Bank holiday weekend in Auckland

Auckland day bank holiday weekend.

Being that the weather wasn't supposed to be that great, Sal & Si were both working, and Gemma (Cartwright) was on-call from home we decided to spend the weekend in and around Auckland. I finished work bang on 4pm and headed home for a quick change before meeting James in Parnell after work for a drink and a meal with James boss, Peter and his partner Ali. We spent a lovely evening in a very nice restaurant with good food and good company.

The next morning after a well sort after lie in we picked Gem (again, not myself) up from her flat in Parnell and headed North for the day up to Goat Island and Pakiri beach via the small town of Matakana. We enjoyed a glass of wine, sunbathing on the beach, followed by snorkling off Goat Island. The visabillity wasn't amazing, but still good enough to see loads of different fish (including snapper and red Moki) before heading back to Auckland for a BBQ with Gem & her new fella Byron.

We had a lovely plan of heading out to Waiheke island for a bike tour of the vineyards, however waking up to pouring rain we decided to change our plans and headed out for a good spot of crazy golf in the settings of a pirate ship (probably one of the better crazy golf course's we've sampled since being in New Zealand. 2 rounds later and Byron was the overall champion (however I can't not mention the fact that I beat James in both rounds!) After that we headed to the pub for some food before going home for a chilled evening in front of Harry Potter with regular updates on Australian open final.

Bank holiday Monday and we decided to go for a bit of tree top fun, unfortunately the weather didn't permit so we headed over to Sylvia park to watch Avatar in 3D.

Overall a quiet and relaxed bank holiday weekend.

Bay of Islands and 'the rock'

Weekend in the Bay of Islands.

As soon as I finished work on Friday night I drove home & packed the car up then James and I headed north for the Bay of Islands. We arrived in Paihia for 8.30pm where we met Sal and Si who had booked us into a motel for the night. That evening we went out for a meal on the waterfront (beautiful restaurant but a little disappointing - having ran out of the fish special with not a lot else appealing on the menu) We then headed back to the motel for wine and chilling out in front of the australian open (apparently if Si wants to stay awake to watch the end of the match, I do too!)
After a small lie in on Saturday morning we headed over to Kerikeri. Sal being very thoughtful thought this would be a really good trip for James (in that he loves most buildings) and took us to New Zealands oldest stone building (Stone store). Built in 1836 I must say James wasn't that impressed, as he frequently surveyed buildings older than that in the UK (she tried though!) We then walked up the hill to an old fortress (all that remains is a patch of grass & a lot of speculation about how the place looked & what actually happened). We then headed over to Rewa's village, a mock up of an old maori village - somewhat more enjoyable. After all that the highlight of the day for both boys was visiting the fudge factory (after which they both consumed 100g each, then went on a sugar rush) and a winery on route pack to Paihia. (we managed to make good use of a bottle of wine we bought and drank it on the beach with Sal and Si's new picnic set)

At 5pm on Saturday we awaited the arrival of 'the rock' a former vehicle ferry that's now a comfortable floating hostel. As soon as we arrived and introductions made with the crew and other guests we settled in with a few beers. These followed shortly with a shooting competition with a plastic duck floating off the back of the moving boat with an air rifle. (Needless to say Sal managed to hit the duck while James failed - something which didn't go down to well!) Soon after the shooting competition was over (and a few more beers) the fishing rods came out. Late night deep sea fishing off the side of the boat, we all managed to catch several fish (Si caught 5) unfortunately they were all tiddlers and had to be thrown back. Fishing was shortly followed by a BBQ with steak and sausages, and a couple of glasses of wine.
Around midnight saw the launch of the kayaks in to the sea, with the younger and older guests going first. Kayaking was amazing, with bright phosphorescence lighting up the water with each paddle stoke, so beautiful, and being a lovely warm evening we all jumped off the boat for a swim afterwards. Soon after swimming and a few beers later we headed up to bed in one of the 6 bedded dorm rooms.
The next morning we were woken up at 8am for breakfast, with even the boys making it down in time. Breakfast was followed by snorkling out in a spot well known for plenty of fish and loads of sea urchins which we caught in grab bags. When everyone had had enough and started to get a little chilly we all came in and made our way over to a beautiful beach with a good look out point for the whole bay (see previous blog - it just so happened that this was the same 'dead fish beach' which I enjoyed so much a few weeks ago)
We kayaked out to the beach, had lunch, went for a swim, then headed back to the boat.
On the way back the crew members decided to serve up the (apparent) delicacy of sea urchin eggs, the crew members showed us how it was to be eaten then served it up on our arms. (Not so much of a delicacy - tasted like salty seaweed) not recommended - although at least I can now say I've tried it! We then headed back to Paihia before starting the drive back home. All in all an excellent weekend, and a trip I highly recommend!

