of dark stuff, put that in and went back to the room. All this busy normal and routine stuff, highly overrated but necessary if I want clean clothes for the weekend! 

Morg arrived at 10 and he’d found himself a new top for his night out tonight. Hurrah for H&M Newmarket. We had a coffee while I waited for the wash to finish, swapped it into the dryer and headed off.  The other load wasn’t quite dry but was good enough  so I hung it on hangers before we left.  

We were heading over the Auckland Bridge again into the posher part of Auckland. Well not posh exactly but definitely a place for the wealthy and  affluent. We were picking up Morgan’s Laser cutter from the service centre and I’d got a bit confused because in the same conversation about the laser cutter,  we were talking about the lockup where Morgs boss keeps all his kit. Naturally I assumed we picking it up from the lockup , which was in 1126 district north shore of auckland district. he did tell me the road name but that’s gone out of my head completely. I was puzzled as I thought we were going to his lock up for the laser and was thinking up myself well this is mighty swanky. It wasn’t obviously, it was a swanky laser cutter service shop.

With that all tucked away safely in the lock box in the back of his truck we decided to have a snack.  Honesty it’s like living with Si, everything revolves around food!  We were quite close to where Morg has been working, so we had a drive by it and it just so happens there is a rather good coffee and sandwich shop there which Morg had decided we’d go to for our snack. He was already dreaming about the monster chicken sandwich he was going to have. Unfortunately because it’s a locally owned cafe it’s shut for another week or so. It’s only the big chains that don’t shut down for long periods over Xmas.  He was gutted I was disappointed too as he’d built up the cake selection for me,  and I could physically taste the disappointment! The area is lovely, very different from where he lives  which is mainly retired people hence very little traffic.  The houses are a bit nicer, there are Porches , Lamborghinis, defenders, every high end vehicle you could imagine parked in the driveways and on the roads. Also all the dealership garages with these beautiful cars on the forecourt , it’s like a different world.  More space between the houses which are bigger and far grander than I’d seen previously. Private Tennis clubs, gold clubs the lot. All with beautiful views, but I guess that’s what you pay for!  

My Morgi gets Hangry if he’s not eaten and it isn’t pretty I can tell you.  So we headed back over the bridge to Newmarket and went to the Teed

street larder. As he’s going out tonight he decided that it might be best to have a sizeable breakfast to line his stomach.  I just had another energy bar to go with my coffee which was more than enough! We sat inside today to eat and it was pleasantly cool.  The food came and Morgan  inhaled his. I saved half of mine for afternoon tea. 

I was back in the room by 1400 and Morg went back to get ready the. It’s from work are all going there for pre drinks as alcohol is an expensive and they’d rather buy beers and mixers to have before going out.  

I repacked my rucksack to make sure I could get everything in I wanted to take with me which I did with plenty of room to spare. Which is good because I’m carrying my own bloody luggage which is rude so don’t want it too heavy!  

After a shower I watched the Blindside on TV which is a easy watch film and sewed up my bag lining.  

A slightly more interesting day.  And more of Auckland seen which is nice. 

Much Love 

Mrs Leonard

X.