Last Saturday we flew out of Dunedin to Auckland on the first leg of our trip to see the family in Australia. Our youngest grand daughter and her husband took us to the airport and sat and had a coffee with us while we waited. It was a nice time.
Aaron and Sofi met us in Auckland and we had a nice relaxed evening catching up on the news. On Sunday we all attended the church Aaron is pastoring. The congregation is small but welcoming and consists mostly of pacific islanders. Below is a picture of a tapa cloth on the wall. Tapa cloth is highly valued in the pacific communities and traditionally represented a woman's wealth. It is made from beaten bark.
After church we went out to Maraetai Beach for the afternoon. It was a really pleasant day and we enjoyed being able to sit there in the sun and watch everyone enjoying themselves, swimming no less.
We had hot chips for a snack with a hot cuppa.
And just as we thought we were going home Sofi thought it would be nice to show us Sylvia Park Mall, which is the largest one in the country. So we strolled around there for an hour or so and some of us spent money and some of us didn't :) It was a long day.
On Monday we did a trip down to Cambridge to visit our grandson who has a 'retro and collectibles' shop there. AMPERSAND is what he calls it. It wasn't open but he took us in to have a look...
...after which we all went for lunch and then strolled down to the local museum for a browse.
Below is a mosaic on the footpath.
Cambridge is the main horse racing stud area of New Zealand. This is one of the horses, 'Mainbrace', very famous in its day.
Next day was a rest day :) it had been very busy then on Wednesday we flew to Aussie. Below is Bob coming out of the chair lift from the plane at our final destination - Mackay.
I'll leave you there until next time.
Have a lovely week,
Keep well and enjoy yourselves,
Diana
