Last Monday I spent the day travelling by rail and sea, as I headed North to Wellington. I love travelling by train. I find it so relaxing, and with brand new carriages, it's rather luxurious as well. So I snapped a few shots on the way, and then once on the Interislander, found a nice long couch and had a wee nap for a good chunk of the very calm crossing. I was woken up by the announcement of scones fresh from the oven, with cream and jam, and with an hour to go of the journey, sat back and enjoyed one of these along with a drink.

Beverley kindly picked me up from the ferry, dropped me at Janines, and then came back later with her family and we all had tea together, thanks to Mike and Janine. The following day we (Janine, Beverley, myself, Jessi and Alexander) headed off to see the gorgeous tulips at the Botanic Gardens, before doing a bit of a tour of Miramar and Seatoun and having lunch at the Chocolate Fish Cafe, which was just gorgeous, and yes I did have a choccie fish ;-) Of course my camera battery went dead and so no photos of this... Janine I had a wee wander around town and a suburb that starts with K that I'll attempt to spell lol, Kilbirnie? I had such a relaxing time at Janine and Mikes and was spoilt rotten.

I raided her scrappy pile that was heading off to charity (sorry to the charity that was going to recieve this, but really I don't think I made much of a dent in it LOL). And I tried to read her wonderful stash of magazines and made pretty good in roads, but I think I'd need another month to get through these LOL. Lucky Janine and I share a love of reading. Wednesday I headed off to Mandys (and raided her books to read lol). We spent Thursday in professional dialogue (that's teacher talk!), visited her kindergarten and went out to an Emporium where I brought a few things for work but was concious that I needed to fit them into my one suitcase. Mandy had also organised for us to do high tea at a beautiful spot, just perfect for such a thing. We went into the city on Friday and did a tour of Parliment, which was excellent. So much hidden behind those walls. Thanks Mandy for your hospitality (and tour guiding!).

Before Mandy headed off home, and I stayed in the city, we visited the Christmas part of the shop, Kilcadie and Stains. This is like H J Smith to those who are in Southland, or Bally's to those in Chch, and Smith and Caugheys to those in Auckland. Each year the shop puts on a wonderful display of Christmas wares, which are of course for sale, but it's a magical spot to visit and view in wonderment.

Friday night through to Sunday was spent with my niece, my sister and a friend of my sisters, along with her two girls (I've known her a long time to - she was at my wedding). We shopped of course, and ate out and spent Saturday night at WOW (where I managed to catch up with Janine again for all of two minutes lol) - but with a sold out audience that was an impressive feat in itself!

And finally I headed home on Sunday. The crossing was a bit rough with quite a few sick people on board (nope, not me). But a glorious day all the same.

How lucky we are to live in such a stunning country, with such wonderful people.