Sylvie's cricket

glass panels in floor

bungee jumper

bungee jumper

Saturday 18th Feb. Lovely sunny day today after a fair bit of rain. Went to Sylvie's cricket in Mount Eden which was really nice and very English. She did so well and it was fun to watch. Mirabai then went to a friend's house while the rest of us went to lunch in Mount Eden. I had waffles, maple syrup, grilled banana and bacon which was delicious. Sylvie and I then climbed the Auckland Sky Tower while Tanya and Toby watched from a safe distance given their fear of heights. I thought the Auckland tower looked a lot smaller than the Sydney tower but once we were up there it felt much higher and Sylvie found out it is higher than both the Sydney and Brisbane towers. It was a really clear day so we had a great view. There were glass panels in parts of the floor that you could look down but neither of us were brave enough to walk over them! The best part was watching the bungee jumpers. We'd come up in the lift with them and one of them said she had a fear of heights. I could never ever do that, they were literally dropped and then hung there bouncing around in front of us for our entertainment before being dropped onto the target on the ground. Got some great pictures and videos though. Then went to the souvenir shop where there were also LoTR, Tintin and Avatar statues. After we'd got back I went with Toby to New Lynn to get a scrapbook for my blogs and mementos.

14th Feb. Valentines day. Having already accidentally guessed my valentines day present of going to see Richard III in Stratford Upon Avon and Will guessing his present of tickets for the Harry Potter exhibition I was still able to open my little present Will had sent over. He had made a little book with pictures of us and it was so lovely. In the evening Tanya, the girls, Snowy and I went to the Hardware Cafe in Titirangi for a valentines meal. We had a really nice time and there was the sweetest dumb couple out for a valentines meal together who spent the whole evening talking to each other in sign language. The food was really good and the desert was spectacular. I'd ordered a feta and bacon stuffed chicken breast which was nice but as I say desert topped it. Tanya and I shared our deserts so we each got half a slice of each others chocolate mousse cake and passionfruit mousse cake. The deserts also came with vanilla ice cream and fruit.

Baradene college

Friday 17th Feb. Went into school with Tanya today. She teaches at Baradene School which is a Catholic girls school. She had three classes, 2 year 11 classes and one year 10. The year 11s were learning about Juno as part of their film assessment for English. The first class were going over a work sheet making sure they had all the answers. The second class watched parts of the film and made notes on it. They looked at filming techniques like tracking and panning and also the meanings of certain props. The year 10 class were learning about Shakespeare and so were my favourite class. They went through a powerpoint about the Globe theatre and then went to rehearse their Macbeth 'toil and trouble' witches speeches. We went outside to do the drama and I went over to some of the groups and listened to them and asked them questions like how they thought it could be presented on stage. On the way back to class two girls came over to me and asked if I know One Direction! Tanya and I then went for lunch in a place called Parnell. Lunch was sooo nice although I ate too much. We then went to pick up Sylvie from school and on our way back to Titirangi popped into the Paua and Greenstone factory in New Lynn that I had been wanting to go to. Tanya treated me to a gorgeous Paua watch while I bought some earings and a Maori face statue of a kind of spirity looking thing.

15th and 16th Feb. First two days of working with year 5. In Mrs Withers class who is really nice and very experienced. There are about 30 children in the class. On Wednesday they were finishing off their projects so I was introduced to them and then went around asking them questions about what they were doing and just getting to know them. It is compulsory for children to learn Maori in primary school. They all write the date in Maori and when Mrs Withers wants their attention she says something in Maori. On Thursday the children were learning about brainstorming effectively. They were writing about something they did in the holidays and then using their brainstorm to write a paragraph on it. They also went through Maori sounds like words beginning with Ke, Ko, Ki. They then went out for buddy time. The buddy system is excellent as every child has a buddy no matter what year they're in as opposed to just year 6 and reception. Each child gets a new buddy each year so the children end up with friendships in every year and it really encourages a sense of community. The year 5s had buddies in year 3 and they went and played with them just before the end of the day. The past two days have been great experience and I've been recording useful tips I've picked up in class.

