To those of you who are just checking out the site, do please look - TopicsExpress

To those of you who are just checking out the site, do please look to keeping an eye on the corogate page, plus our open page angela thompsom, where you will find up dates from time to time on adventures and happenings of us now that we have closed our beloved Café.Starting this year with a bang we have welcomed a wonderful young lady whom we met in 2009 called Ruby May, and although English she now r e sides in Berlin near an Enchanted Forest. Very fitting as she has adopted me as her fairy godmother, and even more so because right at this moment I am reading to one of my many grandchildren a wonderful book by Enid Blyton called, the magic Faraway Tree of which there are 4 books in the series. My grandson and Ruby sat on the bed Monday night with me whilst I read to them both, so I have promised to find another set of soft back books to send to Ruby as she came under the spell of the folk of the faraway Tree. Should any of my lovey people reading this have a set of these tucked away in the cupboard I would love to buy them from you. Anyway our few precious days were spent, by driving first to Coromandel where we introduced her to the internationally known and loved Driving Creek Railway, with its friendly team and infamous owner Barry Brickell OBE. We were all captivated at the beauty of the train ride through the lush trees to the top of the Eiffel Tower where we heard from Barry part of his incredible and dedicated journey to current; and everyone took advantage of the magnificent views for photographs. I wouldnt know where to start as there are so many we took, but will add in a few. from here we went along to the Coromandel Wharf Road where we picnicked under a spreading luscious tree, and after replenishing our hungry tummies, we drove off along the 309 to Hot Water beach where Bill and I watched (almost in envy) at the two youngsters frolicking in the waters and pools which had already been dug by energetic people. As the light faded and the sun sank lower, the shades of blues and greens from the sea were a washed with the silver spray as the waves burst over the rocks, it was breath-taking. We had a slow drive home, and our beds welcomed us when we entered the cottage. Monday we ventured into Paeroa , this time with an addition of family taking along my son and his son, (Panda missed out on all of this as his treat was to play and stay at the kennels) We hit the shops as the young ones say, and rummaged around in the many antique and retro shops there (as my Mum would have said, lets go munning) Not knowing if this is just an old English saying to check out and rummage in the shops I have no idea how this word is spelt, but What I do know is ..is ..how to mung!) We checked all of the shops out visiting of course our favourite Arkwrights Antiques owned by our dear friend Viv Leonard and it was from here the one and only item which caught Rubys eye was a dear wee beaded cream satin backed collar, which she decided to buy AFTER we had walked the entire length of the street, so we had to go back in and out of various ones until we found the little collar waiting for her, which was in Vivs. We ate muffins and drank from our picnic hamper then drove on to another very famous place, again belonging to friends, in Cambridge. It really is who you know in this world isnt it. Bill and a business colleague( who was an area manager for one of our food suppliers) came head to head in a competition in 2013 when our Café competed in the Best Chips in NZ Competition. We being just a small, but well known of course!!! café, were against Fish and chip shops etc. Our friends shop, now almost as famous as the Corogate Café, won the regional award, and Bill was in the runners up of the Waikato region. You are all now wanting to know where to go to discover all that is British when it comes down to Fish and Chips, so off to Cambridge, and visit, as we do now very often Queen Vic Chippy. in Victoria Street. We enjoyed a very fulfilling lunch, and wound away home along the 27 route, stopping at the appointed viewing places for more photos. The cameras were burning when we reached home. We had a short rest, an evening snack as we were really well fed at lunch time, and then as Ruby sewed a ribbon onto her collar, I read to the children, junior and senior. Tuesday morning was a pack up and away day for Ruby. We drove up to the Scenic drive in the Waitakere Ranges, visited the information pull-in and then further up to Mt.Pukematekeo look out, where we drove to the top, and were in awe of the most amazing views of all of Auckland and surrounding areas. We had called in to a daughters home who is blessed with living in this incredible area, and then wended our way to Marine parade to show Ruby the beautiful setting in which Bills family home is situated, the home in which he had lived most of his life, which is now awaiting a new generation to fall in love with the home, grounds and boat shed, his darling Mum passes away late last year. (A sad visit for him, BUT the memories and adventures he told sure outweighed the sad moment.) We then had to return Ruby to the home of a friend from where she first stayed over night on her arrival and we made her way home. There we have it, a great few days to start our new year, and we wish her well on her further travels until she arrives safely home back in her little forest home in Berlin.Now hopefully for some photos. Thanks for reading, happy new year to everyone, Angie and Bill. ps My health is on the mend