Wow – yet another week has passed and melted into oblivion!

Now – let me see – what have I been up to?

A housewarming
Baking
Going out in my first Auckland storm
Getting son ready for his new school
Visiting Piha (2x)

Housewarming
Was invited to a friend’s house last weekend. A lovely time was had by all.
The house is very pretty and there is a little chook house at the back, which will be fun to see filled. Lovely fresh eggs too!
Children ran amok whilst adults stood around in the sun or sat on the shady dick chatting, drinking and eating.
It was good to catch up with everyone. As it got dark and the drink began to flow (at one point I had a beer in one hand – due to son not being too keen on that one – and sangria in another) – lots of spooky ghost stories were told!
Was given some arnica cream for my bruise by another friend and it has worked a treat – have since acquired some to continue the treatment! Cheers!
The barbie was lovely as were all the delicious desserts put on by friend. Also – I really LOVED the roasted pumpkin and sunflower seeds in soya sauce – YUM! Have since made some and am very impressed with the results, though I say so myself. (Thank you very much for the recipe).
Was accosted at one point by a kiwi demanding what footie team I supported – caused great disappointment when I said none! He could not believe that an English person did not like football and was even more amazed when son declared the same! However, after the initial shock wore off, they were still very nice to me!
Spent the night at another set of friends’ house. Played with their gorgeous, fast growing, inquisitive and adventurous kittens. Son had the pleasure of sleeping in the same room as them!

Thanks everyone – it was a lovely evening.

Baking
Am going through a baking stage at the mo and have so far made:
Apricot and plum muffins (in season now – the fruit I mean!)
Cheese, tomato and onion muffins – scoffed in a flash by son and his friend – oh and me too – ahem….
Cheese damper bread – lovely
Apple, banana and raisin cake – I just made up this recipe due to the fact that I had an apple and a banana needing eating RIGHT NOW, before they died.
Peanut butter cookies – not too bad – but I may look for a tastier recipe in the future.
Sorry – no photos due to the fact that they are in a variety of people’s tummies right now.

Storm
We had a bad storm this week – very heavy rain and strong winds.
A friend’s water tank exploded and another friend ended up with half a tree on her deck! Luckily, everything is covered and has turned out well in the end.
I popped out to Botany for son’s new school sandals and got absolutely soaked – also my lovely pink umbrella was turned inside out quite a few times! Gave up using it after a while and just sploshed my way around the shoe shop, leaving soggy puddles in my wake.
Umbrella seems to have survived okay though. Available for another rainy (yet less windy) day in the distant future.
Have since removed startling variety of twigs and branches from back garden.

Back To School
After quite a long break since GCSEs in the UK (July) – son is now preparing for his return to school and AS Levels.
We went to the school uniform shop and have stocked up on fetching blue and white stripy shirts and RAF blue shorts and trousers. Son refuses to wear long woollen socks (along with delightful garters to hold them up) and black shoes with his shorts – he has opted for the very trendy brown leather sandals instead (no socks required here).
We also had an interview with the principal of the school who seemed a very nice man - he sorted out son's A-Level options and put him into one of the school houses.
I am also going back to school, also since leaving my UK school last July. It’s going to be a real shock to the system methinks…..
However, I will have three teacher training days to ease myself into it all ready for the onslaught of children on the 7th February.
Keep having worrying dreams where children from my classroom are running amok – ie am only managing to teach one child whilst the others are painting walls, fighting, running home etc etc…..
Of course, whilst I am in absolute chaos – everyone else’s class is fine and dandy!

Piha



Have been to this crazy, wild, black-sanded beach twice this week and have enjoyed it so MUCH!
The first day we went was the day after the storms and, unfortunately, the swells were not too good – still had lots of fun boarding though.
The second visit (yesterday) was FAB – the waves were great.
We dutifully kept between the flags and were guided constantly by very impressive lifeguards as to the safest places to be.


The rips were strong and opposing waves would crash into each other quite dramatically, sending spray in all directions.
We kept trying to get to the BIG wave at the back, but were constantly thwarted and battered by other smaller waves. However, I still managed to catch some very cool waves and went speeding along into the shore – what a buzz!

