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