Weekend on the Marae at Wainuiamata...

Well the weekend starts today, Friday, as I stuff my duvet into a big plastic bag to be my bedding for the weekend. God alone knows what else I'll need on this weekend which everyone tells me will be fantastic. The weather is already bad, my new French housemate has told me she has a new job in Napier and will be leaving at the end of the month. It is not a great start to my weekend but I must put all this behind me as I will get a new housemate who will be just as good, if not better. Sonny its turning out to be just that, a mother's boy with not a great idea of looking after himself, or his room as I noticed on a cursory visit. But he is nice but just hasn't been trained properly although I'm sure his mother thinks he is perfect. At least he starts a mini-job this Saturday at an upmarket restaurant on Oriental Parade. This will do him good, and I am happy to get him out of the house for a while.

So I am in Caffe L'Affare, the trendy cafe in Tory Street which sponsors my neighbour Matt. My coffee is a large flat white, and tastes only of milk. I tell the attentive waiter and he says he will get me another, with 'full extraction', meaning more coffee flavour and much less milk, which is what I really wanted in the beginning. Perhaps that is what I need to say next time as I am sick of getting a 'latte' for a 'flat white'. The second, complimentary coffee is much better, but still not my perfect coffee...perhaps I will never get a perfect coffee in these lower worlds.

Having just left Bella at Europe Motors for her WOF I am now off to BP for potluck lunch, I will pick up some sushi on the way. I have time for one short Spanish Russian Doco called 'Demonstration' at the Film Archives, before I hit the road for the Wanuiamata Marae for a long weekend, not too long I hope! Just received a late email from the organiser, my teacher Gaylene, giving me the Google Map which I had looked at already this morning. It still doesn't show exactly where the Marae is anyway! Such are Maori directions, quite a bit like Aboriginal directions, 'you'll get there mate'. 

It's interesting that the longer I stay here the more Aussie I become, and one day I will return I am sure, to take my place with my Aboriginal brothers and sisters. But I still have a couple more years to acclimatise myslf to the Kiwi life, which still has me learning a lot, and where every single day is a new adventure. When I stop learning, I will leave.

Caffe L'Affare on Tory St

The second, better coffee.