“I’m riding along on the crest of a wave and the sun is in my eyes……..”



Apparently, I was in the sea for a full 3 hours of constant boogie boarding on my first go and, after a tuna fish roll and rather a large plum, followed by gallons of water, was back in again for at least another hour after that.
As a consequence today, both son and I are completely knackered and I have a lovely red face and pink backs of my hands, complete with white fingers! Rather a strange sight to behold.

Well – that’s me for the week so far!

Oh and just thought I’d let you know – just in case you may be passing by the Botany area – that there is a very large shop with the wonderful name of:

Knobs and Knockers!

See ya!

x Sue

Hi again!

What a smashing week I’ve had…..

A very lovely friend asked me to help her house-sit in Tauranga for a few days. Was told the house is literally on the beach in a very pretty area.

Thought about it for a few seconds and came up with a definite ‘YES’!

Here’s what we got up to:

Tuesday

Set off from Auckland at around 9.30 and arrived in Rotorua about 12’ish.

Quite well signposted and didn’t get lost at all! (Big pat on the back for ME).

Headed for the tourist information centre (where a yellow Duck Tours vehicle was patiently waiting for new passengers) and picked up loads of leaflets etc for present and future use.

Had a walk around Rotorua itself and was availed of a rotten eggs smell every so often – it wasn’t constant – came in interesting waves of varying degrees of pongyness.

Looked at the pools and the bubbly mud in the park – lots of steam, smells and bubbly plopping noises.



Saw that a new hole had opened up and suddenly realised that this could happen at any time beneath my feet. Eeek! Walked extremely cautiously after this, constantly on the lookout for cracks in the ground!



After a picnic lunch (strange to eat your ham rolls with these weird and wonderful aromas enveloping you), we drove out of Rotorua for a lazy afternoon in the Waikite Valley Thermal Pools.

It was a bit further away from Rotorua than I expected and really felt like we were in the middle of nowhere. Got a bit worried that I was lost at one point – but soldiered on (family motto – “If in doubt, do nowt”).

Anyway, it is open 7 days a week 10am to 10pm! (Apart from Christmas Day) There was a café there (Pukeko Ponga Tree Café – tastefully named), which became a very useful source of a basket of chips and pop when we felt hungry and thirsty later on! Such a healthy person I am.

The pool water is taken from a very hot spring nearby (Te Manaroa Spring) and does not smell at all. It is so warm and made my skin feel sooo soft – apparently it is calcite laden mineral water. The temperature of the pools is between 35C to 38C – heaven….


Steaming hot river running alongside the baths.

Spent lots of time slipping in and out of the deliciously warm pools and swimming lazily around.

And guess what the price is to use these pools? $8 for an adult (not sure about children) – and you can stay as long as you like! There were picnic tables and chairs provided. My kind of place.

Not many people were using the pools when we were there and those that were there included a family from Yorkshire!

At around 5.30pm, we reluctantly dragged ourselves off to drive on to Tauranga.

Tauranga

We realised that Tauranga was imminent by the imposing presence of Mount Maunganui in the distance.

Arrived at the house in time for home-made beefburgers fresh from the barby – yum! It was good to see friend again. Watched a bit of telly and had a natter over a glass of wine before retiring to my very inviting bed.

Son, meanwhile, was viewing Tauranga and its surrounding areas from the top of Mount Manganui (around 11pm)!

Woke up next day in time to take friend to the port in order to experience swimming with dolphins.

Son went kayaking with his friend and I went boogie boarding at the beach below the Mount.

Dolphins

Friend had a fab time and saw a couple of dolphin pods containing at least 100 each.

She held onto some kind of bar attached to the boat and the boat moved along with the dolphins. Everyone used snorkels and goggles in order to see and hear the squeaking chatter beneath. She also saw a baby dolphin! Awwww! (Say this in a high pitched girly voice).

