Coromandel........again

Friday night was James' work Christmas do, I intended to met him in Parnell after work for some drinks however after waiting an hour for a taxi I made it in time to join them for the meal. We had a lovely meal in Java a good restaurant with a range of food from all over Asia. After food we headed out for a few drinks. I turned in early, exhausted from my new job whilst James stayed out late to have a few more drinks.
After waking up a groggy, hungover James on Saturday morning we headed over to the Coromandel with Bea and Emma. Unfortunately on the way over we came across a motorcycle accident which meant we were over an hour late meeting Sal, Si, Jen and Sonia (2 of Sal's friends from Hamilton) Once we arrived we headed straight to Cathedral cove to play around on the beach and in the sea. After playing at Cathedral cove we headed over to Cooks beach to our favourite bach. After a beer on the balcony the girls thought it would be an awesome idea to go for a early evening swim (and it was!) We swam for about 20mins across the bay before heading in for an amazing BBQ and wine. That evening was an alcohol fuelled affair with lots of silly games (James surprised us all with his flexibility in the cardboard box game!)

Sunday morning after a bit of a lie in we woke up to a brilliant blue sky and 30 degree heat. We spent the morning chilling at the bach before heading over to Hahei. On route to Hahei we stopped at a beautiful vineyard (we had been left 2 bottles of wine from that vineyard by the owners of the bach we were staying at) and we had a bit of a wine tasting session with some bread and chutneys. On arriving at Hahei we all endulged in a pizza before heading over to snorkel the trail at sting ray bay. After snorkling we all chilled out on Hahei beach before heading back to Auckland

Another amazing weekend at our favourite bach.

Climbing and Surfing

Sal and I have both taken to climbing since arriving in New Zealand, however up until now all we have been doing is building up our strength and technique indoors on climbing walls, so this weekend we recruited some friends and headed south of Hamilton to an awesome climbing spot. One of my friends from Middlemore, Chip, and one of Sals colleagues, Andrew, have both been into climbing for a while and brought along all their climbing ropes and gear (along with some spare harnesses and shoes) and we (me, James, Sal, Bea, Chip and Andrew) set up for the day at the foot of some good climbs, we spent the whole day challenging ourselves to harder climbs before finishing with a beer and heading back to Hamilton.
That evening we all (minus Andrew) went for a Thai before having a few beers in Hamilton to complete the day.
After a bit of a lie in on Sunday morning we headed over to Raglan for a cooked breakfast before spending a day chilling on the beach, Bea got to open her Christmas present from Sal and Si early as it was a body board for her to enjoy on the waves at Raglan. We spent the afternoon in the sea, surfing, body boarding and skim boarding before getting an Ice cream and heading back up to Auckland, my first outdoor climbing experience.....and I'm hooked!

Ponsonby & Waiheke with the girls

So the weekend began with Sallie and Simon driving up to Auckland with one of their friends from hamilton, Fiona. It was a beautiful spring evening so we decided to have a BBQ in our flat before heading out for a night out on Ponsonby, (given that Sal and Si hadn't yet experienced a night out in Auckland!) Ponsonby always makes for a great night wih plenty of wine and cocktail bars and great company (also joined by some of my ED colleagues and Bea) we had an entertaining and drunken night ending in burger fuel at 3am.
Saturday morning (not feeling too flash hot) Sal, Bea, Fiona and I decided to abandon the boys (James went shooting and Si was about to start his APLS course in Auckland) dragged ourselves out of bed in a hungover stupor to catch the 12pm ferry to Waiheke Island for a girls weekend. Luckily it was a beautifully hot day, so as soon as we had arrived in our hostel we dumped our stuff and headed straight to the beach where we lay for the rest of the afternoon!
Feeling a little brighter after a couple of hours of beach sleep we headed back to get showered and changed before heading up to Oneroa for a glass of wine (really sorted us out) and dinner at an amazing Turkish restaurant.
Sunday morning (feeling considerably brighter than the previous morning) we checked out of the hostel and headed into Oneroa for breakfast before hiring some kayaks for sea kayaking around the Island. The weather was perfect and we pulled our Kayaks into Cable bay winery and walked up to the top of the hill for some stunning views of the island. That afternoon we caught the ferry back to Auckland before taking Sal and Fiona climbing in the climbing gym near us to complete our weekend.... another fun packed weekend.