Our adventure continues...

Once again I find myself apologising for my poor efforts in keeping the blog up to date!

It's been a hectic few months in reality with lots going on in and out of work so here are a few highlights from the past 2 months with a selection of recent photos, in no particular order...

Kate drives in to the garage - literally!

I was fast asleep and Kate was doing a late night at the elderly care home she has been doing some agency work for. I was dragged from my dreams by Kate shouting from the top of the stairs - something about driving into the garage. That was OK I thought - there's plenty of space, but then I realised that she meant that she had driven into the garage and the door - the very large double, electric powered garage door was still closed! The drive is rather steep and that night it was cold enough to have a covering of frost which the car had slipped on. It stopped a couple of feet into the garage door. Nice. I was too tired to be thinking clearly so failed to take a photo before reversing the car out of the door and popping the dents out of the garage door. The result as you can see below doesn't look too bad! At least the door still works...

The house owners are however looking to have them replaced - but no-one has the correct colour, so rather than replacing the damaged panels it looks as if the entire door will be replaced. We are waiting to hear on the insurance saga that will no doubt develop in the coming months so watch this space!

Crash!

Bang!

Wallop!

We have found Zealandia

http://www.visitzealandia.com/site/zealandia_home/

On Kate's travels around the capital she bumped into a sign pointing to Zealandia - the Karori Wildlife Sanctuary. This is a predator free haven right in the middle of Wellington. The have erected a predator proof fence and then eliminated all predators from inside the fence creating a safe zone for native New Zealand animals. We had a fantastic few hours walking through the centre and saw amongst other things Tui, Bell Bird and the Kaka parrot. It is well worth a nighttime visit as they also have Kiwi so that is now high on the list!

On the electric boat across the lake

The Silver Fern

Max's Kaka?

The Kaka Parrot

Now you see me...

Now you don't!

Eating nuts

Walking across the lake dam

Shadows


The rabbit, cat, rat, stoat (add any other non-native nasty predator) proof fence

Trip to Auckland to visit Bob & Di

We finally made it to Auckland to visit Bob & Di on their lifestyle plot in Onewhero, just south of the Waikato River.

It also happened to be Kate's 40th Birthday so we managed to combine that celebration with our long weekend trip. Is was great to catch up with friends and we had a brilliant weekend.

Max had the time of his life! He got to travel on an airplane - possibly the best thing that he could ever do - he even got his own seat and took great pleasure in sitting in it for the duration of the flight, including take-off and landing. B & D have some animals on their plot; Daisy Moo the calf, several sheep, Nibbles the rabbit, Tina and Jako the horses and not forgetting Dylan the dog. We have been back home for several months now, but he still talks about all of the animals and can't wait to see them again. Luckily we have lots of photos so he spends time talking to them! Max also had a trip around the farm on the neighbours Quad Bike - what a lucky chap...and lucky Daddy as I got to drive!

We managed to head in to Auckland city for a good wander around the marina area with some lunch and also a trip to Kelly Tarlton's Aquarium which has the original perspex shark tunnel as the main attraction.

One evening, baby sitter located on the sofa we all headed out to the local theatre's production of The Full Monty. It was really well done and great to feel part of the local rural community.

Other Onewhero highlights included Max's visit to the Fire Station. Both Bob & Di volunteer for the local brigade so we had exclusive access to the equipment and the vehicles - Max was in boy heaven!

Nee naw, nee naw

Happy as Larry...

Fireman Max

Max riding Tina

Tina subjected to a very happy Max

Giddy Up

Max will climb on anything!

Family Quad bike

Having a great time touring the farm

Max & Di

Digging on the beach with Dylan

Kate & Max waiting at the train station...(those are railway tracks by the way!)

Fantastic views walking along the beach

Max enjoying Ginger Beer with his lunch

Riding on Kelly Tarlton's turtle

Di, Nibbles and Max

Daisy 'Moo'

In the Play House

Bob & Di's plot; Onewhero

It's been back to work for a good number of weeks since this all happened - feels like a long time ago!

We are now heading rapidly towards summer - in general the weather is warming up and there are more nice days than nasty so hopefully this trend will continue, especially as my Mum & Dad arrived on Tuesday for their 5 weeks stay. With a trip to Abel Tasman National Park on South Island, a crossing to Kapiti Island and Christmas over the next 4 weeks you can finally expect more regular blog updates than every 3 months!

Thanks for reading and we look forward to hearing your news back!

Best wishes from us all.

Max the Adventurer!

This morning, with a mild frost on the ground, Max decided that he needed his scarf and his hat on before he could leave the house!

I don't think that he is going to need them for much longer today - it's a stunning morning so should warm up from the current 2 degrees that we have at the moment.

Have a good day everyone!
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It's another stunning Friday morning in Wellington

Well, another week has been and gone...it's Friday all over again.

Tomorrow is the last weekend that Kate is working, hopefully forever! She has an interview at Porirua school this morning for the school nurse job. It's right up her street, dealing with under privileged teenagers in a school that appears to be leading the way in supporting kids like that.