Kayaking

Son and his friend kayaked from the house to an island in the distance. Said it was quite deserted when they got there – lovely sandy beaches. Kayaking back was hard work as it was against the tide – needless to say, they both slept well that night!

Boogie Boarding

This was such fun! The waves were quite high and I was bashed (bashed is a commonly used Kiwi word) about quite a lot – coooool! At one point the wave hit me so hard that I was turned around as though in a washing machine. (Very unladylike pictures come to mind here!) As I was coming out of it, the boogie board whacked my arm – “I’ll have a nice bruise there”, I thought. It’s MASSIVE! Now look like the victim of a severe beating!

Saw some very agile children jumping and diving through the waves, young men surfing and another young man catching the waves in a very short canoe/kayak. He controlled it very well and must have a super strong upper torso!

When I returned to the house, friend and I had a little go in the kayaks, then entered the water for a very refreshing swim.

Result – one knackered, bruised, very happy female at the end of the day!

In the evening, son and I cooked a Chinese meal to say thank you for our stay. We produced lemon chicken, beef in black bean sauce and stir fried brocolli in garlic with a soupcon of wine! Lovely.

Coromandel (Thursday)

On this third and final leg of our trip – I followed friend in her car along the coast towards the Coromandel.

We visited:
The Martha Mine in Waihi (this town truly looks like something out of the wild west! Pretty little place).

Gold and silver are mined here.

Watched in fascination the giant trucks winding their way up and down the circular roads of the quarry.



The trucks are ENORMOUS! Can you see any on the picture above? I spy with my little eye......!


Check out the size of the vans etc parked nearby compared to the truck!

Son is over 6ft and the wheels alone are taller than him!

The quarry is going to be filled with water soon (once mining is discontinued) and this process will take 5 YEARS!

The actual pit is nearly as deep as the height of the Sky Tower.

Also interesting anorak fact here:
The Sky Tower has a gold-plated ball at the top to safely conduct electricity to the ground just in case it gets struck by lightning.

There is a visitors’centre next to the viewing point with an interesting little film to watch and a display. Some very nice ladies there spoke to us and answered our questions. It was all FREE!

Whangamata (means obsidian harbour)

Apparently, this place is filled to the brim with thousands of teenagers and young people at new year.

Call me an old lady, but I liked it when I visited – quiet beach with families enjoying the surf.



There were some tree-filled islands dotted around which really reminded me of the scenery in parts of Thailand and Hong Kong that I have previously encountered.

It was just here that we ate some lovely chocolate orange cake (made by friend – recipe from Nigella Lawson’s cook book – delish) followed by juicy apricots, nectarines and plums that are well and truly in season now.

The cicadas are very loud at the mo and there is one right outside the French-doors as I type – SHUT UP!!!! Funny looking brown flying things they are!

Opoutere

What another beautiful hidden away place! I highly recommend a visit here. Parked the cars in the free car park with attached handy toilets and made our way across the creek through the woods towards the beach.

The woods were beautiful with some very interesting trees.


Serenely majestic!

We could hear the waves before we actually saw the beach and once again were enthralled by the sheer scenery and beauty of the place.



Footprints in the sand… Fine pale sand and hardly a soul there….



Son discovered that if you stamp your feet really hard on the darker more compact sand, the lighter sand around your feet bounces off the ground giving the illusion of a little light show!

After watching him demonstrate, we all proceeded to stamp up and down the beach exclaiming in surprise at our feat/feet and howling with laughter. Friend also videoed my feet on her camera – we called it the “Coromandel Stomp!” Hopefully no-one else witnessed this unusual behaviour!

After our beach adventures, we made our way to an artist’s house at Topadahil (get it?). The views from the French windows were breathtaking – a creek below leading onto the distant sea. (There was a telegraph pole in the creek too!)

On the way there, we bought cookies from some very entrepreneurial children (4 for a dollar in a variety of flavours). One of them enticed us to stop by holding an A4 piece of paper with the word COOKIES emblazoned in blue felt tip. They were delicious! Good on ‘em, eh!

