WHERE'S BEST TO LIVE IN NZ ETC :PART 6!!!

[AngryBeaver]

Wow! Part 6...got to be a record.

MN Towers, where's our prize?!

Nice house, I'll have the room with the huge bookcases if we're sharing it out.

Went to bed very early with a cold, nice to wake up this morning to marriage equality bill now being law.

Oh yes, very nice!

I love how the bill went through and there is no sign of placard toting objections or crazy hypothesizing in tv about how this is clearly the end of the world as we know it!

Just bought grabadeal ferry tickets to Waiheke havn't been for about 8 years! and havn't been as a family - now day trip or overnighter - ponders.... The boys were told instead of telling me all the things they didn't want to do during the holidays they had to come up with 3 things each (not play dates - too easy), dh and I were going to come up with a joint one - ours was Waiheke. collectively we will chose 2 each of the boys and ours - that's 5 activities. Rules, you are not allowed to moan while doing the other persons activity. So far we are off to Waiheke, to the movies, 10 pin bowling and Kelly Tarltons. Just need them to come up with some free ones!!!!

Ive just seen something on Facebook about an outdoor ice rink at Mission Bay...don't think it's free though. Called Mission Bay On Ice I think.

I drove past it today. Bit pricey though at $22 for adults!

www.viewauckland.co.nz/whatson/mission-bay-winter-wonderland-article-46845.html

I'm having a moral dilemma today. This morning I was diving behind a car that was being quite erratic- driving v. slow, no indicating, one brake light out (okay, so quite normal for NZ). But then it hit another car with it's wing mirror. The driver didn't slow down, appear to notice they'd hit another car or that their LHS wing mirror was folded in by the impact.

I got the rego. Should I report it? It was a little old lady and I was behind her for another couple of K where she only had one wing mirror. There really was no reason to hit the car as it was a straight road with nothing coming on the other side. WWYD?

I would definitely report.

I've reported it. There is a page on the police website for 'reporting a bad driver'. It says they send your report to the car owner. I've bookmarked it!

Is the ice rink actual ice or plastic? We have been disappointed by something similar in the past that was a plastic rink.

Very excited - I am off to a yoga retreat for the weekend. Have my course today and exam this morning but hey by 6pm somebody else will be cooking my dinner while I'll be contemplating a little post dinner meditation. In fact somebody will be cooking my lunch and dinner all weekend = bliss. Price - probably won't be able to walk on Monday but I should be very chilled. Also looking forward to walks on the beach and reading my book

Ooh sibble am so jealous - have a fab time. I was at yoga today in fact I am an Iyengar girl, on the whole, with a dash of Kundalini on occasion - only bcs a friend of mine teaches that and has brought it to our obscure part of the world recently, with great local success! What sort of retreat are you off to? I've only done half day workshops, but I have been on several meditation retreats in the past...though never by the sea, what a fabulous bonus. The last one I went on was a little too scarily austere and vegan though - picture lots of hollow-cheeked, pallid inmates shuffling meekly up to the trestle table to spoon another helping of barley porridge onto their plates - DH had a good laugh over that one on my return

Hmmm, they have just started yoga classes in the park at the end of our street. Not outside, in the building thinggie. I have never done yoga before. It's $10 for a go, and less than 100m from my front door, was wondering if I should give it a go

Yoga retreat sounds lovely. I always think I should try yoga again. Went on a retreat when I lived in Japan which was fab, but then joined a class when I lived in Lithuania which went too far down the meditation/spirituality side for me (30 minutes of chanting cross legged in a 45 minute class before we did anything else). Was such a shame as was literally upstairs from my office.

Although, like justa, a nice catholic (with big or little "c") retreat sounds lovely about now too. Especially if it's the sort that enforces silence

(Night weaning not going well. I think it's dawned on her that I'm serious about this - the fury last night would have been comical had it not been at 2am. I held firm though.)

Justa, hugs xxx

Absolutely. And I think maybe if you think about things in terms of what works for you at this point in time, rather than what is the right or wrong thing, that may help? Either way your DS is going to get an education, and his ability to deal with or manage his illness (is that the right word?) will change and his and your choices along with it. IYSWIM. It must just be very hard and you have my sympathies

I know what you mean, I am desperate for DD to love school because I hated it so much and I really don't want that experience for her. Luckily so far it seems she is taking after her father in that regard and likes it much more than I ever did! I can't believe I am going to admit this but, I still feel all sick and anxious when I take her / pick her up. Things have been sooooooo much better since we moved here because DH has been doing all the school runs.

Sooo, we have been all fascinated by the rain and think its terribly exciting and I was saying to DH today that the locals probably think we are very silly for getting so excited about a it of rain

www.stuff.co.nz/national/8575897/Torrential-rain-hammers-Tauranga

Turns out, it really IS exciting rain! Lol

Justa - we did that last weekend. Opened up boxes of DD1's old clothes & saw what would fit. Oddly, because DD1 was such a hefty child, and DD2 is quite small, the season difference isn't making a difference, (their birthdays are a month apart and I was afraid we'd have all the wrong clothes for the season).

The person with the biggest problem is actually me. I've probably dropped 2 dress sizes since this time last year - so I'm left with only one pair of trousers (jeans) that actually fit me (plus 1 pair I can get away with if I don't have to run anywhere, and 2 I might 'shrink into').

I'm really difficult to get good trousers for, so I suspect my tumble dryer might get a lot of use this winter keeping those jeans ready to wear (thankfully I do have a couple of winter skirts or I'd be in serious trouble!)

Oh, meant to say justa - there's clearance sales going on in Baby Factory at the moment. I didn't look too closely as DD1 is too big & we have loads of stuff for DD2, but I saw tops for $1 etc.

Might be worth a look for stuff for DS3, especially as I have found their stuff to be better quality than Warehouse/Kmart etc.