Christmas On The Beach!

Here is T very pleased with himself after we decorated the christmas tree! Off we all went the week before christmas to choose our tree from the local tree farm. Much to our surprise we had to go out in to the forest, choose one we liked then tell the owners who zoomed off on their quad bike to cut it down! Next problem....how do we get it home? Fortunately we managed to squeeze it into Neil's car and get it back still in one piece. Then we needed a LARGE bucket to put it in (another quick trip to the warehouse!) and have since been watering it every day to stop it dying in the heat!!! Maybe we will buy an artificial one next year!!!

To celebrate we had our first BBQ on the deck (note the Heinz Tomato Ketchup in prime position!) Neil & I enjoyed a glass (or 2) of fine NZ wine and prepared ourselves for many a BBQ in the future. The courgettes which are still growing profusely are very tasty when BBQ'd - any more recipes for courgettes will be greatly received!

And so to Christmas morning. As you can see Santa was notified of our move overseas and not only managed to find us but brought appropriate presents too......well done Santa! After the usual frenzy of paper ripping and oohhhs and aaahhs (that was Neil) everyone seemed pleased with their pressies. Max received a surfboard, skate board, cricket set and football and Tom a huge amount of lego, the piece de resistance being the Lego Star Wars Trade Federation MTT!! Now, 3 days later and many hours of hard labour it is complete....and very impressive I might add! Hopefully we will now be able to coax Tom from the house.

Fortunately, the weather was fine and we did manage to persuade Tom out for an hour or two at the beach. Here he is testing out Max's new surfboard.....only on the beach though, not in the sea. Max succeeded today after three days efforts to stand up on the board whilst riding a wave and is VERY pleased with himself. Won't be long now before he in NZ junior surf champ!!!!

The boys of course received the obligatory buckets and spades for christmas and are pictured here trying to dig to England. They soon bored of that though and headed to the sea leaving me to test my design ideas on a massive sand castle! Oh what fun!
We headed home for christmas dinner, crackers and silly hats and spent the rest of the evening playing Yahtzee (another christmas present)
All in all a very relaxing day finished off with cheese and wine once the boys were in bed.
Boxing Day involved another trip to the beach and more lego for me and Tom. We were also invited around to a friends house for a BBQ so spent the evening socialising, eating and drinking.....is there a theme developing here?
Today, believe it or not we have been to the beach. This time we did it in style taking Neil's new inflatable rowing boat, body boards, surf board, boules set and a picnic! It's just a good job we are only a short walk away or there could have been some serious injuries!!! We had a great day though the highlight being Max's surfing success and Tom finishing the lego (though not on the beach!) Now the boys are tucked up in bed in need of a good rest ready for a day at the beach tomorrow!

The Sunshine House

Welcome to the Sunshine House!

This is where I hope to be spending most of the summer and where Christmas Day will be celebrated in style!
So this is where we have come to rest - just 100 metres from the beach in this lovely yellow and blue house.
Not exactly my choice of decour but wonderful compared to some of the houses we looked at for rental. Luckily we stumbled upon this one and have now rented it for the next 6 months.
All has moved on quickly since we arrived here. We now have work / student visas and the boys are into their second week at school. They are really enjoying it and no wonder! They have both spent a day on the beach learning about safe surf and having lots of fun into the bargain. Their school swimming pool has now opened for the summer, so they get to go swimming every day and they have both joined the school flipper ball team (junior water polo) and have enjoyed their first training session.
Max has also joined the surf lifesaving club and we all spend a couple of hours down there on Sunday mornings playing games on the beach and in the sea and learning to body board. Neil and I have joined in as helpers and spent a few happy hours freezing to death in the cold surf! This weekend we are off to Waihi - a beach further up the coast for the first junior surf competition. Sadly Neil will not be able to join in that one as he is now too old!
Neil started work on Monday and has spent the week getting himself organised and back in to work mode......I think he is ready for a holiday again now. Luckily he won't have to wait long as he finishes next Friday for his 2 week summer break............life is TOUGH down under!!!