Surfing in Whangarei

Since James was away shooting in Wellington, I decided to head up to Whangarei for a weekend of surfing and beach fun. Sal was on call back in Hamilton till 8am Sat morning, so Friday afternoon Si and Charlie headed up to Auckland to pick me up before heading up to Whangarei. We arrived at the campsite at 8pm pretty hungry, so we pitched our tents and went out in search of food. We managed to find a dodgy little pub full of locals on the outskirts of town, but the food was pretty good and so was the price so we stuck around for a few beers, returning back to the campsite around midnight.
Saturday morning we got up and headed out to the surf beach. We turned up at the first beach (sandy bay) to find 8ft waves, an excited Bara and a slightly worried looking Charlie, after Bara taking a while to get over Charlie's comical question to a rather cool looking surfer (she asked him if there were any rocks to avoid - to which his answer was, 'nope its called Sandy Bay!') we decided (rather foolishly) to head out and have a go. Since I didn't really know what I was doing I had 2 rather nasty nose-dive tumbles which left me rather shell shocked and deciding it was better for me to sit on the beach and watch rather than heading back out (I later found out that I managed to dink Sal's board in one of my tumbles - something that didn't go down too well) After that drama we headed out to a different beach where the waves were much more manageable. Sal and the others arrived eventually, with Sal being the great sister she is, she turned up with lunch. We then headed back out to the water - and I managed to stand up! Yippee! That evening with around 9 of us we decided to have a big BBQ at the campsite with corn on the cob (a new BBQ favourite of mine) and steak.
The next day (re-fueled with a pancake breakfast) we headed out for a short forest work to see a kauri tree and then headed back to the beach for more fun. 2 games of volleyball later and more surfing and it was time to head back to Auckland for another weeks work.

Goodbye to the folks

So unfortunately the time had come for Mum & Dad to return back to snowy England. Luckily I managed to do a few swaps at work and managed to get the thursday off so I could go into Auckland and play for a bit before they went home.
We got up on thursday morning and headed into Auckalnd Centre, after wandering around the shops we headed over to our America's cup sailing experience. Great fun & quite hard work putting the sails up & taking them down again, Mum decided to show us how it was done though by taking then helm and watching me and Dad do all the hard work!

We then for a nice (if a little disappointingly small portioned) meal on the viaduct. After lunch we went for another wander around Auckland (some may say we got lost, I like to think of it as a random wander) then James came to our rescue after work and drove us out to Auckland beautiful east coast for a spot of crazy golf on Tamaki drive, and not that I like to gloat - but guess who won!

That evening I treated Mum & Dad to a nice meal in Molton in Mt Eden enjoying good food and wine. Unfortunately the next day I had to go to work so I headed over to the airport after work just in time for a teary good bye!
Hope they enjoyed themselves cos I certainly loved having them here!

New year in Napier

New year in Napier
Unfortunately I had the pleasure of being on nights on the turn of new year, so the event kind of washed over me without me really noticing it. James however went out to devonport with a friend of ours (also happens to be a Gemma) and a group of her friends to watch the fireworks set off from the top of the sky tower. Beautiful view however very disappointing fireworks apparently!

I got home around 9am on New Years day, had a couple of hours sleep then we headed off on a 41/2 hour drive down to Napier on New Zealand's north Island's sunshine coast. Sure enough when we arrived the sun was shining and it was beautiful weather (all be it a little windy) We set up our brand new tent (bright yellow - christmas present from Mum & Dad to me and James) and went out for a meal on the harbour of Napier.

The next day we set off on a Hawke's bay bicycle winery tour. We hired a bike and acquired a map of Napier and set off for the day.
Despite arriving at our first destination (an ale and cider house) at 10.30am we decided it was a good time to partake in the tasting of their fine produce and settled down to a taster tray of 6 different ales and ciders (some nice, other's not so much!) The tour continued on around Brookfields, Church road a brilliant sign on a church billboard read 'there are some answers that can't be found on google' - made us both smile!) Park estate and the beautiful Mission Estate wineries.

Sunday we went on an art deco tour of the city. The city of Napier was devastated in 1931 by a magnitude 7.8 earthquake. The city was rebuilt in the art deco style. Using the old faithful lonely planet we went on a walking tour of the city, stopping for a spot of crazy golf on the way round!
That evening we went out for one of the best meals we've had in New Zealand, a 3 course meal at Mission Estate winery, food was excellent and went beautifully with a bottle of their reserve pinot noir from the Central Otago region! Overall not a bad way to spend the bank holiday weekend!

How lovely to spend christmas in a kiwi way

So how to spend christmas in New Zealand.....

