On my Birthday we went to Wet n Wild. I got a didgeridoo and a necklace, a koala magnet,pencils. At wetn Wikd there were so many slides. THere was a wave pool and a black slide. The Tornado, aquarace and the twister. The scariest one was the Tornado and I was too small to go on the Surf Rider. The Black Hole had hot water in because it was black and black absorbs heat. I got a boomerang and sunglasses and a book. And I got a cake that I decorated with Flirty and Beauty. It was shaped as a number nine and it had worms and icing on it and hundreds and thousands - it looked so good and we took a photo. At Wet n Wild at night there was a film on in ... read more

We have spent the last week based in Cairns on the Barrier Reef. We took a couple of trips out to see the reef and the kids all really enjoyed snorkelling with all the fish and coral around. Highlights of the trips were sighting of lots of 'Nemo' lookalikes, a shark, several giant clams and picking up sea cucumbers!! Al the children did really well cos on the second trip the swell was beginning to get up but that was our best trip for seeing the fish etc. The first trip was on a catamarang to a coral Cay. The sea was turquoise and the coral almost white - it really was idyllic. The Cay was also the home to several thousand Turns (brings me to mind of another joke abut the Common Turn which also ... read more

We have spent a couple of days in Roturua in the centre of North Island. Roturua has magma quite close to the earth’s surface and has hot springs and sulphurous mud pools. The photos don’t do justice to the smell which is all pervading. The landscape is difficult to get your head round - hot plopping mud and sulphur springs close to normal plants and buildings constructed on what appears to be solid ground. We met up with the Norths again for a few days in the Kauaeranga Valley at the South end of the Coromandel peninsula near Thames which originally developed because of the 19c gold rush. The pace of life here seems to be zzzzzzz.... (sorry fell asleep). We stayed in a wood cabin in what appeared to be the middle of nowhere. It ... read more

No, I didnt know what it was until a few days ago. The Tongariro Crossing is a one day trek across 'steep volcanic terrain'. It took us 9 hours to complete and hats off the the kids (especially Fabulous) who seemed to take the whole thing in their stride!! More than I can say for the Family 5 adults - we are still suffering from sore muscles a couple of days later! The start of the crossing is at Mangatepopo. we got dropped off there by bus. The intention was that Myself, Fabulous and Nagging would probably not make it and therefore turn back after an hour or two - for some reason this did not occur and I'm still not sure how that happened - the question of stopping just did not seem to arise. ... read more

Well this is the chance for you lot back in the UK to have a little laugh at our expense because for the past week the Queensland coast has been on the receiving end of the far reaches of a mini typhoon.It has been wet and windy nearly every day. So much so that at one point we cancelled all activities in order to build an ark! Anyway it really hasn't stopped us enjoying ourselves (what's a few spots of rain between sisters!). We have still hit the beach and as you can imagine the surf has really been up- the kids have enjoyed the boogy boards and once you are in the sea you are wet anyway (Yes I a putting a brave face on it!) On Sunday for Fiendish's Birthday we went north to ... read more