Another word post: some internet speed issues again.

We have had a busy week: mini-break in Wellington, second italian lesson and a trip to the Wairarapa to the Balloon Festival.  There will definitely be pictures of that as it was so much fun – aside from the 5:30am start!

The vendors of our apartment have  let us know that they can bring settlement forward by a week, so we now settle on the 15th of March – fantastic news from our perspective as hopefully it also means we can get painters etc in a week early too (and therefore be in our own space sooner).  So, we are off to Wellington again this afternoon to meet the builder and painter (and maybe others) to get them to quote on the work we want done.  The vendors have very nicely given us access for this.

The break in Wellington was great – we got to give the new Mazda a run to somewhere other than the local shopping centre (very comfortable it was too), as well as a bit of eating our and shopping – for those of you who know Wellington, Unity Books was our downfall – so many interesting  books and so little time!  The weather was relatively benign and Wellington seemed to be humming – lots of tourists as well as locals out and about after work, with bars and restaurants doing well.

Greytown, where the Friday morning ‘ascension’ of the balloons was to take place was also humming. It’s a little place, but it’s become a bit of a centre for nice cafes and restaurants, and up-market antique and decorator shops for those lucky people with a weekender in the general area.  We normally stay in Martinborough as we are wine tasting, but this time thought we’d stay here to not have to drive as far the next morning. Enjoyed the balloons immensely!  Luckily it was calm enough for them to fly, and so we both had great fun wandering amongst the teams as they got their balloons up and ready to go.  Lots of locals turned out and the kids loved it.

Nothing much else to report.  Pictures to come!