Post No. 89 - Boxing Day

We hope you all had a great Christmas!

We went to the beach yesterday - armed with barbeque, Santa Hats and a chilly bin full of sausages and burgers....arrived at the beach to find a total fire ban sign...had a debate whether barbeques would be considered fire....spotted the police cars on the beach and debated some more...walked along the beach for a good spot....realised how windy it was....took some photos and came home!
The barbeque on the balcony was even better then it would have been at the beach though, it was a great day!

Santa was very good to us and we had some lovely presents.

Today we went and bought a frisbee and ball and spent a couple of hours throwing those around, eating ice lollies and playing cluedo before lighting up the barby again for round 2!

So a lovely couple of days. Hope you had the same!

Post No. 88 - 'Twas the night before Christmas..

...and all throught the house, no creature was stirring, not even a mouse

Would you look at that mean mean sky! This was taken yesterday from our balcony - one side of the house had those dark mencaing clouds and on the other was bright sunshine - which is why the white house looks so bright!

Wow! Its Christmas Eve! Hope you are all having a safe and enjoyable holiday.

It's been a great day so far. After a long lie and a natter with Mum we headed out for a 2 hour walk from the Park alongside the Manawatu River...



Now we are back at home, getting ready for dinner, having a wee tipple and playing song quizzes!

We are hoping that tomorrow brings good weather for a day at the beach....after opening our pressies of course! And me and Graeme have the next fortnight off work - woo hoo!

Post No. 87 - Well, Blow me down

It so doesn't feel like Xmas.

It's so weird....it's hot, Mariah Carey's All I want for Christmas is NOT playing in the shops (how disappointed am I), the Woolies advert isn't on every other advert and I don't have an advent calendar. Its just all so totally wrong! But kinda good too!

Me and Dad strung xmas lights up on the balcony (photo to follow when we take one!) and they are about the only xmas lights I have seen.

But the cool things about Xmas in NZ...practically every morning this week, we have opened our front door to find a parcel on our doorstep, BBQs (I don't think I need to say anything else about that do I?), the birds singing, the sun shining and the prospect of spending Xmas day on the beach (definetly photos to follow on that just to rub it in!)

Of course, we have never had to worry about getting sunburn in December before...leading to us having plenty of sunburn! Whoops!

Yesterday we took Dad out to the Wind Farm....the one which we eventually found after weeks of searching and we didn't actually have the camera with us - d'oh!

Well we had a camera yesterday and got some photos. It was a little strange though as there was no wind on them there hills, its was so still and the rain was bucketing down. Hardly any of the turbines were going around.





So there you have it!

Post No. 86 - Was that the weekend speeding past us?!

Time is flying. And it shows no signs of stopping!

My dad flew in to Auckland the last weekend in November and it just hasn't stopped - and even before that, time seemed to be getting away from us (hence lack of posts!)

We drove up from Palmy to Auckland on the Sunday - took about 6 hours. And it just doesn't feel that long at all, the scenery is amazing! We drove along the desert road which takes you into the mountain range, past Mt. Ruapehu which is an active volcano and was used as Mt. Doom in LOTR. And then through the Waikato region which is like Hobbiton!

Sunday night we went up the Sky Tower and Monday we took in the Auckland Domain gardens and Mt. Eden - an extinct volcano.



On Tuesday, we headed up North to our motel in Paihia. From Paihia we went out on a half day boat trip taking in the Bay of Islands - we saw dolphins and what at first glance, Graeme took as a HUGE dolphin - but no, in fact, it was a whale!

We also took an all day coach trip to Cape Reinga - the northernly most part of NZ. It was great, we tried Sand Toboganning, had lunch at a fabulous beach and drove back along 90 mile beach in the coach - FAB!



On the Friday, despite much misgiving on my part, we hired a wee boat and took it out to sea! Scary experience! Was fun, but scary.....and the sea gets awful choppy in the afternoons in the Bay of Islands! The true moment of panic was when the engine suddenly cut out and we didn't have a clue why....turned out we needed to change the fuel can over - phew!

On the Saturday we drove down from Paihia straight to Lake Taupo and another wonderful motel. It was a two minute walk to the waters edge - wow!



And then Sunday came and with it, our journey back home to Palmy - it was a fabulous week, we had a great time and we all got to see lots of beautiful NZ!

Post No. 85 - Busy bees!

Hello! It's been a long time and we apologise. Thanks to Tawny for the reminder of how much we have been neglecting our faithful reader(s).

I promise to get something up here at the weekend to explain our absence! In the meantime, heres some piccies of our recent trip for you....

Hole in the Rock, Bay of Islands


A gorgeous beach near Cape Reinga (NZ's most northernly bit!)
Hope these keep you amused and please check back over/after the weekend for a longer post!

Post No. 84 - We went to the Zoo!

We had a fairly busy week and were happy when the weekend arrived! Yesterday we had a fairly lazy day sorting some stuff out around the house and we rented a DVD to watch last night - The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. Graeme, having previously read the book, was unimpressed. I didn't know any better!

Today, the weather looked good so we headed down to Wellington in the car to visit the zoo! We had been thinking about going for a while and it was worth the 2 hour drive to get there. It helps that the drive is a beautiful one. First you travel alongside the mountain range, then along the coast - great views!
So we saw lions and giraffes and meerkats (all pictured). Also red pandas, chameleons, cotton tailed tamarins, lemurs, kangaroos, emus, zebra, otters....the list goes on and on!
Hope you all had a good weekend too!

Post No. 83 - So do they have Guy Fawkes in the UK?

Glad the 5th is well and truly behind us cos I just couldn't have answered that qeustion anymore. I mean, what do you say to that! Perhaps it was just a conversation starter or its some test to find out if we really are British - who knows!

Went to a Bonfire party on Saturday night which was in the middle of nowhere on a sheep farm. Driving home at midnight was scary - just our car for kilometres and kilometres, like something out of one of those horror films where they break down in the middle of nowehere and this big beastie comes to eat them alive - eeek!

So there we were stood in the garden while they had the impromptu 'display', everyone that turned up must have bought a box of "crackers" (as they tend to call them here) as there were loads and loads! And you will never guess how they were lighting them.....with a blow torch connected up to a Calor gas bottle - I kid you not!

No photos of said Firework lighter cos the camera is still poorly so instead here's an Aussie one for you:
The most laid-back kangaroo in the world!