The artist was a French lady and her work was delightful. Son bought a print for $10 (already protected by a simple glass frame) and I was told that, as a teacher, I could by any of the $1500 originals for only $200! Politely declined due to lack of funds at the mo – but it’s worth considering in the future.

Hot Water Beach

Our final destination before we made the semi-circular trek back to Auckland.

Feeling like pack-horses with our spades, togs (cossies etc) and boogie boards, we made our way towards the jutting out rocks in the distance.

Once there, we dug holes in the sand, which then filled up with hot water! During our labouring, the sea would keep invading the hole and we had to keep moving our feet around due to the sheer heat of the underground water. Fun, fun, fun!

After sampling the hot water, it was time for BOOGIE BOARDING!!!!! YAY!!! (Bet you didn’t realise I like it so much, eh?)

Had another FAB time. It’s so much giggly fun when that big wave comes towards you! One of them took us flying on the top of it for about 50m! Woohoooooo!

Now have boogie board burns on my forearms to add to previous day’s bruises.

After all of this fun – we sadly bade farewell to friends and made our way back to Auckland. Bye bye lovely friends and waves!

The roads were very curvaceous through the Coromandel Ranges (which were quite rocky with clouds hanging around menacingly at the top of them) with spectacular views - it can be quite tiring driving on this part of the journey – high amounts of concentration required.

Arrived in Auckland at around 8pm, just in time to dive into Food Town for meat and wine and then go on to a friend’s barby (my next door neighbour from the UK!) I must have looked a right sight – hair all over the place, red cheeks and bruises galore!

Finally got home at 11pm! Whew….

Needless to say – spent most of next day emptying car, washing clothes and shopping for food!

Total cost of holiday:

Cost of petrol
Food
Hot pools entrance

Great!

See ya

x Sue

Heres to a great new year!

Happy New Year everyone!

Had an entertaining evening at friends’ house. Watched fireworks in the sky at midnight whilst listening to people shouting felicitations and blowing horns through the trees.

Called Kev the next day to wish him a Happy New Year in the UK! We’ll deffo be together for next year’s. Seemed rather strange - him just getting the new year and me eating lunch on New Year's Day both at the same time!

I’ve got brown toes! Wearing sandals (jandals/thongs in kiwi speak) since I’ve got here have led to this phenomenon. Thought they were dirty at first, but no, after several minutes of intense scrubbing – just tanned!

I’ve been up to lots and lots – carrying on with life in Auckland in my own sweet way.

The weather is fab (been switting backets!) and I’m really enjoying swumming in the sea – the water is so refreshing now that the heat is on. I’ve swum at Eastern Beach (very pretty and popular), Bucklands Beach (watched the little fishies swimming right on the shore and the red car ferries transporting holiday-makers and day trippers to Waiheke Island) and also at a tiny little bay down the cliff in the Howick area.

To get to it, steps are provided – but for the last 7 feet or so there is a chain in the rock and you use it to climb down – glad I was wearing my boogie shorts for that bit, would have felt rather on show and unladylike climbing down in just a cossie!

I’ve also been to Red Beach (near Whangaparoa – don’t forget folks – Wh = F). It’s a surf beach and I spent a couple of very happy hours with my new friend the boogey board splashing around in the waves. Great fun!

Son has been out on a boat for the day – he really enjoyed it. He caught 2 fush with his fushing rod and one metal chair whilst pulling up the anchor – no wonder it was hard work pulling up that anchor! Many thanks to those that took him out.

Whilst son was fushing, I went for a walk with another new friend around the Shelley Beach area. Beautiful views (as to be expected now) of the inlet, Southfork type houses in the distance, mangrove swampy bits and a sea shimmering in the sun.

We encountered a variety of trees and shrubs, a parrot with an orange/red coloured head, a golden coloured beetle, a picturesque bach, mud that makes hilarious popping noises as the sun tries unsuccessfully to dry it up and lots of mud coloured crabs scampering around disappearing into a variety of holes.

