Waitakare and La Cigale

Up Mt. Zion

Karekare Beach

Wednesday was Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) Day, the equivalent of Memorial Day so no work! An au pair from Seattle who I met a few months ago and had dinner with a few weeks ago decided to go hiking in the Waitakare Mountain Ranges. With a little of research online and I grabbed a book from the library we ended up on a four hour loop up Mt Zion and down Karekare beach - the beach the movie The Piano was filmed.

Again the weather was perfect, if anything a bit warm- so much for being Autumn. Its about an hour drive and took us to the west coast of NZ. It was all just beautiful - black sandy beach with grassland and swampy areas, cliffs, "mountains," rain forest, ect.... We sat on the beach for little lunch and then headed home.

After cleaning up and sipping wine on the back porch for a bit, we drove to Parnell (CBD area) for dinner at La Cigale French Bistro. It was highly recommend by Andrew and Andrea, and was the setting for Masterchef NZ a few weeks ago. We were not disappointed. I gorged myself on the best charcuterie platter, duck l'orange, and dark bitter chocolate musse I have ever and may ever have. 

La Cigale

The rest of my week was uneventful and went fast. Mackay is into boundary pushing this week, which means a lot of repeating myself mixed with some patients and disciple, but is going well (for me at least). I helped out babysitting yesterday morning, while Andrea did some work for peapods at "mommy showcase," and then again last night as Andrew is going to Germany for the next 10 days and they needed to get in a date night. I still have absolutely no complaints as to my work/personal time and love being able to help out. The "work" I do caring for the kids and helping around the house is surprisingly rewarding and always appreciated. I am making dinner tonight to kick off the next 10 days of possible chaos or maybe calm - we're not really sure - probably a bit of both. 

The weather is a bit crummy today so I was considering staying my sweat pants all day, but just saw that some how NZ is showing the new Avengers movie earlier than the States, so I am off to the movies. (And then back into my sweats.)