Boxing Day is the day following Christmas Day, and is also a holiday. We found free parking downtown, and took the ferry over to Rangitoto Island. This island was created by a volcano which last erupted 600 years ago- relatively new. It's covered in Pohutakawa forest and a vast variety of ferns. We hiked to the summit, about an hour's walk each way, ate a picnic lunch, and explored the lava caves. We were back home again by 2 pm, so Darin and I went shopping and were able to take advantage of the big sales. We found a nice bedroom suite made of Rimu, discounted almost 50%. The following day, we bought a 2- and 3-seater black leather sofa. The shop would not accept a check unless we had their store's credit card, which took about 7 days to approve, so we went and got cash from the bank. We had already hit the maximum limits on our EFTPOS (debit) card and credit card, both which have miniscule limits. We did manage to get the EFTPOS limit raised to $3000 afterwards.
The other funny thing about this time of year is that many people take a long holiday stretching from before Christmas through the first week of January. I'll enjoy it more next year, but now it's frustrating because we're trying to get things done for the house. We went to 4 different carpet shops, and they're all closed until at least the 3rd of Jan. The same situation with the fireplace- the shop was open, but we can't get anyone to come out for a consultation now. Oh well, plenty of other things to work on. We got our furniture delivered, CDs put away, and clothes put away (well, most of them I think). I know I have too many clothes but can't bear to part with the ones that are still in good condition and cute, but don't fit anymore. One of my goals this year is exercise more, which I intend to do once the house is in order and we're done moving in. Yes, the garage is still full of boxes. There is much to do!
