The Coromandel (our honeymoon)

We had always planned to have a honeymoon once all our guests went home. It seemed silly to ride off into the sunset while they were all still here so we spent as much time with them as we could while they were here and planned for a honeymoon a little further down the track.
There were many ideas flung around for where we could go for our honeymoon but in the end we decided to stay here in New Zealand and have a new adventure in a part we'd never been to before.

So we packed up our car and headed to the Coromandel Peninsula. It's a long drive so we stopped overnight in Taupo on the way. We went the week leading up to Easter which turned out to be a genius idea because the roads weren't yet full of Easter holiday traffic.

We stayed 3 nights at the Crows Nests Apartments in Whitianga. It was beautiful. The start of Autumn so not particularly warm and in fact it rained a bit - but it was still lovely. We strolled around the town, took the wee ferry to the 'other side' and explored over there and drove a bit further afield to see what was nearby.
We particularly enjoyed Hot Water Beach It was a little like Disneyland in that it was full of tourists. There's hot water springs under the beach so at low tide the place is swarming with people with spades of all shapes and sizes, digging holes, looking for the hot water. On this particular day it was raining quite heavily so everyone had waterproofs and jumpers on over their swimmies. As soon as warm water was struck - off came all the outerwear and everyone swarmed into the hot water pool. Very strange but lots of fun!
We also attempted the walk to Cathedral Cove but some parts of the path were slippy and steep and given I was 21 weeks pregnant at the time we decided not to take any chances once I'd lost my footing once!

All in all, a lovely, relaxing time away. Unfortunately it seems a long time ago now (isn't it always the way just a couple of weeks after you return from holiday!) but will be a lovely time to remember in years to come.

Holiday in Review - Part 1 - Getting there

So it's been a while. Mostly due to the fact we were away for almost 3 weeks and it's taken me over a week to catch up on sleep :-)
Before that, my only excuse is too much excitment at the prospect of a holiday and seeing family and friends to sit down in a chair and type a post - pathetic eh?!

Anyway - I have plenty of photos and a few words to share - a review of our time away. I don't want to bore you in one sitting though so thought I'd split it up a little for you.

This time - you get an idea of our itinerary and news and photos from the 30 hour journey.


So we said a fond farewell to the dog and headed round to Palmy for our 6pm flight to Auckland on Saturday 25th July. We managed to get to Palmy just in the nick of time to check our bags all the way through to Glasgow (handy!)



We then had about 4 hours up in Auckland before our international to London Heathrow via Hong Kong.



The flight wasn't too bad. We managed to get some sleep (I think I got about 4 hours in the first leg and none on the 2nd). I watched 'He's Just Not That Into You', '17 Again' and 'Monsters Vs. Aliens' plus some episodes of 'Two and a Half Men' and 'The Big Bang Theory'.
The food was okay, I stayed clear of alcohol and popped my homeopathic No Jet Lag pills every couple of hours.
We were surprised to find the shops at Hong Kong shut when we arrived at about 6am in the morning. Okay, I realise it was 6am but I just figured a busy international airport like that would be open round the clock.
It didn't matter too much though - we sat ourselves down and watched planes and people and the hour and a half wait flew by.

We got to Heathrow about 2.30pm in the afternoon and managed to get through security and customs without too many long lines or hassle.

The coolest thing was being able to switch our mobiles on as we taxied in and my phone beeping with messages from actual friends and family (not just the standard text from vodafone UK) welcoming us to their timezone and checking if we had arrived yet! I called my Mum from a payphone at Heathrow - pleased to call her at a reasonable time for once and we mooched round the shops to kill some time.

Then we headed down to the BMI lounge to wait for our flight to Glasgow. Honestly - that's when I started to wilt. I was half asleep on a typically-uncomfortable airport chair when a message was read out calling a list of names of people flying to Glasgow. I couldn't be sure but I thought perhaps I had just heard two completely new and previously unheard pronounciations of our names so we headed over to the desk. Turns out since we had checked in (back in Palmy about 28 hours or so before) the plane type had changed meaning our seats were invalid.

I thought I reined myself in quite well here because at this point - 28 hours into a journey with about 4 hours sleep - I was ready to scream and cry if someone told me we weren't getting on that flight.