So, that leaves me tending our fantastic vegie patch - I hope you are all impressed??, mowing the lawn (I seem to have lost that photo!) and running backwards and forwards with the kids (no changes there!) I have been in to school and helped out with beach day...great fun and also with book stocktaking (not so much fun!) and have just attended end of year assembly (very hot in the hall.) Unfortunately I cannot start work until February as I have to look after the kids over their summer hols, so I will just have to fill my time going to the beach, park, pool....etc. etc. I know you will all realise how hard this will be for me....but we all have to make sacrifices!!
So that just about brings you all up to date. This weekend we are going to get our christmas tree in the hope that it will make it feel a bit more christmasy around here (it's just not the same without freezing rain and dark nights!!!) The boys finish school next Wednesday but even they are finding it a bit odd. Still we are all looking forward to having a swim in the sea on christmas day and setting up a few new traditions!
Finally, I wish you all a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I look forward to seeing some of you in 2008 and welcome you to our new home.
Clare and the Boys.

Travel NZ

Good Morning to you all. Well, after several weeks (8 to be exact!) of living out of a bag and all sharing the same room! (all good fun I can tell you) we have finally settled in NZ. We have chosen a place called Papamoa which is a small village?! by the beach. The beach is 32km long, stretching from Mount Manganui to the north and on beyond our home. Papamoa is in the Tauranga District (in the Bay of Plenty), Tauranga being the city, harbour and port. It is all soooo relaxed here and we are well and truly chilled.
We moved in to our new home on Friday night and are all loving the space (rooms of our own!) and the fact that we can stay in one place for more than 2 days! However, I am not going to linger on the new house and the fact that the boys started school yesterday!!!! as that will all be in my next blog. And I promise it will be soon as we hope to be conected to phone and internet by the end of next week. I am at present using the facilities at our lovely local library!
So, now I will give you a brief tour of our trip around NZ over the last couple of weeks. The photo above is of our first stop, Taupo and the magnificent Lake Taupo with the mountains of Tongarriro
in the background. It was another! hot day when we arrived in Taupo so we all went for a swim in the lake. I have just heard from my friend Helen that she has booked to visit us in February to join me in the across Lake Taupo swim so here it is Helen........looks great doesn't it?! The Lake is 25 miles long and 17 miles wide but fortunately we will only be swimming across a narrow stretch that is 4.2km wide (PHEW!) Better get some training done now!
From Taupo we moved on to National Park and stayed in the chalet that we stayed in last year when we skied with fellow kiwis! Nige and Georgia. As you can see we went up the mountain and the boys tried to ski but there was something missing!!!



Well, Max was actually snow boarding - but of course you will have realised that! We walked up the mountain to the top of the first chair lift for fantastic views but didn't make it up to the crater lake (that's for next time!)







Onwards and south from National Park we finally arrived in Wellington at the home of fellow Blackburnians Ian, Trish and Luke. Of course the footie shirts where straight out of the bag (and worn all weekend!) to match Ian's car registration. What true Rovers fans!!! We had a fantastic time in Wellington, eating and drinking a little too much but with such fine food and wine how could we not???!!!!

We went to the beach and spent Sunday enjoying the City of Wellington and the fabulous waterfront. Another very chilled place -even Neil is relaxed now!
Time to move on again on Monday. A brief overnight stop in Palmerston North and then on to Napier for a couple of days. Had a trip out to a gannet colony on a trailer pulled by a tractor along the beach. Great fun day out and very educational too. Mum, you will be glad to know that it hasn't changed at all (not even a new tractor!) since we did the same trip all those years ago!

Our final stop was Rotorua where we can be seen at the top of the Gondala ride enjoying my


favorite ice cream......cookies and cream and hokey pokey! I have to say that now I have a challenge to train for I am having to cut back on my daily double scoop and limit myself to just two ice creams a week!!! Very, very hard I can assure you!! I think Tip Top sales have doubled since me and the boys arrived in New Zealand - wish I was a shareholder!!!
We had several rides on the 'luge' whilst at the top of the hill and have even bought yearly passes for the Gondala so that we can ride for free. Be warned....any visitors will be expected to join us and ride the luge - get your booking in now!
We finally returned to Papamoa and moved into our great house and so the story will continue......

Made it in New Zealand!

Made It! Look at the HOUSE!!!!!



Here we are in Downtown Papamoa, nr Tauranga, Bay of Plenty (east coat of the North Island, approx 2 hours south east of Auckland)

Do you like the car? Did some seriuos haggling for it....what a beaut!

Having arrived in NZ on the 31st of October after 4 fantastic weeks of doing very little, it was time to knuckle down and find a job...which i duelly did! Not the ideal job (in stainless steel again!) but with fantastic opportunities in the area we want.....near a beach! So here goes for early Jan'08....will the Kiwis ever be the same again???


