Well, here I am lying in a hammock watching John and Jonny working on a Grand Designs project. I'm half expecting to look up and see a cathedral barn with concrete vaults appear before my very eyes. The idea is to construct a seating area with cushions for lounging on - with the combined forces of a landscape architect and a quantity surveyor at work, the structure is guaranteed to survive earthquakes, tornados and plagues of killer spiders ( of which there have been mercifully few so far). I'll include a photo of said hammock and said men at work when I next propel myself out of the aforesaid hammock. Our body clocks are completely at sea at the moment- a further 2 hour clock change has meant that I immediately fall asleep in any darkened room whatever the time, which has made shopping in trendy, dimly lit boutiques a hazard. Luckily today has been very relaxing. John and I went for a quick bike ride before the sun got too high- lots of wide peaceful streets of gorgeous houses set around man made canals which wind out to sea. And, joy of joys - it's all as flat as a pancake. The steepest part of the ride was the rise of two inches up the drive ( gasp, wheeze)(I obviously don't take after my lovely and energetic mum and dad- although if John and I had a tandem it might be a different story) Reanne then had to go to work and, while John and Jonny did a major washing up session ( combination of dodgy dishwasher and major meal last night- Jonny taking after his dad for fab cooking of chicken in white wine sauce and Reanne following it up with homemade apple pie. Lovely!) I skyped Jordan - so so lovely to see her although after a while she turned into a Dalek and that was that- not bad though considering we're a world apart. Bit disappointed that Marley was completely non committal about hearing my voice (wasn't expecting a fanfare of yodelling but a glimmer of interest would have been nice) After breakfast outside listening to the birds ( and, hey, the birds here are bonkers- I woke up to birds which sound like Donald Duck being strangled or like a mournful, ghostly whistle - imagine fog, London in 1930,footsteps on a wet pavement - or like a full scale chipmunk argument or like a chipper car alarm), John and Jonny set to work and I blissfully pottered about then went to the local supermarket by bike to buy ham, plasters, lager and a broom. The return journey was a master stroke of balance. As I write, Jonny is combining master carpentry with travel agent duties as he books us all a flight to Sydney for a 3 day stay. He and Reanne are going to take us to Manley Beach where they used to live which will mean a lovely ferry ride round the harbour. Auckland has the same arrangement- ferry to work over blue green sea, looking at all the fab boats and houses. Auckland is peppered with suburbs named after English racecourses or royal residences - Epsom, Newmarket, balmoral, Sandringham. There was also a Hillsborough- well known for its royal residences. It transpires that there are 1.2 million people living in Auckland ( again words of wisdom dropped from the lips of the Mastermind taxi driver) and only 4 million in the whole of NZ- which explains why it feels so roomy. I'm hoping for a taxi ride here over the next couple of days to fill in the gaps in the Ten Top Facts About Oz list. And just a few random observations about life here- the bacon is very pale in colour, you can't buy alcohol in supermarkets only in special alcohol stores, cycle helmets are a legal necessity (but only when riding a bike), it's chilly at night( blissful), there's no salt dispenser in dishwashers, Oz paper money is quite dingy in colour and I've fallen in love with the Ute's everyone drives( a pick up truck with two rows of seats). Time to drink tea...........