But it wasn't a message to say we weren't getting on. They actually told us they were upgrading us! They must have taken one look at us and realised we needed reclining chairs to get some sleep! An upgrade on the longer journey would have been preferred but I wasn't going to complain and soon we were sitting on big leather chairs that could recline almost to the point where we were laying straight!

Needless to say we slept most of the flight - even declining the free meal (with real china, glasses and cutlery) in favour of keeping our eyes closed.

I did manage to wake up in enough time to get some photos of Glasgow as we landed though. And we managed to wake up pretty quickly at the excitment of seeing family we hadn't seen for over 18 months!

Graeme's Aunt met us at the airport (and it was strange seeing the new layout and security measures at Glasgow - brought home exactly what had happened since the last time we had been at that airport) and we loaded up the cases and headed over to Graeme's Grandparents house. It was so good to see all the family and we sat in the lounge and chatted. And then Graeme's Mum landed (from Bristol) about an hour and a half after us and she turned up too! We managed to last until about 9pm catching up with everyone before we wilted and had to make our way upstairs to catch some zzzzz's :-)

Next post - a summary of what we got up to in Glasgow and Scotland.

Taupo

We got back this afternoon from a few days at Lake Taupo.

It all started when we couldn't get tickets to see Billy Connolly in Palmy because they had sold out. I did a quick search and discovered there were tickets left for the Taupo show so we decided to make a weekend of it.

We drove up on Saturday afternoon which was pretty rainy and miserable. We could hardly see the mountains from the Desert Road and then we got stuck in a bit of traffic due to an Iron Man contst which had people running from Turangi to Taupo (crazy people!). But we arrived in the end and checked in to our hotel about 10 minutes north of Taupo - the Bayview Wairekei Resort. The hotel was lovely. We went for a swim that afternoon and Graeme attempted to teach me to play squash (for those that don't know I am hugely unco-ordinated) which was heaps of fun! Then we had dinner at the resort cafe that night.

On Sunday morning we headed out to Huka Falls which were just down the road from the hotel. They were spectacular. We went for a walk up the track both ways but didn't go too far because I was not wearing "suitable" shoes. But we went just far enough away from the crowds and got some lovely photos. This photo was taken from the bridge right by the carpark so it was swarming with tourists!

We also went to the Honey Hive and took a drive down to the Prawn Farm (although we didn't go in) before heading to town for some lunch. We also managed to fit in another swim that afternoon before getting ready to go into town for dinner before Billy.
We miscalculated our time though and ended up only able to have starters for dinner because we needed to leave to get up to the Events Centre on time. (Yummy starters though - the most amazing onion rings and rosemary & feta pizza bread at Dixie Brown's - must go back some time to actually try their dessert cocktails!)

Then came the show which was fabulous. This was the second time we have seen Billy Connolly live (the first time being at the Clyde Auditorium in Glasgow in 2005 before we left for NZ) and he didn't disappoint. I had heard him tell some of the stories before (in DVDs, TV shows etc) but they were still funny and he added lots of other details in as well. I was also pleased that the zoom on our camera allowed me to take this shot...

He was definetly worth the money and the huge wait we had in the carpark when it came to leave!

This morning we visited the Craters of the Moon before leaving Taupo. It's a site of geothermal activity and involves a 45 minute walk around a site which has lots of steam and mud pools and 'craters'. It stunk of rotten eggs (due to the sulphur but thankfully it wasn't quite as bad as Rotorua!) but was worth a visit.

Then came the drive home (which normally takes about 3 hours) which was better today with no rain. We stopped in Taihape on the way back for coffee and cake and made it home for 3pm.

This afternoon we've been unpacking, sorting through the photos and got some food in (cupboards were empty!). And tomorrow it's back to work for both of us. After having 11 days off I think I may be inconsolable come tomorrow morning!

Hope you all had a good weekend too!

Yucky weather

I wrote this post on Sunday 15th February and had to save it as a draft before I could finish it. I am only just getting round to finishing it and posting it - sorry for the delay! So please bear in mind this post doesn't relate to this week.

What a week.