Post No. 82 - Uh-oh! Tis broken

Darn it, the digital camera doesn't work. It was playing up the last couple weeks but G managed to get the photos we took in Australia off it last Friday when we get home. Then the next day, went to use it...and nah - kaput - unlucky! We got a good run out of it though didn't we - its taken 1000s of photos!

So no photos for a while. I have a stock here of previously taken pics so never fear - while Blogger lets me I will find something to post for you. And there should be a CD of more Oz photos winging its way across the Tasman soon.

Seal at SeaWorld

And in my usual manner, I will now start talking about something completely different and uninteresting - you won't believe what I am listening to just now - I managed to find Curtis Stigers in our music library...I must admit at this stage that it would have originated from me or mine as Graeme would have nothing to do with Curtis. Our music collection is somewhat weird (I can't think of a more suitable word at this point!), an eclectic mix may be a polite way of putting it. I got an iPod shuffle for my birthday and its so fab! A bit of Aretha Franklin one minute followed by some Travis and then the Rolling Stones followed up by Girls Aloud.

What else....ummmmm.....methinking. I started a new job - I'm now at a Recruitment Agency (the one that found Graeme his job and I have been temping through in the past while) actually working in their office. I am the Resource Co-ordinator...sounds like my cuppa tea (well - it would if I drank tea!), not bad so far, lots to learn and it will keep me sorted until Crimbo (lets not talk about the C word huh - we have to do the dreaded shopping tomorrow, so will need at least a fortnight to recover from the trapsing and browsing and spending and wrapping and posting and blah, blah, blah!).
Then tomorrow night we are off to a Bonfire party - away out in the countryside with the sheep and cows...cool!

Have a fun weekend and be safe with those sparklers now!

Post No. 81 - a good year!

Well what can I tell you. 1981 was a fabulous year as it was the year I was brought kicking and screaming into this world! And can't you all just picture a one year old Graeme - how cute!

Anyway I have digressed. Until I realised this was post number 81 I planned to show you more photos! Its like last Saturday with us flying out to Oz. We had loads of immigration paperwork to fill in (okay, I exaggerate - 2 small forms!) and every time they asked for todays date I filled in 22 October 1981! What a dafty!

So for starters here is a picture of me feeding a kookaburra on my great uncles balcony. I was feeding it bacon rind - the little meat eater - its a wonder it never pecked me fingers off!

And next up, here's a scary looking one for you. I think I will entitle this one 'Sharky and George' (hands up who remembers that great piece of television history?!)

Tomorrow its back to work for us....yuck! We've had a fabulous holiday and now its back to reality. Graeme heads back to counting those beans and I have the most fabulous temp job lined up this week - data entry at the University - woohoo! Very soon, our fun in the sun will become a distant memory!....then in 4 weeks time me da' arrives so more holidays - yipee!

Post No. 80 - We're home!

Hey Peeps! Did you miss us? Sorry for the lack of messages while we have been away - I did attempt to write a message while we were away but got sidetracked and forgot to post it! We had such a great time - it was wonderful. Not only did we catch up with family we haven't seen in a while and meet family from the 'Oz' side we also saw lots of Australian 'stuff'!

Won't say much else now. I managed to get some photos uploaded so will let the photos keep you amused and tell you more later!

First up - us at Surfers Paradise after a nice long walk - we walked for 2 hours! My feet hurt so much when we got back to the car and we both got quite sunburnt - we had some lotion on but it was raining so didn't expect to catch the sun!
Next up - a polar bear cub - yes, thats a cub can you believe! This was taken at SeaWorld. There were 2 of them and they were just the cutest!




Couldn't go to Oz without seeing a koala! And I actually got to cuddle one. Me and Graeme and Mum got our photo taken with one!




And finally, another Aussie photo - a kangaroo! We got to feed some kangaroos in one of the enclosures too!

So hope that will keep you all going for a wee while! We will try and get some more up for you over the weekend! Have a good one!

Post No. 79 - Lots happening!

So whats been happening with us?

Well, my current work contact ends tomorrow. We - me and the other contractors - were told 2 weeks ago that they were unable to renew our contracts after the end of October. This came as quite a surprise, especially to those in the department that had been there for 18 months! For me, its been a good run of almost 3 months though and I have certainly picked up a lot of new skills!
Since I found out I have been looking around for something else, updating my CV, signing up with agencies and hope to have something for the start of November.
I have also checked some books out of the library about finding a job you love! Might as well do something useful with my free time huh? !

This weekend we get to see the rellies for a wee while!
Have been getting excited about the family reunion due to take place on Saturday!
Hopefully we will come back with plenty more photos for you!

We really need to start thinking about Christmas as well as parcels and cards need to be sent off near the start of November. The shops here are just starting to get the Xmas stuff in. I wonder how long it will be before we start to hear Mariah's All I Want for Christmas is You?!

So how are you all doing? Looking forward to Christmas?

Note - we are currently having some 'technical' difficulties uploading photos to the blog and are looking at other options. Hope to have normal picture-posting services resumed soon!

Post No. 78 - Don't you just love the dentist!

I am going to blame my distinct lack of posts this last week on a variety of things:
a) a very painful wisdom tooth (more on this in a bit)
b) trying to find a new job
c) getting ready for our holiday to Australia

