Wednesday, December 4th, 2013
The clouds have pocketed the entire North Island now and the rain is coming down in buckets with no sign of relief until well after we leave :( It would be perfect day to stay in pj's with a good book - but it's our last day here.
We enjoyed our morning visiting with Hiwi and her friend Willie before heading off, first, to visit my sister-in-law Novi who describes herself as the hunter-gatherer of the family. She likes to spend her time fishing, gathering shellfish and creating beautiful craft items out of smooth stones and shells.
Next, we headed to an internet access provider downtown to buy time to post a blog. I've been there before and it's pretty difficult to post even one blog in the 50mb available to purchase at a time. Posted one, downloaded email and that was it.
We browsed the museum and then headed to the famous Duke of Marlborough for lunch. The "Duke" is the oldest hotel in the area, built during the whaling days in the early 1800's when Russell was known as the "hell hole of the Pacific". This, now elegant, hotel was a grog shop and whore house for most of its life, burning to the ground three times and rebuilt following each destruction until it finally had to apply for a liquor licence and changed its name to what it is today. It's now an award winning establishment for its food and service and I'm sure the wonderful setting on the bayshore has contributed to its status. After lunch we purchased wifi time with our cup of tea and I was able to post 3 more days on the blog - much better service here!
We finally faced the wet weather again, borrowed umbrellas in hand and completed visiting sights on our list before picking up some wine and heading back to Hiwi's for dinner and more visiting with my 3rd Russell sister-in-law, Necia, who joined us for the evening.
We burned the midnight oil chatting until Tina and I finally gave in to fatigue and retired for the rest of the night. Those sisters and Willie continued chatting, singing and ukulele-playing until the wee hours! That's now 2 nights of singing we've missed because we can't keep up to those Knowles's!
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