A KIWI CHRISTMAS

A little belated perhaps....but "Happy Christmas"

Though this was our second Christmas in NZ, this years festivities came after a relatively settled year. The lead up to the FESTIVE SEASON was chaotic and with the world in a right old mess, it seemed like everyone was happy more for the break than Christmas in all it's glory! 'Overshadowed' would best sum it up.

Christmas only got going for us on the 20th Dec, when the Christmas tree was secured from two bizarre DUDES selling them from a container at the local CARPARK! Max did the trimming up, but it was the Christmas lights that really put us on track for a fun Christmas....more like a DISCO!

Here are a few photos of the day....a very casual affair

Max is sporting to 'presents', a T shirt and GREEN ZINC. His inspiration on colour is there for all to see!

The boys just cannot be prized off their skateboards. Tom has become a REAL DUDE!

The big blue TABLE TENNIS table was a gift from 'SANTA'! If you see a very tired looking bloke in a red outfit, white beard etc, it's because he would have struggled like hell with this monster of a parcel!

As you can see, the 'table' has it's own ARENA!

The GAUNTLET is well and truely being thrown around, as I have a history of sporting achievements in confined spaces! Not quite the 'IRONING BOARD SHOT' or the 'WALL SHOT' that was so famous in the snooker world's top tournament at 58, Livesey Branch Rd, but I am sure that in years to come, the 'KAYAK', 'WARDROBE' and numerous 'BIKE' shots will all be household names! (or garage names!)



Max & Tom in training after watching Forest Gump (Tom Hanks played table tennis like this!)

We are currently seeking 50 table tennis balls to replace the ones lost in THE GARAGE!

A Christmas Day in the sun would not be complete without a stint at the beach....! A warning must be announced, as a 'NUT CASE' was seen on the beach. If you see this PERSON, do not approach, for fear of 'THE VILLAGE IDIOT' talking to you.....they always find me....I don't know why?????

For your reference, that is a tan 12 months in the making!!!!!

A few hours of surfing, swimming and general POSING, then it was 'FORMAL MEAL TIME'!

Check out the Tom' Sauce!!!!! Allowed only because we went 'KIWI' and barbequed!

The boys will do away with sophistication (don't know who they get that off!!!!!)

And after a 'Tough Day', more Fiz! I think we are ringing Jeanette up, apologising after ringing her at 5am UK time....it's a long story!!!!!

And so, there you have it, Christmas KIWI STYLE.

I hope you all have a fantastic NEW YEARS celebrations and have a prosperous 2009

Senior Wordy

ps - 'Wierdo on beach' has gone into hiding, with complaints from as far away as OUTER SPACE, something about 'THE BLINDING GLARE' (or do they mean BLINDING GOOD LOOKS????.....dream on!)

5G's 'Whirlwind Tour' of New Zealand

So here we are, recovering after the WHIRLWIND that was the Greens of Dubai quick but very full on trip to New Zealand.

They came.....but did not conquer!!!!! Thomas G was intent on challenge after challenge....but that is for later on in the BLOG!

You'd think coming from Dubai they'd be sick of SAND!!!! But no! The beach was the main attraction!

Helen & Olivia soaking up the SUN as the others
played!

The surf was particulary strong when THE MEN OF GREEN and Senior Wordy attempted Sea Kayaking for the first time! Thomas was fantastic at reversing back in to shore!!!!

David managed to get out over the HUGE WAVES first go, but then REALISATION set in....how would he get back???? Somehow, he did. I on the otherhand was not so elegant! Silly me, firstly trying to paddle out with my sunglasses on, then it all 'TURNED TO CUSTARD' (typical Kiwi saying!) as I tried to stow my glasses in the kayak....you don't want to to that in huge seas I'll have you know! Next thing I knew, I was upside down, waves crashing about my head, and the storage cover washed somewhere between New Zealand and Australia!

At this point, my kayak took on more water than the TITANIC, which hampered my progress out, but did not help in the slightest when a Tsunami hit and I was left battling the waves....I lost! But it did make for entertainment!

David, realising the danger, 'leapt' up from his towel to help......NOT!

Candice made the bodyboarding look easy....well her and Tom did spend most of the holiday in the SEA! Especially when they drifted 46 kms along the beach in strong currents!!!!!

All good fun and everyone loved the surf!

I have refrained from more pictures of David and Helen being pummelled by the waves, as there is a lucrative film contract being negotiated with NZ funniest videos!

A more sedate morning on the beach. The G's from Dubai are natural HORSE PEOPLE....just look at D!!!!!

Another Day, another adventure. Rotorua, and the LUGE GRAND PRIX downunder! But first, we need to scare two of the Greens senseless (over did it with Candice.....refer 'lost CROC on the chairlift back up' section!), so Max took them on the giant swing. Can the Greens let us know when they arrive back in Dubai if Candice has stopped SCREAMING!!!!!?????

The more mature / wiser members of the party refrained from such activities, they had a win on the luge on their minds

And so, with 'Screaming Lord Such' ready for the luge, a practice run then it was on to the main event. TG really fancied his chances at this. So it was the WORDENS v the GREENS.

