Sorry that the blog has been a bit neglected in recent weeks whilst Grandma pursuits were going on. In short, we now have three lovely grandsons – two in Auckland and one born in Melbourne on 25 July. I flew from Auckland to Melbourne for 10 days or so to see if I could help with Mummy Kate and the new baby just as her husband Grant was due to return to work.
I forgot how much work new babies are ... and Kate was on the go with the mid-night feeds and trying to catch up on sleep and meals as best she could. Baby Lochie (Lachlan) is absolutely gorgeous. Current practices for babycare seem to have changed dramatically since my children were babies, so my experience was a bit out of date but we enjoyed the time together and caught up with all our news whilst doing all the household stuff which seems to be doubled and multiplied by having a newborn in the house. We were only able to take shortish excursions around Melbourne and the weather was a bit cloudy and cold but we certainly made the best of it and took a walk in the Botanical Gardens which gives the best view of the city centre and looked over the banks of the Yarra River which has to be the most pleasant walk to work ever.
We also got involved in Blockmania which is a tv programme made in Melbourne about 4 teams of people renovating 4 houses on the same block. I missed the final auction but enjoyed looking at the architecture of the traditional Melbourne houses which were very appealing and had all the Edwardian features which I like. Kate and I had an evening meal out while the new Dad minded the baby and other days we had some lovely meals cooked by one or other of us. Old fashioned trams ran past the window at regular intervals which was rather charming but I never did get my camera out quickly enough to catch a photo.
Back in Auckland, after a bit of a tearful goodbye, the sun came out – and although the temperatures are a bit frosty, the scenery and days were very enjoyable. We visited the Fish Market where a tramcar (imported from Melbourne) travelled round a loop near the waterfront and had a wonderful fish n chips lunch near the market itself. Tuna Steaks Italienne followed for our evening meal – a lovely dish which I must replicate once I get back to Crete as all the ingredients grow locally!
On Sunday we squished into the car to visit Motat – a transport exhibition – Cameron’s choice of good boy treat and looked at old steam engines, fire engines, steam and diesel trains along with other exhibits such as the Victorian village and hands-on stuff reminiscent of the gallery at the Science Museum in London. The earthquake simulator was very scary and we were too late for the moon rocket simulator but did catch an interesting exhibit about Sir Edmund Hillary’s 1950s polar expedition. Lots of information was available about the resourceful Massey Ferguson tractor which they adapted to take with them.
Cameron has a new toy dolphin; In New Zealand, the householders have a weekend every so often where non-biodegradable rubbish/old furniture/large broken or unwanted items are left outside their homes on the grass verge for a day or two. There follows a time of recycling the items – should anyone want or need them – and lots of vans and trucks come round sifting through the items until finally what remains is taken by the local authority and as little deposited in landfill as possible. Sounds like a brilliant scheme to me – but you need the space to do it properly. Anyway, a hot wash in the washing machine and a tumble dry ensured that “Sydney” the new toy dolphin was nice to own and Cam was delighted.
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