Halloween!

Its Sunday night, and we are all absolutely exhausted.  The girls have collapsed gratefully into bed, and I am slumped in front of the telly (Top Gear, Richard and James are racing in a Porche to Orkney, trying to beat Royal Mail.  Excellent.)

Yesterday, after a long and very hot play at the park at Orekei Domain, we  went up to Bastion Point.  I’d never been there before and its absolutely lovely.  The views are outstanding, and on a beautiful clear day (as it was yesterday) it would be a perfect place for a picnic.   Andrew was hunting for a Geocache. (Geocaching is a kind of orienteering for the 21st century, involving an iPhone with GPS, and hunting down caches that people have hidden around the country.)

Anyway, we pottered around the grounds of Bastion Point, then slightly off the beaten track and into some bushes and trees.  We clambered along, through knee length grass and zeroed in on the location.  20 minutes later, we were still crawling around looking for it.  Well, Andrew was.  I was sitting on the grass enjoying the sun, Madeleine was climbing a tree, Lucia was tying pieces of grass around her finger, and Bess was having a delightful time snuffling around the ground.

Another five minutes and we gave up, but all was not lost – we stumbled upon a pair of pukeko on the way back to the car, which was a nice surprise.

That night we went to Cobb & Co for dinner, my first visit for about 20 years.  I don’t think it has changed at all.  They still serve things in baskets, and make Traffic Lights for the kids (they are actually pretty disgusting, but they look nice.  The house white could strip paint, which might be new, I don’t know).  I had a plate of ribs, which came with a paper bib.  The girls, and the two boys at the next table, were in fits of laughter watching the grown-up tying on a bib.

At 6pm on the dot (having changed), we went to Boo at the Zoo, a special event at the zoo to celebrate Halloween.  It was a perfect night, and all the zoo staff were dressed up as vampires, ghosts, ghouls, skeletons, and the odd dead body.  There was a band, appearances by Spongebob Squarepants and Dora the Explorer, and loads of freebies being given away.  The girls took part in a tug of war, and sadly lost, but Andrew’s team won their bout, and he for his efforts he was awarded a toy Spongebob, which Lulu became seriously attached to.

The girls slept extremely well, and today were lucky enough to go on a ferry trip to Devonport.  When they got off the ferry they found a trio of ponies with a cart taking people for rides, which they were thrilled about.  I spent the day sitting in my artists garret (aka the attic) working, which was a shame on such a  nice day.  Fantastic weekend.