Sunday Potpourri Post (with heaps o' links)

Only three more weeks before we move into our new place AND we finally have a car (Hooray!)  . . . which means just 30 minutes to the Oronorongo (last time we went ma raro . . . 12 hours) for a wee walkabout. Speaking of wee and Oronorongo, we saw this odd-looking pair of giraffe weevils in the undergrowth, ahem, making looove.

And . . . speaking of odd-pairs and love, also saw Andrew Haigh's film Weekend last night, and recommend it highly. 

So today is Sunday (and Richard's on call). As has become our custom, we started of with breakfast, coffee and papers at Floridita's, then off to the market. On the way, we saw "Bob Barker," one of Sea Shepherd's anti-whaling boats.

The fishmonger had some interesting stuff, including a magnificent ling, a fillet of which we shared with another bloke who had his eye on it. And while Richard was at the ward, Kristen turned this . . .

into this:

Waitangi Weekend Getaway

Living in the CBD during the Wellington Sevens leaves you with two choices: dress up, drink up and join in the fun OR flee. We chose the latter, and also took advantage of the long, fine holiday weekend to do some birding and tramping around Auckland. To the Southeast, just beyond the Hunua hills, we stopped at the Miranda Shorebird Centre, where from the blinds we saw hundreds of wrybill--the only bird in the world whose bill is bent sideways--and the even more rare NZ plover. 

The following day, we headed to Waitakere Forest (aka the "Ark in the Park") to the West and had a glorious tramp among the kauri stands, but no luck spotting kokako. The Pou (guardian statue) photo above was taken at the trailhead. In between, we ate our way up and down Queen Street, visited the Art Museum 

and took in the Chinese Lantern Festival.