Woke up (late) this morning to find that it was pxxxing down with rain, but we are still hopeful of a sunny day tomorrow.
After a lazy morning around the house, we went out for an xmas eve lunch at the SOI Cafe Bar in Hataitai, which is on Evans Bay to the east of Wellington. Interestingly, the xmas menu includes Char Grilled Lamb Sanwiches, Risotto Cakes or Fish and Chips !, and for dessert Mince Pie, Chocolate Mousse or Melon Ball Skewer.
The SOI is built on stilts out into the water affording waterside seating for the majority of patrons - pity the weather was not better. We had a good view of the planes coming into land at the airport across the bay though.
After we left the cafe we went out to the north of the city up the Hutt River valley to a shopping centre to buy a couple of last minute gifts, then back to the house. Wellington city is built around the harbour but most of the suburbs stretch up the various coasts or up the steep wooded hills that surround the city. Dawn & Ross`s house in Karori is in one of the higher suburbs and a lot of the streets are very steep and twisty. One of the routes between the centre and Karori takes you passed Premier House - the residence of the Prime Minister. It is a very real contrast to Downing Street, in that it is a normal residential street, with unrestricted traffic, no visible security and the house itself is visible through the bushes and trees beyond the wooden fence surrounding the house.
We got back to the house at about 5.15pm and settled in for the evening - it was still raining ! Spent the evening playing various Playstation and card games until the younger ones eventually went to bed.
In the morning we are intending to undertake the local xmas day ritual of going down to Scorching Bay and having a dip and a picnic - will update you on the result of the adventure.