Katherine Mansfield

I had a rather mixed day yesterday. In the morning we decided to walk along the coast, from Island Bay round to Lyall Bay. It was a really beautiful walk; the sea was the most amazing shade of dark blue and there were sandy bays, rocks and islands to look at. It was only 6 km to the Spruce Goose at the airport end of Lyall Bay, where we stopped for coffee. This is where things took a bit of a downturn for me. I have a cold, always annoying, but I started to feel really nauseous and I wasn’t hungry for a cake, a bad sign for me! James was happy to walk back along the coast while I hung about the café watching the planes take off from the airport and surfers catching the waves in the bay. James collected me by car and we returned to the apartment where I went for a sleep while James took our lovely Whisky for a walk. However when I woke up later I still felt really unwell and sorry for myself, so reluctantly I messaged Kerry to say that I would stay in bed in the evening and James would come round alone. I was so sad about missing time with Jamie and Kerry but I think that it was a good call because after getting myself ready for bed I slept from about 8 p.m. right through to the morning! 
The good news is that I awoke much refreshed this morning and James and I walked round to the Beach House Café at Island Bay for breakfast. It was a windy day and the sea was covered in white capped waves, with spray being whipped off them by the wind. But it was sheltered enough on the café terrace to sit outside and watch the ferries go past in the distance. I love it there. 
James and I then drove to Katherine Mansfield’s house in Thorndon, which used to be a Victorian residential area of Wellington but has been partially bisected by the motorway. Katherine was born here in 1888 and lived in the house until she was five years old, when the family moved to the countryside suburb of Karori for a while. Although she left New Zealand when she was in her teens and did not return apart from a brief visit when she was nineteen, many of her stories reflect her childhood experiences, and the first short story that I read by her was “The Prelude” based on her family’s move to the countryside when she was a small girl. I loved that atmospheric story, which I felt captured an episode of family life really well, and I went on to read much more of her writing. Her life was uncompromising and exciting and was tragically cut short by tuberculosis when she was only thirty-four. Needless to say I had a wonderful time looking around the house and James won a lot of brownie points for coming with me even though he has hardly heard of Katherine Mansfield. He did once read “The Daughters of the late Colonel” on my recommendation, but he didn’t enjoy it, I think that it’s excellent but was perhaps not the best one to recommend because it’s very downbeat. 
We moved the car to the harbour front and went for a pleasant walk and a coffee, then later we went to the Sprig and Fern with Jamie and Kerry and Whisky, where we got delicious Greek food from the van outside and ate it with the drinks from the bar. 

Fish and Chips on Princess Beach

We woke to another beautiful sunny morning, and walked to the Beach House Café at Island Bay where we sat outside for breakfast. The setting and the breakfast were both superb. We had fantastic views across the blue sea towards the South Island where we could see mountains in the distance, one of which was still snow-capped. We watched the stately progress of several inter island ferries crossing in both directions. Then we went for a shopping trip into the city. James needed sandals and Jamie had recommended Teva sandals, a pair of which James duly purchased and found to be very comfortable. Jamie had also recommended that I buy a t shirt from Macpac which has cooling technology, and anyone who knows me will know that I have an unfortunate tendency to overheat! We found said t shirts and I bought a nice pale blue one. We then had a pleasant walk around part of the harbour, which we recognised from last year, and a restoring cup of tea. 
Jamie and Kerry collected us in their car at tea time; they had picked up fish suppers and took us to Princess Bay. We set up camp on the sandy beach and ate our delicious dinner, which tasted even better in the fresh air. It was a perfect Spring evening and as we watched the sun set over the hills, Jamie lit his portable fire pit which gave out a surprising amount of heat. We had a lovely chat and a great evening. 

Whisky’s Highland Coo

On Monday Jamie and Kerry were at work so in the morning James, Whisky and I went for brunch at the wee Empire Cinema in Island Bay, then strolled down to the beach. We had lots of stops so that Whisky wouldn’t get over-tired because he is still just a puppy. When we got back to the house he was very excited and kept running around, bringing his toys to show us, and running in and out of the back door, then he had a nap on James’ lap for a while. Whisky’s newest toy is a Highland Cow sent to him by his cousin, our grand-cat Skye, all the way from Scotland! Skye had even signed a card welcoming Whisky to the family - her signature was a paw print in blue paint, which apparently caused a bit of mess at Casa Anderson Uddingston! It was so thoughtful of Davie and Chanel, and Whisky, Jamie and Kerry were thrilled. 