F1 points scoring......game on

As you can see the Photographer was the last to go...that's me. I know there will be objections from the Middle East, mainly regarding rubbish equipment, too long legs, sun angle, price of fish etc, but it is all just excuses....the result stands.

1st - Max W

2nd Senior Male W

3rd Candice G

4th Thomas G

5th Tom W

6th Helen G

7th Clare W

8th Olivia G

9th and very least Dave G
THE WINNERS>>>>THE WORDENS OF PAPAMOA!

The real loser was Candice, losing her CROC on the chairlift back up. Sir Knight in Shining Armour (NW) stumbled and trekked throught the JUNGLE to get it....RESULT not only finding the CROC but also a skanky leather sandle!!!



Olivia in a very determined mood!

David suffered the same as Thomas G.....just too long legs!!!!!

I think Lewis Hamilton started out 'just like that'.....or was that TOMMY COOPER?????

After exhausting days, THE HOSTS went back to work / school etc, but the G's carried on adventuring. TG golfed......4 rounds,the rest of the clan wandered around Mclaren falls and back to Rotorua for Thermal / Cultural fun.

All in all a fantastic time was had by all......(TG still moaning about the unfair nature of the challenges / competition....and I wont mention the PRESS up challenge in which TG did 55 in 60 seconds...very impressive, but we have a secret weapon in MAX W.....75!!!! Sorry that slipped out!)

Great to see the G's of Dubai in NZ....must come next time to SKI

We are all totally knackered now....5 1/2 weeks and counting....roll on MRS E!

Out of Hibrenation!

Hello to all of you blog readers out there. Big apologies for our sad effort but now we are official kiwis we have to 'hibernate' during the winter and only come out when the skies are blue, the sun is shining and the temperature is 20 degrees +. Now that we are into November, that time has arrived.

During the hibernation months I have been thinking of many titles for this blog (you see I haven't forgotten you all.) My favorite, Lazy Bloggers, was inspired by Russ - so this one is for you!

So, what have we been up to since July???? How time flies when you are hibernating!! Here's a selection of photos from the in-between months.

August:

Taupo Half Marathon

Still smiling at the end!!!

A typical winter's day at the beach.

September:

Saturday rescue mission. 'Nobby' the whale beached at Papamoa. Luckily the surf rescue team, a nice yellow digger and about 1500 people were on hand to dig him out and send him back out to sea! Obviously he was feeling a little cold in the sea and just wanted to sunbathe on the beach!

Still running?? Another half marathon! This time the 'City to Surf' at Tauranga! Now who said I was hibernating???

October:

School holidays means time to ski again. This is the view on our way up..........

......and from the top. A fantastic week skiing or snowboarding followed by.....

....a day at the beach! The amazing thing about this country is that you can drive 3 hours from montain to beach and from skiing to surfing - now that's the life!

Also in October, a huge welcome to Neil's mum and dad our visitors from afar. On to the usual tourist route..first stop, Rotorua.

November:

Next, Taupo and a great view of the mounains across the lake.

And how about a trip on this little boat?? The Millenium in harbour for the day at Mount Maunganui. Next time maybe??

And so that finishes the blog for today. Now that all the summer activities have begun we may venture out with the camera more often...so keep watching!

New home...now take a holiday!

7 months after moving into our glorious sunshine house and time to move on once again. We have loved living in the midst of yellow and blue but with the owners due back from their jaunt to France it was time to look for somewhere a little bigger so that we could finally unload our belongings from England. Luckily (for us) some friends of ours are moving to Dubai so we have gladly agreed to rent their home, for a while at least.

So, on a cold, wet Saturday morning a large van arrived at our new home with 170 boxes!!! Where would it all fit???? As you'll see from the photos once the house was full we filled he garage!!!!

Now, 3 weeks later most of the boxes are empty and the place it looking pretty organised! Max's bed is still in pieces as that is a 'sizeable' project for which we haven't had time yet! It is really nice to be in a 'real' house though and I am sure we will enjoy living here once we are settled. We are a bit further away from the centre than we were before but still only 5 minutes walk to the beach. The boys can either cycle or catch the bus (they have a free bus pass) to school and there seems to be lots of their friends around here.

The weekend we moved in here was the start of the 2 week school holidays. The idea was to get organised the first week and then go skiing the second. Unfortunately, we were all attacked by some nasty NZ virus during the first week which laid us all low with temperatures, colds and coughs! Max was also violently sick for a full day...the joys!

Luckily, we were all pretty much recovered in time to ski. The mountains (3 rather large, but not too active!) volcanos are about 3 hours drive from here. We had booked a 2 bedroom apartment in a lodge in a village about 15 minutes drive from the ski fields. We drove down on the Monday, dumped our stuff and headed up the mountain to collect our skis and hit the slopes for an hour or so. We all quickly regained our ski/snowboard legs and came away ready for action the next day!

Our first full day back on the slopes was fantastic! Blue skies, sunshine and lots of fun. We were all soon speeding down the mountain with our usual elegance and flair!!! All except Neil that is who had bought some skis from a friend and soon discovered that although the ultimate 'bargain' they were too long for him. He entertained us with a mutitude of spins, backwards skiing and spectacular falls! What would we do without him?! He lasted 2 days before he finally gave in and opened his wallet to hire some other ones!

