Journey Home

Auckland is dominated by a motorway system.
Although New Zealand has not quite learnt the correct way to handle a large mass of traffic but they are trying.
Having come from Europe myself, I have seen large systems in place and know how they should work!

Coming home we went past a huge amount of roadworks, now I know this was to be expected as it was almost midnight on a Sunday night, so they don't expect a lot of traffic and thus making it a prime time to fix roads.
However not long out of town we got dropped from 3 lanes down to 1, this was because they were preparing for the work they were going to do later. It caused a lot of traffic build up. In my eyes they could so easily have waited half an hour, let the majority of the concert traffic go past on the motorway and then set up their cones without too much disruption!
I know the concert didn't cause that much traffic but it definitely caused more than your usual amount at this time on a Sunday evening.

However the best was yet to come.
Just as we were getting to the main out of South Auckland suburd area we got warned that the motorway ahead was closed and therefore we were getting diverted off the motorway.
I quickly worked out where we were and reassured Steve that this was actually an easy detour because they could take us off at the junction, take us cross country and bring us back on 2 junctions south. It meant a little detour through Takanini and Papakura but would only add an extra 10 mins at most. I didn't however actually know how to do the route so we followed the detour signs like good people.
So we followed the detour through Takanini and into Papakura. At the main lights in town this convoy of traffic (about 30-40 odd cars) turned right and then left and then left again and then surprise surprise left again, suddenly we were going back down where we had come from!
Steve questioned this but this was exactly what the signs had said.
We then turned left again a little further down the road and we guessed that they had wanted to keep the traffic flowing so had you do this crazy loop around Papakura centre.
However then suddenly we were at a set of lights and back in the centre of town again.
I very quickly realised, as did all the other traffic that if we followed the signs we would happily spend midnight going in a loop around Papakura.

Now you have to remember that most of the people in this convoy were trying to go south out of Auckland and for most this area was somewhere they had never been before, so here we are at midnight stuck in the centre of a town that we don't know with no idea as to which way the motorway was.

So I did the next best thing, I got my mobile out and called *555 which takes you through to the transport police. I happily explained the situation and told them they had better get someone into Papakura PDQ as there was a convoy of very annoyed travellers just trying to get home.
He guessed someone had been playing with the signs and said they would get it looked at.
We told him where we were currently sitting and he happily directed us to the motorway on ramp, which was still 2ks away from where we were!
By the time we got to the motorway, we were actually the only car out there, so what happened to the other 30-40 I have no idea, probably still going round and round Papakura town centre.

Luckily for us from there it was a free drive home for the next hour with no more troubles or roadworks!

Computer Problems

At some stage or other everyone puts up a post about this!

Our computer is fine, no problems there but our internet speed is in basic words 'crap'

Last year I adjusted our monthly amount so we never had to worry about using up all our usage. Went from 1MB to 5MB a month.

Never had any problems with it and it there ever was a problem with the internet connection then I just unplugged the modem, waited 5 minutes, plugged it back in, waited another 5 mins and hey presto everything would work again.

For the last week I have noticed that we are running ever so slow, I mean slower than dial up, if there is anything that slow anymore!

Once you had one page open you never stood a chance if you wanted to open another tab at the same time, it was like an internet death sentence!

So I finally called the company and asked if there was any problems in the area that we should know about?

His answer to me was 'Do you always run at that speed?' meaning we are running at 10x less than the minimum recommended basic speed.

So after having to unplug all the telephones in the house he did a quick line test, still running slow. Quick change of the filter on the modem and everything was fine but still slow. So now he has logged it with a technician.
So now we sit and wait for them to organise a tech to come and look at the exchange in the street, hopefully that will be before the end of the week and maybe by the weekend we will have fast internet yet again.

Before You Say Anything

I know the background is not the greatest but I had some trouble whilst changing it with The Cutest Blog on The Block Site.
They are having trouble with their site and I have been trying desperately to change it from the Christmas theme I had, because after all it is not Christmas now!
Anyway, I finally managed to get through to something on their site, found a background I thought would be fine in the interim until I could really find something nice and when I saved it to view it was horrible!
So I have had to find something that worked better and I am afraid this is it!

Please bear with me as I wait for them to get sorted so I can get sorted.
Thanks

Unrest in Paradise

Its 11.30 at night and I am laid in bed trying to work out what to write in this post.......

We have had a great day. The boys started the day with a Treasure Hunt, organised by the campsite. It was excellent and I will blog later about exactly what was involved and how you too can use the same principal.
Grandma has been here for the last couple of days and she was now getting ready to pack up and go home.
It was raining when we went grocery shopping in Waihi, which was nice actually because it cooled it down a little for at least 5 minutes. It also meant swimming in the hot pools after lunch was not as hot as it could have been, amazing how hot the pools get with the sun!
The rest of the afternoon was a blob fest, Ben was off playing with other kids at the site and this is where the trouble all started....By the time we sat down for dinner he had successfully dissappeared 3 times to places we didn't know he had gone, nor had he told us or asked permission! The last incident was just as I was about to serve dinner and so he spent most of dinner in timeout....a very noisy timeout I must add, within an hour of that timeout he had already had another! This was all whilst Steve and I were deciding what punishment he required for the next day due to the warnings he had had from us all afternoon. Consequently Ben is now grounded for the morning tomorrow, this meaning that he is not allowed to venture from the caravan. He has to play in or around the caravan, no going to someone else's caravan, no going off to play at the trampoline!
Not quite sure if he fully understands what is involved, but we will see tomorrow, will let you know.
Once all was quiet on the western front, Steve and I sat down and watched "Nim's Island" actually quite a cool little movie, I enjoyed it, but then so did Alex I think!? Because he came plodding out to us half way through in tears, bad dream I think. I knew he wouldn't settle back into bed, so I snuggled him with me on the settee. Before the end of the movie, which was about 2 1/2 hours after they had both gone to bed, all 4 of us were sitting watching it! By the time we all actually went to bed at 11.30pm we had played musical beds. Alex was now restlessly sleeping with me, and Steve was on the top bunk with Ben on the bottom, nothing like having family beds in this place!

Which now brings me back to the start, it is 11.30 at night and I am laid in bed composing this blog, thinking that I really need to get a notebook to write down these wonderful ideas I have so late at night! I composed this post so well last night and now I can't think of the wonderful way I put the words. Oh well life goes on!

Oh Help

I was just in the study posting about Alex's swimming while I had 2 minutes prior to us going for Ben's lesson.

I thought the boys were again watching Funky Monkeys, but how wrong I was.

Alex was apparently playing with the kitchen scissors..............ok I know as a mother you can now imagine exactly what I am going to say or even show you.

Before I do I can honestly say that I didn't even notice this until he started having a hissy fit in front of me because I took the scissors away from him and then I noticed the problem.

Ok, I can hear you all say, we are all sat down now waiting for this horror story, we are prepared for the worst........ok well here goes

This picture shows you exactly what Alex just got up to, very quietly like all things are when children are being sneaky, playing with the kitchen scissors...

Now am I allowed to sell him??