Bricks, Christmas trees and other things

It has been quite hot in Auckland the past couple of days and yesterday I was thinking of having a whinge about it and feeling sad about no longer living in a cold climate until I checked Metservice and discovered that it was actually hotter in Christchurch. It’s not actually that bad anyway. We get a lovely breeze through our new house and the evenings are always cool.

We ventured into the CBD today to spend Ben’s voucher at a store called Nood (voucher courtesy of his old work – thank you, old work). The Nood store is housed in this building:

We pulled up outside and I took one look and felt certain it was on that secret list of seismically risky buildings. We still all went inside though: the whole lot of us, kids included. Daniel kept asking us why the building was made from bricks and told us they’d all fall down if there was an earthquake. But he was happy to go inside also. The building actually looked safer from the inside with lots of steel supporting beams so maybe this is one of the buildings that have been strengthened. We bought a really cool coat rack then drove up to Mairangi Bay for coffee.

One of Daniel’s favourite activities is going to a café. He has very sophisticated tastes. When we asked him what he wanted to do today this is what he wanted: to go to a café. 

Elizabeth’s first fluffy

Afterwards we had a quick peep at the beach. Mairangi Bay is one of the eastern bay suburbs on the North Shore. The shopping village that runs parallel to the beach is a very busy place on the weekend with loads of people flocking to cafes, shops and a weekend market. The beach itself was fairly quiet.

We decided to get a new Christmas tree this year. Five years ago we bought a small Douglas Fir Fig which has been kept in a pot and brought in each year for Christmas. The poor tree has outgrown its pot and become sickly and straggly-looking. We’ve put it in the garden for now. Today we splashed out and bought a cut tree from someone selling them by the roadside. It smells delicious and looks gorgeous. It’s the nicest Christmas tree I’ve ever had. Here ’tis: