Shining Lights Mural

Originally uploaded by SuzieDo

There is an excellent creche on Richmond Rd. Shining Lights
Our kids both went there. The staff are kind and there is a lovely feel to the place. The creche is owned by the Grey Lynn Community Church which is right next door.

There is new Grey Lynn ( the cafes, the bars, the fabulous shops!) and then there is old Grey Lynn which is best represented by the churches in the area.
Grey Lynn Community Church runs some lovely events. The free car wash that happens some days in summer. The young folk from the church clean your car for free. End of story.

On Guy Fawkes night, there is an event for the little ones who can’t go trick or treating. It is called a Light Party. No scary monsters here but celebration on the light.

After school on Friday the church runs an afterschool programme with fun activities in the back of the hall.

Westmere is the heart of cafe culture. If the number of cafes in the area is any indication, we like very much to go out and drink coffee. There are a few changes happening in the local West Lynn village.

The newbie, Richmond Rd Cafe is fantastic. Love the service. The attentive staff, bring you a paper as you arrive, find a table, wait on you pleasantly and then don’t mind if you linger. The tables though are so close that if you didn’t know the person next to you, you soon will – or at least all about their life. It can get very crowded in the weekends.

Luckily, change is afoot. Toucan has been bought by the owners of Ponsonby Rd cafe Dizengoff. This is very good as Toucan was fine for a retro experience but very tired. Presently the place is gutted and I have heard about 4 weeks from being finished.

At the top of Richmond Road, what was Craft is now also going to be a day cafe. The previous owners of Benediction in Newton (which is another favourite), have brought the Craft space and it is also being renovated now.

Westmere has its own new espresso bar, Garnet Station. It has only just opened and its premises are fittingly, a character bungalow. Excellent Russian samovar tea and hot chocolate as well are the usual coffee are served.

One more change, is in the shopping centre where Fruit World is, the Blockbuster has gone and we are about to get a noodle/sushi bar.

Richmond Rd Cafe

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The Waka Waewae or Walking School Bus is an excellent school initiative that Westmere, Richmond Rd and Grey Lynn school are all involved with.When I was a kid everybody walked to school, now so many children are dropped off. As more people walk to school the traffic flows around school gates is cut down making it safer for everybody.Apparently in NZ we have the ludicrous Catch-22 situation where more than half of primary school children are regularly driven to school because parents fear heavy traffic which hen makes it unsafe for them to walk or cycle to school.

According to Auckland City Council,  forty per cent of Auckland’s rush hour traffic is school-related, as witnessed by the noticeable reduction in congestion over the school holidays.

Our bus has an adult driver and an adult conductor at the rear of the bus and we pick up our “passengers” along the way. It has been a great way for our family to meet more kids who live very near us.

Westmere School has 48 per cent of its pupils – 210 children – registered for four “waka waewae” (walking buses) converging on the school.

Sometimes our passengers go very slowly, Friday afternoon the dawdle along, run down the big hill, have a wrestle with their mate, but we get to the local dairy eventually.

At the GreyLynn school fair, the kids had a singalong with one of the Dads, CheFu.

Who could resist living here when Che sings at the local school fair?

So cute! These kids are playing a little tune at the Grey Lynn library. There are lots of activities there during the day for your children.

I ofter go past the boat sheds in the blog header. Sometimes the tide is in, sometimes it is out. The kids love looking at the boats, abandoned by the tide, stuck in the mud. There is sign outside saying “yoga classes”. Anybody ever checked them out?

Saturday morning. Typical relaxed vibe at the local WestLynn shops. Spring is in the air. People out and about having a coffee and doing a few errands.

I want to blog, I need to learn to blog so here goes. Best to blog about something that I know.

Westmere, Grey Lynn, Ponsonby where I have lived for seven years.

Our children were born here, Billy goes to Westmere school and Florence to Shining Lights.  More on the family later.

We stay very close to the roost barely going more than about a 5 km radius from here. It is fair to say that we know the area well.