Titirangi primary school

Monday 13th Feb. Went into Titirangi Primary school to meet the head teacher Gary Pearce and arrange when I could help out in classes to gain some experience for becoming a primary school teacher. Titirangi primary has 450 students with about three classes per year. It has a sea view, an outdoor swimming pool and even a worm farm! A year two class had asked for my help on a Monday afternoon where they have swimming in the first period which should be fun. I then asked for two afternoons with an older class as I had already had experience with year 1 and 2 at Hartpury primary. A year 5 class had responded to my email so I have arranged to work with them on Wednesday and Thursdays. I think I'll enjoy working at the primary school and am looking forward to starting on Wednesday.

Manukau harbour entrance

Huia

King Kong hills

Banana tree branch

up the plum tree

view of harbour from the house

extra getting her make up done

extras rehearsing their dance

Saturday 11th Feb. Have just been having a chill week, reading lots, walking the dog, exploring Mirabai's Miss Marples and even went on a run! Today I went to look at Tanya and Toby's property in Huia, with Sylvie and Tanya, which they're just about to sell. Huia is sooooo bushy almost like a rain forest being right in the middle of the Waitakere Ranges. We went to a look out point before going to the house. The hills looked like something out of King Kong, more like mountains. Very pretty though and we looked out on the entrance to the Manukau harbour and over Huia. We then went to the property which had lots of land although its all rain forest and a little waterfall. There were banana, lemon, ugly fruit and plum trees. Sylvie and I climbed the plum tree and eventually gathered a respectable number of plums. Tanya then pulled down a massive banana tree branch with bananas on after some effort. Meanwhile Snowy feasted on a dead bird he found on the drive! We went to the Huia store for some ice cream and fish and chips, the fish and chips was especially good. We then took Snowy on to the beach for a little stroll. Later we went to see Toby on set. He is currently filming in Auckland for a film called The Emperor starring Matthew Fox and Tommy Lee Jones. I was very excited and we arrived at King's College which is a private boys school where they were going to be filming a dance scene. I couldn't wipe the grin off my face. We took the shuttle bus up to the main filming area and went over to see Toby who was planning for the next scene. Tanya introduced me to the director but forgot his name! We then went with Toby into the dinning hall. We had already had dinner but couldn't resist some of the offerings. Everyone was sat at long tables and as they were filming a dance scene there were lots of men and woman in 1940s dress. The costumes were gorgeous and it was so cool looking behind the scenes. We then went outside into a courtyard where Toby and the others had gone off to plan a scene. Toby was really busy but he looked after us so well and assigned an assistant to look after us. He also moved us closer to where they were filming so we could get a better look. We watched Matthew Fox and the lead female actor Enico rehearse their scene. Toby then introduced us to Enico who was very sweet. After they'd finished rehearsing we went into an old hall to watch some of the extras rehearsing their dance. It was really fun to watch them and we sneakily took some photos even though you're not allowed. We left before they started to actually film the scene as it was 11.30 and we were really tired. It was a great experience though and I feel very privileged to have been able to go on set.

Maori reverend

the welcome line

Toby going along the welcome line

the church

the wall of remembrance

Monday 6th Feb. Went to a Maori welcome ceremony on the Island. We had missed the main dancing and other festivities but were in time for the welcome line. This is where you go along a line of Maori people and they welcome you by saying Kia Ora and either kissing you or rubbing your nose. This was quite a strange experience but was actually really lovely. A lot of the Maori people weren't what I stereotypically expected them to look like, many being white. After we had gone along the welcome line we went into their church which was brightly decorated and not like our traditional christian churches. Before going into the church we had to take our shoes off. At the far end of the church there was a wall of remembrance with pictures of family members who had passed away.  There were comfy looking seats along the edge of the church and a copy of the treaty of  Waitangi  was displayed. After we had looked around the church we headed back home and packed up ready to get the ferry back into Auckland. I was sad to leave Waiheke and had a great time there, I hope that one day I'll go back.