Max and Tom were soon speeding off and leaving Neil & I behind. Tom returned from one ski lesson and said 'c'mon mum follow me' and then tried to kill me by taking me off on trecherous paths and leaping off rock faces about 1 metre high. I won't be following him again!!

As you can see the views were spectacular and we had a great couple of days before the weather changed. Then came the cold and wet! Visability was about 15 metres and the clouds closed in. It was much harder getting out of bed in the mornings knowing the weather wasn't too nice but once up on the slopes we still had a great time. The poor weather had scared off those not as hardy as us Northerners so the slopes were quiet. We donned our layers and off we went!

The boys not content with skiing from 8.30am until 4pm would ski back down to the car once the lifts had closed and unload the sledges. Needless to say 12 hours sleep a night just wasn't enough!!!

A great holiday was had by all and we are now planning our next ski trip for the next school holidays in September! The boys are now back in school and we are looking forward to heading down to Taupo this weekend for the Taupo half marathon. Won't that be fun in the rain and wind that is forecast!!!!!

Report of that event coming soon!

HARD AS NAILS US NORTHERNERS!!!

So there I was, just driving along, cruise control on, listening to some 'Rock' on one of the many many rock radio stations (AC/DC are hip here "oh lot of Rosie" and all that!) on State Highway24, which means a total usage per annum of 9 cars, travelling at 100 kms / hr when some bafoon aged about 9 1/2, decided that driving across the road, when he couldn't see due to the evening sun, was the thing to do!...........BANG!!!!!! Luckily, my quick reactions meant I managed to swerve, but just clipped his front end. At this point air bags were everywhere, then I was off the road, crashing into the 'concrete post' (pictured below) BANG!!!!!



Luckily, I suffered not. Quickly out of the car, the young boy was running around like the proverbial 'headless chicken', so having calmed him down, I was quickly onto the emergency services, which arrived in seconds whilst I was still onto them....however, the police, fire brigade and ambulance were not for us, but another accident, 'to wit' I had to point them all down the road to the original accident 1km away!




My faith in 'human nature' still exists...if a little bit tattered, as the second witness to the crash showed his true colours! Announcing himself as a representitive of the enery company, whose 'lamp post' I had 'grazed', he asked me for my business card (not one to miss an opportuinty for a sale!), thinking, he wanted my details to become a major 'witness' he then stated in no uncertain terms, that "someone was going to have to pay for the damage" then buggered off!!!!!


So there you have it....THE CRASH! Some 10 days later, still no injuries / whip lash! Clare thinks I'm a robot.....modelling myself on THE TERMINATOR!!!! As I said, HARD AS NAILS US NORTHERNERS!!!!

The car doesn't look as bad now that the crumpled bonnet is off!

Down to 8 lives now!
More blogs to follow soon. We move house tomorrow!!!!

What happened to May??!!

We all knew that May would be a busy month - what with mum arriving for her first visit, both the boys birthdays, me starting work and of course the usual variety of sporting events! How time has flown and now we are already half way through June!

Mum arrived safely at the begining of May and adapted pretty quickly to the time zone and lifestyle but never really got the hang of the language......who said they speak english over here?! We had a quiet first week settling mum in and then after Saturday morning footie headed off to the delights of Rotorua. We saw a few sights, rode the famous luge and watched the kids paddle around the lake.

Sporting events now that it is winter! include school cross country, ripper rugby and football. Max continues his swim training and Tom now has his red belt in karate. I think mum felt it was a continual move from one event to the next - she's right! Max has just played in the Ripper Rugby world cup where each school represents a different country. They represented Russia this year (much better that Australia last year!) but were sadly beated in the semi finals by Scotland! They all had a really good day though, especially as it meant friday away from school!

Both boys seemed to enjoy their birthdays which were pretty low key, except for the obligatory 'birthday tea and cake' which went down well as always. Thanks to all who sent cards and presents for them - they were much appreciated and the money was all spent wisely!!!

Other adventures for mum included a day trip to Hamilton to the winter show, complete with medieval village, stock car racing, lumberjacks, chainsaw carving, spongebob squarepants and a host of other similarly related winter events!!!! Neil's car also broke down during that adventure but we were saved by Nige and Bev where we stopped for dinner whilst Neil borrowed his boss's car!

We also visited the Karahgahake Gorge, a beautiful gorge with some fantastic views and walks including a 1km railway tunnel - torches and hard hats advised!

Tom has finally had his lovely long, golden locks cut off and is sporting a green and red number - very trendy! Neil is keen to let you all know that Tom's footie team (coached by Neil) are as yet unbeated in the league - 2 wins and 3 draws! I think he is hoping to take New Zealand by storm....at least in 8th grade footie!

Our next upcoming big event is the move from the sunshine house (a little cold in winter!) to our new home for now at least. That happens at the begining of July so will be reported on in the July edition! Oh and of course our ski holiday in the middle of July too. We are still waiting for snow on the mountain but are ever hopeful! Until next time......