Thursday 3 October 2024

A long trip and a short flit.

So Reader here I am again.  Back from endless cuddling, kissing and cooing over new beloved baby.  
She has quite a name to conjurer with Xanthe Olympia.  The well travelled parents spent a summer in Greece and went to the site of the first Olympic Games and Xanthe was born during this years Games in Paris. 

If you needed reminding it is winter down under when we have our summer.  I've seen heavy rain before but this was something else, almost biblical and it goes on for hours.  The the next day I was in a tee shirt.

Anyway after a bumpy start mother and baby were doing marvellously and I loved every minute, I could retire to Auckland....

Moi leaving on a jet plane

Xanthe in a swaddle, these were soon dispensed with and she liked to have her arms free.

View from Cornwall Park Auckland.

So odd to Magnolia trees in flower in the summer, I was seasonally confused all the trip.

Mitchell's adorable mother and her two sisters.  (I now count them as my honourable sisters.)

Verity's lemon tree in the garden, I LOVED having lemons on tap.

Xanthe asleep in the shade of the Camellia tree, under the blanket knitted by my mother.

Unusual Irises under planted with parsley, a novel idea.

Part of Onehunga harbour and somewhere down there Verity's house.

One Tree Hill, visible for miles around and Verity's kitchen.

One day I drove to Mission Bay, where they serve Italian Gelato in Pistachio flavour,  to die for. 
This is Rangitoto Island, you can catch a boat and walk up it, I didn't this trip.



Tulips 

Bird of Paradise plant or tree.

Kowhai Trees coming into bloom

This amused me, we are the Carr family and we DID have a herd

Verity and I at Auckland Harbour












Saying goodbye was horribly hard, luckily they are coming to visit all the family later this month.


So to celebrate my return, seemed David missed me!  We have come away on WaL for a short waft up and down.

We had several ideas, first the Ashby, not enough time so just down to Hawkesbury Junction and dinner in my favourite pub The Greyhound.  We got to Fradley on a windy day and moored up on the end of the moorings immediately before Shade House Lock, as we approached a boat left the exact spot we fancied mooring on, great.  
The next day was high winds and rain on and off.  Maybe we'll just go as far as Tamworth or even Hopwas.....
We went to the Mucky Duck pub.

The following day was rain the entire day.  Luckily we had the car so pootled off to the cinema in Tamworth, on the way home again we had supper in the Tame Otter at Hopwas so we did go there one way or another.

The next day it was blowy but brightened up nicely.  We winded at the entrance to the Coventry Canal and retraced our steps.  We'd pretty much ran out of time to get down the Coventry so inserted a detour into the end of the week of going to London instead to see the Granddaughters (And their parents of course) so we had an uneventful run back to Great Haywood and are sitting on a nice mooring in Tixel Wide, I intend to drink the champagne that's in the fridge, stretch the old legs around Shrugborough grounds and read my book.

Shrugborough Hall almost completely hidden now the trees have grown around it and the hedge is unchecked.

I am a good Boater and get off to walk ahead in Plum Pudding, plenty don't bother and just plough though.

WaL was covered, but I quite like the coloured leaves.

This went on half way though the week.


We returned in sunshine and needed our sunnies.  The gorgeous hills come into view that is the beginning of Cannock Chase and tells me we are almost home.

Look carefully and you might just make out the Sweet Chestnuts ripening, we are too early for autumn colour this time.

So that's us done for this year I feel.  Xanthe and her parents are here for a month and that takes us almost up to Christmas, we'll be doing a fake Christmas for them as in NZ its all going to the beach which of course is all mad.

So until the spring, I'll just say Au Revoir Reader.

 

6 comments:

  1. Thats some spread of travel. Lovely pictures and memories. How's Great Haywood now HS2 has been scrapped. I'm so pleased the marina and the surrounding area will not now be blighted

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    1. Dear Nev,
      The Marina looks pretty good and just how it was. I haven't walked around the north side to see if the old car parking area has been reinstated, you'll remember it was taken or purchased by HS2 but now the new line stops south of us at Litchfield it "shouldn't" be used. We would have moved had the works gone ahead but yes we are delighted, selfishly, that it's cancelled.
      Lisa

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  2. Back in the mid 70's my parents owned a house in Arthur St, Onehunga. I'd left home by then but used to occasionally visit. Tom

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    1. Dear Tom,
      I'm glad you signed your name as you are coming up as anonymous!
      I had a rental in Onehunga on Spring Street which crossed Arthur Street. I might possibly have an eye on a bungalow on Victoria or Alfred Street which is really close to Verity.
      Today Onehunga is very multicultural who suits Verity and Mitchell very well, Mitchell also has a brother half a mile away and a cousin over the road both with babies, also in the same suburb is his sister and another cousin, an aunt more cousins all with three miles oh and his parents too close by in Hillsborough Street.
      I loved Onehunga. What number were your parents on Arthur St?

      Lisa

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  3. Random reader here. I lived the first 20 years of my life just a couple of streets away from Herd Rd, My piano teacher lived there, and we went to St Margarets Church.

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    1. Welcome Random Reader, I am presuming you are a Kiwi ???
      Do you live in the UK now I wonder. We usually meet one pair of Boating per year, this year just passed we met two.
      I hadn't visited Auckland before but I rather liked it. Especially the rather nice Robertson Collection at the Auckland Art Gallery.
      Lisa

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