my dolmades lunch

Casita Miro view

Sylvie and her spanish hot chocolate

Sunday 5^th Feb. Went to a market which we had seen advertised. It wasn’t great as there weren’t many stalls and the majority were selling food. However the atmosphere was nice and Sylvie got her portrait done. There are loads of vineyards on Waiheke and for lunch we went to Casita Miro vineyard which had recently won numerous awards. The food was out of this world. I had lamb dolmades which came with a yoghurt dipping sauce. Mirabai and I shared a desert called chocolate salami which was basically like chocolate tiffin but had pistachio nuts in and came with jam and strawberries. The restaurant looked out on the vineyards and the sea. We then went to the beach again but were still cold but we played cricket and I got some shells. In the evening we had a nice home cooked meal and a chilled night. 

at the pizza restaurant

little Oneroa beach

beach by restaurant

beach by restaurant

Saturday 4th Feb. Toby arrived in the morning after coming over on the ferry. We all went into Oneroa where Mirabai, Sylvie and I went around the shops while Toby and Tanya had a coffee. Lots of artists live on waiheke so I was interested to look in their shops. I brought some postcards as souvenirs and a Waiheke Island thimble for Will who collects thimbles from places abroad. Sylvie and I then got ice cream before returning home. Tanya stayed home while we went to the beach. Again it was very cold but I was able to read a bit of The Hobbit as I had read the first hunger games book. On return, we found a dog called Rudy on our drive. He stayed to play with Snowy for a while until his owners came to collect him it turned out he lived next door! Tanya told us about a music festival she had read about which was supposed to be happening on the Island. We decided to go and see if it was any good but found it had been cancelled because of the council although there were still djs. We ended up having pizza at this place which was right next to the beach.

my room

the stairs - the lights turn on as you walk past!

snowy on the veranda

restaurant view of big oneroa beach

us at the restaurant 

Friday 3rd Feb. Got a taxi to Tanya's school with Sylvie and Snowy. We then went to pick up Mirabai on our way to the ferry to Waiheke Island where we will be staying this weekend. We got on the ferry after eventually navigating our way to Half Moon Bay. The ferry ride took about 45 minutes. We then got to Waiheke and went to our 'batch' or holiday home in Oneroa. The holiday home was so nice and I even got my own room with a double bed. We were all quite hungry so decided to go for dinner at a place called the Red Crab which is a thai restaurant. The restaurant over looked the beach and the food was superb but very filling, I ended up taking mine back for lunch the next day. We then rented out the new Footlose from a movie shop for the evening and got some chocolate too.

bathing Snowy

Titirangi bush

wild flowers

Wednesday 1st Feb. Day with Sylvie today as everyone was out. Toby has gone off to Wellington filming for a few days and Tanya was back at work. We watched glee and had a late breakfast and then decided to get on with the task of bathing Snowy. He was very sweet and shrunk to half his size because of his huge fur. Unlike Ben he didn't growl and he even like Sylvie wipe away the mess from his runny eyes. After lunch I decided to go on a walk and took Snowy with me. However constipated Snowy had other ideas and kept sitting down because of his poohy bum so I took him back as I wasn't getting anywhere and went out alone. I came back to find Snowy had a very messy bum so we ended up having to clean him again! I was very pleased to have finished my book today and have started to read a series of books recommended by the family called the Hunger Games.

Davies bay

entrance to davies bay

Tuesday 31st Jan. Walked down to Davies bay beach in reasonable sunshine. The weather has been ok but not as hot as you'd expect. Apparently its their worst summer in like 5 years due to the El Nino cycle. But anyway davies bay was so pretty and when I arrived there were only two small children playing on the beach. I had my packed lunch there and just sat and read for about 2 hours. It was so relaxing and when I eventually turned around I realised how far the tide had come in. It also started to drizzle with rain so I decided to leave before it got worse. The walk there had been very downhill so the walk back was a bit of a struggle. I decided to walk up a quiet hill backwards as it is easier only to be spotted by a resident who was looking at me suspiciously and remarked that it was a very steep hill! My steep walk had left me with a craving for cake so Mirabai and I went to the bakery and indulged in some goodies.