After asking many of my work colleagues how chistmas is supposed to be celebrated in New Zealand, We realised there was no other was to spend christmas than the classic Kiwi BBQ!

Sal managed to get christmas eve off work, so she Mum and Dad headed up to Russell in the bay of Islands via butchers, fishmongers and the supermarket and got the bach all set up for christmas, Si & I however had to work christmas eve so we all set off from Auckland at around 6.30pm. With Cheese and christmas tune blaring we wet off on the 3 hour drive to the bay of islands managing to arrive to Paihai just in time to catch the last car ferry across to Russell. We arrived to a very excited Sal who had spent a lot of effort with Mum to try and make the bach all christmassy with tin foil stars and ribbons hung onto the large twigs in the corner of the room (to good effect)

Christmas Day!
I woke up early (unfortunately due to painful stomach cramps not excitement) however I decided that as I was up it was a good idea to wake all the other up (didn't go down to well with bara who apparently usually appreciates his christmas morning lie in!) Then as the classic song suggests, I decided it was a good idea to go for a swim out across the bay at 10.30am (if you don't know what song I'm talking about check out 'it's christmas in New Zealand' on you tube)
The whole family went out for a lovely swim to set us up for the day.

Soon after leaving the water Dad popped open the New Zealand Champagne and we enjoyed buck's fizz with some eggs benedict (unsurprisingly sausage butty for James) We then decided it was a good idea to bring out all the presents onto the front lawn and open them in the sun, (as you can tell Si was rather pleased with the size of the pile, but kind of wished they were all for him!)

After opening all the presents (Santa and family were VERY kind, we got loads of lovely presents, particularly grateful for all the gifts that made it over from the UK!) we headed down to the beach with a bag full of beach games and another bag full of beers. We sun bathed, messed around in the water an drank several beers before heading back to the bach for around 4pm to start the massive christmas feast.

Had an amazing christmas dinner on the BBQ- about 5 courses, scallops, prawns, tuna steak, ribeye steak and christmas pudding.
Dad (rather foolishly) thought 12 bottles of wine would be plenty to last us the long weekend in Russell...he soon realised that was an error when we opened the 10th bottle at around 11pm, shortly followed by many (not so sober) phone calls to family back in the UK with christmas wishes (not sure they noticed!!)

Boxing day we got the ferry over to Paihia and Waitangi where the treaty between the British and the Maori was signed. Really beautiful treaty grounds and great way to learn about what happened over here. The treaty is still used as a basis to all the rights of the Maori's in NZ. We then wandered around a few of the shops while Si and James went to play in the sea. Had another great BBQ of lamb steaks with more wine.

Sunday we had a sailing trip booked for the afternoon. We sailed around the bay, about 40 islands and stopped at one.
Si found a dried up dead fish on the beach and decided to act like a true gentleman and hit me round the head with it (something I really appreciated) He then found a stick, speared it and proceeded to chase me along the beach with it (I'm so glad Sal managed to find herself such a mature and upstanding member of society!) Everyone found it very amusing - glad I can provide that entertainment!
We then walked to the top of one of the islands for amazing panoramic of the bay of islands.

Mum, Dad, Sal and Si then headed off down for a long week break around South Island whilst we headed back to Auckland for me to start my first week of nights!

Parents arrival to NZ

Mum & Dad's (Jacqui & Rick's) arrival in New Zealand.
So we eventually got ourselves settled down to work and life in New Zealand. At the end of November our shipment arrived and while I was at work James did an excellent job of hiring a van and picking the lot up along with a sofa, tv table and bed which we have on long term loan from Jean and John Brandon. I arrived home at 5pm to find the place already starting to look like home (apparently a job James parents trained him well for with all the moves during childhood!) We settled down properly to full time work in the 1st week of December and started getting paid (well needed after a rather huge loan from the bank of Sallie, which is still yet to be paid back!)

11th December - Mum & Dad arrived!
And what a beautiful day for them to arrive too! Unfortunately I couldn't be there to pick them up from the airport, so Sal and James did the honors, took them back to our place to get showered and rested then took them down to a cafe in Mt Eden village, I then joined them from work, a very weird but lovely experience walking down into the village of my new home to see Mum & Dad sat outside a cafe enjoying a cold drink!

That week unfortunately James and I had to go back to the daily grind leaving Mum & Dad to explore the wonders of Auckland, they enjoyed an action packed week of wine touring on Waiheke Island, walking on Rangitoto, Christmas shopping around Auckland city and the spectacular views of the city from Devonport (not that I was jealous at all, while I had to go to work...)