We also came across a herd of rather large bullocks across our path and beat a hasty retreat, finding an alternative route. After several minutes of walking whilst surreptitiously glancing behind us, we reached the safety of a stile. Whew. Just before we returned to the car, we walked down the drive of a house in order to buy fresh avocados (4 for $2). They are ripening in the kitchen as I type! Yum.

Insects have been rather interesting over the past week or so. I have come across click beetles. These fun insects are about ¾ in long and torpedo shaped. If they land on their backs, they try to ‘right’ themselves by jumping in the air and turning over, making a very audible ‘click’ sound as they do. I was happily sweeping the kitchen out at the time when I came across one. Well, it jumped in the air and I nearly jumped a mile too.

Eventually, I felt braver and poked it a few times with my brush. I began to rather enjoy this neat trick it does. Several fun filled clicks and jumps later I called son to inspect it. After a couple of demonstration pokes with not a lot happening we came to the conclusion that it was dead. Ooops! Son returned to guitar playing unimpressed without seeing this very entertaining tricky clicky beetle.

I have also been watching jumping spiders. Walked into the kitchen one morning to find one sunbathing on my dishcloth – catching the rays via the window I expect. It wasn’t very big and I went to flick it away – but it jumped about 4 ins into the air before I got to it! Chased it for a while and eventually chucked it unceremoniously out of the window.

Apparently (studious internet research here), these spiders don’t build webs to catch their food – they stalk their prey! They have 2 quite big eyes up front with vision similar to our own. The site stated that they can understand the pictures on the television and can see in colour too – quite unlike most spiders that are virtually blind. Not sure how they carried out this research though! Have decided I quite like these little hunters!

I have a big ugly spider in the garage on the windowsill. After inspection and tentative pokes with a piece of cardboard from a respectful distance, have decided to leave it well alone!

Have tried a variety of NZ Cadburys chocolate bars such as:
Black Forest (milk chocolate with lumps of cherry flavoured jelly and biscuity bits)
Marble (praline)
Dairy Milk (you all know this one)
Thoroughly enjoyed by myself and son. We’re quite impressed so far although further extensive research of other ‘types’ is rather imperative methinks.

Bargain of the week for me was a tumble dryer for $15 (about 6 quid) off Trademe! A good friend told me about this and found one for me on the site. I put in a bid and, although the asking price wasn’t reached, the owner asked if I would like to buy it for $15 and I did! Good friend went with me to pick it up. I installed my new toy in the garage and it works fabulously! Cheers for that!

Another friend has given me the name for a possible washing business outlet – ‘Sue’s Posh Wosh’!!!!

The ads on talk radio are still rather entertaining:

Apparently, you can move house with a certain company and they will sing their radio jingle whilst doing so and also whilst putting your furniture together! Might be funny at first, but could lead to serious injuries and maiming after a while I should think…..

Also you can get a beanie made from merino and possum fur – this will then keep your noodle toastie.

Spent some time listening to above talk radio and its entertaining ads whilst carrying out airport runs on Wednesday.

I picked up a friend's son and his girlfriend at 16:00 hours. I stood resplendent complete with an A4 piece of paper bearing his name. Didn't really need it though as he looks just like his mum and sounds like his dad!

Said 'welcome to NZ" and dropped them off in the city (took an interesting route to get there, but they were non the wiser!).

Picked up friends later on in the evening. Unfortunately it was dark and I managed to get lost.... (well, there's a surprise!) I remember passing signs for Papatoetoe, Mangere and various other names. After bouts of mild panic, I saw the airport sign again and finally got there. Apparently, my pickups managed to pass the time by admiring the stars and the moon and by telling a passing bus driver that 'yes, we're fine, someone's collecting us'.... Sorry!

Still - I got there in the end - a bit embarrassed but we got home safe and sound!

Jobs for next week include:
Visiting my walking friend who is house sitting in Tauranga (house is on the beach and sounds lovely). Also comes with kayaks! Dying to have a go at this on the sea. Should be a laugh if nothing else! Apparently it's 2 hours away - ish. Wonder if I'll get lost or have any detours?

Getting car WOFfed. Sounds painful doesn’t it?!

Tara !

X Sue