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Monday 7 March 2011

Whiteman Park Picnic

Today we had a family picnic at Whiteman Park. It was simply wonderful. The weather was perfect, sunny and warm but with a gentle cool breeze.

I caught up with my girlfriend Louise too.** Everyone brought such delicious things to eat, there were three types of salads and two homemade dressings to go on them, several types of sausages, breads, fruits, cakes and danish pastries too. The little kids all took a ride on the train and we waved like mad things as the kids went past. Mr W and his Poppy B went on the tram and then Mr W introduced himself to another group who were playing cricket*** with their kids because he couldn't wait for all the Dads in our group to finish their afternoon siestas.

When all the men had recharged their batteries we had a game of cricket, which Louise and I agree is not a good idea in Sandals, and then the boys also had a game of Aussie Rules Football*. There is a paddling pool at the park so most of the little ones had a nice slash about in the water. Then they dried off and had scooter races and played in the jungle gym for hours.

We are so lucky to be able to have such a lovely day together with family and good friends (that we consider part of our family). Luckily DH had the day off work today so he was able to come along too, which was wonderful because he drove home and Mr W and I had a little snooze in the car. What a happy, busy day.

**Louise is my friend who was in Christchurch during the recent quakes. She showed me all her pictures taken on her trip. Truly amazing images of roads shifted sideways by 4 metres, and her sister's house that looked like a bomb has gone off inside it. She had loads of pictures from the day before the Feb 22 quake which showed many buildings braced up and being repaired from the Sept 4th quake last year.

* Aussie Rules Football (AFL) is our national  (winter) pastime. Played on an oval shaped field, with a similarly shaped ball. 

Click the link above to find out more about AFL and see a video of some game time action. The players wear no protective gear (other than a mouth guard) and a really good match can even get me off my chair, shouting at the TV and waving my scarf in the air.

*** Cricket is our national (summer) pastime. Although more people seem to watch it than play it. Interestingly, it is played on the same field as AFL. Matches (or tests as they are called) can go on for many many many days. A one day match or a limited overs match can be interesting to watch, but I prefer to tape it and then fast forward through a 5 day match in about 30 minutes... or catch the highlights in the sports news. Sorry cricket lovers... on the upside, this game does move slowly enough to be able to stitch temari without ever stabbing yourself with the needle.

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