Saturday 4th May
I slept well in the night and kept dozing off when I woke up in the morning. I finally got myself up at 8.45am and showered and got dressed. I made my bed and packed up most my belongings. I went upstairs and Sue was on the phone, so I sat down and watched a TV programme, as the TV was on. I also stared out of the window at the stunning view. Once Sue was off the phone she told me to help myself to breakfast whilst she showered. I had a banana and a fajio?? fruit and then a massive bowl of cereal. I watched 'Come Dine With Me'. Once I had finished I washed up my breakfast things and all the things in the sink. Sue reappeared and we had a cup of tea whilst chatting and watching TV. After a while Sue put on a show she had recorded this morning that she thought I might like, it was about a female farm manager. It was interesting to watch, especially as it was about beef and sheep. Once that was finished I brushed my teeth and finished packing my bag. By the time I came back upstairs with my bags and we got into the car. I said goodbye to Ginge and off we went. We were driving back to the Lake House. Sue was taking me back the other route and through Kiwi Capital of the World. As we were only 10mins away from the house, we had to head back to pick up Sue's bag and phone. We started the drive again, we drove back along the port, seeing all the containers and ships. We drove past the kiwi farms and all the vines. The forecast suggested rain and there were a few grey clouds, so the option of visiting a kiwi centre was not on the cards (as it was all outside), instead we would go to a honey place, which did health products, had bees and a cafe. We drove up to it, it was about half way to the lake, it seemed rather quite. As we walked in, it was obvious they were doing some redevelopment and there were no bees. We looked at some of the products and displays, before ordering lunch at the cafe. We had toasties, I had a cheese and ham with a cuppa. I felt bad I hadn't even offered to pay for anything over the past few days. The food took a little while to come and we say and chatted. The food arrived and we ate and chatted. After we were finished we headed back into the road. The drive to Rotorua seemed short. As we drove closer to the city we saw the last of the people walking and running the marathon that had been held today. We had a good laugh at some of the runners, their techniques and occasionally what they were wearing. The marathon slowed the traffic but we were soon past the runners and walkers. In the city centre we stopped at the outdoor shop, this shop had literally everything you could want for an outdoor shop (fishing, walking, camping, hunting, cycling, kayaking etc). We spent about 10mins walking around, before we headed out to the lake. The weather was holding off the rain. The views on the drive were as amazing as the first time. We soon weaved up and down the roads and were at the lake house. After emptying the car, I showed Sue my Stray magazine. After we had gone through the routes and places, I settled down in the sitting room and started writing my diary (I was now scarily behind), but wrote a few worlds before I swapped it to reading my book. I helped Sue download the book apps and how to find books. I continued to read for a bit, but then gave up and played some games, whilst the TV was on with a cuppa and some biscuits and nuts. Sue had lit a fire before starting on dinner. It was now getting lovely a toasty in the house. Dinner (tagatelli, mushrooms and bacon with coleslaw and broccoli). We ate at around 5.30pm, it was earlier to eat, but I managed 2 helpings. After dinner, we sat in the sitting room with the fire watching TV (fishing, vets, cooking) and I continued to write my diary. Rain started to fall heavily and it continued to rain on and off for the whole evening. There was a few flashes of lightening but we only heard a couple of cracks of thunder. But we were warm and cosy in our house with fire burning. At around 11pm it was time for bed. I got into bed and read for a while before settling down to sleep.