Excuses, excuses eh?!
So the tooth.....evil tooth, it was sore a few weeks ago and the pain revisited last Monday with a vengance. Those that know me well enough - will know how much I winge when I am in pain - so come Thursday Graeme was demanding I visit the dentist (understandable really!) So I had some recommendations from work to go and see Mr Joe on Main Street. Called on Friday and managed to get me an appointment for 10.20am this morning.
Now I was expecting the dentist to tell me to stop being such a wuss and send me on my way but oh, no, he did the thing I dread most (well, maybe not the most, my biggest fear of all is having a trachotemy - eeeek!)....he said I had to have a wisdom tooth out.
And you wanna know something really ironic - it wasn't even the one giving me the hassle! I had to have the top one out as that was digging into the botttom and causing inflammation and infection!
So I asked what would happen if I was just to leave it (what a wimp I am!) and he said it would get worse. I protested that I was going on holiday on Saturday and he said - all the better to do it today then to get it out the way.
At this point, I started hyperventalating. By the time, he had given me the injection (which, by the way, did NOT hurt - after the pain with the tooth all week it was nothing!) I had gone green and nearly threw up so they had to let me lie down for a while and compose myself. See if I could have stood up then - I would have run away!
So I finally calmed down a little and they took me to get an x-ray (harmless!) and when we came back he started prodding around in my mouth. It hurt! So he had to top me up on the drugs before going any further.
But see after all the fuss, it really wasn't so bad. He was poking about and stuff but I kept my eyes shut the whole time and all was well.
So know I am a quarter short of my wisdom....and the best thing, I have to go to the Oral Surgeon to have the bottom one out in the near future (in the meantime, I have anti-biotics) and while I am there I may as well have the other two out as the same problem will probably occur that side (as per the xray).
I was still shaking when I paid (but that may have been to do with the bill...and I have to multiply this by 3 next time!) and made my way out to the car. I called Graeme and asked him to come rescue me which he did - took me to the pharmacy for drugs, the supermarket for soup (theres no way I am eating solid food for a while!) and brought me home.
Went into work for a few hours and felt miserable as couldn't laugh or talk very much so I came home and curled up in bed with a book - the perfect cure!

Luckily my course of drugs ends on Saturday morning so I am planning to have a good drink in our first night in Australia (what with it being my birthday and all!!!!)

Post No. 77 - Virtual Winery Tour

Okay people, I am a total let-down. Yes, I did remember to take the camera on Saturday but alas, at no point did I whip it out of my bag to get any photos for you. Terrible Kate!

So instead I am going to find you some suitable links so you can take the virtual wine tour!

We strolled on down to The Square on Saturday morning to meet up with everyone and catch the coach. I think there were about 20 of us in the end, Graeme's colleagues plus some partners/friends. The weather was pretty yuck on Saturday morning and it rained all the way down to Masterton where we had lunch, a vineyard tour and our first tastings at Solstone Estate Winery. Lunch wasn't up to much but the tour was interesting and here we bought our first bottle of wine - an Autumn Riesling (delish!).

After lunch we headed back on the coach and travelled further on to Martinborough which is a huge wine making region in New Zealand. There are literally roads where every property on it is a vineyard!

So we headed out to 4 other vineyards:
Tirohana Estate (no wine here - were not keen)
Te Kairanga Wines (we got a Sauvignon Blanc and a Pinot Noir here, our only red!)
Margrain Vineyard (no wine here as was starting to wonder about carrying it home! I did like a Chenin Blanc here but neither of us were sure if we could polish off the bottle)
and last but not least,
Voss Estate Vineyard (where we got another Sauvignon Blanc - the best we tried all day, and a dessert Riesling - only 375ml bottle for same price as normal size bottles but the stuff is like nectar - yum!)

So there you have it! 5 bottles of wine later! The coach ride was fun, lots of laughter and fortunately no-one was sick! We were so tired when we got home though and ended up in bed at 9.30pm!

Haven't drunk any of the new stuff yet - we will probably try and save for Christmas time. It was an enjoyable day and definetly something we would consider doing again (especially when our cellar gets low on stock!)

There were some people that did have cameras with them and they never stopped taking pictures (!) so we will see about getting some pictures from them for you.

Hope you have enjoyed your virtual winery tour, unfortunately no tastings but if you come out to visit we will take you on a 'real' tour!

Post No. 76 - For once, there are no words

Well not many anyway!

We are going on a wine trail tomorrow with the folk from Graeme's work. I will try to sneak the camera in my bag and get some vineyard pictures for you although that may be frowned upon by 'the accountants'! We shall see.

In the meantime, heres a little something for you:

In a Past Life...

You Were: A Gorgeous Fortune Teller. Where You Lived: Germany. How You Died: Consumption.

Who Were You In a Past Life?

and a picture too while I am it:



Have a fun weekend!

Post No. 75 - Not long till Xmas!

Hmmm, thought I would conduct an experiment with the photos tonight. Have one on the left, one on the right and see how it looks. What d'ya think? I thought you might like these two - one of me and one of G, both on similar bridges at opposite ends of North Island. We are both like little kids when we get on these type of bridges and have to jump up and down to make them swing! Shocking behaviour!

And mentioning shocking behaviour, I can hear the sounds of disgust you are all making at the title of todays post. Well, peeps, its really not that far now. And we have even more distance to think about this year than before. We need to have all our Xmas presents and cards bought and shipped by the 11th November - how scary is that! Its like a month! Maybe you should take this as advance warning that we may just ban Christmas this year to save on postage costs!

Well I better keep typing so this post doesn't look all weird with too much photo and not enough text....hmmmmm, what can I say? How 'bout Happy Birthday to a certain wise old man thats a very big age today! Very old, poor mite. He will have to go in a home soon....but ne'er ye mind ole git cos I've found you a nice one in Palmy up by the airport!
Now I think I will make myself scarce before I get told off!

Post No. 74 - Red Sky at Night

The Sky from our window the other night

Not really got much to say....for once....don't all be too shocked now!

Its Sunday and Graeme has been trying to complete our expression of interest (to do with extending/changing our visa) for a few hours. There are loads of questions and some are quite ambiguous! Saying that, he's got most of the way through it. I need to go and add some info in the relevant sections and speak to someone at Immigration to check if they really want me to list all of my family including aunts, uncles and cousins....cos thats gonna run into hundreds! (okay, maybe not quite!). And then we will get it submitted and wait with bated breath.

We found some really interesting statistics on the immigration website about how the system works and how many people are applying using the same category as us (over 800 applications every fortnight!) Scary stuff! So make sure you keep your fingers crossed for us! We will keep you informed of what happens when!

I got very excited yesterday when I realised it was three weeks to my birthday! Which, of course, means three weeks until we go to Australia! Yipee! Can't wait.

Onto other news...we finally found the wind farm yesterday and stood under the turbine. It was so windy (well duh Kate!) it took my breath away but it felt pretty amazing to be standing up so high. Of course, we didn't have the camera with us cos we wern't planning to go on a picture taking expedition when we left the house, we were just planning to go to the Stationery Warehouse so I could drool over scrapbooking supplies and start organising supplies for the NZ scrapbook I plan to make! But never fear - we will head back out again soon and get some pictures for you!

Post No. 73 - Holy Moly! Look at the size of this beast

Okay so the regular readers amongst you may have heard me mention weta's before. Ugly beasties that apparently can do you no harm. Look like giant cockroach scorpian demons.
Are you with me yet?
If not have a look at this....this was waiting for me when I stepped out of the bedroom to go into the bathroom this morning...



