Double Celebration

We enjoyed a SLG with a difference on Thursday, a double celebration.  Our December outing was both for a pre-Christmas meal with our Super Leisure friends, as well as sharing in a very important celebration, Calvin’s 80th Birthday.   We met at Calvin and Helen’s home for morning tea and a catch-up – always plenty of talk happening with this group.  This couple have a wonderful garden, and I stopped to admire some of their gorgeous roses.

Gorgeous roses in the garden

Lunch was at the rather glamorous Aston Norwood, formerly known as Kaitoke Country Gardens.  (In fact, we remember celebrating Robins 50th birthday at this venue with our SLG friends – goodness, how long ago was that?)

Aston Norwood, Upper Hutt

What to have for lunch?  Plenty of choices on the menu and we eventually all made up our minds.  The food arrived, several decided on a glass of wine as well, and we settled down to eat.  The friendly waitress kindly took our photos.  I’m always pleasantly surprised how willing the restaurant/café staff are to do this task when asked.

Lunch at Aston Norwood

Then it was back to our hosts home for coffee and birthday cake.  It was delicious, wonderfully chocolatey and beautifully decorated.

Happy 80th Birthday, Calvin

Then it was time for the long drive back home – it’s so busy in the pre-Christmas rush, and we had an evening function to attend when we got home.  Work is coming along well on this portion of the Transmission Gully motorway at Pauatahanui.  The Transmission Gully Motorway is a 27 km four-lane motorway under construction in Wellington.  Construction officially began on 8 September 2014 and completion is scheduled for 2020. 

Transmission Gully motorway at Pauatahanui

Our drive home up the Kapiti Coast was quicker than when we came down in the morning, no holdups and the traffic flowed nicely.  Kapiti Island was hidden on our drive down, and rather hazy on the return trip.

Kapiti Island

Arriving home there was plenty of time to feed the cat, sit for a while to get our breath back, and freshen up before our next social occasion.  It’s certainly busy this time of year.