This morning we went into Upper Hutt again so Dave could get his hair cut at the barbers, and we could hand in our 2 books in exchange for the ones we bought yesterday. Mary had offered to drive us over the mountain to the Wairopa Valley and had made sandwiches so we bought some cakes to take with us too.

Back at Mary's, we packed up her car with the food (and some bottles of Tui) and we hit the road. We drove over the mountain on the windy roads, and through the roadworks and stopped in the town of Carterton. Mary took us to the Paua factory and shop. Paua shells get washed in from the Ocean and are cleaned up in factories like this, to reveal the very pretty colours of the shells underneath. These are cut up and used decoratively a lot in Maori sculptures (for the eyes) and are made into jewellery. We had a look around the shop and the factory, and had a free coffee (but had to pay 30c for a biscuit!) and bought a little sheep as a souvenier!

We then had our picnic in the carpark pic nic area before driving back. I spent the rest of the day sorting out photos and updating the blog. Richard, Jacqui adn Scott were coming for tea so Mary prepared that. We had a lovely tea then everyone sat down to watch Coronation Street while I washed up. Dave gave everyone lots of spoilers for Corrie! When the others went home we sat up watching TV for a while before going to bed - our last night with the electric blanket!