Back to New Zealand
01 May 2011
Jay’s parents were staying with us until the middle of March. We showed them some of the cultural highlights of Melbourne, including a house auction and a trip to the AFL football.
It was too early in the year for the regular games, so we went to one of the pre-season competition games. It was indoors at Etihad Stadium and because of the round-robin format, they were able to see a range of quality of play. They seemed to be getting the idea of it by the time we went home.
My mother was keen to show them Rippon Lea, a National Trust home close to my parents’ house.
Here they are on the verandah with my parents and Jay.
Russ and Lorraine left Melbourne for Shanghai where they had a short visit before returning to Canada and then the US. We hope they will be able to visit again when time permits.
My mother turned 65 in March. We had a small celebration for her at home as she did not want a big birthday party.
We also took a short trip to Sydney in March to see friends who were going to Mardi Gras. The only event we went to was Toybox which was being held reportedly for the last time. We saw quite a few friends from the US as well as people from elsewhere in Australia.
The owner of the gym we go to had organized a fitness expo to coincide with the professional Bodybuilding competition he runs each year in Melbourne. We had free passes and went to have a look. It was quite a success with much bigger crowds than had been expected. The pro show was also successful. As usual, a number of the visiting competitors trained at the gym, and we were able to meet the Canadian competitor, Ben Pakulski.
My birthday at the end of March was a quiet one after the celebrations last year for my 40th, although unlike last year I took the actual day off work. We saw friends for drinks on the Sunday before, saw my family on the afternoon of the actual day and then Jay and I went to dinner at Gingerboy that night as Attica was booked out. I can highly recommend Gingerboy.
The Melbourne International Flower Show is only a short walk from our house and we had never been before, so this year we went to have a look. I was surprised by how big an exhibition it is, filling the Royal Exhibition Building and the adjacent gardens. It’s a very fitting use of the location as it suits the age of the building much better than the hotrod show which precedes it.
Over Easter we had planned to go to New Zealand as the combination of the Easter and ANZAC Day holidays meant that there was a five day weekend. We saw the South Island in 2008, but Jay had not seen the North Island.
We flew to Auckland and rented a car. In Auckland we saw the aquarium as the weather was cool and wet, but the following day we made the most of the sunshine, walking around the Domain. There is an album of photos of the trip.
From Auckland we drove to Rotorua to see the thermal activity. Though I spent almost three months in New Zealand as a medical student, I had not stayed in Rotorua before. It was obviously a busy time for local tourism as there were plenty of New Zealanders visiting Rotorua as well.
We spent one night in Napier where I had worked for a month at the hospital as a student. It was almost 20 years ago, but it seems so much more recent. We had a look at the hospital which has since been closed and was boarded up and lightly graffiti’d. We also did the Art Deco architecture walk around Napier.
Back in Melbourne we are settling in for the grey middle of the year, with plans to focus on the gym a bit more and organize a trip away in August for Jay’s 40th.
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It was too early in the year for the regular games, so we went to one of the pre-season competition games. It was indoors at Etihad Stadium and because of the round-robin format, they were able to see a range of quality of play. They seemed to be getting the idea of it by the time we went home.
My mother was keen to show them Rippon Lea, a National Trust home close to my parents’ house.
Here they are on the verandah with my parents and Jay.
Russ and Lorraine left Melbourne for Shanghai where they had a short visit before returning to Canada and then the US. We hope they will be able to visit again when time permits.
My mother turned 65 in March. We had a small celebration for her at home as she did not want a big birthday party.
We also took a short trip to Sydney in March to see friends who were going to Mardi Gras. The only event we went to was Toybox which was being held reportedly for the last time. We saw quite a few friends from the US as well as people from elsewhere in Australia.
The owner of the gym we go to had organized a fitness expo to coincide with the professional Bodybuilding competition he runs each year in Melbourne. We had free passes and went to have a look. It was quite a success with much bigger crowds than had been expected. The pro show was also successful. As usual, a number of the visiting competitors trained at the gym, and we were able to meet the Canadian competitor, Ben Pakulski.
My birthday at the end of March was a quiet one after the celebrations last year for my 40th, although unlike last year I took the actual day off work. We saw friends for drinks on the Sunday before, saw my family on the afternoon of the actual day and then Jay and I went to dinner at Gingerboy that night as Attica was booked out. I can highly recommend Gingerboy.
The Melbourne International Flower Show is only a short walk from our house and we had never been before, so this year we went to have a look. I was surprised by how big an exhibition it is, filling the Royal Exhibition Building and the adjacent gardens. It’s a very fitting use of the location as it suits the age of the building much better than the hotrod show which precedes it.
Over Easter we had planned to go to New Zealand as the combination of the Easter and ANZAC Day holidays meant that there was a five day weekend. We saw the South Island in 2008, but Jay had not seen the North Island.
We flew to Auckland and rented a car. In Auckland we saw the aquarium as the weather was cool and wet, but the following day we made the most of the sunshine, walking around the Domain. There is an album of photos of the trip.
From Auckland we drove to Rotorua to see the thermal activity. Though I spent almost three months in New Zealand as a medical student, I had not stayed in Rotorua before. It was obviously a busy time for local tourism as there were plenty of New Zealanders visiting Rotorua as well.
We spent one night in Napier where I had worked for a month at the hospital as a student. It was almost 20 years ago, but it seems so much more recent. We had a look at the hospital which has since been closed and was boarded up and lightly graffiti’d. We also did the Art Deco architecture walk around Napier.
Back in Melbourne we are settling in for the grey middle of the year, with plans to focus on the gym a bit more and organize a trip away in August for Jay’s 40th.
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