Eeeeek! Well I ran back in the bedroom and executed a dive that would have won me medals to get me back on the bed and my feet safely off the floor (you know - in case it chased me!).

Luckily I had a gallant Scotsman to help me out. He trapped the beastie in a pot so I could get ready for work knowing it wasn't free to nibble on my toes (I have the heebee geebee shivers as I type this....like those ones you get when you see tarantulas on the telly). And then he did the ole sliding the paper under the pot and taking Mr Weta out for a nice trip in the garden trick.
Of course, I was a little miffed that he endangered the safety of my toes by lifting the lid on the pot, placing the ruler beside evil demon creature and taking picture.

See what we suffer to give you people entertainment!

Post No. 72 - We're back! Did you miss us?

So the mysteriousness of our absentness over the weekend is about to be explained! We went away for the weekend to Wellington, New Zealand's capital city! It was great, we enjoyed ourselves.

Wellington is a lovely city. We arrived on Friday night, checked into our hotel and headed out for a wander and some dinner (found a Mexican fast food place - spicy BBQ ribs, yum!)
It was very strange being back in such a busy and bustling city. I hadn't realised how different Palmy is! It felt like there were way too many people and lots of noise!
Wellington looks an absolutely amazing place for shopping. It seemed there were more shops than Auckland although the positioning of our hotel may have caused that. We were staying in the Cuban quarter.
We didn't get much sleep on Friday due to all the noise! But we dragged oursleves out of bed on Saturday and out for a late lunch before heading to Te Papa which is the museum of New Zealand. A bit like the Science Museum, Museum of Natural History and the V&A all rolled into one but with NZ related exhibits! It was fabulous - well worth a visit and we ended up spending 5 and a half hours in there!
On Saturday night we had a pub dinner and a few drinks before heading back to the hotel.

Then this morning (Sunday) we checked out of the hotel and took a stroll through the city to Lamberton Quay where the Wellington Cable Car can be found. This is pretty famous in relation to Wellington and here is a picture for you:


At the top there is a small Cable Car Museum, the Botanic Gardens (beautiful!) and the Carter Observatory and Planeterium. We headed into the Observatory and were just in time for 'the show'. The show being a presentation on the Southern Hemisphere sky at night. It was fascinating - we found out how you find South by looking at the stars (not as easy as looking for the North Star to find North let me tell you!) and found out what zodiac signs and planets are viewable at the moment.

Then we headed back down in the Cable Car using our return ticket and had a wander around the shops (where I managed to buy a pair of Brazilian trainers - they are the comfy-est things I have ever had on my feet) and persuaded Graeme to buy me a birthday present (although its getting put away and I am not allowed it until my birthday!)

We caught the coach home late this afternoon and were back home before it got dark.
Now I am posting on here to let you all know what we have been up to! I am also just uploading the photos from our trip onto Kodak Galleries so if you would like to see them just holler and I will send you an invite.

Heres another taster for you...okay, or not! Blogger is playing up so no more pics for you tonight I am afraid....maybe later!

Post No. 71 - Pansies

Not much to say really so thought I would post a picture of our tubs and pansies as requested by 'the old git'!

Going to be a quiet couple of days from us I am afraid as we have a busy weekend ahead of us. We will be in touch again next week though and hopefully have lots of news for you!

Post No. 70 - Hey! Where'd the sun go?

No really - are you hiding it? Cos it disappeared and we can't find it anywhere!

Horrible, cold, wet, windy, frosty, yuck! The pansies are now in the living room as opposed to on the balcony cos Palmy (why do I always type Plamy and then have to correct it?!) is expected to go as low as minus 1 tonight!

The heaters are back on in full force and the hot water bottle was warming my toes again last night. And most definetly will be tonight.

So it seems that its not just Scotland with the ever changing seasons and weather. Maybe it really is global warming like they tell us. But my question is - why it is called Global warming when its so darn cold?!

So there goes even the mildest chance I might have any colour on my legs before the big trip next month (and lets face it - even with sun the only colour I would go would be red!). I can't believe we are going to Australia - 'citing stuff! And I can't wait to see everyone - its going to be fabulous.

And let's not forget - people - that its my birthday too! And what with the long distance you best all start posting the cards and gifts just now (hee hee!).
Strange how I don't have that sense of dread about birthdays yet. I am happy to celebrate having lasted another year without accidently slitting a major artery with a post-it note or having a pigeon kill me (I think thats probably the way I will eventually go - those pigeons, they hate me! Hey - thats just started off a whole other thought process....are there pigeons in NZ? Hmmmm, can't say I have seen one. There are lots of ducks though. But I like ducks. And they don't seem to have such an evil glint in their eyes compared to the pigeons.)

And on that cheerful note, answers on a postcard about what this picture is actually of?

Post No. 69 - Handbags and Trampettes

Yes people, you really are reading that title correctly! Today we went on a little shopping spree and I am extremely happy with the results!

WARNING FOR ANYONE WHO HATES SHOPPING, HANDBAGS OR MINI TRAMPOLINES - you may not want to read further.

First off we headed to Whitcoulls and got some NZ writing paper/note paper so next time I send stuff to people I have some authentic NZ merchandise to write a note on!

Next was Strand Bags where I purchased a new bag for work. As I wandered over to the checkout I spyed an amazing box set of a purse/wallet, coin purse and key ring - in a beautiful plum purple colour...yum! Graeme reminded me that I had a lovely purse already, still fairly new, one I bought when we arrived in Auckland (at Auckland Zoo to be precise, and no, it doesn't have a picture of a monkey on it!) but I was taken with this purple set. And my current purse is too small for notes (cash) and all my cards (library membership card, VideoEzy membership card etc...please don't get the wrong idea and think I have a purse full of credit cards!) don't fit. Plus the car key is too bulky to go on the keyring with my other keys so I really needed a new key-ring for that. I had persuaded myself...Graeme was still looking dubious but resigned! SO here they are people, my new bag and my new wallet, purse and keyring set.



