Chores Day in CHC

Thursday 18 June

Another low key day for us - not much odyssey for Banjo! Louis headed into Maidstone to get his crown fitted and I did some chores, most of my packing for Auckland & a spot of admin back at Banjo then set out for a 5-6km walk around Sovereign Palms & the Kaiapoi Lakes whilst listening to the wonderful Tim Minchin on a podcast. Lovely day for it - overcast but sunny and pretty dry underfoot. You can see we are getting closer to the shortest day - the shadows on Barkers Road were so long even though it was nearly noon. The Natalie Portmans were looking gorgeous on the lake by the estate, but for the first time, I circled round and walked by the other lakes - judging by the entry point with all the upright fenceposts, they don't want you cycling round here!

Seemed odd seeing snowdrops and narcissus blooming at Sovereign Palms when it's pretty much midwinter... many weeks until spring arrives!

Lunch back at Banjo then off to Rangiora so that Louis could swim and I could recheck the op shops… I’m getting too discerning - came back empty handed. Well, I did find a fabulous floral frock at City Mission, but a) it didn't fit and b) I'm not sure our Banjo lifestyle really accommodates such fancy frippery!

My favourite discovery in the back streets of Kaiapoi, not far from Fresco, was an amazingly vibrant kiwiana mural featuring reptiles and birds in totally my colour scheme - a kahu at night plus a frog, snail, Pukeko, Kiwi, dragonfly, tuatara, piwakawaka, kereru and tui. Absolutely LOVE this! 💛💚🩵💙💜🩷

Ella joined us back at Banjo for dinner (ribs finished on the BBQ) then we finalised most of our packing and binged some more Downton Abbey before bed.