Sunday August 19

It’s gone. The campervan is finally gone. Back to its home. Handed in. Turned over. Done.

Before that, we slept LATE. Amazing what clean sheets, regulated temperature, and some black-out curtains can achieve! When Micah and I left the rooms at 8:45 to go eat something, rest were still asleep.

Light breakfast in the Club Room with Micah, and David took the other two a bit later. Then we looking for laundry. Drove to the town near the airport, Mangere, and found one of the many laundromats in the area (of course none in the Central Business District of Auckalnd!).

Found the laundromat, but Sam had a massive anxiety attack and refused to get out of the van! So I went in and did the laundry while David took the kids across to the grocery store.

Great laundromat. Huge industrial machines, holding 25kg of laundry! That’s a lot. And very efficient. I got everything done.

Only casualty was Sofia’s sneakers. The other day she had gotten them very wet (possibly she peed in them too) and even after their own run through the washing machine, I could not get the stink out of them. So we left them at the laundromat. I hope someone else can use them.

The campervan folks arranged our ride “home” to the hotel. When we returned, we got into our new rooms, on the 12th floor. Exactly the same as the old (from 626 and 627 to 1226 and 1227).

Then we walked back fown to have lunch. Ended up in the same area as yesterday, for Italian food this time. Folks at the table next to us were speaking Hebrew! I had a brief conversation in Hebrew; the guy has lived here for more than 20 years.

Walked back through the rain to the hotel and took the kids swimming in the very chilly hotel pool. The boys all went into the men’s room sauna, but Sofia did not like the ladies’ room sauna so I took her back up to the room and gave her a bath.

Then off for dinner. David had looked up a good sushi place nearby, but it took a while to find it (we turned the wrong way first). Yummy sushi, but the kids were too tired. They did make Micah a roll without sesame, but he also wanted the age tofu, which did have sesame, so he was sad. And Sam’s tummy hurt, so he couldn’t finish his roll. But Sofia loved her rice and miso and edamame and Japanese pickles. I really enjoyed the “Bridge” roll, which was basically salmon and avocado but coated with red and black roe.

David took the kids back to the hotel, but I went in the other direction in search of a pharmacy (something David needed) and a dessert shop (for Micah). Success for both.

Now we’re all in bed, watching the last Harry Potter movie on Sky TV (in both rooms!). David starts work in the morning. He’s kind of nervous. And it looks as if he’ll be staying an extra week for another company, so that will be three weeks he’s here alone. Yuch.

Not sure what I’ll do with the kids tomorrow besides shop, except maybe go to the Sky Tower.