One month on ....

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So, you've probably worked out that I haven't returned to the UK at the end of Jan as originally planned ... I'm going to be staying out until May, coming home for around 6 weeks and then heading back here again :-)

The last month seems to have flown by. We've been to a rodeo, had a trip up to the north island to visit Duncan's nanna, had several picnics on beautiful deserted beaches, had our first visitors from the UK and put in a visa application so I can hopefully stay out here longer, oh, and milked 600 cows twice a day!

The trip up north was good, I got to see where Duncan grew up and met more of his family, who are all lovely (it's always a relief when the rellies are nice, makes you more confident you're onto a winner!). We flew to Auckland and then had a hire car (thanks cousin Emma for sorting us out with a good car), and it was scary how quickly I'd got used to being so high up in a LandRover - I felt so low down in a "normal" car!

Marion and Mark came to stay for a few days - it was a very different environment from the last time I saw Marion, in an office in Bristol. We did a spin in the jet boat and got them both into the shed to have a go at milking. I dreamt of work every night they were here, but it didn't make me want to go back to it!!!

I've also been helping out at the local school a couple of mornings a week, although the classrooms are so well organised and the teachers are so good I'm hardly needed! I'm in the new entrants class helping 5 year olds with their reading and writing - I do worry though that there will be a small group of Kiwi's with a POME accent !!!!

Looking forward to a weekend of tramping around Mount Cook this weekend :-)

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