Cardoness

Well, we were lucky enough to extend our stay at the Cardoness Lodge! We've been enjoying the work and the food even more. Every day we get three delicious meals--we have definitely been spoiled. On Friday it was the British holiday "Guy Fawkes" day to celebrate the guy who, in the 1600s, tried to blow up parliament. So to celebrate, they blow up fireworks! 

The day before we went to go grab some beers with Mark and Pam after work at a local bar called Roosters. It's a microbrewery but their beers are good and rather cheap! It was definitely popular with the locals. 

Then on Guy Fawkes night we went into town with Mark and Pam and watched the fireworks from the side of the road as it was $10 to enter the park where they were being shot off. We mostly caught the tail end of them, but after that we headed up to Napier where, the word was, you could light a bonfire on the beach. And indeed, there were tons!

We found some hot embers that another group had left behind and got it restarted to make our own fire. The boys were determined to make the fire as big as possible, even when it started raining! But we did end up having a nice, big fire and even found some leftover small fireworks that we were able to set off. It was a fun evening and a nice way to celebrate the occasion.

Saturday we had the day off as it was really windy and so John and I ventured out to get some lunch at a local cafe. We just had burgers but they were huge and delicious and it was nice to get out and see some more of the town. 

Earlier in the week John and I cooked dinner that night for everyone. We made lemon chicken and creme brulee for dessert! Then on Saturday night Mark and Pam made dinner for us and it was equally delicious with dessert fondue to top it off! We also learned a new card game after dinner that Neil taught us called Swift. It's kind of like spades if you have every played that. It was lots of fun and Pam and I tied for 1st place but she won in the tie breaker round. It was still good fun.

For the moment we are enjoying our last few days here at Cardoness while looking for work and a new place to stay--hopefully for the long term (next 2 months). The holidays are coming up so we are hoping to be settled by then!