The Santa Parade

Well yesterday was Sunday.  Normally for us we lounge in bed, watching Spongebob Squarepants and drinking tea but today my Husband (the wonderful one) had booked tickets to the new James Bond movie 'Skyfall".  We of course had to catch a ferry to town to see it (those of you who don't remember the story - we live 35 minutes from town by boat so everything has to be planned in advance).  Today was no different as we ate breakfast (cooked by my DH ) and ran to catch the 11:00 boat.

As  husband pointed out the next two boats would be packed to the teeth with families lurching in to town to watch the city's annual 'Santa Parade' and were to be avoided at all cost.

We got into town about 11:30 and wandered up the main street watching as clusters of families started to congregate and settle in the street equipped with deck chairs and plastic inflatable hammers  waiting to see the Big red Guy and the floats drift by.

We walked into one of the town's new trendy restaurants 'The Depot" - where I enjoyed a scrumptious white bait fritter, petite bread roll and a glass of Bolinger Champagne before leaving to see our children in their nearby 9th floor apartment.

We just managed to get across the street, already closed off by the council and littered with people riding unicycles and stilts and enormous 'Buzzy Bees'.  The noise was amazing.  The kids were surprised to see us as we hadn't told them we were in town and it was nice to catch up.
Looking out the window of our children's  apartment,  we had the best view, looking down at the floats all preparing to get going on the parade. It was one of those magical days where it  makes you feel happy to be out and about and caught up in all the excitement.

Christmas seems to be not far away when the Santa Parade comes to town and always great to get into the spirit of Christmas - although as usual, I am dreading the shopping.

Kiwiana float with the buzzy bee

Rachel Hunter was sitting on this float

Down below the 'Santa Parade' shifted into high gear with the usual house size inflated characters and all in all,... pretty impressive, all things being considered.

Green eggs and ham anyone?

Always great seeing the sweet, happy faces of cute children  who were really excited, laughing and glad to be out in the sunshine.

We watched for a while before making our way down the hill to the movie theatre, where we finished the afternoon off watching James Bond kill about a million people in the most improbable but entertaining way.  If you get the chance go - it's a lot of suspended belief fun.  Home to pizza and a glass of wine - a great weekend.  Summer feels like it is just around the corner.

Wish you all, a perfect week
hugs
Carolyn

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