Despite the weather picking up again – thanks to the Australians for passing on those lovely weather fronts by the way – lots of new job advertisements appeared today, so I stayed in and started working my way through.

Louise popped out to Paraparam and picked up an inflatable mattress, picnic chairs and a humongous cast iron frying pan to replace the $5 one we bought when we arrived – it’s looking like a pan from a refugee camp with the scratch marks from kitchen implements turning into rust spots normally found on the keels of ocean-going ships! The old one can go back in the cupboard for a while now, just in case we want to use it to poison any local wildlife by cooking with it again.

Luckily, I had unwrapped the new frying pan on top of the cooker. I say luckily, because having tried to lift afterwards, I’m fairly certain it’s staying up there. We’d both need a couple of body-building lessons before being able to put it away every meal! Having said that, it was a bargain – and I’m pretty sure Louise got some poor unsuspecting shop assistant with a sack trolley to help her load it into the car! Talking of which, I should really check the car suspension unit now that the pan is inside the house….

As it turns out, Louise has been quite lucky with the shops today – it’s Wellington Region Day which appears to mean another day off for many Kiwis in the Wellington region (every region has its own celebration day evidently)! The main shops were still open though, so after a quick chat about the options for any visitors we have when they sleep, we decided that sleeping without any bedding would just be cruel. The inflatable mattress seemed lovely after a swift trial, so off Louise popped to the shops again. Just as well she doesn’t mind going shopping then…. She’s only got to get bedding anyway…..

Just before I was going to send out a search party a few hours later, Louise turned up. Obviously she had only been to one shop, and only had the bedding that she had gone out for. Methinks I see a sly “satisfied shopping” smile though, so am convinced she may have been telling porkies….

So there you are, come on visitors. Bring it on!