Whakapapa weekend

In the new job I'm doing I'm timetabled to work every other weekend so the weekends that I have off we try to make the most of. James had some building surveys to do south of Taupo (about 1hr from the ski fields) so he head off down to Taupo 1st thing Thursday morn. As I had to work on Thursday, I caught the last bus down to Hamilton on Thursday evening and spent the evening with Sal and Si before setting off on Friday morning down to National Park. Laura was already down at the ski fields and we got reports from her that lifts were open and the sun was shining so we decided to head straight to Turoa to hit the slopes. James met us at the ski fields, we got kitted up and headed straight on to the snow! Friday evening we headed to our cosy bach with a lovely log fire, we ate in and had a few beers chilling out for the evening.
Saturday morning we got up after a slight lie in and headed over to Whakapapa to check out the snow. We were very lucky with the weather and had beautiful sunshine all day. The snow was a bit patchy in places with some rocks coming through, but plenty for us to play around in! That morning we got a call from one of Sal's ICU friends who was thinking of heading down to join us with his wife and 18month old daughter, so they joined us in the pub after skiing where we had some dinner and a few beers before heading back so that Bethan (the baby) could be tucked up in bed. A baby in the bach didn't stop us from enjoying a few beers with cards and a couple of games of the big taboo!
We woke up Sunday morning to a view of Mt Ruapehu in the beautiful sunshine, so that's where we headed. Bethan went off with her Daddy to play in the snow with her sledge while her Mum (Becky) joined us for some skiing. After a fun morning we went down the mountain to join Rich and Bethan for lunch. After lunch we enjoyed a couple more hours skiing before starting our long drive (4hrs) back to Auckland. Unfortunately that was our last weekend skiing for a while as in 2 weeks time we will be back in England for a great holiday, can't wait!

Turoa and learning to snowboard

After waiting patiently for the ski fields to open- they eventually did on the 19th June so that's where we went. I had the Friday off so I picked James up early from work and we headed down to Hamilton to meet Sal, Si and Laura (Sal's ICU friend) we then all headed down to Okahune together for a weekend of skiing. we arrived on Friday night to a lovely big bach with a log fire roaring in the corner. We got ourselves settled in then headed into the town to go and get some food and some beers before turning in for the night.

Saturday morning we were woken early to go to a pub in town to watch another shocking performance by England, luckily for us, our day did improve! We headed up to the ski slope at Turoa and after finding out that only the beginner slope was open decided it was the perfect opportunity to learn how to board! We hired boards for me, James, Laura and Sal and got ourselves an instructor for an hour and proceeded to spend the next several hours falling on our bums! Who ever said boarding was better than skiing is very wrong! (although in similar situations I may be tempted to give it another go!
After a full afternoon of boarding we decided to heal our wounded bodies (and pride) with a few beers. That evening after dinner Helen and one of her friends arrived and we carried on having a few beers - the evening turned into a very amusing one with several rounds of spoons (at which Si was terrible at!) with a couple of rounds of Queen.

Sunday morning we all woke up to the pouring rain, unfortunately that meant that the ski fields were completely closed, unfortunately due to the heavy rainfall so to was the white water rafting! So instead of a late one we decided to head back up to Auckland

Taranaki and All Blacks vs Ireland

So this week started with a change in jobs, I have now switched from the boring life of elective surgery to the much more interesting job of working in Middlemore hospital's critical care complex based in the HDU. A much more fast paced job with plenty of scope for learning - just what I like! After a week of settling in we headed to New Plymouth for a weekend of rugby.

After picking up James from work we headed down to Hamilton to collect Si and Sal's friend Esther who's here on holiday and set of down south to the coast. After a 3 1/2 hour car journey we arrived in a holiday park in the pouring rain, luckily for that night we had a cosy hut for us all to stay in. Soon after arriving we headed into town to get a curry (Si and James hungry enough to go to the 8 course special!) that evening we relaxed in out hut and got a good nights sleep.

Saturday we woke up to rain - with the prospect of putting tents up for that nights sleep we weren't to enthusiastic! The rain eased off a little and we found a nice sheltered spot to but the tents up (note to self must book earlier if planning on staying in a small town on a international rugby game night!) We managed to get the tents up without too much drama before heading into town to get breakfast. We had good intentions of going for a walk but with so much rain adn so many people around for the rugby we decided it would be rude not to go to a pub, watch some lower league and college rugby on the big screen and have a few beers. At around 5pm we grabbed a quick bite to eat, changed into some warm clothes and headed to the rugby. The atmosphere was amazing with the haka facing us and the majority of the tries scored our end it was a great game - just a shame an Irish player got himself sent off after 10mins leaving it a complete walk over for the All Blacks. After the rugby we headed to a couple of pubs for some drinks before turning in for the night in our tents (just as an electrical storm started!)

