Hi again readers! I heard that some people (OK, maybe only one) were waiting expectantly to hear about the family lunch last Sunday. We drove up to Snells Beach (about 45 minutes north of Auckland) for (my cousin) Jenny and Stuart’s housewarming. Unfortunately I forgot to bring the camera, so these pics are off my phone.
As usual we arrived fashionably late, but it was a very casual afternoon and everything was still being set up. We last saw Jenny’s house when we visited NZ in November last year, and at that stage it was a bare frame. It’s almost completed now, just a couple of finishing touches to go. But it looks brilliant and I’m sure will be worth a fortune if they ever sell it – the view alone could do that, let alone the 3 bedrooms, huge living space, and full set of modern fittings.
Polished floors everywhere, so shoes off at the door. Claire was there with her clan, though Michael was down at Eden Park doing some rugby training. Gillian and Michael Harris were up from Wellington. Gillian prepared a huge feast in the kitchen while Michael Harris worked the barbeque. Jo took up the challenge of a game of Monopoly with the kids (which ended up disintegrating into sibling violence between Michael-Lydia and Moana), while Stuart and I retired to the home theatre (with huge projector) to watch the V8s from Puke.
Lunch was out on the deck. Very pleasant if you managed to get a spot in the sun, but a cold breeze kept threatening. Stuart cracked the top off a magnum of 1996 Manuwera(?) Antipodean, an awesome drop if you find it (and a wheelbarrow full of cash – it’s something like $300 for a (standard size) bottle). All in all a very pleasant way to spend an afternoon.
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I spent last night downloading several episodes of Supernatural for Jo on bittorrent, but it’s chewed through our internet ration pretty quickly (the torrent uploads count as part of the usage total)! Oh well, will just have to stay away from YouTube for the next few weeks…
It’s now ANZAC day, so I hope you’re all enjoying a pleasant day off. I did some gardening – gotta keep on top of the lawn! – while Jo took care of the inside. The hedgetrimmer took out the extension cord pretty easily, and blew a fuse in the process which took about half an hour to find. I tried to find a shop open to replace the cord (or at least the plug) and get some fuse wire, but they take public holidays pretty seriously around here. Guess I’ll have to wait til the weekend…
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For the tech geeks: NZ is just about to start free-to-air digital broadcasting next week, though initially only via satellite. Fortunately the previous tenants here had Sky TV so there’s a dish on the roof that we can plug straight in to. Just need to get a receiver box, and we’ll be good to go, finally justifying the widescreen TV! (for some shows anyway) Pity the signal won’t be in high definition for some time yet, damn backwards country this is!
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Melbourne
Advance notice to all: we’re back in Melbourne for a week at the start of June. We’re hoping a few people might like to come and see us on Saturday 2nd at Liz’s house up in South Morang. Probably just a casual afternoon drop-by-whenever afternoon, maybe lingering into dinner.
We might be around for the second weekend of June if Jo’s work organises some hospital/rehab centre attendances the following week, and we can rearrange the flights accordingly.
Well, that about brings you up to date (without boring you with too many mundane details). Send us your own stories if you’ve been doing anything interesting. (Frankly, any news from our friends is interesting!)
As usual we arrived fashionably late, but it was a very casual afternoon and everything was still being set up. We last saw Jenny’s house when we visited NZ in November last year, and at that stage it was a bare frame. It’s almost completed now, just a couple of finishing touches to go. But it looks brilliant and I’m sure will be worth a fortune if they ever sell it – the view alone could do that, let alone the 3 bedrooms, huge living space, and full set of modern fittings.
Polished floors everywhere, so shoes off at the door. Claire was there with her clan, though Michael was down at Eden Park doing some rugby training. Gillian and Michael Harris were up from Wellington. Gillian prepared a huge feast in the kitchen while Michael Harris worked the barbeque. Jo took up the challenge of a game of Monopoly with the kids (which ended up disintegrating into sibling violence between Michael-Lydia and Moana), while Stuart and I retired to the home theatre (with huge projector) to watch the V8s from Puke.
Lunch was out on the deck. Very pleasant if you managed to get a spot in the sun, but a cold breeze kept threatening. Stuart cracked the top off a magnum of 1996 Manuwera(?) Antipodean, an awesome drop if you find it (and a wheelbarrow full of cash – it’s something like $300 for a (standard size) bottle). All in all a very pleasant way to spend an afternoon.--
I spent last night downloading several episodes of Supernatural for Jo on bittorrent, but it’s chewed through our internet ration pretty quickly (the torrent uploads count as part of the usage total)! Oh well, will just have to stay away from YouTube for the next few weeks…
It’s now ANZAC day, so I hope you’re all enjoying a pleasant day off. I did some gardening – gotta keep on top of the lawn! – while Jo took care of the inside. The hedgetrimmer took out the extension cord pretty easily, and blew a fuse in the process which took about half an hour to find. I tried to find a shop open to replace the cord (or at least the plug) and get some fuse wire, but they take public holidays pretty seriously around here. Guess I’ll have to wait til the weekend…
--
For the tech geeks: NZ is just about to start free-to-air digital broadcasting next week, though initially only via satellite. Fortunately the previous tenants here had Sky TV so there’s a dish on the roof that we can plug straight in to. Just need to get a receiver box, and we’ll be good to go, finally justifying the widescreen TV! (for some shows anyway) Pity the signal won’t be in high definition for some time yet, damn backwards country this is!
--
Melbourne
Advance notice to all: we’re back in Melbourne for a week at the start of June. We’re hoping a few people might like to come and see us on Saturday 2nd at Liz’s house up in South Morang. Probably just a casual afternoon drop-by-whenever afternoon, maybe lingering into dinner.
We might be around for the second weekend of June if Jo’s work organises some hospital/rehab centre attendances the following week, and we can rearrange the flights accordingly.
Well, that about brings you up to date (without boring you with too many mundane details). Send us your own stories if you’ve been doing anything interesting. (Frankly, any news from our friends is interesting!)
love all,
matt and jo.
2 comments:
That place looks choice, bro. The view is sweet-as, eh!
Good to hear you're settling in with big TVs and all. How's the job?
Work is work, they pay me money. Not very exciting at the moment, but getting some productive stuff done (for Singapore) which is OK.
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