Okay - then we went in a trillion more shops and looked at loads of stuff! I got some tops for work (the exact same top in 2 different colours!), a tall clear glass vase (for the shells I collected at the beach last weekend), a new terracotta pot (for the pansies we had left from planting the other pots we bought - pictures coming soon of our new multi-coloured balcony!) and finally a trampette - woo hoo!
I can't exactly get a normal size trampoline as the garden isn't big enough and there isn't enough head-clearance to put it in the spare room! So a trampette it is....

Now if only I can think of a way to post to the blog while bouncing...?!

Okay - so I know a lot of you want to see more pictures on here but I'm figuring you wern't expecting pictures of my (sorry I meant 'our'!) purchases....the way I see it is - I am giving you an insight into the NZ shops and what they have to offer...so there you go!

Maybe if you are lucky you will get some pictures of New Zealand next post...we will see!

Post No. 68 - Freak Storm

Interesting?

So its been raining on and off all day. Horrible big loud rain! So I stayed at work all day and didn't come home to hang the washing out at lunchtime like I sometimes do.

Luckily it wasn't raining when I left work at 5pm. By the time I got indoors though it was coming down heavy. We waited it out a little before heading back out in the car to VideoEzy to get some DVDs to watch this weekend. It was only about 20metres from the car to the sheltered wall leading up to the VideoEzy door - yet we still got soaked.

We were perusing the shelves deciding what to get with our BOGOF voucher (!) - I definetly wanted to see Harry Potter 3 cos we hadn't seen that yet and we were debating whether Van Helsing would be too scary for me (and if the fact its Hugh Jackman would help me overcome my fear) when there was this flash.

My first thought....'what silly buggar is taking pictures in the video store?' but when I looked out the door and saw the rain bouncing off the ground I realised it was lightening. Eeeek! Then there was the loudest crash I have ever heard! It was so loud that the whole building we were in shook and a car alarm outside was actually activated! I looked about me to discover everyone was as spooked as we were....so obviously not a huge occurence here in Palmy.

We paid for the DVDs and waited by the door for a break in the rain which didn't come so eventually had to sprint out to the car getting absolutely soaked! Our jumpers are hanging up to dry because they were too wet to wear or put away!

It carried on thundering and lightening for about an hour after we got back home. It seems to have calmed down a lot now so I am keeping my fingers crossed I don't wake up screaming in the night due to a loud clap of thunder. (And let me tell you people that was no clap we heard - that was the whole world applauding all together!)

Scary stuff.....and its reminded me I really do need to get an evacuation kit put together!!!

Post No. 67 - Drumroll Please....

And the winners of our amazing contest are....

First out the hat (or should that be first name on a folded up post-it picked by Graeme out of Kate's cupped hands!) was Michelle.

Second was Yogi

And third was Anne

Please email us your preferences to prizes in number order....i.e. 1st choice - all black beanie bear, 2nd choice - ?, 3rd choice - ? (Michelle being 1st chosen gets first choice!)

Thanks to the others that entered (and yes, we did have more than 3 entries) we really appreciate you all taking the time to let us know what you think of the blog. Yogi, in particular, had some interesting ideas for future features so watch this space!

And for those that didn't win - here is a picture for you!


Another one from the beach taken yesterday

Post No. 66 - Incentives

An incentive for those of you who haven't yet entered our amazing contest! Here is a picture of the prizes (my terrible photography skills just don't do the prizes justice!)

You could win
a) an All-Blacks beanie bear
b) a Memo pad with pen
or
c) a pukeko bird keyring

Some wonderful NZ merchandise! So if you haven't entered yet - get yourselves along to Post No. 59 to find out the questions you need to answer to be in with a chance of winning! Closing date, as previously stated, is Monday 12 September at 9pm NZ time. To work out what time it will be wherever you are in the world then click here.

So onto other matters, we went on a mini-tour of the local beaches today. Okay, so we only went to 2! Foxton beach and Himitangi beach. The beaches are very different here compared to the UK. For starters - considering it is only the start of Spring it was very warm. Also dogs, cars and horses are allowed on the beach. You definetly see some interesting sights!



It was a lovely way to spend a few hours. Its pretty amazing to stand on the edge of the water and just see water for miles. I think the next piece of land is probably Australia. Wow! And I think I have managed to catch the sun - soon my freckles will merge and I will become one giant freckle....freaky! Speaking of freaky, we saw Charlie and the Chocolate Factory last night. We enjoyed it, Johnny Depp was great. Definetly just as weird as the first version though, if not more!

Post No. 65 - Saturdays

Wallabies - aren't they the cutest! We got to hand-feed them!

I love Saturdays. I love that feeling you get when you wake up early and realise you don't have to get up to go to work. So you get to snuggle back in for more sleep! Its great! Of course the problem arises when I wake up on Wednesday thinking its Saturday and then do the same thing on Thursday and Friday. So come Saturday I really do deserve the lay-in!

And then I got up and we had waffles, bacon and maple syrup for breakfast - how healthy is that?! Then I sat and read a book- until I finshed it! Wonderful! It was an assignment for my writing course. Okay so I didn't have to read the whole thing before I commented on it but I figured my comments would be fairer if I had read the whole book!

And then we took a drive into The Square so Mr G could get his hair cut - looks delish! And then we had cakes and juice in the library cafe. So far a wonderful Saturday!

Last night we dolled ourselves up (who am I kidding - I brushed my hair and Graeme changed his t-shirt - the extent of our dolling up!) and went off the cinema to watch Charlie and the Chocolate Factory...I was looking forward to it....we got in the queue for tickets and when we got to the front and asked for 2 adult tickets we were told it was sold out! How disappointed was I?! Okay so I am not expecting Johnny Depp to be in anyway sexy in this role but I was looking forward to it none-the-less. I even watched the original version last Saturday when it was on in preparedness (is that a word...if it is I am sure the Scouts and Guides must use it!). So we ended up buying tickets for tonights showing and are going to head out after tea.

Oh and I forgot - we also bought a bookcase today! How exciting! Okay not so much exciting for you lot but the prospect of Graeme being able to walk through our house without tripping over 1 of my many books (yeah terrible I know, been here like 2 months and already have more books than I have time to read!) has him eagerly ripping open the box, finding his hammer and getting building! Maybe I will take a picture of it for you all to see!

Post No. 64 - Fly By Post

A Hill near Manawatu Gorge! And thats the train track running through/over it!

So we got you all excited last week with so many posts, so much news and a few surprise posts from Mr G. And then this week - we just let you all down! Sorry peeps!

