The Camper Van

Wednesday 14th March
Today our visitors went to pick up their camper van. Joe and Millie are very envious of their trip and spending all those nights sleeping on the top bunk. Frankie was also very excited to be continuing his road trip. They finally set off after a lunch at Mission Bay and a big shop at New World supermarket. They had to make a detour via Rutherford Terrace on the way out which was timed well as they were able to say adieu to Joe and Millie after they had returned from school.

Our First Visitors

Monday 12th March
Today at 5.45AM Sharon, Mike, Frankie and Sonny arrived in New Zealand. Jes went to pick them up from the airport and bring them back here. Joe and Millie were very excited to have our first guests and had even drawn some posters in celebration. Sadly they also brought the torrential rain with them. The weather had been threatening to change for the past few days but the day they arrived the rain and gales came and stayed for the duration of their stay in Auckland. Despite the weather we decided to visit Waiheke Island. We caught a bus to Britomart, lunch at a Mexican restaurant and then a ferry to Waiheke. Fortunately the rain held off until we were on the bus when it pelted it down. When we got off the bus the sun came out and stayed out until we were on the ferry when again it poured down. Our afternoon on Waiheke was really good. We wandered up to the town avoiding some raindrops. We managed to find a little cafe for a coffee with a beautiful view over one of the beautiful beaches. We spent a couple of hours playing on the beach. That evening Sharon and Mike, with some help from Jes, began planning their Kiwi trip. A few beers were quaffed while the boys sat at the very 1980's bar in our lounge area. It's only one step up from Jack and Vera's bar and has to be seen to be believed!

Rainbow's End

As part of our Auckland Super Pass we had tickets to visit Kelly Tarleton's Antarctic Underwater Adventure, Rangitoto Island, Sky Tower and Rainbow's End.
Rainbow's End is Auckland's equivalent to Alton Towers.

However if you go expecting Alton Towers you would be very disappointed. It was good fun with short queues everywhere. Millie and Joe were EXTREMELY brave and went on the sorts of rides they had previously refused to go on.
Joe volunteered to go on the Corkscrew ride but wanted to come off after the first circuit. Louise was relieved to have an excuse to get off the ride as well.

Millie was the bravest of the day and went on as many of the rides as she was allowed. She and Jes went on Fear Fall - the one where the ride takes you vertically up and then drops suddenly to earth. Jes came off looking white and shaking, Millie came off asking to go on again.

Thanks mainly to Jes, Millie and Louise got volunteered to go on stage with the in-house magician. Millie was levitated and Louise got involved in a very dodgy card trick. The only up-side was that Millie was given loads of chocolate bars as a thank you for helping with the trick!

The Kite Festival

Children's Day in Auckland

Someone had decided that since there is Mother's Day and Father's Day there should also be a Children's Day and today was that day. (Just listen to those people saying "Everyday is a Children's Day!")

There were countless activities going on around Auckland to celebrate but we chose to go up to Bastion Point, the hill above Mission Bay in search of the Kite Festival.

No surprises if I say that the weather was unpredictable. A constant threat of a shower but sunshine in between. It didn't stop us spending a great morning up on the hill looking at the big kites and flying the two very modest kites that we bought there.
Joe saw it as a competition to see how high he could get his kite-shaped kite and Millie just liked the idea of flying a pink jellyfish kite in the sky.

Relaxing at home

Well from this point on it all seems to get rather routine.
Up at 7.30am, breakfast, making sandwiches, school run, clock watching til 2.45pm, kids playing on school playground for an hour (most days), walk or drive home, homework, tea and bed. We could almost be in England. Well almost except for the fish and chips on the beach at Mission Bay every Friday evening after we've picked up Jes from work.
Weekends seem to get eaten up with bar-be-ques and trips to surf beaches.
This picture illustrates how Joe spends a great portion of his time!!

Rangitoto Island

Saturday 24th February
Rangitoto Island is the islnad we can see from our house. We can't see the sea but we can see the volcanic island.

At 600 years old it is the youngest of Aucklands 49 volcanoes. To get there we had to catch a 30 minute ferry from downtown Auckland. there are only a few ferries a day so we had to plan our trip carefully. It took about an hour to walk up to the top, 15 mintues admiring the view and eating our picnic and then 55 minutes on the way down. This left about 10 mintues spare before the next ferry arrived to take us back to the mainland.

The views form the island are superb. We were able to orientate ourselves by looking at the Sky Tower and our local beaches.

Millie's Birthday Party

Thursday 22nd February

Millie was quite upset not to have a proper birthday party for her friends so today we organsied a little party for her and four girls from school. Olivia, Lara, Talia and Danielle came for a birthday tea.

We all walked home from school - 20 mintues - singing and dancing all the way. balloons and streamers were already up and waiting for the party to begin. Millie and Joe both thought this was brilliant.

The girls were very quick to get changed and to begin the dancing which didn't stop for at least 75 mintues!! Most of it was to High School Musical or Pop Party 3 but they all thought it was hilarious. Joe didn't mind too much being the only boy but he didn't get to read his book as he hoped.

Piha Beach

Saturday 17th February
today we ventured off the the Western Coast of New Zealand. it's about 1 hour plus from Auckland and has the reputation for black sand and great surf. Today was the day to give the boogie boards a good testing.
We packed up the chilly bin with the obligatory picnic, put the boogie boards, rugby ball and frisbee in the car and off we set. After several wrong turns we arrived to find the most spectacular views of Piha beach.

There was a bit of a breeze blowing so the black sand got into our sandwiches but the sun was shining brightly and the black sand was too hot to stand on.

The beach was incredibly long and when we arrived relatively quiet. We decided to position ourselves near the surf life guards so we wouldn't have far to walk to go for a surf.

Both Joe and Millie had a great time tackling the waves and when they were ready for a rest we sat back and watched the guys on the long boards.

We all slept well that night but due to the black sand and the breeze blowing we are still picking the sand out of our places several weeks later!!