Thursday!

Laura, my sister, arrived on the 10:40am flight into Napier from the UK via LA and Auckland. We sorted out a hire car for us and then drove her up to the Bluff Hill Lookout for a view of the area. Here’s Noel and Laura with the Port behind.

Ahuriri and airport behind.

By the time we’d finished looking at the view we could then check in at the Harbour View Motor Lodge. So after a pause for a shower and unpack we went into Napier, showing Laura some of the Art Deco architecture as we drove around. We then met up with Pauline for a fun lunch. I was a bit worried about the strength of the sun on Laura as it is really vicious. She had brought suncream which was good and looked after herself but she did say “How bad can the sun be” and didn’t quite appreciate just how nasty the sun was. It’s hard to explain to someone from the UK what the sun is like!

Laura wasn’t hungry after getting off the plane. Oh no! 😯

One for my nephew Seb 🙂

After the late lunch we drove Laura back to the motel and we left her to have a couple of hours’ sleep. Noel and I then drove to the airport to meet Ian (Best Man) and his wife Marianne. Noel has known Ian since university and Ian and Marianne are lovely friendly people. We took them to their hotel, dropped their bags and then Noel and Ian drove off to the Suit Hire shop to pick up Ian’s suit. In the meantime I went back to my room at the motel and had an hour or so to relax. Phew! It had been hectic for so many weeks it was nice to stop for a short while!

When Noel and Ian came back we had a drink and waited until 6pm before we woke Laura. Obviously, the best cure for jet lag and waking from sleep is to have an ice cream, and a Hokey Pokey one at that! Laura, Noel and Ian not enjoying their ice creams at all! 🙂

After finishing the ice creams we walked down to the Ahuriri shops to collect Marianne and then we bought some fish and chips and ate them outside Laura’s motel room. Very pleasant and fun 🙂

After the meal we all left and Noel and I went back to the flat to do some work before I went back to the motel.