The rain started on Tuesday and we had a ridiculous amount of rain in a 2 hour window which meant the city's drainage system couldn't cope and there was a lot of flooding.

Had I stayed at work all day and not ventured out until after 5pm (as is the norm) it probably wouldn't have affected me. Once the rain slowed the drains started to work and by the time Graeme got home he said the roads were fine.

But I had a meeting in town at lunchtime which I couldn't miss. So I ventured out. Got to the meeting and was lucky enough to get the park right outside the door. Still managed to get soaked running in though. Meeting went well.

Then I decided to do the banking and some stationery shopping before heading back to the office. When the parking meter took my money and didn't give me a ticket that's when I should have realised I would be better off hibernating. Luckily I spotted a traffic warden across the street so marched over to them (I should point out here that I was wearing flimsy sandals and a skirt because the day had started off nice!). The traffic warden wrote down my number plate and let me off for 10 minutes when I explained what had happened and that I didn't have anymore money. Then as I stepped back to go in the bank my foot landed in a puddle about 2 inches deep....yuck!

Got to the bank and had problems there but all fixable. Then I went stationery shopping and everything got soaked as I tried to load it into the car. But I was done in town and could head back to the office.

That's when it got worse! I couldn't turn down some roads because they were completely flooded (see shot below) so I kept turning hoping for a road that was less flooded.

The worst part came when I pulled up behind a minivan and a car pulled up behind me and we were all trying to turn left. There was a council worker in the road measuring the flooding and he told the van to go the over way.

So the van started reversing....

I put the car into reverse and looked behind to see the car behind me in the exact same spot. I looked front and the van kept reversing (at this point I was swearing). I lent on the horn but not quick enough to stop the van before it hit me.

And the driver behind still hadn't moved! Then he had the cheek to reverse pull out and give me a dirty look as he went past!

So the van pulled forward and up a drive to do a u-turn and I turned also. I had to get out of the car to check the damage in inches of water (I was absolutely soaked at this point). Luckily there was hardly any damage - just some scratches so I waved the minivan driver on when he stopped to check.

I was okay but in panic mode at that point. I rung Graeme and said I was going home and not driving again so he could either get a taxi home or I would go to his work then and there so he could drop me and have the car. He chose the taxi option.

The water went down pretty quickly once the downpour let up which was good. It's pretty much been raining on and off since then which is a wee bit depressing though!

Bye Mum, see you in less than a year!

Wow - was it really over 2 weeks ago that I last posted?

The time while Mum was here just flew by but we really did have the best time ever. The travelling was great but in the end it felt really good to get home and then spend another week with Mum at home.

We did lots of cool stuff but at the same time it just didn't feel that she was here long enough.

We dropped her off at Wellington Airport on Friday afternoon and as always, it was horrible. I hate saying goodbye. But it's really great to know that we will be seeing Mum plus other close family and friends in less than a year when the wedding rolls round. And I really should be busy enough between now and then that the time should just fly!

After my last post I took the weekend off, Graeme flew down to Dunedin to meet us and we had a wonderful 3 days of travelling and playing tourists. Queenstown is quite possibly the most beautiful place on earth! I LOVED it and can't wait to get back and explore some more as we really didn't have long enough there. Here is just a taster of how gorgeous the place is (and yes I do want to try that parachute gliding thing next time I'm there!):

As part of my 27 things I want to do aged 27 I decided I wanted to take at least one photo every day. I have been keeping up so far and had a rather difficult task today of picking one photo to represent each day since my birthday. I am now all caught up. Not sure if I want to post all of them but I will post some every now and again. This one is the first one for the year taken on my birthday....

Anyway, will try and get on again soon with some more beautiful photos. We've had cracking weather today and if the kiwi summer continues like this I will be spending HEAPS of time outside so you might not hear from me very often!

Take Care x

Aussie

We went to the Gold Coast in Australia for a few days. The weather was lovely, we had lots of fun and it was really great to catch up with family (Thanks for letting us stay The Kelly's!). Here's a collage of some of our photos.




Lots of bright colours. We spent the day wandering around Brisbane, went to O'Reilly's Rainforest Retreat, took a walk along Surfers Paradise, visited my Auntie's new barbers salon and spent some time chilling by the pool. Very relaxing!


