Causing mischief and mayhem!

 Carousel rides aren’t just for little kids ... or parents of little kids.

Big kids enjoy them too!

Today I caught up with my inner child and it was SO much fun!

Time to dismount and be sensible again .... yeah right.

The Whittaker’s Big Egg hunt, trespassing, carousel rides, hide and seek, burgers, ice cream

.... and sunshiny skies in abundance.  

It’s been an ABSOLUTE riot!

You can see the green and pink fairy flitting across to photo bomb my photo.

In Emma’s words

“ ... an absolutely eggsilarating and totally eggshausting day full of giggles, laughter, truly awful egg-yolks and much naughtiness ... an EGGCEPTIONALLY good day!”

I’ll second that and so I think will the significant other.

After all, we could have dropped him down a man-hole ... but DIDN’T.

The Big Egg Hunt is the world’s BIGGEST egg hunt. 

The first hunt was in London in 2010 to engage the general public in a fun and interactive way whilst fundraising for charity.

Since then The Big Egg Hunt has grown.  

This year it’s happening in London, Dublin, New York and here in NZ.

The giant eggs showcase top NZ artists and designers and are to be auctioned off at the end of the hunt to raise funds for Starship.

Em’s, the significant other and I took to the streets today to find as many of the eggs as we could.

There are 100 to be found, 46 of which are hidden in Auckland.

We found 39.

Five more are hidden in the Auckland Museum area and one in Grafton.

The rest of the 100 eggs are hidden in Christchurch and Wellington.

Don’t think there’s much chance of us finding any of those.

The significant other’s navigational skills came in useful.

I’m the world’s worst map-reader and Em’s ISN’T much better.

She’s not QUITE as bad as my mate Carol though.

Our egg hunt took us all OVER the city and had us evicted from a building we apparently weren’t supposed to be in.

Aren’t OPEN doors an invitation to ENTER?

Maybe if the doors hadn’t closed on us, 

we WOULDN’T have struggled to find a way OUT.

It was the BUTTON on the wall that did it.

The security guards who evicted us were pleasant enough but so NOT fun. 

They weren’t appreciative of us playing with the button for the doors and inviting Captain Starship in for a photo session.

Captain Starship and his minder had a good giggle ... as did we.

The one egg we WEREN’T able to find today, no matter how hard we looked, was the WHERE’S WALLY egg! 

He has a roaming location so isn’t as easy to find.

I have taken a gazillion photos, visited my favourite building in the city,

 drooled over multi-million dollar yachts, 

laughed incredulously at the number of apps Em’s had open on her phone

 .... no wonder the Whittaker’s Egg app wouldn’t work, 

seen reflections around every corner and people-watched to my heart’s content.

I will sleep well tonight.

She did look rather ODD from my upside down perspective ...

Sometimes you just need to look at life from a different perspective.

Upside down maybe ..... ? 

 I tried that when I was taking photos this morning but it wasn’t very successful .... maybe because I was laughing too much.  It’s hard to stay on your feet when your insides are jiggling around.

The hound of course, as is her wont when I do these weird and crazy things, just cocks her head to the side and looks at me as if to say “WTF?”

I quite understand her confusion.  If I was her, I’d be thinking the same thing. 
She did look rather odd though from my upside down perspective.

It must be all this sunshine ... it’s addled my brain.  Whoever said New Zealand is the land of the long white cloud hasn’t experienced the summer we’ve had this year.  It has been sublime!  Even though the mornings are darker and the sun’s rising later, it’s definitely very much STILL summer.

These high temperatures are unheard of for March ... and as for the blue skies and sunshine ... wow!  
My little piece of paradise at the arse end of the world is, in the words of Manu Fieldel of MKR “magnifique”!

Would that I could have said the same for Auckland’s public transport system yesterday, particularly the buses.  They are anything BUT magnifique.  They have magical properties ... they VANISH ... and no-one, not even the resident bus driver, knows where they’ve been.  

