Hiya!

Here I am again.

A few photos for you....

Here is son at Big Boys Toys (a couple of weeks ago now) with a couple of Tui Girls (popular beer in NZ).  Note the message on his t-shirt - lol!

Behind him is the Tui Tent, where our boys spent most of the afternoon, whilst us girlies explored what was on offer elsewhere.

We had a great day and got lots of free samples of stuff from alcohol to food to skin cream to well ....lots of things!  (Heaps).

We watched the NZ Army go through their stuff......

saw the strong men upending this wheel from one end of the area to the other (I valiantly cheered him on)...

tried on Crocs (very fetching colour methinks)...

met police dogs (friend's daughter is standing here - she immediately sat down next to the dog when the police man ordered the dog to "sit" - lol  ........

and painted Kev's nails red when he fell asleep on the floor after a yummy barbecue!

We took turns to do it and were laughing so much, we were crying (the kind of smothered snotty  laughter you HAVE to do in order not to wake a person up).

All in all - a really fun day!

Now- let me see......

Well - NZ has a new Prime Minister.  No more Helen Clarke - it's now John Key.  We have moved from a Labour govt towards a more Conservative one now (in comparison to the UK parties).  We shall see what we shall see....

The weather is hotting up - I am getting very brown from standing on the school field every day and now have very fetching panda eyes - big white circles round me eyes from the sunglasses I wear and a bronzed face - luverly!

Strawberries are in season and are lusciously delicious.  Avocados are too - yum!  I have it in sarnies and love it on toast with tomato, red onion and chicken - mmmmm!

I have been to see the live show Phantom and it was BRILLIANT!  I've actually seen it twice now - went with friend and her family (due to husband and son not being quite so keen as me) and then saw it again with work as part of our magical mystery tour!  Starlight Express and My Fair Lady are coming soon!

Have got tickets to see Billy Conolly in March - really looking forward to that - watched his last tour of NZ before we came out here and a couple of times since.  Really enjoyed it.

Ooooh and guess what!?  We are going up north for Christmas (boogie boarding, kayaking, sledging down sand dunes, snorkelling, bbqs etc etc) and SWUMMING WITH DOLPHINS!!!!  I'm so excited - it's a Chrissy pressie to all of us!  Woohoooo!  Hope I don't get scared - it should be sooooo cooool!

We have been looking at boats and will probably buy an aluminium one (tinny) as they are lighter, use less fuel and are harder to break in comparison to the fibreglass ones!  We will all have to go on the Coastguard Dayskipper course too before being let loose on the high seas!  (Actually the rules are quite lax here - you can just go straight out onto the water with no training whatsoever, but we would rather have at least some knowledge before we embark upon our seafaring adventures).  

It will be very cool to go fushing and to visit all the little islands dotted about!

If the weather is good - will probably go out on our kayaks tomorrow - will have to try somewhere different now - not just Bucklands Beach anymore - must be more adventurous - may go to Eastern Beach next time lol!

Our physallis plant is producing well - just picked a bunch today - yummy.

All in all - a very exciting summer lies ahead and I am soooo ready to jump in with both feet!

Will post more photos soon!

x Sue