Loving the Sushi - Archers Sushi

OK – so I’m not planning on making this blog a restaurant review, but I just have to give Archers Sushi a quick mention as it’s turned me into a sushi convert - quite an achievement. It’s only a teeny lunchtime spot situated behind the ambulance depot at North Shore Hospital which Dan stumbled upon during one of his lunch time breaks.

Friendly service and the sushi is all made fresh and restocked as it comes out the kitchen and presented oh so beautifully… mmm making me hungry just thinking about it!

Bracing ourselves for Cyclone Lusi

I’m a big believer of ying and yang… you know the balance of life, for everything bad there is something good and all that malarkey… well you know all the fab weather we’ve been having… I can now wipe that smug little grin off my face as we have blinking cyclone heading our way this weekend - eeek!

Well that’s totally scuppered our weekend plans of heading on up to the Bay of Islands for a long sunny weekend swimming with dolphins, but the weather ain’t going to play along. Looking at the local news it seems that they are treating it quite seriously…

OK – I’m not in the slight bit concerned that most of the walls in our flat are wall to wall glass, oh no.

Whoop-tee-doo…so Dan has opted to work this weekend instead and the boys and I am getting ready for a fun filled weekend inside the flat. Better practice my shuffling skills as I feel a serious session of card games are coming up over the next few days.  Oooh and better make a start on getting that bath filled…

Pub Quiz Fact: What’s the difference between a hurricane and a cyclone and tornado? None - they are all the same, however we just use different names for these storms depending where in the world they take place. In the Atlantic and Northeast Pacific, the term “hurricane” is used. The same type of disturbance in the Northwest Pacific is called a “typhoon” and “cyclones” occur in the South Pacific and Indian Ocean.

Post Cyclone Lusi.... should be noted that while we were all huddled in our apartment rescuing the furniture flying around outside by the pool the rest of the population seems to be down Takapuna Beach not to turn down the opportunity of the surf, I tell you these New Zealanders are hard core!

Deer Blood - The Super Duper Health Supplement

Look what I stumbled upon in the little shop round the corner… now I might be showing my complete ignorance here, but if anyone could give me the profound health benefits from popping a deer blood or bee venom suppliment please do enlighten me.

Deer Blood

Deer Velvet

Shark Cartilage

Bee Venom

oooh I’ve just googled bees venom…

Bee venom therapy

Bee venom therapy is used by some as a treatment for rheumatism and joint diseases due to its anticoagulant and anti-inflammatory properties. It is also used to desensitise people allergic to insect stings. Bee venom therapy can also be delivered in the form of a balm although this may be less potent than using live bee stings. Bee venom can be found in numerous beauty products. It is believed to increase blood flow therefore plumping the applied area, producing collagen. This effect aids in smoothing out lines and wrinkles.

(that would be right, throw in an anti ageing line in there to boost the old sales figures).

And as for the deer blood, there are various sites selling the stuff and health benefits as quoted by them are…

Deer Blood has been scientifically proven to provide the following benefits:

• Development respiratory function

• Recuperative power

• Performance with the frequency of injury decreasing

• Control the level of body fat in blood

• Facilitates the supply of oxygen to cells

• Improves Immune System functioning 

• Improves Athletic Performance and Strength

• Improves Muscle Recovery after exercise 

• Provides Vitality and Anti-ageing properties for Seniors 

• Enhances Sexual Functioning for both men and women

ie …wow what an all rounder, amazing stuff, think of an ailment and it’s covered from boosting the immune system to anti-ageing (here we go again)… well obviously... should have known.

Kite Kite Falls & Bryers Walk and Kare Kare Falls

Following a lazy late start today we headed over to Piha region to visit a couple of scenic waterfalls. 

The first top was Kite Kite, really close to Piha beach. There are a number of different walking tracks of various lengths and we met a group who had been walking for 4 hours – serious tuff, walking boots and sticks, but luckily ours was a relatively short 45 minute walk along the Bryers track to Kite Kite falls, a beautiful little spot.

Kite Kite falls

After Kite Kite falls we drove a further 10 minutes south of Piha to Kare Kare falls. Kare Kare falls are only short 10 minute walk from the car park and such a stunning spot, used in the film ‘The Piano’ none the less. I have to say my favourite out of the two falls, probably because this time here we had the place all to ourselves.

Kare Kare falls

And then back home... all too much for some!

Canoeing at Puhoi

Such a beautiful day today spent leisurely canoeing from Puhoi to Wenderholm Regional Park. One of those spontaneous days… the ever reliable forecast says rain… open blinds.... au contraire mon ami - if anyone knows a good weather app please pass it on! So I call up Puhoi River Canoe Hire and place our booking for the afternoon. You have to pre-book as the trips leave depending on the tide. So after a morning of poodling around Takapuna (us toys, book and Danish pastry shop), Dan - hair chop, we got ourselves together and drove to Puhoi for lunch, about a 40 minute drive North from Takapuna.

