Waikato Stadium Saturday 12th September 2009 The excitement and build up to this game was immense in NZ. Rugby really is the national religion here!!! I was a total tourist kiwi wannabe and went out and bought the AB tshirt and cap!!! As long as I didn't open my mouth no one could identify me as a non-kiwi!!! Atmosphere in the Waikato Stadium was amazing and they put on a really good show with fireworks etc. Hearing the national anthem for the first time in English and Maori was cool. But the Haka is what I'd come for - COOL!!! Ooooh [View Full Entry]

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September 2009 We're not quite in summer yet but temperatures are definitely up and we have had some beautiful days of sunnyshine like the day Lisa and I caught the ferry from downtown to Waiheke Island for a coastal walk then lots of wine in the sun at Cable Bay vineyard- which was a blissful day. I have also just moved to the beach - Mission Bay which will be fantastic when summer proper arrives. I am loving my new neighbours - Mike and Gary the identical twins. Great place this!! I also have a big verandah - perfect for all [View Full Entry]

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Whakapapa August 2009 What a great girls weekend to the snow! I once more drive down to the Tongariro National Park, past beautiful Lake Taupo to the snowy peaks of Ruapehu and Nghuarahoe to hit the slopes. It was the usual brunch (french toast, bacon and maple syrup yummmmmmmmmmmmm) in Cambridge then to Whakapapa to brush up on my carving. Lisa enjoyed her first ever lesson and I think she may have caught the snow bug - Rachel was determined to go a bit Eddie the Eagle with her dashing new ski helmet!! I had a lesson too and actually [View Full Entry]

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Monday 16th July to Saturday 18th July 2009 I had the best (and busiest) holiday back to Scotland in July. I must say it was weird to say that I was holidaying in Scotland but once the plane eventually emerged from the grey cloud and I saw the welcoming rain of Glasgey I knew I was "home" and it was good to be there (especially with the lovely welcome Josh an Jess gave me - tartan, balloons and a banner and everything - check me I must be someone special)!! It was a bit of a rushed affair but I enjoyed [View Full Entry]

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Friday 26th - Sunday 28th June 2009 Ohakune - Tongariro National Park WELL I have to say last weekend when I checked out the snow at Mount Ruapehu was an experience. One which I may not dwell on here. It was a bit crazy and I shall gloss over the most part BUT Ishbel - a girl from work and I headed off at lunchtime Friday for the 5 hour drive South past lake Taupo to the Tongariro National Park area to ski Turoa and Whakapapa (pronounced something that sounds rude so I won't elaborate). Both these ski fields are on [View Full Entry]

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Saturday 25th April (ANZAC Day) - Tuesday 28th April 2009 I was attending the "Fast Tracking National Infrastructure" conference in Wellington for work so decided to extend the work jolly into the weekend before and to actually see the Capital city of New Zealand properly... I had been twice before but my sightseeing had consisted of something like: Airport - office - airport. It looked like a cool city - worth exploring some more........... So as you all know its the capital city but only about 400,000 people live here compared to about 1,400,000 in Auckland!! Its NZ's windy city [View Full Entry]

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Sat 11th April 2009 cont. We drove to Coromandel town via Waihi Beach on the Bay of Plenty and at the base of the Coromandel Peninsula. We continued up north and through the Karangahake Gorge - the scene of the north island's first gold rush. It was also around here that the British and Maori fought in the New Zealand wars. We made a stop in Paeroa to get our photo taken with a giant bottle of L&P (Lemon & Paeroa) - a kiwiana soft drink which I bought a bottle of and it was actually quite horrible. Still its very [View Full Entry]

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Friday 10th April 2009 Lisa and I rose early that freezing (well by Auckland standards) Godo Friday and headed South down in my nice new Hawkins branded car (complete with hard hat and orange vest) to our first stop off in Cambridge by the Waikato river for coffee and french toast infront of a live fire - much needed which is a shame as I need to get rid of my smugness and realise the UK is in for better weather than us for the foreseeable future!! We then drove the rest of the way down to smelly Rotorua - one [View Full Entry]

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Saturday 28th - Sunday 29th April 2009 My lovely fellow Scot Lisa and I decided to hire a car and try out our camping gear ahead of our big easter road trip last weekend. We didn't go far but you don't have to go far out of the city here to get the amazing scenery so we opted for the West Coach surf beach Muriwai - about 45 mins drive from Auckland. It was a nice drive through the usual hills, farms, vineyards etc and the beach was HUGE with black sand and lots of nice surfer types. We tried to [View Full Entry]

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Sunday 5th April 2009 Whilst most people were enjoying the fact that the clocks went back and everyone could stay in bed an hour longer I was up with the birds at 0530 this morning!!! I had left a perfectly good BBQ with perfectly good wine and company so as to be bright eyed for this trip the night before but it was more than worth it!! We set of from South Auckland on Sea Ox and its proud owner Graeme (Cox hence the name - ahh clever eh?) around 7am (this is why I'll probably never take up fishing as [View Full Entry]

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