Coromandel again

The week with my week of nights. I am currently doing an insanely boring job which has the only real advantage of having really easy shifts and that extends to nights, satisfyingly geerally resulting in 6 hours sleep giving me the advantage of having most of the next day off! This week Sal and Si had some days off so decided to come up to Auckland to play! Monday, after a short morning sleep I met up with Sal and Si for lunch in Mt Eden before Si headed back down to Hamilton for work. That afternoon we went into Parnell for wander and then down to Mission bay for coffee, cake and pretty views.

Tuesday (again after a morning sleep) I spent the rest of the day with Sal, went for a lovely lunch in Devonport and then wandered round the shops before heading home and chilling watching Tim Minchin.

Sal headed back down to Hamilton on Wednesday and the rest of my week was pretty uneventful with time catching up on well needed sleep.

Saturday morning we got up early and headed over to the Coromandel to meet up with Sal and Si's friends from Liverpool; Jen, Blake, Joe and Kathryn. Between 12 of us we hired out a fishing boat, complete with skipper for the day/evening. Really beautiful, had perfect weather- stopped first for a swim and play around near an island which was super cool - probably the clearest water I have ever swam in, managed to get some cool underwater shots with my new camera. After that we found a good spot and spent the rest of the day fishing. Between us managed to catch about 50 fish, including snapper, blue cod, wrass, pigfish, trevally and some others. Unfortunately it meant the next 2 hours back at the batch was spent gutting and filleting fish and therefore dinner was only ready at about midnight. (I must say fish tastes so much better after you've caught it yourself and eat it fresh!)

Sunday we got up and headed down to Cathedral cove for an afternoon of beach fun. Cant believe it is still beach weather here and its well into Autumn, had fun playing volleyball, modified french cricket (beach bat and ball had to take the place of a cricket bat) and playing in the sea.

Overall a great weekend!

Week of nights

Despite my job being potentially one of the most boring I have ever done, it has some advantages and that comes in the way of nights. During my nights I pretty much have the week off work with the only draw back being that I have to go in to work at night (mainly to sleep!). Due to this Sal decided to make the most of her few days off and come up to stay. Sal and Si came up to Auckland at around lunchtime on Sunday and we all got changed in to tennis gear and hit the courts in Mt Eden where James plays twice a week. After 3 hours of tennis and a jog home we all felt pretty good and headed back to ours for a BBQ (enjoying the nice Autumnal sun). Monday morning I headed to bed for a couple of hours after work and Sal and Si went into Auckland to meet up with friends who happen to own a GP practice and they got their medicals completed for their application for residency. We all then went for a nice lunch in Mt Eden before Si had to head back to Hamilton to start work that evening. Sal and I then wandered into Parnell and Tamaki drive for the afternoon before heading home. That evening was a career fare in Auckland city hospital so we went along for a bit of networking.
Wednesday we caught the train into the city centre before catching the ferry over to Devonport. We had an amazing lunch and wandered around a few of the cute little boutique shops getting ideas for wedding stationary, after a full afternoon we headed back home for a chilled evening with a Tim Minchin DVD. Not a bad start to a week of nights.

Chiefs and Rotorua

As the weekend was fast approaching and we had no firm plans I decided to check the super 14 website and realised there was a chiefs game on in Hamilton on Friday night. Due to the game and knowing Sal and Si were going we decided to spend the weekend down in Hamilton.
James was down working in Hamilton on Friday and was reluctant to drive all the way up to Manukau to collect me from work then drive south again so I offered to get the train, however Sal had the day off so kindly offered to come and collect me. James and Si finished work around the same time we got back so we picked Si up from work and headed back to their flat. We all got kitted out in chiefs and all blacks shirts and headed out for some dinner before the game. Unfortunately due to the want for desert we ended up running a little late. We made it to the game just before kick off and took up our seats on the front row of the stands. The first half of the game was excellent with the chiefs coming out on top with a try (sky sport filmed us four cheering) unfortunately the chiefs were no match for the Pretoria bulls and they got stuffed at the end!
Saturday Sal and Si had to head off to work so James and I spent the day over in Rotorua. We hadn't done a lot of the touristy things there so we went to the Wai-o-tapu thermal park followed by a dip in Kerosene creek the free and natural hot spring river. Sal finished work at 4pm so we headed back to Hamilton, picked her up from work and headed into Hamilton for a few sunny afternoon drinks (Sal was on call-back so could only join in with a few ginger beers!) We then picked up a take-away curry before curling up in front of a DVD (crazy Saturday night I know!)
Sunday morning was a beautiful sunny day again so we headed over to Raglan to relax and catch a few waves. Unfortunately the waves were pretty small, but fun enough to catch a few in to the shore, and gentle enough for me to get some more standing practice in. After a fully relaxing weekend we headed back up to Auckland to start work again on Monday.