At about 3 p.m. it was time for James and I to move to our Airbnb just down the road in Derwent Street, so Whisky went into his crate for a proper rest. We are very happy with our little apartment which has a small garden to sit out in. We know that we are very welcome at Jamie and Kerry’s, and we will be staying with them again at the end of our holiday, however they both work full time and James and I thought that since we will be in Wellington for a fortnight, it would be nice for them to come home to a quiet house after a long day at work. By the time we unpacked and went to the supermarket it was almost time to start preparing Jamie and Kerry’s dinner; not that it needed much preparation since we had a simple Greek theme with chicken for James and Jamie and fried tofu for Kerry and me, wee potato gratins, pitta bread, olives, tsatsiki and hummus. We had a convivial evening while Whisky napped in the car after his puppy training class. 

Tui in Greytown

I had a really good night’s sleep in our little cabin but woke at 6 a.m. absolutely wide awake. We’re not quite on NZ time yet and keep feeling tired in the middle of the day. There was a Tui perched on a branch beside the living area when we were having coffee, it was so beautiful with its blue and brown plumage and its tuft of feathers at its throat which looked like a pom pom. In the morning we went for a walk around Greytown and had brunch. Whisky continued to attract many admirers, everyone just loves him, and he’s a very loving boy. Greytown has lots of independent clothes and gift shops and we did a bit of browsing before setting off back across the mountains to Wellington. Whisky was exhausted after his couple of hours walking around Greytown and was soon fast asleep in the car, snuggled into Kerry’s lap. We had a relaxing sunny Sunday afternoon back at Jamie and Kerry’s house followed by a barbecue which was fantastic, especially Kerry’s delicious potato salad. 

Everybody loves Whisky

We woke much refreshed and after a breakfast of yummy pastries from Jamie and Kerry’s local bakery we drove to Martinborough over the mountains, stopping briefly at the Remutaka Crossing Lookout. The area around Martinborough is full of vineyards and is very pretty. We had coffee at a wee deli in Featherston before heading to our first winery; Nga Waka Vineyard. The people there were very friendly and Whisky was made to feel very welcome; he met a couple of other dogs in whom he was very interested, and was much admired by other customers. After James, Jamie and Kerry had enjoyed their wine tasting I took over the driving and we headed to our second winery, the popular Poppies, which we visited last year. This time, after the wine tasting, we had lunch of two amazing platters, one omnivore and one vegetarian. Poppy herself came out to admire Whisky, and he attracted a great deal of female attention. On we went to Greytown where we checked into our accommodation for the night; Plum Tree Studios. Jamie is very good at booking accommodation and he outdid himself again; we had two gorgeous little cabins with a separate living area and washrooms. We settled in before going out for dinner to The Runholder an absolutely beautiful, spacious restaurant set on the Te Kairanga and Martinborough vineyards. The food was amazing and the setting was spectacular. 

Journey to New Zealand

James very kindly upgraded our flights from Zurich to Hong Kong to Premier Economy and it made all the difference; the seats reclined quite a lot and there were footrests which rose up as the seat reclined. Did that mean I got plenty of sleep? Well I’m not sure, because even though I was very comfortable I was quite wakeful perhaps because we had a hearty dinner just before we tried to sleep. We arrived in Hong Kong Chek Lap Kok airport just as the sun was setting. The next part of our journey from Hong Kong to Auckland also went smoothly and we tried to get as much sleep as possible although the plane was quite hot and stuffy. We arrived at about midday New Zealand time. Jamie was waiting for us at Auckland Airport and it was wonderful to see him. He took us to the Air New Zealand lounge which was very cool and comfortable and we caught up on news for a couple of very pleasant hours before our last of our five flights; from Auckland to Wellington. Soon we arrived in Jamie and Kerry’s beautiful home in Berhampore, where we were reunited with lovely Kerry. We also met our grand-dog Whisky for the first time! He is a liver spotted five month old Dalmatian puppy; he’s very cute and Jamie and Kerry are absolutely besotted with him. Kerry made us a delicious supper of pasta and by the time we had finished that, James and I were like zombies and Jamie and Kerry sent us off to bed, where we fell asleep instantly. 

Setting off to New Zealand

I had an interview yesterday morning for the Children’s Panel. Ally W is already a panel member and she told me about what it involves, and that sparked my interest. I found out more about it, went to an information evening and duly applied. The interview went well, although I inevitably felt that I could have explained a few things better, and they will let me know if I’ve been successful in November. When I left the Council Offices in Almada Street I felt light-hearted. I had spent quite a bit of time preparing for my interview so now I felt free as a bird. 

After a celebratory lunch of potato scones I did admin, tidying, double-checked the contents of my case, and posted some letters. Flora came up onto the bed so that I could pat her as I went to sleep, I’m sure that both cats knew that we are going away because of the big cases being packed. 

This morning we said goodbye to the cats; Tom made himself scarce after he had his breakfast, no doubt wary in case we intended to take him with us, and Flora accompanied us to the steps outside the front door, did a poo in the flowerbed and watched us leave. I will miss them very much. We are now on the plane about to set off on the first leg of our journey, London to Heathrow on BA. James is doing his sudoku and I’m going to continue reading A Place of Greater Safety by Hilary Mantel.