Been a hectic week. We have been sleep deprived due to a certain rodent who I have been referring to (in my head) as Elvis. Well folks, Elvis has now left the building
(I apologise for my bad bad humour!). And he went in a trap I am afraid to say. I have been having very guilty thoughts about this.

But we did give him a choice - one trap and 5 buckets (all situated next to places he could climb and get in for the bait). The buckets and trap all contained the same bait - peanut butter on bread! He made his choice.

As well as that I have started my writing course this week so have been busy with that. I am enjoying it very much so far. I love a challenge, me!
We have also been investigating the visa situation and trying to work out what forms need filled in, when and how much the whole thing costs! Keep your fingers crossed for us.

Thanks to everyone that has responded to our giveaway so far. We really appreciate the feedback. For those of you who haven't entered please have a quick read of Post 59 and give us some answers to be in with a chance of winning. Closing date is Monday 12 September at 9pm NZ time (thats 10am UK). Good Luck!

Post No. 63 - Scary Drive!

Manawatu Lookout

So we had another go at finding the windfarm today. Still haven't found it! We saw a lot of turbines and sometimes we seemed really close but still haven't worked out how you get into the Wind Farm carpark to get your picture taken right underneath one! Our mission continues....

We did find a sign that said Wind Farm so headed down that road. It was a single dirt track that wound its way around mountains and gorges and I was hyperventalating at certain points. We ended up finding a safe place to turn and heading back. We probably should have realised what we had let ourselves in for when a sign at the start of the road said EXTREME CAUTION and another said 25kmph for next 11 km! Thats like 10mph or something. And you really did have to drive at that speed.

Scary stuff - let me tell you - thank goodness there were no other cars on this road because there were hardly any passing places and I would have turned blue from lack of oxygen had Graeme had to reverse back to a passing place!

The roads are scary here! Manawatu Gorge is 5 minutes out of town. I can appreciate the amazing view but the signs at the beginning of the Gorge say its an Accident area for 8km....yet the speed limit if still 100km - the national speed limit. How daft is that? There is no way you can do 100 round most of the gorge - you would have to be on a death wish!

And views like the one above are all around you as you drive these roads. It must be so hard to keep your eyes on the road with all these rivers/streams/hills/mountains/gorges/lambs all about you. And the best bit - chickens! - on the side of the road! I kid you not!

We did find a horse riding place and quad biking place so will be heading back there soon in the near future. I get Graeme on a horse and he gets me on a Quad bike - should be fun! And we also found a beautiful little cafe place where they do the best potato wedges and instead of being given a number when you order food you get an ornament. We got a big rubber goldfish to put on our table!

Sweet as!

Post No. 62 - Hey peeps. Hows things?

Todays photo - a duck at Lake Taupo - quack!

So whats been happening with us? No more mouse stories - not sure if thats a good thing or a bad thing. We have not heard it, caught it, seen any evidence that it is still in the building. I'm almost tempted to leave a Milkyway bar at the foot of my bed tonight and see if we can tempt it back in! But I won't!

Graeme neglected to tell me there is a hole in our bedroom that leads to the spare room. Supposedly this fact was hidden from me for my 'own good', hmmmm, not too sure about that! But I did freak out a bit when I found out. I have calmed down for now but I am sure I will be in a high state of agitation by bedtime again!

I'm normally a jumpy person anyway as many of you may know. Most of my friends/family take great delight in hiding behind things and jumping out shouting 'boo!' as they know I will always be good for a girly scream! The mouse thing has taken my jumpy paranoia to a whole new level! And of course, when I told the people at work they told me I also need to watch out for white-tail spiders as they like to hide in bedding and bite you when you are tucked in and cosy.
Nice - This wasn't quite the adventure I was hoping for!

COMPETITION/GIVEAWAY UPDATE - We have now had a few entries to our contest - thanks to everyone that has entered already. The feedback is proving very useful!
If you haven't entered please take a couple of minutes to answer a couple of questions for us about this blog by email/comment. See Post No. 59 for more info (apologies people - I would like to link to the post here but I can't work out how to do it!) - and you could win a prize!
We think the closing date will probably be Monday 12 September 2005 so get your entries in ASAP!

The All Blacks/Australia game is on tonight. Should be interesting. We went to the pub to watch the All Blacks/Springboks game last weekend and it was great! I won a t-shirt thanks to some player whose name I cannot spell or pronounce scoring a try! Was considering offering the t-shirt as one of the prizes but - unlucky! - its all mine!

Post No. 59 - GIVEAWAY!

WIN FREE/THREE STUFF!

We are pleased to announce our first (and possibly last depending on how well this goes) contest!

To celebrate the fact that we have had over 1000 hits on this blog we have 3 (not 2, not 4 but 3) prizes to give away. The prizes are all New Zealand related, souvenir type gifts and at least one of them is collectable.

To be in with a chance of winning one of the prizes please leave a comment or email us with answers to the following questions (3 questions for 3 prizes!):

1. How often do you visit this blog? (daily, weekly, this is my first visit etc…)


2. What features do you like best? – you can choose more than 1. (photos, news, funny stories, links etc…)

And last but not least…

1. What would you like to see more or less of on here? (Kate’s rambling, Graeme’s sporadic posts, info on NZ insects etc…)

Please – if you are reading this post, take a couple of minutes to give us your answers. It would really help us to know who is reading the blog, how often and why!

Entry is open to everyone including friends, family and people we have never met (and all those people I have won stuff from!). If you just stumbled across this blog and don’t have a clue who we are you are still eligible!
I should probably say something here along the lines of – if you are under 18 years of age please ask permission from a parent/guardian before entering – there, said it!

Winners will be chosen at random by putting all the names in a hat (or other suitable container) and closing our eyes whilst pulling 3 back out!

First out of the hat will be given their choice of prizes, then the second person can choose and so on.

Any question (or answers!) – feel free to comment or email us.

We will see how this is going by Friday and decide when we are going to make the drawing.

IMPORTANT NOTE – If you want a chance of winning, please make sure you leave a name we know you by in your comment so we can add your name to the hat.

Post No. 57 - Exciting Stuff

Well howdy-doody! You can now download a Word add-on from Blogger so you can create posts in Word and just send those little puppies right out there into Cyberspace…..interesting. I have plans for this, plans involving multi-coloured fonts, mad fonts you cannot read and maybe

• some


• strange


• looking


• bullet


• points.