I am heading out with a few of the lads from the office for a mountain bike ride tomorrow morning on the Karapoti which is used annually for a 50km race - although we are starting with the somewhat easier Challenge route which is only 20km and will no doubt spend the afternoon playing with Max and his new Thomas the Tank Engine set - the latest TradeMe bargain...photos to follow.

So here I am on the station platform at Paremata waiting to get into Wellington. They are upgrading the rail network at the moment in preparation for new trains arriving early next year. The knock on effect seems to be signal failures on a daily basis making it a somewhat random and chaotic event using public transport! Next week Kate is working in Wellington, so for 3 days I get to go in the car with Kate. Marvellous!

Have a good weekend everyone. Videos and additional photos to come over the next few days.

Don't forget to stay in touch.
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Oakley's bed

I've just added email blog update to the NZ Adventure blog so hopefully I can now provide more real time updates from my mobile.

As a test, here is Oakley zonked on his bed this evening!
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Is winter really over?

I can't quite believe that the last post was on the 7th June!? Where has the time gone? Here we are already in August. The winter has apparently been and gone! Certainly the days seem to be getting slightly longer, it's light in the morning around 7am and is getting dark at about 6pm. It doesn't feel like it took too long to get through that, so here we are full speed ahead looking forward to the NZ summer!

So the last 2 months...what have we been up to?


Well, out and about as often as we can at the weekends. Kate is still looking for permanent work so has been working at an Old Peoples Home - although I assume that there is a more politically correct way of referring to that these days, but this is NZ so I think I'll be OK to call it that - on Saturday and Sunday from 2.30pm to 11.00pm which has of course impacted what we are able to do. I will let Kate tell you more about her frustrations in applying for pretty much every Public Health job advertised in the Wellington area!

I have been working - hard - despite the vicious rumours you may hear! The work is really interesting and challenging - every day is different - ah, that old cliche, but it really is true. That is what you get working in a team of less than 40 people, especially with my ESRIUK background which has certainly helped over the past 5 months.

Max is now attending Mana Early Learning Centre on Thursday and Friday. We think he likes it! The outdoor play area is really good and includes climbing and getting wet - 2 of his favorite things and he comes home shattered so we take that as a good sign.


Max post Nursery sofa pose!

We try and get out on Saturday and Sunday mornings to continue our explorations of the area. Recently we have visited Queen Elizabeth Country Park several times, approximately 20 minutes north of Whitby, been back to Lyall Bay which is at the end of Wellington runway. Oakley had a great time swimming with furry friends and Max watched the planes landing. We have also had time to explore the Hutt River dog walking area a little more - a great area for Oakley to get some doggy sniffing in...say no more!

Whareroa Beach; QE Country Park, Kapiti Coast

Throw the ball!

Kapiti Island

Max desperate to get wet!

Oakley desperate to get wet!

Max digging for Pumice stones...

Looking North up the Kapiti coast


Max at the Hutt River - ready for action!

The Hutt River

Max & Katie - looking gorgeous

JUMP!

BOUNCE!

Ahoy there me hearties!

Kate and I have also managed to get a night out in Wellington using one of Kate's friends as a babysitter. I had a Service Excellence Award from work which was $200 towards dinner so we used it at a Japanese restaurant just off Courtney Place in Wellington plus a trip to the cinema to see the new Star Trek movie. It was great to get out for the evening - I think our first since arriving here in February.

There have been a few amusing moments too - most notable Kate arriving home from work last weekend driving the car into the closed garage door! I was asleep at the time, awoken to Kate calling my name looking rather shocked. I should have taken a photo of the scene that greeted me as it was quite spectacular - the front of the car was indeed embedded in our very large green electric double garage door. I reversed the car out to the expected squealing of metal on metal and after popping the garage door back to something close to its normal shape and bending a few of the runners back into their tracks with my largest screwdriver is didn't look that bad. Kate had actually skidded on the icy surface of the decking which leads to the garage so I guess I have to let her off the hook! I must admit to thinking how easily parking in the garage would be if something was to happen on approach - I just never thought it would actually happen!

Mummies origami hat

Max and his duathlon medal - cycling and running

Our garden has also had some work done to it. Our landlords Mum is a keen gardener so has come over to do a huge tidy up which has included adding fence all around the property which has in turn denied Oakley access to the wider community. That is a good thing of course as he seemed to have developed a penchant for cat excrement after finding next doors feline burial sites, which is nice....NOT! The fish also got the clean out treatment with a total pond drain and fill. Now they can actually see and we can see them! We have 20 goldfish of varying sizes enjoying their luxury pad.

Cleaning the fish pond

A few weeks ago I managed to wangle myself as the third person from Eagle to attend the ESRI User Conference in San Diego so headed off to the Northern Hemisphere summer for 10 days. It was a very busy time with sessions starting at 8.30am on Saturday morning and finishing at 2pm on the Friday that I flew home. It was great to enjoy the summer weather but also gave me the chance to catch up with ex-ESRIUK friends and colleagues.