The following weekend we headed out to the beauty of the Coromandel (a particularly favourite spot of Sal & Si's)
We hired a bach on a beautiful spot of Cooks beach on the east coast of the Coromandel enjoying plenty of beers, BBQ and volley ball on the beach, (Dad managed to take a lovely shot of himself with a Christmas hat on with the back drop of cooks beach to send to work colleagues to explain why he couldn't make the Shell Christmas party). Since the occasion warranted it we also allowed Sal, Si and James to open some Christmas presents early (snorkel kits for Sal and James and Volleyball net for Si)

Spent Saturday on Cathedral cove beach (a beautiful beach with the classic tunnel in the rocks - famous in New Zealand) , jumping off rocks, playing with the bat and ball and rugby ball (when Si wrecked his foot - took a nice chunk out of his toe), did the snorkel trail at Gemstone beach (marine reserve with buoys set up with fish and marine information on them as you swim along) and then went back to the bach opened a few beers and set up the volleyball court on the beach. (Si, Mum and Sal Vs James, me and Dad) - not surprisingly I wasn't very good & James being James decided that maybe I wasn't good enough for his team because we were losing - and you know that losing ISNT AN OPTION!
I did however manage to get over our loss and enjoyed a lovely BBQ and plenty more beers that evening.

Sunday, while cleaning the bach ready to leave we got a phone call from Si Malps to tell us that he and Claire were now engaged- very exciting! He self designed her a beautiful Sapphire and diamond ring and we are now getting very excited about the prospect of attending another wedding (plus I have someone else to talk excitedly to about weddings) I must say soon after that announcement Si (Bara) started getting palpitations and became wheezy (can't think why)

After cleaning the bach we headed to the other end of cooks beach and swam out to a little cave that you can climb up the walls of the cave and jump in - also pretty good snorkeling - although an unsuccessful trip as Si lost his snorkel and James broke his fins (luckily Sal and Si managed to blag to the shop that they must have been faulty & got a free replacement!)

Sunday afternoon we went to hot water beach where we hired spades and dug ourselves holes in the beach so we could sit in hot springs, a very weird and competitive experience, trying to find the best spot!

Mum & Dad then headed down to Hamilton with Sal and Si for the week before Christmas while James and I went back to work for a week.

Our arrival in NZ

So where do I start....
I'm afraid this is going back a bit so I will have to be brief!
So we arrived and flew into Auckland at the delightful hour of 4am, but thankfully I have a sister who seemed to miss me and was willing to drive up at that terrible hour just to pick us up. We then got into Hamilton for around 7am just in time for Si to get changed and go to work.

Week 1 was filled with the not so exciting jobs of sorting bank accounts, getting a phone sorted and purchasing a car, all of which were successful in just 3 days! We then headed out at the weekend for some fun in Rotorua. A nice relaxing weekend after traveling 29 hours across time zones saw us bungee jumping, swooping, sweebing and zorbing! After a good sleep that night the next day we headed down into darkness for the 'black abyss' an exciting 5 hour caving experience ran by the black water rafting company (highly recommended)
Much to James' annoyance Sal suggested that in the tighter underground caves, he became our 'whiskers'

After spending an action packed weekend during our 1st weekend it was time to settle down to the more important things of starting a new life in a new country....finding a house.
Traveling up to Auckland and camping out in Jean and John Brandon's beautiful home in Howick, we managed to find ourselves a lovely house in Mt Eden a nice suburb just south of the city centre.


After sorting out a place to live we headed back down to Hamliton to see Sal and Si before heading over to Tauranga and the mount for the weekend, we had a long boat trip 'swim with dolphins' experience which I'm sure would have been amazing if we had seen more that 1 dolphin and actually manage to swim with them, but if they do chose to avoid us what can we do! so we decided to follow it up with a night out and many drinks!
The next day was a great day surfing off the mount where we bought ourselves new wet suits and James had his first surf of New Zealand (and rather annoyingly managed to stand first time!)

The next week saw the start of work ....

So working in Middlemore... Its an interesting hospital with a large and diverse population (among the staff alone there are 81 different 1st languages apparently) certainly makes for a few communication issues! The work isn't particularly challenging but pays the bills and gets me a bit more medical experience which my foundation years back home have lacked. James on the other hand seems to have landed himself a job that has more of the stuff he enjoys, mainly more site visits and surveys, and less time consuming reports (I'm sure he'll add something later about his job, that's about all I've gathered so far!)

The 1st weekend of work saw us off up north to Goat Island, Sal decided to spend the weekend in Sydney with friends so Si, James, Katie (Brodie) and 5 others from Hamilton all headed off for a weekend of snorkeling, unfortunately the weather wasn't the greatest but we still managed to get out in the water and see some amazing fish before spending the night in a campsite with a beautiful view of the bay!

So that was the 1st 3 weeks of our Kiwi experience, hopefully the next posts won't have quite so much info packed into one xx