Sandiz
Sandiz Joined: February 16th 2008
Logged in: March 26th 2011
Logged in: March 26th 2011
Travel Blog Posts
Birthday celebrations
Yes it is that time of the year again Grahams birthday, he is not counting anymore. We all went out to Clevedon to the Log Cabin. It was a beautiful Summers day or should I say the 1st of March is the beginning of Autumn here in NZ. We have had a very long hot Summer starting way back in October and in the last six months we have only had three rain events. It is very dry and still the sun shines. It has been very sad in NZ with the Christchurch Earthquake and all the misery that it has caused. We of course live in the Ring of Fire and we are known as the Shaky Isles. We now are seeing the utter devastation of the Japanese Earthquake, Tsunami and Nuclear Power Plant problems. ... read more
Graham,Tony,Pam,Carrie
Once again we had a lovely day over on Waiheke Island with Carrie, Trevor, Pam and Tony. We walked around the Sculpture Walk before lunch. It was incredibly hot in fact so hot it was quite distressing. I walked around like a Chinese lady with my umbrella up as it was too hot to have a hat on. As usual Carrie put on a wonderful lunch and we ate it on the deck looking out over Oneroa Beach. Sue and Kevin Nicol called in to say hello. They were looking at accommodation for October as they have a wedding to go to. Accommodation will be tight in October as the Rugby World Cup will be on in New Zealand.... read more
Eastern Beach
We have been having a very hot sunny summer until three days ago. Two cyclones, one from Queensland and the other from Vanuatu decided to visit our shores. Luckily for us once a cyclone hits the Tasman Sea it is usually is downgraded to a storm, so the intensity is not as great. This was a rather large storm and it coincided with a very large King tide of 4.1m. There has been a lot of flooding as well as huge winds and a lot of rain. Auckland had 150mm in a 24 hour period. The winds started from the SE turned to the NE and now we have a screaming SW. The seawater at Eastern Beach was over the road, all the grass has disappeared and the seats at the beach are now sitting in ... read more
Very pretty
In this blog there are a few 'odds and ends' photos that didn't fit in anywhere else.... read more
Great fun
Aaron,Rosie and Alexandra were over from Queensland staying with Joel and Chelle. Gary and Sandra came up from Athenree to stay in their van at Joel and Chelles. Tayla and Jamie also joined the family for a few days. Gary had a wee mishap with the van. He was backing into Joels drive late at night and he misjudged and the vans wheels ended up in the drain. It was not a happy time, but having two practical sons is very useful. They devised a method of how to extract the van from the drain and all was well. Chelles sign at the gate came in for a few strong words!! as the sign distracts Gary as he is trying to park the van. The family came over to us for lunch on the Saturday. We ... read more
Tayla, butterfly, Fletch and Jamie.
We are having an amazingly hot dry summer all the rain seems to be falling over Queensland in Australia. The rain seems to be forgetting to cross the Tasman and come to New Zealand. Queensland is having the most dreadful floods, I heard the other day that the floods cover an area the size of Germany and France combined. We are in serious drought mode. My water rates bill is going to be horrendous. I can't remember such hot sticky days as the ones we are having at the moment. The swimming pool is being put to very good use. My job on the Monday of house renovations was to keep the girls entertained. We made scones and the girls helped clean the house and kill the flies. They were great little workers. We had a ... read more
Chelle hard at work.
Graham has been doing a lot of traveling out to Beachlands to help Chelle and Joel with their house renovations. The price quoted to do the tiling in the 2nd bathroom and dining room was $1,200 so a wee phone call came through asking if Dad was free for a few days to help do the tiling. I volunteered Grahams services as he had done some tiling at the house in Ripon Cres and at the house in Wanaka. I thought that he was just the man for the job as he is very good at tiling. I have to say they all did an amazing job. Chelle and Graham tiling and grouting and Joel hauling up the old lino. Joels job was a terrible one and he ended up with some very sore muscles. By ... read more
Jamie, James, Tayla
We are having the most amazing weather, very hot and dry day after day. New Years Eve was another lovely warm evening, and we celebrated it with Joel, Chelle, Tayla, Jamie, James, Do and some friends of Joel and Chelle. We had a wonderful B B Q cooked by Joel and lovely salads made by some of the guests. Dessert was left overs from Xmas plus Chelle had made some yummy cupcakes. Do was flying back to France at one minute to midnight 2010. We have so enjoyed meeting Do, she is a lovely girl with a great sense of humor. How neat it has been seeing James again, he was just wonderful with the girls although he couldn't resist teasing them. The playhouse Joel and Chelle gave the girls for Xmas has been a great ... read more
Christmas time 2010
Xmas day this year was at Joel and Chelle's house at Beachlands. Sandra and Gary were up from Anthenree and Grandad came up from Whakatane. The little girls were with us for Xmas lunch. We had the most wonderful day and the little girls tree house was unveiled. Joel has worked so hard on the tree house and what a magnificent job he has done. The girls are going to have so much fun playing high in the sky. Xmas day lunch was wonderful, lots of beautiful food in fact too much food. Chelle and Joel put so much hard work into Xmas day.The treasure hunt was great fun, it involved everyone and created lots of laughs. Thankyou so much Joel and Chelle, you both make everyone feel so welcome at your home.... read more
