Whanau Day in Town

Monday 4 August

First full day in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland - started with a chill morning then we scooped up Helen and took her out for a chaotic lunch at a cafe in Mt Eden.

We placed our order for 2 coffees, a smoked salmon & cream cheese bagel for me, full breakfast for Louis and an omelette with ham for Helen (we accidentally asked for pancakes then corrected it to omelette). After about 15 minutes the coffees arrived, and about 10 minutes after that my bagel showed up - but the whole thing had been nuked leaving the smoked salmon limp and pink and the cream cheese had melted away (I presumed they would toast the bagel and then fill it!). About 20 minutes later, Louis' breakfast arrived and 5 minutes after that a plate of pancakes came our way. We explained that the order was actually for a ham omelette and they looked quite confused and took the plate away. After a minute, I followed them to the kitchen and said I would be happy to pay for the pancakes and eat them, but we still needed the ham omelette... oh yes, they agreed, we can do that. So I paid the $19.90 for the pancakes and took them back to the table. Louis and I ate up and we sat and waited for another 30 minutes or more, before I went up to chase the omelette... they'd forgotten all about it! She never did get her omelette that we ordered but we had a lovely catch up and took her home with a delicious muffin instead! Paying was also chaos - they tried to give me back the $19.90 I'd paid (in cash) and would not believe that Louis had not paid for the order up front... eventually we showed the Westpac app and I paid the original bill in full, accepted the cash refund then handed back $5 for Helen's consolation muffin!!!

Next stop was Quay West in the CBD to see cousin Ian & Madonna - Ian is kindly lending us his apartment there for the first week or two of Louis’ post surgery recovery. After that he is hoping to rent it out for a while so we have to keep it spic & span just in case of prospective tenant viewings!

Back north for a wee siesta and a neighbourhood stroll for me then off through our old hood to have dinner with Russ & Paige (Nickie & her kids & Carlo are all in UK).

Russ is kindly storing the contents of the Pajero’s boot for us as we’d rather not be driving round town with all that gear - so lucky to have such accommodating friends 🥰

A final cuddle with Dilligas back at the Orr's place before falling into bed in Banjo.