weekn20

Sunday 2nd April. Finally, in the afternoon, I got Rob to go down the beach with us! Not brilliant weather but still warm and plenty people on the beach and in the sea. The three of us strolled along but then I decided to walk back and have a sit down. Rob and N walked a fair bit further. Monday 3rd April. Down to the beach again in the afternoon. The tide was well in and we sat close to the ramp down from the surf beach. Definitely getting cooler now. Suddenly the hills seem to be covered in Pampas grass which has come into flower. Stunning. Tuesday 4th April. Weather warning for heavy rain. Seems we are in the path of cyclone Debbie which hit Queensland a few days ago Goat Islamd Goat Islamd Story! . The rain started after lunch heavy and torrential. Was very pleased to see Rob get back home from work. Wednesday 5th April More heavy rain overnight. I had physio appointment at 11am and it wasn't raining when I left. Good session today after I had explained to her that I couldn't lie on my front. I sat on the couch and she applied pressure to my bones when I moved sideways. Can definitely feel some improvement at last! Heavy rain on the way back home. By teatime the worst of the rain was over. Waybe valley road is flooded so Rob had to round via Wellsford. The rain and flooding has been much worse south of Auckland. Thursday 6th April. Our last day out! Checked that Matakana Valley Road was open after the rain before we left. There had been several landslips on the north side but they had been cleared. Very efficient! First stop was Goat Island where I had hoped we could walk along the beach. Once again the tide was in and we couldn't even get to the beach as the little river was in full flow. Still glad we went to say goodbye for this trip. We were pleased to see that there were several shags nesting in the trees there. Memories of our last trip when we spent a lot of time watching the young ones. Next stop was back in to Leigh to have snapper and chips. Always good fish from there due to their proximity to Leigh fisheries and harbour Goat Island Goat Island Story! . Then on to Mathesons Bay where we stayed a while getting out the chairs out for the last time. Final stop was back to visit Jill and John at Omaha River Retreat which was our home for five months on our last trip. Felt very nostalgic . So many memories of our time there and many visits from Danni and Jonny. Friday 7th April. Our last full day. I had physio appointment at 10am. Another successful session. Back home to clean, tidy up and pack. Busy day. When Rob got home he put our cases in his car ready for tomorrow. After tea we had FaceTime call with Steve who is in hospital following knee surgery. Rob was there as well so we had a good laugh. Saturday 8th April. Up quite early again. Seem not to have adjusted yet to the change of clocks yet. Still with all the hours change over the next few days it's not a problem! Final tidy up and packing of hand luggage Mathesons Bay Mathesons Bay . John (landlord) and Kay arrived 11.15 to do a house check. We left them there and said goodbye to our beautiful little house. Drove to Rob's work, United Autos in Warkworth. Was pleased to know that was our last drive down the Dome. There was yet another fatal crash there last night. Such stupid drivers. Left car with Rob and went to cafe over the road for a quick snack. Left 1pm when Rob closed the garage. Good drive to airport but busy as usual. Arrived 2.20 well early for flight . Found special assistance seating area and now airing there until check in opens at 4 pm. Told Rob not to hang around so said goodbye as soon as we were seated, needed to get the goodbyes said over and done with quickly. So very sad! Checked in when it opened and back to seating area to wait for my wheelchair to arrive and then whisked off through security and immigration. We were soon boarded and off we went after another amazing stay in this wonderful country Mathesons Bay Mathesons Bay . Arrived Melbourne as scheduled and was met by wheelchair assistance. Told him our bags were going straight through to Dubai but he said that wasn't possible as our flight out wasn't for another 24 hours. So, went to baggage controller to check. He said bags would be on carousel. Bags weren't on carousel, we watched it go round many times! Wheelchair man (boy) went off and came back to say that bags had been retained as they didn't know what to do with them so they would now deliver them down the oversized baggage shute. So, finally reunited with our bags. Had we not had the airport assistance goodness knows when we would have found them as we would have gone off to our hotel thinking the bags were going straight through. Into taxi and off to our hotel, Alexander Motor Inn, for the night. Checked in and found we were in upstairs room and no lift. Could have been a problem with the bags but very kind German guy was a tremendous help. Very pleased to get to bed at long last.