Day 3, Level 2: Cars, Markets and Fig Trees

What a stunning day - although there was a serious nip in the air.

After wishing Michael a Happy 24th Birthday, reading the paper and doing the Saturday morning quiz over coffee in bed, we tootled into Matakana to go to the Farmers Market and support the locals get back up and running. 

Brett had bought a new (well, not brand new) car just before lockdown. It has sat in the garage for all these weeks! I hadn't even been inside it and got to drive it for the first time. Very nice it is too. Compact and with gadgetry he still hasn't got to grips with yet. My old car has none of that but I managed to sort all the buttons and switches.

There were loads of cars out on the road today, understandably, and approaching Matakana it felt like the old days. 

Except that when we got to the Farmer's Market, there were hardly any stalls open. It was probably only operating at a quarter or a third of the usual offerings. That surprised me. Nevertheless we got ourselves some nice brunch - croque monsieur and Portuguese custard tarts, so it wasn't very Kiwi. But it was very yummy. There was a French guy on a guitar singing French jazz songs as people watched and tapped their feet in the sunshine - felt more like we were in in France than NZ! Very relaxed, all good. 

Rustic and usually full of goodies - but very quiet today

Bought some bread and fruit and veges and had a chat to the lovely Roger who lives locally and produces Matakana Honey. He was a builder for years but got sick of all the rules and regulations, bought some hives and hasn't looked back. His girlfriend runs the stall opposite selling all sorts of fresh and fabulous produce. They have the best mandarins in the business. Ikes Mandarins - the sell like hotcakes.

Roger's family had one of the very early holiday homes at Omaha back in the early 1970s, along with us, and we all grew up together at the weekends. Great days of fun and freedom. And here we are, still enjoying the area all these [nearly 50] years later, and still reconnecting.

Rog and his Matakana Honey - try some!

We then made our way to local garden centre where we purchased three fig trees and associated planting paraphernalia. 

Figs are one of my favourite fruits - reminds me of warm summer days in Europe. It'll be a couple of years before they produce a crop - I'm looking forward to it already.

I'm not very green-fingered at all, but Brett is handy in the garden. So we now have three different fig varieties all planted and staked and fertilised and watered - and hopefully establishing themselves already!

Matakana surprised me somewhat today as there were plenty of cars (not easy to get a park) and people everywhere - but it didn't seem chaotic like it did pre-Covid. Not so much rushing and bustling and pushing and shoving and desperation. There was a mellow atmosphere and it was nice. 

Brett went surfing with a friend to Tawharanui (they had fun, caught a few waves, said it was really busy) and I took a walk down to Omaha Beach. It was a blue sky day but I was taken aback at how windy it was on the beach, and with a severe southerly chill in the air. Despite that, it was busy with people pretending it was pleasant. Quite a few in swimming. Brrr. I lasted five minutes and hot-footed it home to the warm sunny sheltered deck! What a contrast. 

I think this well-behaved dog was willing his masters to stop pretending it was a warm summer's day!
It was blowing a gale and freezing!

Had an eye on the Oz races, did the cryptic and puzzles in the paper, did a bit of work. We're both enjoying having company again, but in no hurry to go all out socialising. 

BRUNCH: Croque monsieur & Portuguese tarts at the market.

DINNER: We toyed with going out for dinner but had lamb shanks, roast veges and red wine at home instead. Delicious.

After dinner we tried watching the McLaren doco that the TV failed to operate last night. This time the TV behaved. It was very good. So is the one on Ayrton Senna BTW, which I watched a while back. Two racing lives lost too young - F1 is a risky business and these stories are both full of enormous happiness and inestimable sadness. 

The old McLaren garage is just a few minutes from our home. 

Bruce was certainly an innovator and seemed an all-round nice guy. He pushed the envelope just a teeny bit too far that fateful day in 1970. And then there's Michael Schumacher who pushed the limits on the track but it went wrong on the ski slopes. 

No one ever knows what's round the corner. And sometimes that "one last go" is just not worth it.

Then we watched the Frank Lloyd Wright doco. Just as the famous Guggenheim in NYC is fascinating, so was this doco. I'll never forget standing and looking up, outside and inside, at that mesmerising white circular perfection.  Another innovator who changed the state of things. I had no idea his mistress and their two kids were murdered by a house servant. I've no idea what happened to his wife and their six kids, who he left for the mistress. 

SHARE-NOTE OF THE DAY:

Travel ...

People are flying into Queenstown again. People are jubilant to be out and about. People are planning road trips and there's even talk of a Tasman bubble coming sooner rather than later. Yahoo.

I'm still finalising how my travel offering will look and how to promote it. Nearly set.

There are three components and I'll be ready to spread the word this coming week.

Meanwhile, Michael played birthday golf and had a gathering of mates tonight to celebrate the milestone of turning 24. He's enjoying his new flat and taking next steps in his journey. We'll go out for a nice dinner next week back in Auckland and celebrate with him then.

Hmm, this time 24 years ago I was having blood transfusions and emergency surgery following what was a swift and textbook birth. Oh how things can go wrong. As McLaren, Senna and Schumacher's stories tell. Let's stay safe.