Andy and Emma arrive

So this week was pretty busy, but also a lot of fun.
The week started with a lovely catch up with Gemma (a friend from Bristol who moved out here 2 years ago) Since Gem hadn't been for a while, we decided to head back to Waiwera spa pools, this time minus the massage from Roger! We spent a lovely evening chilling in the various thermal pools and go down the rather precarious water slides, then followed it up with dinner in the pub across the road.
Tuesday, after a day's work we went out for dinner at C.A.C, a tapas restaurant around the corner from our house with Liz (a girl I work with in HDU) and her partner, Tom, to celebrate that we both got on to the Auckland Anaesthetics training scheme.
Wednesday of that week Andy and Emma arrived. Andy and Emma are friends of friends who we got to know when we moved to New Zealand (Charlie and Kieran). Andy is due to start work in Auckland City hospital and Emma with me in Middlemore, so we offered to put them up in our spare room whilst they got themselves set up with an apartment, Car, phone and bank accounts. We spent a lovely evening getting to know each other with lasagne and plenty of New Zealand wine.
I had the day off on Thursday so I took Andy and Emma around Auckland whilst they sorted bank accounts, Tax number, phones and Medical registration.
Unfortunately I had to work the weekend but it was lovely coming home to a lovely meal and good company every evening (provided by James as well as are guests).
The next week was a fairly routine week with work while Andy and Em continued to get themselves sorted with a van and a flat, we did however have one lovely evening in a pub near in Newmarket meeting a few other new doctors who had just arrived.

A weekend in Auckland

After working the previous weekend (as unfortunately in this job, I work every other weekend) We had made the decision to head to Mt Ruapehu for the weekend to try and get some skiing in before the season ended. Unfortunately the weather forecast looked shocking so despite having already paid for our accommodation we decided to stick around Auckland instead.

We spent Friday evening chilling out in our house with some good food and wine, watching a DVD which was a welcome change to a 5 hour drive down to the mountain.

Saturday morning we got up after a lie in and headed north to Matakana (1hr North of Auckland on Highway 1) where they have a saturday farmers market and some lovely coffee shops with small nik-nak shops. We managed to get ourselves a lovely quilt for the cold winter days! After lunch in matakana we headed down to Waiwera, a thermal spa resort on the west coast, north of Auckland. There we indulged in a 1hr private spa and sauna session followed by 1hr full body massages, pure bliss! (even if James was massaged by a bloke called Roger - he didn't seem to mind!)
We spent the rest of the evening back at home relaxing after our massage

Sunday was a pretty lazy day, just getting out the house to go down to Mt Eden for a couple of hours for something to eat.

Overall a pretty relaxing weekend - just what we needed!

How to get over the Bisley Blues - Whakapapa weekend

After arriving back in Auckland a few hours later than planned we headed back to our house for a well needed sleep. Unfortunately we both had to be back in work first thing on Wed morning so we had to try to seem refreshed and revived. Unfortunately all the nap seemed to do is make us wake up at 4am on Wed morn so we were far from refreshed for our full days work!

After 3 long days back at work we decided the only reasonable way to get over the annual post-Bisley blues was to hit the slopes, so Friday afternoon after finishing work James and I packed up our ski gear and headed down to the mountain, we arrived at around 10.30pm and were shattered from our Jet-lag and 3 days work that after 1 beer we turned in for the night.

Sat morning we got up to a beautiful morning with clear sky over the mountain and decided to head up to Whakapapa. We got some good skiing in with the whole of the mountain open, until around 2pm when the weather closed in. After some hot drinks up the mountain we decided to call it a day and headed down to the pub. We had a quiet evening in the pub with some beers.

Unfortunately as the weather was no better on Sunday and we were both shattered we decided to head straight back up to Auckland and spend the rest of the weekend relaxing and recovering for our next weeks work.

