Its a bird, its a plane....

Thought I would give everyone an update on the news around Auckland. One item has been on the front page for a few weeks now- the Super City. Currently there are 8 city councils that make up Auckland (each area of the city has their own government that operates its own utilities, public services, etc). By 2010 they want to have all 8 of the Auckland governments combined down to one "Super City". Waitakere is the city where we live which is one of the 8 cities that makes up Auckland. There is a lot of debate about how the government is to be structured and how many special interest councils there will be. So you might ask who runs the Super City......... As the Tui billboard on the way to work says "Its a bird, its a plane... No, it is the Super Mayor".

The swine flu is hot in the news as well. There are 2 college groups that came back from Mexico over the weekend and 11 of the group have confirmed cases of the flu Type A. They are in quarantine. The health officials are tracking down everyone off the flights to check them out as well. Wouldn't that just stink to be taking your dream trip to NZ and being put in quarantine because you were on the same flight as the sick kids coming from Mexico!

On the home front, we painted the kitchen over the weekend- it has gone from an ugly mint green to a sage. John hung a new light over the kitchen counter and also put in a new faucet for the sink. I am also changing out all the cupboard handles to something more updated.

On Saturday we went out for dinner with a guy that John works with and his wife. They moved here about the same time we did from Minneapolis. They had never been to NZ before they moved--- just gave their friends and family 3 months notice and were gone.