Easter weekend

Easter is a 4 day holiday here in New Zealand. Good Friday and Easter Monday are both public holidays. Shops close. Restaurants charge a 15-20% premium to cover the higher wages they have to pay. Most people leave town.

It is kind of like Thanksgiving, minus the shopping frenzy. Maybe next year I'll organizing a thanksgiving meal, given that it is fall here, but this year everyone we knew seemed to be leaving town. Plus its been a crazy sunny Indian summer that makes one want to barbecue and eat ice cream --- not gathering indoors to tuck into a roast bird and all the trimmings.

Actually I take that back about the shopping frenzy – there was a mini one Thursday night in anticipation of an entire weekend of closed grocery stores combined with a big meal to fix on Sunday. The shops are open nowadays on Saturday, but friends here say that the supermarkets were closed the entire weekend in years past.

Traveler has been working really really hard lately with his company. So hard he is complaining of a 'brain sprain.' I am not sure what that is, but I can vouch for real physical and mental effects that I am seeing in him.

I've been struggling with some minor health issues mostly related to the ovarian surgery I had back in 1998 and the implications that I now have to sort out. I am going through a wee period of 'its not fair' which I suspect will pass.

All in all, it was a perfect time to take some time to relax and have a proper vacation. Only problem – we've been so tired and overworked and down and out that neither of us really had it in us to plan a weekend away. Plus this weekend is a more expensive time to travel and one in which booking are essential – particularly with the great weather we've been having.

So our dear friends came to the rescue and offered us a key to their house as a home away from home while they were traveling. It has been a perfect weekend. I've completely relaxed.

Everything has a place at their home. I find it really easy to clean up and chill out here. They have novel things like a bathtub, long sofa, bed elevated off the floor, deck, and even a barbecue! In other words, perfect for relaxing.

We were even cheeky and borrowed their Frisbee golf discs to play a round of golf out in Upper Hutt.

Then were off to explore Kaikote Park

And we made some yummy dinner on their barbecue!
We finished up the evening with some reading followed by a movie.

Sometimes you just need to get away from your own house and all the worries, chores, and work it contains and reminds you of. I think this is even more important when you partially work from your house.