Since we have departed Aucklands shores, we have had some great weather...check out the Back lane re-union photo!

Had a great time at the Ball household...even though Bev is on just one glass of Vino a month!

A night out with Nige at the Kiwi equivelant of 'PHOENIX NIGHTS' was an eye opener!!!!!



Off we soon went on our merry way, looking for a new home in the Bay of Plenty. Our dream home by a beach is looking quite expensive, other options are Bethlehem or Judea.......but will I ever be able to read the thousands of sarcastic emails eminating from the UK again???

Not much time left on this dark ages internet thingie we are on. Just a few photos below of the kids enjoying themselves. The race is at Cambridge (where Nige, Bev & Georgia live) on the Armistice Celebration day

The Fireworks where in celebration of my 21st Birthday on the 5th of Nov'07...thanks for all your presents!!!! The boys loved all the Fireworks that could be seen over auckland whist we were staying at Geoff & Vivs (not like me to have a free firework display!!!)














Take care for now, must go and look at some schools, houses etc....but not in Bethlehem!
Senior Wordy signing out!

The Wordies have landed!!!!!!!

Good morning from a wet and windy Auckland! We have been here for 4 days now and it seems like ages - at least we are feeling at home! We have managed a couple of trips to the beach and a trip into Auckland City centre where we went up the Sky Tower. I like to get as high as possible so that I can get my bearings!!!! We watched a couple of people jump off and I have to say GOOD LUCK to you Bev.....just make sure you let me know when you are going to jump and I will definately be there to watch!!! We haven't managed to meet up with our fellow back laners yet but should definately have done so by the end of this week. That will be time for another blog - even though Jane seems to think we are rubbish at this!!!

Anyway...back to our travels......

Last time we wrote we were leaving KL and heading on to Langkawi. Here are some piccies of the Sky Tower in KL (had to go to the top of that one too!) and the Petronas Towers which we didn't manage to get tickets for - will have to go back for that one!

























Petronas Towers



Shy Tower









We were looking forward to traveling 1st class on the train......but it wasn't quite to our expectations! This is a photo of Tom on his bunk and then a photo of our cabin. Tom and I shared 1 cabin and Max and Neil another.





























































The journey would have been good but Max was suffering from a chicken curry that he had in Little India in KL the night before we left! Poor thing suffered a bit but was very good! From the train overnight we caught a ferry to Langkawi and Tom was sick......all in all we're pretty good travellers!!!

We soon settled into life in Langkawi. We were staying at a beautiful resort - thanks to Russ and Lorraine for the recommendation! We spent the next 5 days enjoying island life.....eating, drinking and lazing by the pool. We also manged a couple of walks along the beach - usually to sample the local roti canai for breakfast. Very good it was too!

Max and Tom particularly enjoyed the slides and bouncy castle by the pool but as you can see also had fun on the beach.


All in all we had a fabulous four weeks of sunshine and relaxation! From Langkawi we flew back for one night in Singapore where we had breakfast at the favorite 'Toast Box' - great for thick toast and eggs or in my case peanut butter toast! Another of the boys favorite places for tea - Subway! Oh how culturally aware they have become!!! At least they enjoyed roti canai for brekkie - maybe there is some hope for them!

Now it's down to business here. We will keep you updated of any news but will once again be struggling for internet access once we leave Auckland (that's my excuse anyway!!!) We will probably have the rest of the week here and then look to head south.

At least now the sun has come out here and the washing is drying on the line! Roll on summer that's what I think!

Due to popular demand......

Huge apologies to those of you who have been pestering for an update. It is more down to logistics than lack of time that we have struggled to post so here goes now!!!!
We are just about to leave KL on the night train to Langkawi an island off the north west coast of Malaysia. This will be our final 'holiday' destination before heading on to New Zealand.
So....since last time. A fantastic time was had by all in the desert of Dubai. Nearly lost our stomach contents whilst driving the sand dunes (not good for those of us who suffer from travel sickness!!!) visited a camel farm - fenced compound with 3 camels!, rode the dunes on sand boards (well the boys did) and here is a photo of the boys off on a camel ride.