The youngest lemming and I needed to catch a bus into the city, in order to catch a ferry that was taking us ... and several geriatric members of the public .... to see the Queen Mary 2 in the commercial port at the harbour. 

At 345m long she’s 50m too long for the usual cruise ship berths.  The only berth that’s long enough is in the commercial port and it’s not visible or open to members of the general public.

We somehow managed to miss the bus we were meant to catch ... or it didn’t arrive ... so we walked part of the way and caught an alternative. We arrived in time to join the end of a rather long queue waiting to board the special ferry.  Getting home proved a tad more difficult.  The first bus we planned on catching went AWOL despite the information board insisting it was coming.  It’s due date came and went without the bus being present.  The next one was scheduled to leave the city at 1pm but didn’t arrive until 1.25pm!  Go figure.

Despite the bizarre bus service it was a worthwhile trip.  The Ports of Auckland tour is SO interesting AND we got up close and personal with the Queen Mary 2.  She’s HUGE ... not just in length but in height also.  Our little ferry was minuscule in comparison to her. We were DWARFED.

Catching buses with the youngest lemming is fun. He girl-watches and I get to point out ‘HOT’ girls to him.  We don’t always agree on who’s hot and who’s not but it sure is amusing!  
I couldn’t understand why he wanted to walk the long route from the ferry to the bus terminal as it’s MUCH longer than the direct route.  

Duh .... I was being DENSE ... there was a CUTE girl walking that way!

“Whenever I see a sign that says “DON’T TOUCH” I make it my mission to touch it.”

Thanks Nutters Club!

 

Note to self: Watching rugby before markets ISN'T a good idea.

The inspiration behind Chocolat and Co .... and doesn't she just know it .... the hound, that is!

Note to self .... do NOT watch early morning rugby on days you have a market, unless the match is at 3 in my morning.

Matches at 6 in the morning that only finish 7.30 or later, delay me ... and they delay the chauffeur too!

At least my Sharks won.  I’d have been miffed if they hadn’t.

Just to add further drama to the day, it was raining when we arrived at Coatesville!  My first thought was to not even bother unpacking and head home .... but then I remembered I’m not supposed to be scared of all that wet stuff .... so we stayed and got ourselves set up.

The hound joined us today too as, for the first time in a long time, there was NO-ONE home!  

Coatesville hums .... lots of stalls and lots of foot traffic and yet today has been quieter than usual according to my crafting buddies who're regular participants there.  As always at any new market I attend, I’ve had lots of positive feedback.  It’s SO necessary as it’s easy to loose faith in what you create.  

My friend Emma .... and she's NOT smiling!

“Global Warming” did it’s usual job in drawing potential customers in ... then it’s up to me to persuade them to buy something.  Not always the easiest of tasks.  It still amazes me that people think “Global Warming” is a painting and their jaws drop when I tell them it’s a photo.

They all want to know HOW I managed to convince 7 Pukeko to stand still on a tiny mound of grass in a wetland.  It’s MAGIC and proof that ANYTHING’S possible when you believe it enough!

Aha .... now she's smiling!

We even had our share of celebrities at Coatesville Market today!  Kim Dotcom was browsing ... he’s so much taller and larger than I expected.  I’ve seen him in photos and knew he was big but didn’t realise quite HOW big he was .... and he’s got the tiniest of wives.  For those unfamiliar with NZ’s rich and famous, Kim Dotcom is the founder of Megaupload, a file hosting service.  He’s facing criminal charges in the US for criminal copyright infringement in relation to his Megaupload website and is fighting extradition to the US.

He had his wife and children in tow today ... and numerous nannies ... but no visible security entourage.

Saturday's swim with the hound!

The hound loves the busyness of the market and all the extra attention she gets.  She lies under the table looking out at the passing parade.  Other humans with hounds don’t understand what’s happening when their hounds suddenly lurch towards our stall, but I do!  My leg’s suddenly whipped by a tail that’s wagging vigorously as nose touches nose!

I think she might enjoy the markets almost as much as I do.  

Molly, the Weimaraner, who swims along parallel to the beach ... up and down.