It's About Time!

I hear you all say.....

Well - got some piccies for you to see - have been up to all sorts.

Waitakere Ranges

Here's photos from our adventures - on the biggest train you ever did see - through the picturesque Waitakere ranges and on to a luverly dam.

For further info - here's the web site:

http://www.waitakeretramline.org.nz/

We had a great time - the weather was most agreeable considering we are in winter now.

Here's the train with its driver moving the engine to the front of the carriages, ready for our journey into the tunnel and onto the dam.  Big innit?!

Here are the carriages about to be attached.

Here's her helper attaching massive engine to the copious seating carriages.

And here's the first tunnel we travelled through.  With our knees round our necks, we hurtled along, coming to a stop about mid way (or somewhere in the tunnel anyway).  This was an intentional stop - it was for us to admire the glowworms that had made their homes in the tunnel - really cool 'starry night' feel. 

Upon emerging from the tunnel, we hurtled along the track, heading ever upwards towards the dam.  Along the way, we travelled under a diverted waterfall - here it is in the distance - guarded by a man who I presume was put there in case any of us were swept away.....(well - you never know) - 

And here is the waterfall as we made our intrepid way underneath!

There were fantastic views along the way.......

Here's a couple of excited travellers - you can tell by the blurriness just how fast we were all speeding along!

More fabulous views.

Well - we finally made it to the dam and were given strict instructions to go up, wander and toilet - but only for half an hour and then we had to be back and ready to return....

Here you go: 

Isn't it all just stunning!

Here's a fern from above:

Thanks for the idea Linda!

Another 'above' photo!

More stunning views!

Here's part of the gang - ready for the off - looks like it could be a noisy setting off time - as L's mum is illustrating with her fingers in her ears!

 

Here's me and my mates!

Once we returned from our exhausting trek through the ranges of Waitakere, we made our way to a lovely little cafe  - which also happened to be a little train station too!

Here's Kev and G sneaking a crafty smoke (not allowed to do it in the cafe)!

I like this next photo - not sure what they're laughing at, but it sums up the day really well - we all had a fabbie time!

England vs All Blacks

Last weekend, was the first match between England and the All Blacks at Eden Stadium and we were lucky enough to get tickets and join in with the fun.  It was my first ever international match and I really enjoyed it - even though we lost!

As you can probably imagine, the number of English fans as compared to AB fans was tiny - you could look around the stadium and easily spot the white amongst the black!  The English fans were fab though and you could hear them clearly singing "Swing Low Sweet Chariot" many a time - it was amazing!  We also managed to have 6 Mexican Waves consecutively - which I really enjoyed - it was so cool to see it coming towards you and the roar of the crowd getting louder as it did so.  Roll on the World Cup in 2011!

Here we all are outside the pub, getting ready to walk down to the stadium:

Sad to say that an AB fan interloped - you can tell she's an AB supporter not just by her AB top complete with white fern, but also by the pie - a popular delicacy in NZ!

Whilst waiting for the game to begin, we were treated to some sort of strange medieval battle between English and Kiwi knights which ended in a few explosions on the pitch!

Finally, the hakka took place and I'm afraid this photo is a bit blurred, cos I really wanted to watch it properly - sorry!

On the way out of the match whilst walking to a pub to drown our sorrows, we bumped into a very rowdy crowd singing "kiwis only sing when they lose", only to find out that it was the family of my lovely teaching assistant at my last school - so, of course, another photo had to be taken!

Another friend of mine was also at the match.  We texted each other excitedly when we arrived, asking where the other was - only to find that we were about two columns apart and could wave to each other across the sea of black!

It was a great night - even though it took us ages to get back to the car due to having walked miles in the other direction in order to find a pub!

Christmas 2

Last night we decided to have a Christmas 2 - seeing as we were bang on half way through the middle of the year, it is winter here and it is my birthday soon!

The dinner began seriously enough:

But began to go downhill after that:

Drinks flowed freely.....

Crackers were pulled (we had to shout BANG as we pulled them due to no banger inside)...

And novel uses of spent out crackers were thought of..........

Secret Santa pressies were opened (you could only spend $10 on your secret present):

Boom chicka wa wa - was son's clue:

He liked the cracker pressies too...

Kev seemed happy with one of his pressies:  

He also got a plate, mug, bowl and set of cards - his giver was clearly going for quantity over quality!

Our resident chef received a handy cook book for essential revision plus a pack of handy set of post it notes.

After all that excitement, we cleared up and settled down in front of the log burner to watch the All Blacks play England (in Christchurch this time - it looked freeeeezing).  However, by the time the score go to 20 - 0 against England, all one could hear was snoozing - all adults were asleep on the settees around the room and the kids were downstairs on the computer.

Happy Christmas 2 everyone!

x Sue