The San Diego Marriott Hotel

USS Midway

Cruising San Diego Harbour

California Sealions

Our other exciting news is that both sets of parents have now booked to come out to visit. My parents will be here for Christmas and Kate's parents are coming out mid-February. We can't wait to show them around. We also have the first of our friends indicating that they will be out to see us early in 2010. Ian, Lee and Sam Bodily will hopefully be here towards the end of January for a few weeks. All very exciting!

So that's the update. Kate will write about her highs and lows over the next few days and I will get that posted as well as uploading a good number of videos that we have from the past months adventures.

We hope you are all well and are enjoying the UK summer...ha ha haaa! Hope to hear from you soon.

Earthquake number 2

OK - so this is still novel enough for me to blog about it again!

I was sat at home on the sofa watching Lord of the Rings Part 2 - The Two Tower when at 21.27 the sofa started shaking!

It wasn't violent enough for anything to rattle or move, but it was unmistakenly an earthquake.

Kate is currently at work. While she waits to hear the result of a Practise Nurse interview she had last week she is doing some agency nursing for Geneva Health at an Nuring Home just to the West of Wellington. Given the location of the earthquake I am sure that she would have felt it too.

I've checked out the EQC website for the stats, so here they are! It would appear that this was the 2nd Earthquake in 2 days to originate from the same area in the Cook Straight.

So yes - the earth really did move!!


The COP showing the 2 recent events in the Cook Straight


The South Karori Earthquake drum showing the Sunday quake

The details of the Sunday quake

The Martinborough weekend

Last weekend we headed over the Rimutaka Hills into the Wairarapa and on to Martinbororugh – famous for its wine...Martinborough itself is our kind of place – a plethora of eating and drinking establishments surround by vineyards and an incredible mixture of architecture. Given that it is only 45 minutes from Whitby to Martinborough I think that plans now have to include a weekend pad that we can escape to. It is certainly high on the list for a re-visit once the weather turns.

Our hosts were Ritch and Jo – I work with Ritch who is a Senior PM at Eagle. Jo bought the house 5 years ago and they have spent those years turning it into a fantastic hideaway. There was plenty of space for Max & Oakley to roam around in.

Max & Ritch seemed to hit it off immediately – I think Max is at Ritch’s level to be honest!

On Saturday we headed into town for a wander around. That inevitably resulted in the purchase of a couple of local bottles of Pinot Noir ready for the evening meal. Max had a great time playing at the park including the scaling of a huge slide and generally running from one activity to the next.


Martinborough Wine Makers - processing the grapes from the surrounding area


Dog Parking!


The Martinborough Hotel

Woooooshh..


Mission Impossible

Kate & Max just hanging around

Ritch happy with Oakley - or should that be the other way around?

Saturday evening was spent in front of the wood burner eating an amazing 3-course meal that Jo had knocked up including home-made French Onion soup, roast leg of New Zealand lamb and apple and blackberry pie. A few bottles of wine in, with the girls in bed, Ritch and I broke out ‘Guitar Hero’ and fretted the evening away. Despite being a real guitar player, Ritch kinda sucked at the game – to his disgust!

Max chilling in front of Tractor Ted

Fire + tea + Ted + beanbag = sleepy!

Jo has recently become addicted to bike riding, so on Sunday morning, despite the weather looking rather foreboding, we gathered bikes together; Jo on her new road bike, Ritch on his new mountain bike and Max on his likabike and we headed into town. Max & I headed to the skate park so that Max could ride some ‘bumps’ and the others did circuits of the square. The weather did however have the upper hand; the skies darkened and we were caught out in precipitation varying from rain, to sleet, to hail and even snow! I was led to believe that this was quite rare for Martinborough.

All clouds have a silver lining; after dashing home with Oakley and the bikes we headed into a lovely warm cafe for coffee and late breakfast of Spanish Eggs with Chirozo. It was very tasty indeed. The weather calmed enough for us to get home unscathed and after a spot of lunch we went for a ‘walk in the car!’ Ritch and Jo navigated us around the sites that Martinborough has to offer – vineyard after vineyard – marvellous! Ultimately the time arrived to head off and leave Ritch and Jo to the remainder of the bank holiday so we loaded the car and gave our farewells.

The weather warning that was issued on Friday morning was still active with snow expected on the return journey. Despite everything that was said and 2 large snow ploughs at the ready at the summit of the Rimutaka Hills, there were only a few grains of snow on the road – but it was apparently enough to keep most people away as we had an uneventful return to Whitby.

Monday was spent lazing at home until a spontaneous fish & chip supper materialised with some friends just down the road in Paremata. Max managed to last the entire day with no sleep – something which is becoming quite a regular occurrence. It appears that the 2 hour window of afternoon freedom has well and truly shut. Gutted!

All in all a lovely weekend which has provided yet another new location that I am sure we will be returning to in the near future. If you head out to see us I think you can expect a weekend break in Martinborough to sample local food and wine. Any excuse!

We trust you are well and look forward to hearing from you soon! Best wishes from us all.

Knight Rider

Max out and about on his 'Likabike'