After the go-go-go week we had, Helen scheduled a sedate weekend for us. It was just what the doctor ordered.
Lisa and I walked to the Howick Village Street Market to check out the treasures that were being made and baked there. We were serenaded at one point by a group of high school students who sang Wizard of Oz songs to the marketgoers.
We got a donut each, Lisa got two mugs (one on order to be delivered the following Wednesday) plus some Christmas items for the guys in her life (brother and significant other).
We stopped by the Half Moon where I spotted a ceramic giraffe hook that I just had to have for my critter corral:
During the week before, while still at Helen’s home, we had bought fish and chips at Fast Eddie’s, a local Howick eatery. But I didn’t remember the name right and mentioned that I’d like to stop by Speedy Pete’s on the way back to get another type of fish to eat for lunch. Of course, NOW Helen and Deborah and the whole Howick gang call the place Speedy Pete’s. Because that’s what you do when someone fouls up so spectacularly, right?! It is easy to rebrand a place in friends’ minds: just mis-state the name once and it’s done!
So now instead of sounding like a courier service, Fast Eddie, Speedy Pete’s sounds like (can I say this in mixed company?) a premature ejaculator. Either way, neither name suits the place, because it is far from fast or speedy and it was never open on time on the days we visited it. So we ended up skipping getting a second meal there. It should be called Slow Mo/No Show Fish and O’s or something! (Yes, I was disappointed, because the food was actually very good there.)
On Sunday Lisa and I visited Orewa Beach while Helen and Deborah did their individual things, one in town, the other in her home near the beach.
Lisa and I collected lots of shells, and Helen gave us a couple more each since we didn’t find any medium-size shells on the beach when we were there. But we did find lots of good stuff!
The two biggest shells in this image were gathered by my mom decades ago…all the rest came from Orewa Beach or another NZ beach
We visited Orewa Beach on Sunday March 17th
The following are images from various NZ beaches. I’d probably get their names wrong if I tried to identify them…
NZ beach low tide the day we arrived March 9th 2024
Lisa and Kris at NZ Beach, days later near high tide, photo by Deborah Davies
low tide, day we arrived
This beach was too people-y so we drove a little farther down where it was less crowded…
That’s better! Far less people-y! Lisa and Helen closest to bottom in this image
NZ has the prettiest seagulls! I took several angles.
Lisa in silhouette, dressed warmly in layers!
Helen and Lisa beachwalking
Found something cool!
Orewa Beach at almost full tide…
These images don’t do the color of the water justice. It’s more emerald green than it looks here…
For dinner, Helen put on the table one of her long-delayed-to-Mark treasures — nachos made in her unique way — and we all enjoyed the heck out of them. I wish Helen had put on her calendar of our events which of her pre-prepared meals she set before us each night because I simply can’t remember them all. All I know is every one was a delight. One of them was a Beef Wellington, which I had never had before. And her desserts were to die for. The food in NZ is all more natural and nutritious, so my tummy was one happy camper and I wasn’t hungry for one second.
With that, the weekend ended and we went to bed pretty early to gather energy for the following whirlwind few days that would find us at the Kelly Tarleton Auckland Aquarium, The Auckland Museum (covering military, Maori culture, and natural history), Peter Jackson’s Weta Workshop, Auckland’s Sky Tower, and Butterfly Creek (with animatronic dinosaurs)!
Yes, there’s more! Stay tuned!