On the way to Wellington to catch the plane to Australia we also visited a wedding venue which we are in the process of booking a date with (more on that later!).

A week off in photos

Hmmm, haven't taken as many as I would have liked due to batteries running out on me and bad light but here's a few which help summarise a pretty good week off!

There's been lots of laying about and relaxing:

There's been a bit of walking (but thankfully no running into big stinky ponds due to the wound!)

And of course there's been running around with large sticks and chewing them:

And there's been some cracking weather - it's been up at 18 degrees - in May! Which is the month between Autumn and Winter here. I got a shock yesterday when I got in the car and the temperature was 23! But it soon cooled a little once I was on the move - it's just where the car had been sitting in the sun.

I've also been taking pictures of yellow things the last couple of days. I once read somewhere that yellow is a very insprirational colour and that Roald Dahl wrote his stories on yellow legal pads with pencils (I'm sure it was Roald Dahl but feel free to correct me). Of course - I then went out and bought yellow legal pads and waited for inspiration to strike.

It does every now and again but lately it's been the yellow outside that I find pretty inspiring...

The Dark Lord is currently in Palmerston North (plus a trip to the vets and a week off)

Yep - you heard it first here - Voldemort is in New Zealand...and not only that...he also zapped my dog and left a Harry-esque lighting strike atop his paw.

Poor Rhett - although it seems to be me that took it more badly. I was the one the vet took the time to calm down on Saturday morning while the dog just enjoyed all the treats, cuddles and attention coming his way!

Luckily - the vet didn't think it was serious enough to warrant putting him out and stitching it up - she gave us the option but we went with option b - the much cheaper for us and less stressful for pooch - antibiotics and twice daily cleaning with salt water - ouch! So far he's been a trooper and let's Graeme squirt salt water in his cut while I hand out the treats. Ah yes - he is loving the treats!

So we'll give it a few days and see if it starts to heal. He is going to have the coolest scar ever!

In other news - I have this week off - woo-hoo! (Can't remember if I have already mentioned that?) So there may be one or two posts up this week - we shall see!

I have planned a busy week of (but not confined to):

• sleeping
• watching movies
• baking
• scrapbooking
• taking photos and learning how to take better photos
• decluttering (not fun but it's desperately needed!)
• and basically having some fun, rest and relaxation

Graeme is going to be at work for the most part although he is off Wednesday. If the weather is bad we will probably hire a Nintendo Wii from the video store and have a play. If the weather is good - who knows (it probably would have been a trip to the beach or a river walk but the vet's advised us not to let the dog swim until the wound has closed over).

Right - I am going to go and be wifely and start making dinner before Graeme gets home from work (making sure of course he realises this is not going to become a habit!)

Edit: Forgot to mention - the tooth ache won over and I ended up at the dentist last Thursday. I ended up with my first ever filling...and without an injection - it hurt! But as the dentist said - it was worth putting up with 5 minutes of pain while he drilled etc then have my face frozen for a few hours (from the injection). And I have to go back for a couple more in a couple of weeks....between vets and dentists bills the bank balance is taking a whollop lately!

Some more South Island pictures (blogger permitting)

Fingers crossed this post isn't in vain. Here are some more South Island pictures for you to have a gander at:

On the ferry across to South Island

Coming into the Marlborough Sounds

Some Christchurch architecture
...and more to follow later on!

And in other news - I have tooth ache - uh-oh! Never a good sign and this isn't the usual twinge of my wisdom teeth - this is full-on-I-can't-drink-water-because-it-hurts-too-much pain so methinks a trip to the dentist is required. Funnily enough though, I seem to be able to drink warmed up fizzy lemonade without too much pain...as long as I hold my head on it's side so the liquid doesn't touch the sore bit!

And I have next week off work - woo-hoo! And it's all lieu time so no annual leave required - even better! I have big plans for sleeping, watching chick flicks, some baking, being crafty and generally being lazy! Plus maybe a blog post or two if you're lucky...or unlucky depending on which way you look at it ;-) I can't remember the last time I had a week off work for no reason other then to chill out so I am reeeeaaaallllyyy looking forward to it.