Tell me – is it sad that I find this exciting? It’s like when I go into WHSmiths (or Whitcoulls here) and get all happy about stationery. Graeme always looks at me gravely as I try to choose between the purple hard-backed notepad and the spiral bound paperback one with the picture of puppies on it. I just know that he is thinking about the 50 notepads I already have at home and wondering why on earth I feel I need a new one.

Then of course I need a new fancy pen to go with the new notebook. “Tell Me”, I say to him, “shall I get the purple gel-ink one or this one that has a heart and some fluff on it?” He looks at me more intently probably wondering just how he is going to get me to the mental hospital without me getting wise. I could be wrong, he could be trying to work out the time difference to work out if any pubs will be playing the latest Rangers game. In fact – that’s probably it isn’t it?! That or he is trying to count my freckles.

Anyhow – on to more important things. The Snoopy pyjamas always come in handy when I want to do the snoopy dance, helps get me in the mood. I was certainly snoopy dancing my way around the living room last night when we realised the blog has now had over 1000, yes that’s 1000 hits! Okay so you need to take off at least 250 of those – being me and Graeme having a peek or posting. But that still leaves a lot of people looking at our blog. Reading about us. We might even be famous. Wow!

So in honour of all you fabulous people out there, we are going to have a competition.

Now I read a lot of blogs (some of my favourites are linked down the sidebar over there () and one of the things I really love about blogs is that loads of bloggers give stuff away. Free books are like birthdays and Christmas all rolled into one for me! I love the chance to win something.

So seeing how much I like it, I thought some of you, out there, might get a little excited too! Obviously the prizes will be New Zealand themed (as this is what this blog is supposedly about although I can understand how some of you may not be aware of that!). So I will go out this weekend and round up a prize or two to giveaway.

And think of something suitable you all need to do in order to be in for the chance of winning. Perhaps I will send you all on a quest……hmmm, will get my thinking cap on.

KEEP YOUR EYES PEELED!

Post No. 56 - What can I do?

Okay people, here's the thing. I have a job as a temp but its not what I want to do with my life. I want a job I love.
Obviously top of the list is writer/author - however that one may take some time so in the meantime I could do with some help and suggestions.
Lets call it 'Find Kate a Job she Loves' (I love catchy titles!)

So far on the list of possibles:
- Chocolate Taster
- Professional Reader
- Proof Reader
- Racing Car Driver (only joking!)
- Kennel Manager
- Travel Agent
- Lady of leisure
- Professional Blogger
- Party Planner
- Wedding Planner
- Celebrant (is that right? a person that performs marriage ceremonies?)

Okay - so thoughts? What can I do? Do any of the above fit the bill in your opinion. What else can you think of?

Of course I forgot a really fun one....

....trampolinist (or would that be trampoliner?)

....and yes that is me!
....and I still have all my body parts intact and unbroken!

Post No. 55 - What's that noise?

Side note - big wave to anyone who has been directed here from our update email!

On Saturday I was sat reading a book while Graeme played on the xBox (what an exciting life we lead!) when there was this sudden rushing, roaring, banging noise. I asked Graeme to turn the TV down and tried to work out what it was......oh my gosh was this some kind of natural disaster that they keep warning us about over here....the ground didn't seem to be shaking so what could it be? Well we stepped out on the balcony to this view:



to help that image become a little clearer - here's the same view taken during daylight:



See that building being lit up in the 1st picture - thats where Graeme works! Luckily it wasn't a fire. It was an amazing fireworks display going off in the Square. The photos we took just didn't do it justice.

And it was great to look about us and see other people standing outside looking up at the fireworks as well!
The man in the place behind us had pulled a chair out and was sat eating his tea off his lap while he watched the display!

Post No. 54 - Beautiful

Manawatu River

We finally got out to see some of the scenery. Headed out to the Victoria Esplanade Park. It was lovely. We went a little off the main path and came across the river. If you squint at the picture you will see a bridge. Everyday I drive over that bridge to get to work!

The weather was great today and everyone here in Palmy obviously agreed with us as the park was packed. They have aviaries down at the park with loads of different kinds of parrots. Had a lovely late lunch in the Cafe Esplanade before coming back home.

Asked Graeme if he would be willing to do a post - he said maybe so keep your eyes peeled.

Best head off just now as its Sunday night and I have a lot of stuff to get sorted for the week ahead.

Hope you have all enjoyed your weekend!

Post No. 53 - a bit of fun

I like quizzes. I know most of the stuff is just made up and it doesn't really reflect who you are but its fun to answer a few questions and then see if you agree with what your answers reveal about you!

So I went and found this for you all - enjoy!

Your Summer Ride is a Beetle Convertible

Fun, funky, and a little bit euro. You love your summers to be full of style and sun!

What's Your Summer Ride?

It may be winter here but it has been a fine day today - very sunny with a lovely blue sky. I am sitting here typing this to the sound of birdsong outside. And if I stand up and look towards the right, out of the window I can see the mountains - isn't life great!

Which reminds me - we really need to get out and about with the camera and get some pictures of Palmy for you all to see!

Post No. 52 - It's about time...

...don't know about you lot but I think its about time Mr McCrae made another appearance on here. What do you all say to that?

If I can get enough comments showing him how much is adored and needed then I might just be able to persuade him.

You might need to ask some questions for him to answer as so far his excuse has been 'I don't know what to say'.

So folks, the ball is in your court. If you are desperate to stop my mad ramblings and maybe actually hear something about life in New Zealand then vote now.

For the uninitiated amongst you - you just need to click on the word 'comments' below this post and then do your thang.

And now in my best geordie voice - You Decide!

Post No. 51 - Too many Books, not enough money!

Sky Tower, Auckland, At night (well thats kinda obvious!)

Hmmm, wanted to post tonight just to keep you all on your toes but didn't have a clue what I was going to say. So I went and wandered round some favourite blogs of mine (a few of the blogs I read are listed as links on the side bar) - and there you were all thinking I came up with the blog idea all my myself! Yeah right!

So I visited Jill Shalvis's blog and read all about her new release 'Get A Clue' - it sounds fabulous! A romance novel slap-bang in the middle of Cluedo! And if you head over to Jill's blog you will realise she is a very funny lady!

