Its been awhile

Yesterday was Mana's first FULL day at Kindy,as usual I was at work first thing in the morning making sure my P2P group from Pennsylvania made it to Aussie (Thanks guys awesome tour)
So it was up to "Mummy" to prepare her lunch which consisted of Nori Maki,Karaage,Tomatoes and Broccoli and for snack Raisin's and Apricot's,biscuits,Pretzel's which we later found out she ATE at morning tea and come afternoon tea time she found out she was hungry AGAIN,but thankfully Ms Magdalene came to the rescue and gave her a biscuit to tie her over....

With all that said and done K and I decided to go out on a "DATE" and ended up at "Blossoms Cafe" just up the road on the way to Kumeu for a scrummy BLT with Chips a Chicken Filo Wrap one Cappuccino a Feijoa drink and a HUGE piece of cake..............yummy.

After our not so healthy but ohhh so good lunch we headed out to Muriwai for a walk,still abit over cast but with no Mana chan trailing after the two of us just wandered leisurely up the beach for about 2 kms.

Ahhhh the joys of no kids......but hey don't get us wrong we both love that little monkey to pieces,its just that it was soooooo good to spend some us time together........its been awhile..............

Oh well

Arrived at MERC (Marine Education Recreational Centre) on the North Shore of Auckland with my P2P group for a afternoons activites and as I glanced out to sea I could see THIS.......


Yippie I thought "Im out there......" only to be told by one of the staff "Bro I wouldnt go out there today there's been a sewage over flow and this whole end has been closed down till further notice.

The North Shore Council in there infinite wisdom have a sewage treatment station up stream which is also connected to the general storm water drains so a bit of water from the sky means heaps at the other end which in turns flows into the "Pooh Pond" and causes a over flow into the Marine Reserve of Long Bay.......Hmmmm hardy the "Clean Green" image that we were hoping for.

Now when it comes to going for a surf ,there is not that much that will stop me........but lets just say Im not that keen to get myself in the pooh........ I thought Id head over the cliff to check out the reef furher South and after the 20 min hike up over the hill and down the other side I found that the two surfers were having a grand ole time well away from the offending water (Did I mention there were only TWO??)





Stoked at the thought of going out I ran back up over the hill down the othere side only to find that I had been BOXED in by the another bus and the driver had buggered off for a walk down the beach somewhere.

By "BOXED" I mean I couldnt even get into the lockers (Guess where my surfboard was ???)

Sometimes it just doesn't work.................so I found a spot on the cliff watching the boys "Hotdog it" and quietly had a sulk........

Winter Surf

First off my wife thinks I'm BAKA for going out in the water.....and after 2 hours in 15c I tend to agree........but it was oh so worth it (ka mau te wehi)
The plan was "hatched" yesterday afternoon and last night we (Kosuke and I ) decided on a push to O'Neill's.
The morning was a usual one which involved trying to "squeeze" every available bit of heat and comfort out of the bed covers before Mana got bored and wanted to be fed and after a hearty Weetbix and toast with Marmite we drew the curtains to welcome the new day...........well it wasn't quite that dramatic but you get the general idea.

Kosuke called to say he was on his way to pick me up when Mana (accidentally) stood on my board putting a ding in it......so it was abit of a frantic patch up job with chemicals,sandpaper and white dust everywhere before he arrived.

Anyway all that aside we turned up at O'Neill's to beautiful sunshine,clear blue skies and a light offshore.
The 15 minute walk over the sandhill was abit of a mission and crossing the stream made us both question ourselves,but soon the view down over O'Neill's was upon us and boy was it well worth it, with a clean 2-3ft swell and only 12 other "hardy souls" out...... there were plenty of waves to go around.
After "Sussing" the wave situation out we braved the cold........Kosuke of course was straight into it and smacked everything on offer including this beauty.
Rule 1. Always surf with someone better than you to keep you keen.....think Ive got that covered. With the sun still shining,the bodies tired and the smiles large (which were kinda goofy) we made the long trek back to the car park over the sandhill thru the stream and past Bethells beach.

On arriving home Keiko had just finished cooking dinner and was serving up this Yakatori,Steaming hot Miso and loads of veggies......Thank you Keiko,thank you Mana...............
Oh yeah.....thanks Kosuke awesome day.

Just hanging out

Yesterday was another in the run of beautiful days we have been having......bitterly cold in the morning and then clearing up with bright sun and brilliant clear blue sky's.
Mana and I went to one of her favourite parks only to arrive and discover that it was fenced off for MAJOR re-construction so we went in search for another.

We found one close to West Harbour Marina with a grand view over looking Auckland city and not a soul in sight but that wasn't Mana's concern...............there were 2 swings a slide and something to hang on to like a monkey........what more could you want?.

After Mana had finished on the swing (meaning me doing all the work and pushing her) she played on the slide the rings and then back to the slide followed again by the swing (I was tired just watching her) then we went down to the Marina to have a look at the boats, on the way home we stopped off at RNZAF Whenuapai to watch the planes,sadly there were no planes landing or taking off.

Mana decided that she was going to wave to our neighbour Kevin who works there..........after 3 minutes of frantic waving she gave up indissapointment and announced that "Kevin was probably asleep...."




But as I brought out the afternoon tea snack the smile returned..........A gingerbread man with 100s and 1000s!!!!
Opps I had every intention of taking a photo "BEFORE" we started to eat but,well you know how it is......Yum,yum.

We arrived home to the smell of Keiko cooking my/our favourite meal Ton katsu,Hot Miso,Onigiri and loads of vegetables....

YUM,YUM.........!!