Mon, Tues, Wed and Thurs!!!!!

Sorry!!

Monday was a bit of a boring day and all I did was the washing and ironing.

Jon called me from the office to say he had a meeting in Gisborne on Wednesday afternoon and if I could get Totty into kennels I could drive down with him. No sooner said than done!

Tuesday evening I was picked up, at 5.40p.m., by a lady called Janice to go to the Lions meeting. It was held at the Armitage Hotel in Tauranga and when I got there I was given a name badge to wear and introduced to lots of ladies and it was all very friendly. We sat down to a buffet dinner of fish, roast potatoes, mixed vegetables, two pasta salads and roast gammon followed by apple crumble or Pavlova. Not the best meal I have had here but OK. After dinner they had a speaker who, although born in NZ, was brought up in UK and went into the RAF but due to him breaking his back in a rugby game could not fly and so went into security for the Royal Family and after a long career became head of counter intelligence for the UK. He has now moved back to live in NZ with his wife and grown up children. He told some really interesting stories and if he ever writes a book it will make good reading. It was a real fun evening and reminded me of my evenings with my Tangent friends. However, the evening was finished really early and I was home by 9.15 p.m. that is not like my Tangent evenings!

Wednesday we were up early as we had to get Totty to the kennels and then be on our way as it takes four hours to get to Gisborne. Totty went off with the kennel man OK but I do feel mean leaving her and I can't watch her going in.

The drive to Gisborne was amazing. We drove down the coast to Whakatane (pronounced fa-ka-ta-ne) it was a really beautiful day, very warm and not a cloud in the sky. You can see Whale Island and White Island (still an active volcano) off the coast and the beach is just beautiful white sand with lovely blue water. You then head inland and drive through some lovely countryside. We stopped for coffee at a roadside cafe and had a lovely mini meat pie. You then head up into the hills of the Urutawa Reserve passing through Waioeka Gorge and it takes about an hour of very windy roads alongside a river and it was really lovely. We came out the other side and although we were still high up there were not so many big trees and ferns just lovely green hills, sheep and cattle. As you get closer to Gisborne so the vineyards start. Gisborne is known as the Chardonnay capital of NZ and is the first city in NZ to see the sunrise I would have liked to get up early to see it but didn't manage to.

We eventually found the hotel and Jon had to rush off to his meeting. I went into town and had a sandwich from Subway. I made my way to the tourist information office and got a map and asked the girl what I should see as I only had the afternoon. She directed me to a walk around the town taking in the beach at Poverty Bay, so called because Captain Cook could not take on supplies due to fighting with the Maoris. I walked along the river walkway and to the port and it really is a pretty place. I got back to the hotel and when Jon got back from his meeting we went walking again. We ended up in a lovely cafe and had a really nice cream tea sitting by the port. He leads a very hard life does Jon!

We had dinner at what was the old Freezer Works. It is a lovely old red brick building on the port now a restaurant and winery. The food was wonderful. They have one chef, Jean, who cooked all the meals in view of the public and did not get flustered at all. She came out to introduce herself to us when the kitchen calmed down. She creates all the menus herself and it was soo good. We had fish with a cashew and sun dried tomato crust served on a bed of mashed potatoes with blue cheese. Yummy!

We had a nice walk back to our hotel with our executive suit that Jon had managed to get at a knockdown price of $130 (£56).

On Thursday morning we had to be up and on our way by 9.00 as Jon had to be back at work for a meeting. So after a buffet breakfast we were on our way. It was another lovely day with not a cloud in the sky and the drive was really good. We stopped at the same place for coffee as it is about halfway.

Jon went back to work and at 4.00 I went over to the kennels to collect Totty. She was very pleased to see me!