Visiting the homeland (with links to sites and photos) - VF

I had a very nice time in Auckland - firstly some time with Mother, Dad and the other surprises for Mother's birthday - Rebecca and Jeremy. Rather than re-writing about that, I will link here to Rebecca's blog for Chips on the Beach and More Relaxing which also includes a photo link.

The following week I spent doing some work and then attended my friend Nic's wedding. She looked wonderful with her Grace Kelly-hairdo and an incredible pink veil (she is very into fashion and both her parents are designers). We had had a fun Saturday night the week before where she had invited about 15 friends to the Hilton as a pre-wedding get-together. Her bridesmaid and I stayed the night with her which was fun. The reception was at Beesonline out in the country beyond West Auckland which served the most delicious food and it was nice to be able to have the option of sparkling grape juice to drink instead of just chanpagne or orange juice

Jamie arrived 12 days after my arrival (our first time apart since we got married!) he had had a drama at home in the meantime involving a 3am awakening to a smoke-filled house (more to come on that....) and we had a wonderful week doing practically nothing, walking along the beach , shopping, visiting cafes and then had a fabulous day visiting the HoneyCentre Cafe 'Sheepworld' and then the Goat Island Marine Reserve at Leigh. (click in the link and scroll down for pictures of the beach). At Sheepworld it reminded me of growing up at West Melton as they had black sheep, goats, baby ducks, chooks, a pond where you could use nets to catch things, gunea pigs, and various other animals (including a brown alpaca called Milo!). They also had a various shows that we saw as Jamie had not experienced the NZ farming scene. It was just like being transported back to Uncle John & Aunty Jan's farm with sheep shearing, sheep dog mustering and feeding baby lambs with bottles! Click here for online photos at Ofoto.com of our cool day out!

The night before we left, Aunty Shirley had arranged for a family dinner at her house. The photos are on Ofoto - Click here

(Note that with the Ofoto links you may have to create a log-in to view the photos, but they are not the type of site that harrasses you with future e-mails, you can opt out of receiving them)