I happened to 'stumble' (thats what I am telling Graeme anyhow!) across Fishpond the other day - which looks like the NZ equivalent of Amazon (although much smaller) - have already started my wishlist so those of you who wish to show your admiration for me or just buy me a birthday present (22nd October people!) let me know and I can send you a copy! I warn you - its very long!

There are just too many books in the world and not enough time and money to read them! Good job I joined the library - eh?!

Oh and newsflash - John Cleese is doing a tour of NZ November and Decemeber. It seemed like fate that he was in Palmy (the Broadway where we saw Joseph the other week) the night my Dad arrived to come visit when he is such a fan. It was too much of a gamble to book tickets for that night so instead we are seeing him in Auckland a week later. Can't wait - all 3 of us (Dad, Graeme and me) love Monty Python and Fawlty Towers so be prepared for lots of silly quotes (and walks!) on the run-up!

Post No. 50 - A little light relief

Post No. 49 is probably the most serious, spiritual (really?) and (dare-I-say) intimate post I will ever publish on this blog. To prove to you all that I haven't gone completely serious on you here is something a little refreshing for you:

Raining Cats and Dogs - Even Graeme had a chuckle over this although he still holds his opinion that all cats are, in fact, evil. (Who knows, maybe this proves it).

And to continue with the dog theme - todays photo shows off the amazing art work of DJ. Yes folks, that really is a drawing of a whippet on the back of my jumper!

Post No. 49 - Finding Courage and Following Dreams

When Graeme and myself first began to talk about coming to NZ a lot of you may have wondered if it was ever going to happen.
And then, when it got to the point of no return (probably around the time we booked flights, sold our flat, sold our furniture and resigned from our jobs) a lot of people began to tell us how brave we were.
I don't think either of us had given courage and bravery (are they the same thing?) much thought up until that point.
And once we started saying goodbye to so many people I certainly began to wonder if it was stupidity rather than bravery....I still don't think I have made my mind up either way but I have tried to remember my 'courage' ever since we left.
And to re-assert my courage, I am going to tell you all a little story:

Are you sitting comfortably boys and girls?

There is something about me that many of you may not know.
I want to be a writer.
I long for the day when someone pays me to write down words - hopefully in a cohesive order (look at that - she has started using fancy words already!)
I have wanted this for a very long time and have spent the last 5 or so years spending a lot of time researching how to be a writer.
So much time in fact, that I have NOT spent enough time actually writing!

This blog - although I didn't necessarily realise it right at the start - has helped me to re-realise my long-held dreams. This blog has given me an excuse to write.
I enjoy writing it & hope that you - my audience! - enjoy reading it.

So I am declaring my intentions to the world - now you all know & I have become accountable!
I have signed up for a free online course at Barnes&Noble in Romance Writing to help kickstart me. (You should go and have a look as they have a wide range of courses!)

And you - my wonderful audience - made up of family, friends, acquaintances and possibly some strangers who are so charmed by me that they keep coming back for more - can offer me support.....just by coming back here every now and then and reading what I have to say.

Thanks for listening (or should that be reading?!)

Post No. 48 - People who own porsches shouldn't....

Finally got some pictures of the car and have uploaded them onto the Gallery. The usual suspects should have recieved an invite to view them. If you haven't got an invite and fancy being nosy just drop us an email. (I am too lazy to add a mailto link here so you will need to look us up!)

Here is a taster -

See that burgandy car behind ours? Thats a porsche....if you squint and stare hard enough you will see something that your eyes won't believe. The car seats have zebra skin covers. Now just don't get me started on how wrong that is! Its not a particularly nice porsche but it would look a darn sight nicer without the tacky adornments.

Okay - thats my rant over! Now I get to gloat over how nice our car is! Its gorgeous! The place I work is away out of town (less then a 10 minute drive though!) and once I head across the bridge the speed limit goes up to 70k (okay, still not as fast as I would like!) - its amazing, so quiet and it accelerates so fast that I have to be pretty careful to keep an eye on my speedometer!

We have a distinct lack of CDs here in NZ. All the CDs we wanted kept are at Dads house and we have only bought a couple since we arrived:
- A CD of Monty Pythons Life of Brian - absolutely hilarious so no good for driving!
- Acoustic Chillout - I was expecting great things here but its just someone playing a keyboard badly....all the songs sound the same and Graeme was begging me to turn it off as soon as he realised it was 'elevator music'!
- Finally I bought The Pretenders Greatest Hits - 'tis okay but having had that in the car since Wednesday I am now ready for something different.

Tonight I plan to let myself loose with the Music file on this laptop - it pretty much contains a copy of every album me and Graeme have ever owned (and a few we haven't!). I used to love making Mixed tapes as a teenager so this should be fun!

Does anyone have any songs suggestions for the first of my many driving mix CDs?

Post No. 47 - Apologies for the interruption to service

Sugar Loaf Island Marine Park, New Plymouth

Its been a hectic week between both of us working full-time, playing netball, attending tuppaware parties and picking up our new car. Tonight is the first night where we don't have anything on!

Haven't had a chance to get pictures of the car yet as its always dark by the time we have a spare minute but will hopefully be able to get some pictures up over the weekend. The car is gorgeous - I love it! I've been using it to drive to work and its so quiet - I have to keep checking I haven't stalled it! Graeme has reserved the driving at weekends spots so he gets to drive it as well as me - only fair I suppose! Although he says he will let me drive when we go to new places occassionally so I can get used to the bigger roads and state highways (scary scary places!)

The netball was certainly an experience - the other people playing (in our team and the opposition) were obviously very experienced and extremely fast! I had a lot of trouble getting the rules as they play it differently to the way I was taught but it was fun. I may play again in the future - we will see! Graeme has already played again as they were a player short on Wednesady night!

The Tuppaware party was also a new experience - a good one! There was a cooking demonstration using the equipment and the recipe was chocolate fudge muffins - wow - they were delicious! If Graeme is lucky perhaps I will try to make them at the weekend (although I don't have all the superdooper Tuppaware cooking stuff so they probably won't be as nice - thats my excuse and I am sticking to it!)

Work is going well (I think!), its something completely different to anything I have done before so requires a lot of concentration so I am really tired! The people are all friendly and willing to answer my endless questions. I will have to wait till I know a bit more before I can decide whether it is for me or not though.

We are hoping to get out an about at the weekend in the car to see some more of the local scenery - will hopefully have some new photos for the blog/kodak gallery next week.