Back to Blighty

So after 8 months in NZ we made our first trip home. Unfortunately the start of our holiday was tainted by our house being robbed 3 days before we were due to leave! After dealing with formalities such as police, estate agent and insurance company we got packed and ready to leave for the UK.
After a 36 our journey (with a 12 hour stop-over in Brunei) we arrived into Heathrow at 5am. We were met at the airport by Laura and Alex where we went for a coffee and catch up before Laura and I went to catch the train to London and James and Alex headed off to Marlow to see their parents and grandparents.
I arrived in Paddington around 8am where I had to say goodbye to Laura for the next week when she went off to work, and I met up with Anna.
After coffee and croissants at Anna's flat we decided to head in to London for some retail therapy and lunch, at around 3pm we were significantly worn out and headed back to hers to chill out for the rest of the afternoon, we then headed back in to London to meet Mike and have some drinks and Tapas. We turned in for the night around 11pm, not bad for just arriving back in the country!
Saturday morning Anna and I had a fairly chilled out morning before catching the train to Bristol. Rose met us at the train station and we headed straight to Clifton for some lunch and a good catch up. Although its another 18months till we get married, Rose booked a dress fitting in Clifton as it will be one of my only chances to try dressed on with my Bridesmaids. Rose and Anna were perfect advisers and gave me a good idea of what dress I will be wearing! That evening we headed over to Jess' place where she had made us a very tasty dinner which was complimented wine and plenty of games!
We woke up Sunday morning to drizzle, much to our disappointment, (although I think Anna was slightly pleased as it meant to Bristol-Bath bike ride was off) so we headed to Bath my car. Sunday morning was spent in the Bath thermal spa, we had 2 hours relaxing in the downstairs pool with jacuzzi pool and lazy river, the 4 different steam rooms and the roof top thermal pool, a great way to spend a Sunday morning. After we were relaxed we spent the rest of the day wandering around Bath before heading back to Rose's. That evening we were joined by Alex and Gary (Jess's other half) for a good thai curry.
Monday after saying goodbye to Rose for another year (Boo!) I headed into Bristol with Anna to grab some breakfast in Cabot circus before saying goodbye to Anna (agian - Boo) and heading up to see Mum, Dad and Si in Chester.
Was really good to see them all again and when Shasta eventually caught smell of me she was pretty pleased too (poor dog is now deaf and blind). We went out for a nice meal on Monday night, just nice to have the family around again (bar Sal of course!) Tuesday dad had to go to work so we spent the day trying on wedding dresses in Chester (Si was surprisingly tolerant!) Mum cooked a great roast pork that night! Wednesday Dad took the day off work as Mum had to work so Dad, Si and I headed into Liverpool with the intention to go to some of the museums, however we got caught up around Liverpool one and went for a very nice lunch at the docks. The next on my wish list was made Wednesday night - Mums chicken and ham pie - yum!.
Thursday I had to catch a train to London at 4pm from Manchester so we spent the day wandering around the city centre, finding a new bag for me and getting lunch in our favourite curry house (more a curry cafe, but it's amazing!) I caught the 4pm train to Brookwood (nearest train station to Bisley, and I was there by 7.30pm. James, Alex and Laura picked me up from the train station and we headed straight out for some dinner. Thursday night was one of the boy's favourites, the Dew Drop (basically when one of the club houses is filled with drunken people singing stupid songs - along similar lines to general sports club songs) Laura and I took the opportunity to sit in one of the quieter rooms and catch up.
I was very grateful that this year James managed to get a caravan to stay in so I wasn't cooped up in a tent all weekend, so when James had to get up early to shoot I could stay in bed. At around lunch time both Nat and Emma (friend of ours from Bristol and Laura's sister) arrived and we spent the afternoon wandering around Bisley. James managed to get through to the Queens II this year so I took Nat along to the range to show her around and met up with James once he'd finished. We then spent the rest of the afternoon sat on the veranda of one of the club houses drinking cider. (classy girls) That evening, (despite not having anything with her) we managed to convince Nat to stay the night (unfortunately Emma had to leave us) and we were joined my Matt and Sarah. (more friends from Bristol) Friday night in Bisley the Army puts on cocktails and canapes where the girls get to dress up in posh frocks and the night is spent getting drink to some amazing music by a cellist and her band. As it was the 150th Anniversary of Bisley there were also some fairly spectacular fireworks on Stickledown (the long range rifle range).

After waking with a slight hangover, Laura and I headed down to the Clay pigeon shooting (for nothing more than a good fry-up breakfast) and shortly afterwards we were met by my parents who had come down to spend the day in Bisley to see me and James. I showed them around Bisley while Laura and Alex headed off to grab some food for a picnic lunch. A short while later James parents arrived with Charlotte and we all had a nice picnic before the Queens final started (unfortunately James didn't qualify this year - he missed out by one point!) It was a great day with beautiful weather and a lovely opportunity to show Mum and Dad the sport that James loves so much. The Queens final is a very prestigious event for shooters and the one they all aspire to win. A family friend of James and Alex (one of our ushers dad) had won every event relating to shooting except this one (and he had come 2nd 3 times!) held his nerve, and 2010 was his year. After the initial celebrations we decided to separate off to one of the club houses for a few drinks where we were joined by 2 of Laura and Alex's close friends as well as Miriam and Lydia. That evening we had our normal tradition of a BBQ on Stickledown rifle range then headed to Canada house for the firing of the canon at 21:45. From there on we followed the chair.
Winning the Queens final event means that you get carried around Bisley in a wooden chair visiting every club house (and their are plenty!) where you and your entourage get free drinks (we made sure we were part of the entourage!) Queens final night is always my favourite night as you get to see into all the different club houses in Bisley and get free drinks along the way (even if some of them are disgusting punch mixes drunk from a communal trophy!) The night usually ends up in the Surrey, I felt it necessary to turn in for the night at around 2am due to our flight leaving heathrow at 09:40 (and having to leave Bisley at 6am) however James obviously thought otherwise and I had to fetch him (drunk) from the English 8 club house at 05:50 after his alarm had already gone off twice (he couldn't remember why he set it!) I'm pleased to say we made it onto our flight back to New Zealand (and James slept the whole way!)

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.