At 6am we got woken by the boys and practically dragged out of our tents to go and watch the 1st England world cup game (with Rob Green's performance we should have stayed in bed!) We then headed back to our campsite to take our tents down before heading back home.

Relaxing weekend in and around Hamilton

One of the few saving graces of the current job I'm doing is that it's quiet and doesn't seem to tire me out to much. Tuesday I met up with a friend from CCU (previous job) and went for drinks and food in Mt Eden, really nice evening, and good to be getting out doing something different of an evening. Wednesday Sal and Si came up to Auckland to say goodbye to Si's parents and drop them off at the airport so they joined us for dinner before heading back down to Hamilton.
Thursday we met up with Gemma Cartwright and her boyfriend Byron and went in to Auckland city for dinner before going to the Civic theatre to watch a performance of Avenue Q! Brilliantly funny, and really light-hearted comedy, and, surprise surprise, just James' type of comedy!

For the weekend since Sal was working 4pm till 10pm with call back till 8am we decided to spend the weekend down in Hamilton.

(photo - Si looking special!)

We arrived around 7pm and headed out for a curry, we spent the evening in with Si having take-away and watching a DVD. Saturday morning we got up relatively early and headed over to Rotorua to the Redwood forest. On one side of the Redwood forest there is a couple who have set up business from a campervan with the hiring of good quality mountain bikes. Heading in to the forest there is an amazing mountain biking course set up with loads of different tracks rated from 1-5 depending on difficulty, they are all 1 way and no access to hikers, which makes it the perfect playgound!
After spending 2 hours in the forest we headed straight back to Hamilton for Sal to go to work. After dropping Sal off we went to the tennis courts and played several rounds, then just in case people thought we were slacking Si and I decided to to finish the day with a 20 minute run! Si then cooked James and me a lovely spag bol and we curled up in front of a good movie until Sal got home.

Sunday we all had a good lie in, on waking I cooked everyone a good eggs benedict to fill our stomachs before heading over to Raglan to hit the surf. Perfect surfing conditions for beginners with 2-3ft waves that were clean and crisp, managed to stand up several times and ride the waves in to the beach - perfect! We then grabbed a coffee in Raglan before heading back to Auckland for a home cooked roast lamb - New Zealands best!

Tauranga and the world of Kiwi fruit!

Sal and Si headed over to Tauranga early Friday morning with Thelma and Roy in order to enjoy a day swimming with the dolphins, unfortunately I had to work till late on Friday night so we decided to head over early on Saturday morning.

Once we met up with Sal and Si we headed over to Kiwi 360, where we learnt all about Kiwi farming. Not as interesting as it sounds, believe it or not! But obviously there was no escaping the stupidity of Si! (photo shows it nicely!) There was however, a helicopter ride down to the coast and seeing as Si and I (unlike Sal with her exciting job) have never ridden in a helicopter before, we decided to take a ride.

Having had enough excitement for one day (no really!) we decided to spend the evening in and had a very chilled night with a BBQ, beers and cards.

Sunday we had another lazy start, checked out the surf (which was rubbish) and headed over to Waihi to the Karangahake gorge. The Karangahake gorge was an old gold mining village, all of which remains are some lovely walks through some of the old mines and along the gorge. After that we headed back to Auckland and prepared for the next week at work.

Bara's folks arrive in New Zealand

Friday Sal and Si had the day off and headed up to Auckland to pick up Si's parents, Roy and Thelma. From the airport, Sal and Si came via my work, where I managed to get away early and we all headed back to our house in Mt Eden.

Since we all had the weekend off we decided it would be far better to spend it up in Auckland doing some relatively laid back things in order to acclimatise Roy and Thelma. Friday afternoon we took them in to Mt Eden for coffee and cake we then headed up the Mount for some pretty views over the city. That evening we cooked them some of the fish that we caught last weekend with a few bottles of wine and good chat.

Saturday I had to head in to work for a morning ward round while Sal and Si had a lie in before heading over to Waiheke Island with Si's floks. We had a wine tour booked on Waiheke Island, and so I headed straight down to the Ferry port after work where I met up with them before touring the Island.

Unfortunately the weather wasn't amazing, but had enough clearings in order to be able to take in the amazing scenery. After 3 wineries (with plenty of wine flowing) we were all feeling a little tipsy and headed back to Auckland for the evening. Luckily the weather cleared up that evening and we all enjoyed a nice BBQ before heading out to Mt Eden for drinks.

Sunday we headed over to sky tower for a nice brunch. We had an amazing 2 course breakfast with juice and coffee in the revolving restaurant. We were lucky enough to get amazing weather and therefore perfect views over the city. After breakfast we went to Piha for the afternoon via a trip to a ski sale, where we spent far too much money on ski equipment for the upcoming season. Beautiful beach, made even better by the by the beautiful weather.

Sunday evening Sal, Si, Roy and Thelma headed back to Hamilton whist James and I chilled out preparing for the next week

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!