We left New Zealand a week ago and it's never felt further away. It was sad leaving, especially not knowing when we will return. But the important thing is we will. And I think sooner than some might expect.


Funny isn't it? I always thought that as much as I might travel there will always just be the one place that feels like home. But that's not true is it?

nearly there....

All in all the trip has gone really well (so far, touch wood and all that). 10 hrs to Hong Kong, nice and easy, watched movies and relaxed. 10 hrs in Hong Kong with Ollie, a delicious dinner and a few pints in an irish pub and we were knackered when we got to the airport. 13 hrs to London, slept quite a bit, ate loads of food and watched telly (5 episodes of CSI included). My bag made it which was a huge relief as I was convinced it would get lost... I've made it to stanstead with time to spare but I'm on my own though which isn't at all as much fun... I'm having a hard time getting in to my head that I'll be seeing my family today...

you couldn't write this stuff...

I had little adventure yesterday when I went in to Hamilton to pick up the last presents and souvenirs. Driving down the main street I realized I had a flat tyre but couldn't pull over straight away because of the roadworks. I eventually found a loading bay and pulled in, got out and, yes, sure enough it was as flat as a pancake. I couldn't believe it. We've had this car for 5 months and never had a problem and this happens when I'm on my own, which is very unusual. And on top of that I was wearing my lovely white tunic, which I had to take off (I had a cami underneath though...)After an SOS to Harland to find out where everything was I got to work trying to get the jack out, with great difficulty. Then I got help from a lovely girl who was having coffee with two friends in a cafe where I pulled in. And here's the funny bit. The three girls had been sitting there chatting about what they can and can not do with cars. Two of them said they were useless when it came to cars and didn't even know how to change a tyre. The other girl then said: "You really ought to know how to change a tyre, I will have to teach you one day." And that's when I pulled in with my pancake wheel. So they got their lesson on my car and I got some much needed help + a good story to take home with me. As it were quite a few people stopped to see if we needed any help and I felt very well looked after :)

We had dinner with Rochelle and Paul and won't see them again this time. It was sad saying goodbye to the kids, especially Flynn "I love you with all my heart" bless his cotton socks. It's sad not knowing when we'll see them again. Rochelle is such a good sister to Harland and a good "sister" to me, always happy and warm and easy to talk to.

So, today we begin the final leg of our journey. Taking the car back to cousin hero in disguise Colin and then on to Auckland on the bus, spending the night in a hotel near the airport before we fly out tomorrow.

It's been such an amazing holiday

rugby frenzy

Last night was brilliant! A local derby between the Waikato Chiefs and Auckland Blues was always going to be a humdinger but never expected it to be quite such a try fest! I think Caveman, Bevan and Ashling were quite glad we dragged the along :)
There were about 15 000 people in waikato stadium which isn't much by brittish standards but not too bad for NZ. The atmosphere was pumping and the players were obviously charged up, the first try being scored only a couple of minutes in to the game with a quick reply from the blues. But then... the mighty Chiefs ran away with it and never looked like letting the opponents back in to the game

Match report on TVNZ

Oddly my favorite moment of the evening was before the game outside the stadium when we encountered "possum" (THE chiefs supporter and also the man responsible for revving up the chainsaw, as well as the supporters, from a crane). He was walking around belting out, at the top of his voice, a welcome to everyone, a challenge, a reminder that the waikato is the sacred land, and general patriotic encouragements. He was beaming with raw passion for his team and I thought that was really impressive.

Holiday Mode

The last few days in Whanga have been in complete holiday mode. We've been surfing on the few waves there were and on Thursday we hired a tandem bike for a few hours. Odd feeling sitting on the back relinquishing control completely! Unfortunately we didn't take any photos... Thursday night we went out for a soul burger and on friday morning, before heading back to Morrinsville, we had breakfast in a cafe. Yummy american pancakes and eggs benny. delish.

Gracie has just woken up from her nap and we're sharing a passion fruit from the garden. We're doing well considering we've never done a whole weekend with the rugrats before and they seem happy too. This morning we went for a loong walk in the Karangahake Gorge, a beautiful old gold mining place and wore the kids out with adventures, great because that means quiet afternoon. Honestly, I don't know how people do it... had the worst nights sleep last night, listening out for Gracie and getting up to give her the dummy when she lost it and then being waken up well before I was ready to get up. And then it's go go go all day, feeding them, keeping them happy, warm, dry, feeding them again and getting them to fall a sleep, happy. As much as I love our nieces and nephews and enjoy spending a weekend with them I don't think I could do it full time...

the team at karangahake

whangamata- finish where we started!

we're back in whanga! This is our place. We started our holiday here and we've know the place so well. Went for a short surf stint this morning but the fact of the matter was that it was cold. There is a real autumnal chill in the air and this makes life easier some how. I'm a lot happier now than I was a week ago. I'm just enjoying the last two weeks of my amazing holiday and I'm also looking forward to going back to the northern hemisphere, because it's getting warmer there and colder here:)

me in what looks like a mud pool but is in fact a thermal pool we dug out with a spade at hot water beach

the beginning of the end

we've just come back from a bbq at auntie sue's and it was lovely, sitting there enjoying the view of the waitangi river, in spite of grey skies and tropical style rain. As alway we were fed some lovely food and according to tradition I ate far too much:)
We're heading south tomorrow, to the Waikato, which means we had to say good-bye to a few people today, not knowing when we'll see them again. So, even though we have just under three weeks before we fly out it does feel like the beginning of the end... I'm trying to look on the bright side, I'll get to see my family soon and we'll be starting a new exciting life in Gbg, but I can't help feeling a tad sad that our trip is over. At the end of the day, who knows when we'll next get a five month holiday...

woolleys bay

this is Woolleys bay, a beautiful bay on the Tutakaka coast north of Whangarei. It just so happens that Harland's mum's cousin has a bach there and they offered it to us for a week. With some good surf along that coast it was unlikely that we would turn this offer down! Arrived on sunday after stocking up with food at Keri Keri farmers market. Loved it there from the start with the bach being just across the road from the beach.

Sandy bay is the next bay along, about a three minute drive from our pad and where we spent most of our time. Doing what? Surfing of course!
On Monday Harland's mate Jason and his flatmate Maria came to visit and we spent some time surfing, since Maria, who is from Uruguay, had never surfed before I tried to pass on some of my knowledge to her and she really enjoyed being swept in to shore by the waves!
On Tuesday we went to Mermaid rock Pools, they were beautiful but unfortunately didn't come out that way on any of my photos. We snorkeled around in the rock pools and Harland saw a stone fish which is poisonous...

is that a mermaid?? haha

Above: Harland riding a wave. Unfortunately we have yet to get a good photo of me surfing(but I have done it, I promise).
After Jason and Maria had headed we kept surfing (surprise) until we were to tired to paddle. I did my best surfing on Monday and Tuesday, but by Wednesday my arms were too tired to paddle! a great feeling, knowing that you've given it your all!

Below: my leg when I came out of the surf on Tuesday. A surfer dude in the car park was very impressed and I felt cool:)
Below: Harland got a surprise bottle of wine which we enjoyed on a blanket on the beach at dusk.

Jenny came down for a visit on Thursday and spent the night. We walked to Whale Bay, and she got the privilege to watch us surf:)

We actually ended up heading back to Paihia a couple of days before planned as a cyclone was moving in... Whale Bay (the most photographed beach in Northland) I can see why.