This was the view out of the window at work after most of us had ventured in. We then spent the day wistfully looking out of the window hoping to go home and build snowmen (and sing the song from Frozen). By the end of the day it was brown slush and any hopes of a snow day tomorrow have turned into dreams of an ice day.
Went to Mamma Mia tonight with Mummy Pigalina and Aunty Pigalina. It was fantastic, colourful, fun and the whole cast looked like they were having the time of their lives. Mr Pigalina is allergic to musicals so he stayed at home.
Highly recommended – 9 shows left!
As part of Youth Week a huge wall in South Dunedin is getting made over with a collaborative mural. We went to have a look today and the people involved are doing a great job. On Friday a few of us from work are hoping to go and help out with a bit of painting. Not sure if there is much call for my specialty – cats made out of two circles and two triangles, but you never know.
When in Wanaka it is the law that you must take a photo of someone getting a smack from the giant hand sculpture. It was surprisingly hard for my nephew to follow my instructions to maneuver into position, so this blurry effort is the best we have.
What a fantastic day for Autumn – The Pigalinas went on a bike ride from Hawea to Albert Town (20kms return) along the river and then spent some time with the family down at the lake.
(An aside – There is a video of Pigalina, aged 13, having a bit of a freak out in a blow up boat on Lake Hawea. I couldn’t get back to shore. The camera pans back to reveal that I was only about 4 metres out. How my family laughed. This time I managed to control my fear despite the other person in the kayak with me ignoring my frantic paddling back to the beach.)
As mentioned yesterday, Hawea is way better than Wanaka which gets all the glory. There were two other groups down at the lake when we were there. The next day in Wanaka the place was over run with people, cars, ducks and boats. Hawea for the win. Everytime.
I woke up in time for the Dawn Service but it was pouring with rain so, I’m sorry, I remained in bed.
It was a changeable day as you can see from this picture taken on our walk today.
Here’s a tip for you too if you are traveling in Central Otago: Hawea is way better than Wanaka. They are only 20 minutes apart but Hawea has about 20 times less people.
You must think that I never work, and this week you would be right. We have just had Easter weekend and now we are heading for ANZAC Day, which this year falls on a Friday.
Mr Pigalina’s side of the family are heading to Lake Hawea in Central Otago and we took a half day to go too.
Here is the view from the Cromwell lookout on the way.
Every Winter our front lawn gets covered in patches of Fuligo septica – aka dog vomit slime mold. It looks like a party happened in the night and everyone vomited all over the lawn. It is bizarre stuff and can move around (though not visibly, very slowly). We have it in two shades – white and yellow. It took me quite a while to find out what it was from googling a description. I have never seen it on anyone else’s lawn in the neighbourhood which just makes it worse. I feel like people who walk past are judging my filthy lawn.
The Pigalinas had a Dunedin Date today – a grand day out in our home town. We started at Sandfly Bay where we saw eight seals. And it was as steep on the way back up the sand hill as I had remembered. We then had coffee at Portobello’s Penguin Cafe where I ate a deliciously crunchy Yellow Eyed Penguin (gingerbread). There was a brief visit to St Clair before lunch in the Octagon and a look at an exhibition in the Dunedin Public Art Gallery. It is fun being a tourist in your own town. You must keep telling yourself this when you are dressed like a dork in your walking clothes in the middle of town – your touristy walking pants riding up to show your “dogs of the world” socks and your running shoes while you try to look like a cool person who lunches at bars.
To Smaill’s Beach today for a change of scene and while there we saw two seals asleep in the sun. Why they pick the busy beaches I do not know.
Pigalina's Palace 