Week ending THURSDAY 6TH FEB
Things aren’t always as they seem. Fake news, misinformation, exaggeration, falsification, or simply just not giving the full picture are all common complexities with information sharing in 2025!
The other day a friend said to me, “Your life is perfect,” which instantly made me feel nauseous. Did my life look that good to outsiders? Had I overdone all the good bits on this blog and in Facebook posts and omitted the things that were less interesting and not that fabulous?
Sometimes I re-read my blog and worry that it sounds like I am bragging. There is a fine line between sharing the wonderful things we do and simply being a show-off. And no-one, me included, likes a show-off.
If you are peering into my life through this blog and wondering how my life can be so exciting, please be assured that while I tend to be positive about things in a Pollyanna-esque way, there are a few less favourable things that balance out the wonderful.
Please don’t get me wrong. I am in no way complaining and there is very little I would change if I had the opportunity to. I am eternally and extremely thankful for my beautiful family and friends, for all that we have, and all the amazing opportunities I have had (and will have).
But sometimes, like it is for everyone, life is not perfect.
Like when every-so-often the only reason I can drag myself out of bed at a time way past when I normally would, is the desire to eat even though my overly anxious brain is telling me to keep my eyes closed and hide beneath the covers.
Or when the hormone patches fail to fully regulate my moods, even 5+ years post-menopause; or when other ongoing health issues for both Dave and I tire us out and limit what we can do.
It’s especially not fun when the grief of missing my mum raises its ugly head (13 years on), or when the space in my heart left by Darryl (our dog who died last year) gapes open just like the flood of tears that still randomly come in the quiet of the night.
Occasionally, I panic that I left work too early and won’t again feel that sense of reward that employment can bring; or feel the pangs of guilt that that same employment stole time from my precious family when they needed me.
Beer and Skittles it may appear, but the reality is, as is commonplace, there are some tough bits too.
On a beautiful summer’s day, holidaying in New Zealand and with the busyness and excitement that travel brings, it’s thankfully easy to push the hard bits aside.
This holiday was reasonably brief – the week made up of two nights in Auckland, two in Rotorua and two in coastal Whitianga, then a night near Auckland airport before we flew out early on Wednesday morning. The weather turned it on for us (nearly every day was sunny and mid-20’s) and the ease and familiarity of New Zealand being so like Australia made it all very simple.
Apart from hearing kiwi accents and paying $3 a litre for petrol, you really could be in Australia, albeit 30+ years ago. It feels a little like winding back the clock to a bygone era where life was more simple and more relaxed. New Zealand is such a stunning country, with especially beautiful landscapes, abundant fabulous ingredients and lots of fun things to do. It does also appear to be suffering a little from the economic downturn, and without knowing all the facts, it feels like the cost-of-living issues here are worse than they are in Australia. A visit to the supermarket in Whitianga brought this home to me, with milk around $4/litre, the cheapest bread around $5 a loaf, a 250g packet of butter was nearly $9 and a small 180g tub of yoghurt $2.99. With average wages less than in Australia it must be particularly hard for young families to manage.
As it has in Australia, it appears to be having a serious impact on hospitality establishments. We saw a number of cafes and restaurants shut down, and even though it was mid-summer, many businesses that I would have expected to be busy, were not.
Dave and I cooked and ate at our accommodation a couple of nights, but did also have a few fabulous meals out. Without going into all the detail, here is a list of the four favourite things I ate this week!
ONE: A “Pot of Mussels” at Lukes Kitchen in Kuaotunu, on the Coromandel Peninsula. Cooked in a white wine, garlic, lemon and chilli broth, they were a wonderful example of simplicity ensuring excellence.
TWO: A creamy Clam Chowder at Wynard Grill at the Auckland waterfront. We were with our friends Chris and Di. I considered not adding this to my list as I was a little unwell the next day, but not directly knowing what caused my upset tummy, I couldn’t withhold – it was extremely tasty!
THREE: Everything at Culprit was amazing (we had the degustation menu at 1/2 price by eating early) but my favourite things were the smoked fish croquettes!
FOUR: And last but not least – a half kilo of Pixie Cherry Plums! Bought for $4 from a roadside vendor about an hour before we arrived in Whitianga, they were fresh, firm (but not too firm) and full of flavour, as they should be when picked and eaten right in season. They have small seeds, pinky-golden flesh and given they are the size of a table-tennis ball, are the perfect size for snacking on. It took me four days to get through them, savouring my last one just before we went to the airport to board our plane home 🙂
To keep things authentic there were a couple of pretty shitty meals too 😉
Our first two days in Auckland were mainly social, catching up with friends and eating out. Our last two days in Whitianga were mostly about reading and resting, plus re-exploring some spots we found when we were there in late 2006. The two days between in Rotorua were all about fun, as you may have seen in my Facebook post. Slightly scary off-road adventures in a four wheel-drive Suzuki; a ‘rail cruise’ on the Mamuka abandoned railway line; and lovely long soak in a mineral hot tub at Secret Spot Hot Tubs!
And a few other random things!
Since this post is all about authenticity, I am going to finish by sharing two last photos. Unbeknown to Dave, while he was visiting a mate, I went by myself to a wharf-side restaurant and ate three scallops and half a dozen oysters. Yum. (He now knows since he proofreads these posts 😉 )
PS if you missed last week’s post it talks about what I am doing with OzHarvest. Listen in this morning to ABC Riverina after the 9:30 news to hear me talk about it with Sally Bryant 🙂
Sara x