Waiheke Trup!

Whew - England beat Tonga this morning and are through to the quarter finals! Playing Oz!

We have been busy exploring again and I've got a few photos to show.

I've also had to vote in the local elections! We all registered a while ago and last week received an envelope each with:

1. A voting form
2. A booklet with photos and blurbs of the people we can vote for
3. An envelope to send our form back in

Interesting way of doing things eh?!

There are posters of all those we could vote for all over the place and we keep getting stopped in Howick by people telling us why we should vote for them!

Well - I've been good. I've filled out my form and sent it off - the boys' envelopes are still unopened on the side.......

Got to be in by Oct 13th I think.

We've had some interesting things happen in the past couple of weeks:

1. Kev won a holiday in Tonga! Fafa Island Resort - I CANT WAIT! We're gonna go in the Easter hols - catch some rays! Here's a link:http://www.fafa.to/ Isn't it beautiful?! I'm going to snorkel and kayak everyday - plus take a good book! Woohooo...
2. Kev also got 5 numbers on the Lotto
3. I got a new job - starting in the new school year end of Jan.
   

Ad is preparing for his A-Levels and has almost left school forever! Scarey - getting old!

Well - here are the Waiheki Island pics - it was an absolutley GLORIOUS day and we both returned home quite pink - the sun is getting stronger and I'm now putting on my factor 30 face cream each day.

This is how we had to get onto the ferry - in reverse!

The journey took about 1 hour - so we whiled away the time by admiring the views.

Here's our arrival at Kennedys Point.

The view from our breakfast table!

After a scrumptious brekky, we drove off to have a coastal walk and to enjoy the spectacular views on offer.

Wow!

We intrepidly decided to set off for a walk, but the hill sloped downwards a little too much and the path was decidedly muddyfrom recent rainfalls. Kev slipped and I did to0 landing spectacularly upon my derriere! Needless to say my black trousers were covered in mud on the left cheek for the rest of that day....

Further driving and safe walking continued through the rest of the morning before we made our way to the Mudbrick Winery for lunch. This is the view we had from our dining table - isn't it fab?! (Previous to this I had tried unsuccessfully to walk into the restaurant without giving everyone a view of my mud spattered bottom).



Lunch lasted for a couple of heavenly hours while we took in the sights, sounds and smells around. The vines in the foreground seemed to be very attractive to the local kingfisher population - we enjoyed their antics and squawks very much! In the distance you can see the dormant volcano island of Rangitoto. Ferries from and to the city made their way backwards and forwards as we ate. It was wonderful! The food was delicious - I had a John Dory for my main course and Kev had a tuna steak - mmmmmmm!

Once lunch ended, we reluctantly (very full of wine and food) made our way to the top of the hill behind the restaurant for even more spectacular views of the island:

Well - after this - further exploration ensued until at 5.30 we made our way back to the ferry terminal for the ride back home. Kev climbed out of the car to enjoy the views in the dark whilst I reclined my car seat, put my coat on top of me and promptly fell asleep!

What a lovely day - we are intently watching the weather forecast for info re Tuesday as Kev has a day off then! More adventures will hopefully ensue!

Tara fer noo.

x Sue

Kia Ora!

Kia Ora everyone!

Well it's deffo warming up here - Kev and Adam went shopping for wood (and gathering!) the other day to get us all stocked up - and it's suddenly much warmer - didn't need the fire at all last night - TYPICAL!

Watched England get smashed by South Africa yesterday morning (7am) - oh dear! Lots of ribbing when I get to work on Monday methinks! I've been doing my bit for the cause by decorating my classroom window with an England shirt, an English Rose and the England flag. Pray for me on Monday please!

Wasn't the Georgia versus Ireland match good! I was very impressed by Georgia - they played really well.

Now - the past week has been busy - twas son's birthday on Wednesday - 19 years old now! We celebrated by taking him out for a meal that night and for a clothes shop on Saturday (yesterday).

He had a lovely chocolate cake brought to the house for him on the morn of his birthday (by two girls from his school - who then proceded to give him a lift into school - aaahhh!) The cake is delicious - have asked him to get me the recipe!

Everything seems so manic at the mo - busy with the last week of term, busy getting ready for next term (we've got ERO (Ofsted equivalent) coming in half way through - poops) and busy doing uni work on top - must be mad! Will be glad to have a break for a week or so!

Hopefully it will be warm - can always make Christmas cards on the rainy days - great inspiration on your site Andrea!

Can I also say a great big WELL DONE! to the banana girls who did the trek across Morcambe Bay - wish I could have been there with you - love the photos! You are GREAT and you made it without the need of a loo too!

Gotta go for now - just a quick chat today.

Will put some photos on next time.

Tara!

x Sue

Lunar eclipse!

Hello everyone!

Done a booboo this week methinks - those of you I sent a CD with photos on - please try right clicking on the CD icon and then clicking on compatible - try that - cos the photos are deffo there and I did format the discs. If you still can't get them, let me know and I'll try agin!

Well - we've had a lunar eclipse! At around 10 to 9 last Tuesday night, it all began......

Here you can see the shadow of the sun moving up the bottom of the moon.

Here we are a little later on - it's going a bit orange now.

About an hour later, the moon was completely orange - just like a little fruit hanging in the darkness - Kev saw a shooting star too!

Very exciting! I'd told my class earlier that day and some of them managed to persuade their parents to let them stay up for the experience, joining all their friends and neighbours. We had a very animated chat the next morning all about their experience.

Now - what else have I been up to? Oh yes, a couple of weekends ago, Kev and I went to Murawai to visit the gannets in their colony. It was a beautifully sunny day, although very windy on that wild western coast! Upon arrival, we parked the car and made our way up the cliff to watch the noisy birdies. The views were (as ever) spectacular - it just makes yer heart soar it does! The birds were rather smelly though - especially when the wind was blowing our way! Pwoaarr.

Here they are, safely perched on their rocks in the middle of the sea.

An arty farty photo of the wild waves from the top of the hill!

Yesterday, Kev and I decided to go for a walk into Howick in the warm spring sunshine and on the way back we decided to walk up Stockade Hill (women and children slept here at night for several weeks in 1863 when there was fear of attack from the Maori during the New Zealand Wars).

That's Waihiki Island you can see in the distance - whilst sitting like two old fogies on the bench, we watched the red ferry make its way across.

That's the Coromandel in the distance (note the traffic cone on top of the tree - the cause of much uproar last year - think it's rather amazing and creative meself - I'm amazed the strong winds over winter haven't blown it off!).

Here we are looking towards the meeting place by the sea - Maraetai (my right eye) - luverly beach there with piers you can jump off - only during high tide of course!

Well that's that really - except to show you a view of the Auckland CBD at night from Devonport (we'd been out celebrating a friend getting her new job).

Here you go.......

Sorry about the blurriness! In my defence, I had just had a glass or two of Belgian beer - it was white! Very nice though.

Well gotta go - it's 9.44pm Sunday evening and I've been doing this for agesssssss - bloomin photos take yonks to download!

See ya!

x Sue