8 April 2016

Today everyone went to the botanical gardens.  It was great to have everyone together for the day!  On the way there we passed by an area where the streets were blocked off and we saw the top of a large green screen.  They are currently filming “The Ghost in the Shell” in Wellington starring Scarlet Johansson (Hamish is working on the film.) and filming was taking place today!  We couldn’t see anything due to the large screens installed to prevent such viewing but we were excited knowing that we were in close proximity to the shoot!

We lunched at the Botanical Gardens and then enjoyed wandering through them.

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Afterwards we drove through an amazing old cemetery in Wellington and stopped to take some photos. Bizzy fixed us a nice dinner and we and watched Star Wars The Force Awakens. It was a lovely day, nice weather and wonderful company.

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9 April 2016

Today we visited the Te Papa Museum’s Gallipoli exhibit.  The sculpts represent real people; their photos used as reference for the sculpts.  Each of their stories is told in audio and visual as you pass through the exhibit.  The personal stories give a real sense of the sacrifices made and the personal tragedy of war.  The figures were about 3 times larger than life size; the detail was incredible down to body hair, perspiration and tears.  It was so moving; I left feeling sad and inspired by their stories and I am so glad we were able to see it.  Lindsey designed some of the figures in this amazing exhibit.

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We all met at The Park Kitchen in the Miramar district of Wellington for a special dinner, part thank you and goodbye to Lynnette’s family and part early birthday celebration for me.  Afterwards back at the Bakers, Lynnette and I watched “The Martian” with Lindsey and Andrew.  I was touched and surprised by an autographed copy of  the “Hobbit Chronicles” as a birthday gift presented to me by Lindsey and Andrew.  They both signed the book a did a drawing. I will treasure it always.

10 April 2016

Bizzy was under the weather on Monday, which we all attributed to the fish dish she ate the night before that featured squid ink.  She said it was delicious and she ate every bite; but really, should squid ink be consumed?  Lynnette and I think not. We were leaving early Tuesday morning so we packed everything up the night before.  Lynnette had a Tetras puzzle trying to fit the trolls she bought at The Weta Cave into her bags but was successful after ditching the boxes.  Andrew prepared a phenomenal meal for our “last supper”.  He made a savory filling of kumara, onion, golden lentils and I don’t know what other deliciousness, wrapped it in phyllo dough and topped with roasted pumpkin seeds.  It was wonderful!  Handsome, sweet, talented and he can cook too!  Chiba seemed to sense our departure and gave us extra love all evening sleeping in our bed for a time.  We miss them all, including Chiba! Thank you Andrew, Lindsey, Bizzy, Hamish, Friday and Chiba for taking such good care of us and showing us a fabulous time.

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