Beers, wine and a spot of sun worshipping

Well after a mellow day on Friday, the evening turned in to a bit of a party. Sam was out with a couple of her oldest friends, they were surprising her so she didn't know what the evening had in store for her.

Tom, Ruth, Stephan (Ruth's boyfriend, also frequenty referred to as the German) and I watched the rugby (Hurricanes vs the Blues - Hurricanes won, so that is a win for Wellington over Auckland) at home while eating a lovely meal that Glynis made for us all and drinking a fair bit of wine. Once the match was over we decided to go out and hit the bars round Ponsonby. Starting off in a Belgium bar with copious amounts of Leffe (always a killer especially on top of wine) before heading to a late night bar called Gold near my hostel on Ponsonby.

Stephan was on the NZ version of Hells Kitchen (would love to see some of the clips) as one of the contestants. Some of the production guys from that programme which was filmed Ponsonby way, were also out and about and found us in the bar. I was definitely feeling very merry and basically told poor Stephan that he was cooking for us all Saturday night. Sam joined us too, turned out that she was in a club just down the road after a lovely meal with her friends. It was a good night with a tad too much beer to be good for me, but I did discover that I am a lot more nimble at getting on to the top bunk bed and through the Japanese obstacle course after a few drinks, which is worth knowing for future reference.

Saturday morning I woke up feeling surprisingly OK, if a bit groggy, given both the limited amount of sleep and the alcohol consumed. I headed over to Sam and Tom's for a spot of breakfast. Stephan took over cooking, so our cooked breakfast actually looked like something you would get in a very posh restaurant. Tasted fantastic too, and made us all feel a lot more human. As the sun was out (had been pretty rainy on Friday) we decided to head to the beach. We went to Maraitai (pardon the spelling, I am going the phonetic route, sounded a lot like a Mai Tai but with an r in the middle) where we swam in the sea, lounged in the sun and generally relaxed (I know, I was obviously in need of some more relaxation.. hehe).

The view was fantastic and there is something really decadent about just basking in the sun, reading a book and supping on a cold beer. After the beach we headed in to Auckland again, as we needed to go shopping so that Stephan can prepare us a masterpiece for our dinner. Sam's parents were going to be joining us now, so Stephan was making dinner for 8. I felt a bit guilty for stitching him up with having to cook, so I decided that I had to buy all the ingredients. We came back armed with squid and duck and other fantastic things. I was hungry just thinking about it. Ruth and I helped out in the kitchen. I got some top tips (on chopping, how to prepare squid, how to prepare duck breasts etc..) which was fantastic really. Felt like I was at chef school.

Suffice it to say the food was amazing and looked like a masterpiece. We all sat outside in the warm evening breeze eating by candlelight (covered in mossie spray, those little suckers still managed to have a bit of a Steph feast anyway, but I took some out, which was satistfying). I even tried some Hokey Pokey ice cream afterwards, as I was reliably informed that this was a very New Zealand dessert, it was yummy, kind of like butterscotch but different.

I headed back to the hostel around midnight absolutely exhausted and hoping that the odd red patches wouldn't turn out to be sunburn. As I have no sore spots this morning, I think it was just my skin going red with shock from being in the sun and I have gone back to my normal off white shades.

I am now at Sam & Tom's updating my blog. Today has turned out to be very hot and sunny so the factor 30 will be making an appearance today. Tom has just mowed the lawn so that I can have a practice run putting up the tent that they are lending me to take to Nelson, as Jo & I will have to put it up in the dark, as it will be evening by the time we land. Can't believe that I am off on a short flight tomorrow and that I will be seeing Jo, Max and Pierre. I think that we will definitely have a giggle.

At some point Sam & I are popping to the shops to get some more paper for the menus etc at the wedding and than we are going to go out for a girlie lunch maybe round Mount Eden. Tom & Ruth will be at the airport picking up their Dad who arrives this afternoon. I suppose that I will have to pack my stuff at some point today too (rather than trying to do it in the dark without waking anyone up early tomorrow morning). I have a 9am massage appointment tomorrow (oh the hardship) and a hair cut booked afterwards, so I should actually look presentable for the wedding (major temptation to get a lot of my hair chopped off, it is just too hot).

That is pretty well all the news for now. I am still having a lovely time. Hope that you are all having good weekends.