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......