The Waitakeres 
Bronwyn recovered quickly from her food poisoning, and fortunately none of the rest of us managed to catch it. It's been cold this week. It was minus 3 on Thursday night. By English standards that's pretty tame, but here it's probably the coldest we're likely to have all year, and this big old house is a bit draughty at times. Despite having floor and roof insulation, the walls and windows tend to let us down.

Pastor Graham (his surname is Ng, which doesn't tend to get mentioned often because not many can pronounce it) made a bit of a slip this morning. It went roughly as follows:

"The spirit lifts us up, and frees us from sin.

"Picture this. There was a pilot, who was flying a little plane, when he heard a gnawing sound behind him. He realised there was a rat on the plane, and if he didn't do something quickly it might chew through a cable and he would lose control of the plane. So he flew higher, and put on his oxygen mask. He flew higher still, and stayed there. The gnawing went silent. This was because the rat was now dead through lack of air.

"I think that's a good picture..."

at which there was a burst of laughter as we all pictured the pilot and the dead rat.

Went to the Waitakere (Why Tak er ee) Ranges yesterday. Bronwyn had booked Rachael on the little train that runs through the hills up to the reservoir. It was used to ship building materials up there, and was left once the dam was built. So we drove all the way down a long winding road through the hills, arrived ten minutes late, ran down the drive and onto the platform, and found the place deserted. I looked at the ticket. It was for Sunday.

Never mind. I then took Rachael back along the road, and we had a great time exploring. There's a huge television transmitter there, which broadcasts over most of the Auckland region. There's also a water fall.

Rachael wanted to see the waterfall. Except it was down a long track, and down a steep hill. So it was nearly 5pm by the time we climbed back up again. Not often I see Rachael tired!

Bronwyn has taken Rachael off today again to the railway. Hope they manage to get on it this time!

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