Coromandel - Days 12 & 13

(Friday 22nd)

FLAMINGO PAINTING DAY!

Well not all day, but it was he day I was looking forward to!! I mean, look at that pink paint!! 😍💜 and the flamingos really were in need of some TLC!

  

Elevenses had become a recurring theme this past week, rightly so to try, and re-try all the different cakes!! 

This next tast was a selfish one as I needed a new photo to have as the cover image to this blog! I got some fearns and other NZ leaves form the garden, played with some scrabble pieces and made a wee NZ travel blog still life  :)  there were a couple of slight alterations  shot, but ultimately I liked the one with the Māori translation for New Zealand included as well! (Thanks Brooke from work for suggesting it cause I would have been kicking myself if I'd missed that!!) 

 

Had a small(ish) lunch as I knew I was going out to dinner with two of the girls from work :) Very nice to be invited out. For lunch I had these delicious buckwheat bilinis with plums and coconu yougurt and apple syrup! Yummmmm 

Walking back to Marijkes house I spotted this shot and thought it captures NZ in spring time quite well! The fruit trees are already so full that they fruit is just falling off them! 

I was picked up for dinner by Chelsea and her sister and we met Joleigh before heading to 'The Top Pub' (as upposed to the Middle Pub or the Bottom Pub that they have here in Coromandel town. These are nicknames and not the actually establishment names but it's what everyone calls them, and Top Pub had that written on their uniformed shirts!! 😂) 

We all had Scotch and Parwns, a big juicy steak and hearty portion of chips! 

I was so full after that I went straight to bed at 8:30. I attempted reading my book but fell asleep and slept till morning haha a good meal will do that to you! 

(Saturday 23rd) 

Today was a very lazy day for me I must admit! It was about her LOVELY day here in th my Coromandel. There's a heatwave due to come in next week, but it seems the good weather started today. The legs were out again, perhaps a bit optimistically as first hing this morning it was still a bit cool, but it definitely paid off as by 9:30/10 am I was able to lounge in sun on one of the benches in the Driving Creek Cafe garden, with a coffee and a new old book that I picked up in the 2nd hand bookshop that's also in the cafe! 

 

After abot an hour chilling in the sun I gave the flamingos another coat of pink paint, before I go back and add the detailing tomorrow. 

I then, shamefully, just went back to sit on it bench with my book for another hour, popped in o Marijkes office to upload some photos from my camera, but it's taking its own sweet time (hoping I'll be able to add some into the blog tomorrow). 

  

A happy Fi just soaking in the sun! My peely wally Scottish skin need a bit of colour ☀️🌿

I popped into town in the afternoon to visit an exhibition by some local artists, one of which is Sally who lives in the adjoining house I'm staying in. She asked me to take some photos of her work, some shiny paintings, and some 

Woven basket things that she'd been struggling to photograph. It was cool to be able to use my skills I help someone, and I'm hoping I'll be able to do a wee skill swap and maybe get something lovely and handmade in return. 

Back to the cafe for a very late lunch though and I sat with Sean - one of the locals I think I mentioned earlier in the blog - and as I ate my lunch and we chatted about the Edinburgh festival and fringe amongst other things! I hope I managed to convince him to visit my home-away-from-home city at some point in the future, because with a theatre background I really think he'd love it! 

 

I love that I get to munch on broken baked goods for free...but my jeans are starting to feel a bit tight...I'll go on a diet after I leave the Coromandel on Monday! 😂

Dinner was a mish mash of cafe and home leftovers which we enjoyed with Sally the neighbor/landlady. We enjoyed a lot of laughs and deep conversations and silly chats, then finished off with a good cup of tea and cookies! A very pleasant evening! 

On a side note: 

I also realised that I've officially been away from home for a whole month yesterday! I CANNOT believe how quickly the last four weeks have flown by!  As I'm sitting in bed writing this at the end of the day I can't help but look back at this month, and how much fun I've had, how many friends I've made, and how quickly I've managed to feel at home here  in NZ and particularly in both places I've worked at so far. Today alone I've had three stand out moments; the first was receiving a lovely text this morning from Sheena (my first WWOOFing boss from Clevedon) saying how much they all missed me, especially wee Bobby the puppy, and wanting to make sure I was ok and to see how I was getting on. Such a simple but touching message, it made me feel so fortunate to have been able to meet this lovely family (since it was a total roundabout way; my sisters friend from uni - Vincent- 's mother was friends with Dermot a long time ago and thought to put me in with him to stay with/work,  when she'd heard randomly in passing [via her son who my sister had been telling that I was going to NZ] I was coming to here, such a small steam of coincidences that lead to an amazing experience and such a well matched host/volunteer. The second thing was when I saw an image that Bernie shared of myself and Van on her Facebook page worth the caption 'our new friend Fiona' and when I saw my Auntie Rosalyn comment that 'Fiona is everyone's friend' that gave me a wee tear in my eye 💜. 

Photo credit to Bernie. 

The last lovely moment was tonight, sitting chatting with Sally and Marijke, when discussing how we couldn't believe that I had already been here almost a full two weeks, they said that I'd fitted myself right into life here in the Coromandel, and that I felt like part of the family - something that Sheena had also said before I left Clevedon. I have felt that I've slotted in quite well here too, Marijke and I get on so well (even tho it's totally different to my chemistry with Sheena which was also great!) and have a lot of mutual interests and views things [vague I know...sorry!], I love the arty, hippy, foodie community that I've been immersed in this past two weeks, and I love how this suits just as well as Clevedon did. Mostly I'm relieved and also thankful that they feel the same about me, and I'm so optimistic (even more than usual) for what the next 6 months has to offer!! Bring it on! (I am missing my pals and my family, but weirdly they don't feel that far away! 😌) 

Ok, speech over! Haha maybe this hippy dippy community is rubbing off a bit heavily tonight haha goodnight (and is peace a bit too much? 😂😎)