After our farewells to our excellent hosts in Dubai we continued our journey to Singapore. Our second visit here so we had a look around, visited the zoo and spent a lot of time by the pool.
Next stop Kuching in Sarawak which is a very chilled out city. Again spent a lot of time by the pool but also seeing the sites and wandering along by the river.
From Kuching we headed to a beach resort in Sarawak where we enjoyed several days of sunshine and relaxation. The boys had a great time with the local guys there who taught them how to use a blow pipe, gave them tatoos, sent them body boarding and even had them on stage during a ccultural show!




















The last photo is of us all in the bar having a quiet beer before dinner. We all enjoyed Sarawak and will go back again some day!
Next stop from there was KL which I am going to have to write about next time as we now have to go for the train or we will miss it!!!
So...I promise to update on KL and Langkawi soon. No doubt we will have plenty of time in Langkawi!!!
Thanks for all your comments. Good to know you are reading. Keep them coming.

On the move

Here we are at Manchester airport.

We are now in sunny Dubai after finally leaving the country. Some of you have been waiting for us to leave for may weeks and we have had numerous leaving do's. (None to match the final one on Saturday night though!) We must apologise for the lack of a firework display as you all stood outside expectantly but Neil forgot to book it! He also forgot to ask the entertainer to stay! We did enjoy the night though and hope you all did too?! It was great to see friends and family from near and far making the effort to join us. Thanks to you all.

We have now setteld into holiday mode and have forgotten the trials and tribulations of our final days (although I doubt my mum has recovered yet!) Dubai is great and the weather fantastic. Sunny, sunny, sunny and averaging about 36 degrees C. We are staying with my cousin David who is out here working. Their house is really nice and there is a pool in the complex where we spent most of our first day. We were all really tired after the journey so it was nice to relax and do nothing!
Second day and we sprung into action with a trip to 'Ski Dubai'. Yes, can you believe it? The first time I have been warm for years and they take me skiing! It was great fun though even if it was minus 2! Here is a photo of us all kitted out and ready for action!

Today we have enjoyed the sunshine with a trip to the beach this morning and Wild Wadi this afternoon. A friend of David took the boys out on his boat for a drive along the coast followed by a ride on the rubber ring tied to the back of the boat. Fantastic fun they all said. I contented myself with a swim in the sea alongside the beach.









Home for a quick lunch and then straight out to Wild Wabi, a fabulous water park with lots of rides. I enjoyed the family ride and the hoops but the boys ventured further onto the body boarding and then the Wadi Screamer - an almost vertical drop of about 100m! Not for me I can assure you!


And thats it for us so far - a jam packed first three days. Tomorrow we are hoping to go 'on safari' out in to the desert and do some dune riding, sand surfing, go to a camel farm and then stop overnight in a tent. Sounds exciting? Read here soon for the next instalment!

Back Lane Bash

Here I am again, this time writing about the first of our celebrations. The Sunday Club decided that we should have one last bash before we leave so we organised a BBQ for the back laners on August Bank Holiday Sunday. Having experienced 'mixed' weather over the summer we were lucky to enjoy sunny (although not very warm) conditions! At least we were not rained off like the August Bank Holiday camping expedition a few years ago!!! A good turn out and fabulous food made for an excellent evening.


Here are the boys doing their stuff, note the glass of wine in hand! It must have helped them to cook up a fine feast!



The kids enjoyed the water bomb fight all ending up very wet and cold.
All in all a fine start to the holiday season.

Here again

Hi again,



Well that seems to have worked. Now I'll try and add a photo. If that works then I am officially blogger queen and will then only update when I have something to say!

Now that was easy! This is a photo of the boys with 'Hogrid' and 'Dumblemore' at Hogwarts! That Hogrid is a big fella!

It seems as though I am an expert now so I will email you all my new blog address and from now on.........WATCH THIS SPACE!

Queen Wordie Blogger

In the begining

Hi All,

Well, here goes.......my first venture into blog land! I decided that this would be by far the best way to keep everyone up to date with our adventures and thought I would try and set it up before we are rushing around trying to sort our lives out!
As we have just had a very acceptable offer for our house (which of course we haven't accepted yet!) I feel like we are begining to move forwards.
I know some people are a little dubious about their ability to reply to blogs so I am being ever so organised and giving everyone the chance before we leave.
So I shall finish here - Tom is now harassing me to take him over to Teddies (his friend across the road) and it is hard to concentrate with him persistently saying 'nearly done!'
Hope it publishes OK?!
Clare (Queen Blogger)