Puhoi is a small tidy little village with a beautiful river running through it. We popped into Puhoi Hotel for a spot of lunch and an alcoholic rehydration drink – us not the boys. Now lunch to be honest (bar Dan’s BLT) was a little bit along the greasy spoon lines, but the pub itself was fab… really English and such a warm welcoming atmosphere. 

As lovely as Takapuna is and well kitted out for fantastic restaurants, the only one thing they are lacking is the ‘relaxed old English country pub’, something with character... given the population of Brits out here I’m sure it would be massive hit… all you Takapuna town planners – hope you read this!

At the hotel pub in Puhoi there wasn’t a square inch of wall space to be seen inside as it was plastered with various artifacts… posters, tickets, photos, notices & various signs. Outside the pub was a lawn stretching down to the river filled with people (including a Harley Davidson and stag party gathering) enjoying the river views and soaking up the sun. To be honest I could quite have easily stayed there all afternoon, but needs must and we pushed on to the Puhoi River Canoe Hire house. After a brief instruction on how to paddle and debrief of the river’s map we were off. 

My junior co-pilot, started off very enthusiastically and in no time I was feeling like a drowned rat in the back, but it was so much fun and truly beautiful floating along down the river. The older of the two thought he had died and gone to heaven with all the different birds he spotted enroute.

White Faced Heron

Two hours on we rocked up at Wenderholm Regional Park. The tide was out at this point and the muddy banks were littered with thousands of crab holes. So out go the apples in the lunch box and in go the crabs… the boys embark on a mission to re-home the crabs and dig up the beach.

Wenderholm Regional Park

Wenderholm Regional Park is a stunning grassy spot enclosed on one side by a beautiful river, and the other by a magnificent sheltered stretch of sandy beach. Now I’m no camper, but this would be my idea of camping heaven and I’m quite gutted we don’t have our camping bumph with us. There are a few coin operated BBQ’s and secluded picnic benches dotted around so I think a sausage sizzle is in order and we may have to pay Wenderholm another little visit.

School Camping trip to Waitangi

It's like getting blood out of stone to get my eldest to write about his camping trip to Waitangi, but we got there in the end...

"The camping trip was truly amazing! This is what I had to pack: a torch, toothbrush, toothpaste, sleeping bag, plate, roll mat, etc etc etc. Next we went to school… I forgot a very important item and luckily my mum had to run back to the flat and she got it just in time before the coach left! Then three huge coaches came! I got onto the coach and we drove away. I got to sit at the front as I get coach sick. The journey was long and tiring. 

Our first stop was called Waipu where we had a toilet break. We made up a saying that said “why poo when you can pee in Waipu!” We thought they were going to be fancy famous toilets but they were just a bunch of normal toilets. 

We got back onto the coach and I slept some of the way. Soon we were there at WAITANGI!!!! Next we had to find our bags. It was really tricky as there were so many bags. Once we had found them we had to put up the tents, which was hot and tiring work! We then stopped for a break and had lunch. After that we went on a bush walk and it was brilliant! We got to pass a mangrove and see a giant waterfall!!!! It was six thirty by the time we got back. We hardly had any dinner because all of the other groups took ours. Soon we went to bed. Our tent was small so we struggled to all fit in it. Two people had to sleep in the deck part at the entrance of the tent where you store all your bags. 

It was noisy when we woke up in the morning with all at the children talking. We had baked beans on toast, a hot dog sausage in a bun, slices of watermelon and home baking for breakfast. We then had to make up our pack lunches before packing up our tent and going to Waitangi.

Waitangi was a really cool place with lots of Maori stuff such as carvings, Poupous, a waka (war canoe) and a treaty house, and we even had a Maori greeting which was cool. Waitangi is the main place where they signed the treaty for New Zealand, which is about Britain and New Zealand joining forces and working together as one so they won’t harm each other in war. The best part about Waitangi was the bush walk because we saw lots of wild life on the way.

Then we got onto the boisterous boring bus home. The end. Thank goodness that is over and mummy is now off my back and will stop nagging me to write this part of the blog for her - she is so lazy making me do all her work for her."

MOTAT - Museum of Transport and Technology

After our few weekends of road trips out and about to Hobbiton, Waitomo and Rotorua, we thought we'd have a little bit of a breather and have a quite weekend at home in Takapuna.

On Sunday we drove over to the Museum of Transport and Technology (MOTAT)...mmmm, to be truthfully honest I can't say it got me really excited. It was OK I guess trying my best efforts to be positive about it... they have got a nice little selection of cars on display.

 The boys got to go on a tram ride and a cute 100 year old little steam train.

And a tram.

The best part for me probably was the aviation centre.

But to be brutally honest the interactive technology section was pretty basic and really tired - needed some work doing to it, and the whole place felt slightly run down. When I asked the boys if they would go back - there was a unanimous "no"... says it all really!!! Sorry thumbs down from us.