I am flying, I am flying, home again, across the sky ...

Only seven sleeps to go before we board the Malaysian Airlines flight via Kuala Lumpur to Heathrow airport at 0135hrs on Wednesday 7 March, for our brief 20 day visit to England.  I'm trying to arrange a hook up with Captain Ahab and Belle, but it's looking unlikely at this point, due to our tight itinerary - but never say never.  Although the waterways of Britain are important to us, seeing my family is our number one priority.  


I finished my last shift at the maternity unit this morning, and am not working again until 31 March - hurrah!

Last weekend we spent in Napier with some friends and had the privilege of going to The Mission Estate Winery to see the 'forever young' Rod Stewart.  Prior to the concert, we went into Napier, where, in 1931, the town was almost obliterated by a massive earthquake and many lives were lost.  Following the calamity, the town was rebuilt Art Deco style, and each year they celebrate the uniqueness of their city by holding an Art Deco Weekend on the third weekend of February, where people come from all over the world and dress up in style - I went in 2006 and it was a fascinating experience.

Barry took the opportunity of visiting the local 'Home Brew' shop, imaging that he'd meet a kindred spirit - only it didn't quite work out like that ...

Jelly Bean (bizarre name to begin with!) in Napier

Barry walked into the shop and introduced himself, saying that he'd recently opened up a home brew shop in Gisborne, and from the time the owner of 'Jelly Bean' opened his mouth until Barry left the shop, nothing but negativity poured forth from his lips - it was astounding -  I only managed a couple of minutes before I had to leave the premises, I can't recall ever hearing such a sorry tale!  How on earth he keeps any customers is beyond me.  The first thing he said was how he'd known at least 6 home brew shops between Wairoa and Gisborne in the 21 years he'd been open and they'd all closed.  It just continued downhill from there ...

Rodney and Barry try to look enthralled by the Napier Home Brew shop - it just convinced us how good ezimade is! 

Anyway, enough of that, and no mention of how I was led astray by the array of shops in Napier, back to the reason for our visit ...

When my eldest daughter was young I apparently convinced her that Roderick Stewart was my boyfriend, and she proudly told her friends so - I'm not sure how she managed this when she'd never actually MET him, but it just shows how easily influenced children can be, lol!  I've seen him in concert a few times over the past 40 years, but this time I was so overcome with excitement I almost cried - he's truly a magnificent showman at 67 years young - even Barry was rocking and a-rolling.

Although the rain fell for a couple of hours earlier in the evening, once Rod appeared the clouds parted and the stars shone - of course!

Before we saw the rain - the 25,000 crowd hasn't quite all arrived yet ...

What an incredible venue




Not the clearest picture, but you get a sense of the electric atmosphere in an open air amphitheatre concert

A Busman's holiday - 12 months to countdown now ...

Sunday is Barry's 'day of rest', his only time away from ezimade each week.  So guess what he does on this day most weeks?  Yep, you got it, he goes down to the laundry brewery downstairs and plays with his numerous concoctions!  He calls it research, such a hard life ...

To be fair, he also cut the grass today and chopped down the neighbours' privet trees - hurrah we have so much more light coming into our kitchen window!  The neighbours are actually selling up, so the tenants have moved out and Barry asked the owner if he could remove said privet trees which cause hay fever, and he agreed.  Of course our other incentive was to increase the visibility of our house from the road, as we'll be putting it on the market in September.  We're hoping that number 4 Hillview Terrace sells for a good price which will help ours too ...

Talking of selling up, congratulations to Paul and Elaine from The Manly Ferry who have just sold their house and hope to be back in UK at the end of March!  Shame we'll probably pass you in the air on our way back to New Zealand on 27 March, but good luck and we'll be watching excitedly as you begin your new life on the waterways of Britain.  We're so pleased for you both.

We've just over three weeks now before we come back for our brief visit, and we're very excited.  It'll be mostly visiting family (including our gorgeous new grandson), but we could just squeeze in a visit to Captain Ahab and Belle at some point for a narrowboat fix - watch this space!!!

And of course, if all goes to plan, it's just twelve months until we're on our way back to the waterways, so the countdown is definitely on - 20 days just won't be nearly long enough in March.

It's not so bad here though, last weekend I spent at a place 40 minutes from us, called the Haurata Country Retreat.  It's an amazing place, no-one for miles around, plenty of sheep and cows watching and wondering what's going on, and incredible views.

Somewhere in the distance is Gisborne ...