New Year......still New Plymouth!!!

---

New Year,…….still New Plymouth 😞

As some of you may be aware our campervan that broke down on Xmas eve was still sat in the same spot on the mechanics’ drive a week later on New Years Eve. We’d hoped some work would have been done, but what with there only being 2 working days between Xmas and New Year and even though our mechanic had done some work on these days no one else was open for spare parts / to help him. So after spending nearly the whole day researching everything from car hire to thumbing a lift we decided that our only option was to stay at Hearing Dogs again and forfeit all our great plans of spending new years eve at a beach party with Heather and Ben and then driving to watch the sun rise on the east coast.

None of this was helped by Clare’s (boss at hearing dogs NZ) sudden need for us to pay for staying on site for these extra days. Obviously we were happy to pay a contribution to cover electric etc but Clare was after the going rate for hiring a fully furnished cottage!!! So now very depressed that the van was not fixed, not being able to get out of New Plymouth and now being asked to pay a fortune to stay stranded here we tried to make the best of the situation. Thus came the email to our friends and family asking for ways to entertain ourselves in the tiny metal shed (cottage) that was now becoming our prison.

For those that didn’t see it this is what it said:


“Dear all
You may have heard about our bad luck with the camper van, and unfortunately it is set to continue into the New Year as it will not be fixed till early Jan!!! Yes I know what a bummer, so we are faced with the current situation of spending our first New Years abroad in a tin shed with cabin fever setting in and nothing to do.

Your challenge should you accept it, is to think of some ideas, or challenges that we can do tomorrow evening (for us anyway). In return we will not only be grateful but will post photo graphic evidence for you to see.
The only rules are: Keep it simple, we don’t have many resources, keep it cheap - we are broke!!
Currently we are planning to:
Drink (obviously)
Wear each others clothes,
Make a space girl / cowboy outfit out the things in our cabin,
Nath to complete 200 press ups, Mandy to complete 200 sit ups,
Cracker eating competition,
Can you suggest some more????
Please nothing too kinky we’ve already thought of them (well Nath has anyway)!!!
Thank you and Happy New Year”


We had some great replies including: toilet roll mummies (thanks Vix); chair leg balancing game (thanks Hayley); household item jenga (thanks Kate); and the laying down game (thanks Donna). So with the list above and our other suggestions we started our evening about 5pm, drinking coming first obviously and continuing into the New Year. So thanks for your help, we had a great evening and here are the photos of what we got up to….all I can say is…. don’t judge us we were bored……..Very Bored!!

---

Photos

P1070957
New Years Eve sorted!! the main ingrediant to a Happy New Year

P1070959
yipppeeee

P1070960
Challenge no. 1 - Dress in each others clothes

P1070961
So pretty! Mary Popins has nothing on Nath

P1070962
Not so great close up - nice hat!

P1070963
That's it b***h get in the kitchen

P1070967
Shaves his legs about as often as I do! - nice though

P1070968
Boat feet - like wearing your dad's shoes when you're a kid

P1070970
Challenge no. 2 - dress like the pope....no only kidding...make your own clothes

P1070976
Space girl as promised (with only one newspaper boot)

P1070978
Nath hard at work - engineers take the fun out of this game, everything has to be precise.....

P1070980
.....newspaper shorts with "working" draw string waist (but i think the bishop hat and glasses finish it off)

P1070984
Trying not to look drunk.

P1070987
Challenge no 2 and 1 together, making clothes and then swapping again

P1070988
erm....

P1070990
Challenge no. 3 - how many mini marshmellows can you eat with a cocktail stick in one minute? answer...very few without feeling sick

P1070992
Although we both lost count, Nath still did better than me (better mouth eye co-ordination!)

P1070996
Spur of the moment challenge no. 4 - stuff on my Nath.com

P1070998
Nice bauballs

P1080001
Failed challenge no. 5 - 200 sit ups for Mandy (managed 4!!), 200 press ups for Nath (managed 10)pathetic

Comments

[Vix]

Still Nuts
Still as Nuts as ever I see!!!

[Stuart (and Steve)]

Happy New Year
Hey guys, by the looks of your vid you had a good new year! hope all is well. our SA adventure is coming to an end, its been amazing, what a continent! We arrive in NZ on the 21st Jan and have a car for a month to explore, will you guys still be around etc? would be great to catch up. Stu and Steve

[Mandy Nath]

New Zealand catch up
Hi ya Great to hear from you, glad you're still alive after your time in SA!! we are still in New Zealand, having a bit of a nightmare with a campervan we bought but should be off to visit the rest of the north island in a week or so and then onto the south island begining of feb. how long you here for? where are you starting? we've done most of the norht island so can suggest where to go if you want. let us know when you arrive and we'll give you are mobile number so we can try and catch up - sweet as!! (that'll make sense when you get here!!)

[Stuart (and Steve)]

Hey, good news. we are in Auckland now. off north to the bay of islands for a few days then rotaroa and taupo (and a sky dive on the 30th) then national park land etc before wellington and the ferry on the 5th. not reli using a mobile so best just give us a email on [e-mail] to discuss plans and make meeting point.

[Mandy Nath]

catch up
Hi guys well unbelievably we're still waiting for our bloody camper to be ready!! plan is to get to Tongariro crossing etc in the next few days, then spend the end of the month in wellington, before getting on the ferry on about the 2nd. after this well be heading for abel tasman. lets see how it all goes. good luck on the sky dive,. oh if you're going north you must do "the rock" a over night boat trip on old car ferry whihc is sooooo cool

[Mandy Nath]

change of plans
hi guys, hope you enjoyed the northlands. WE are now on the road in our fixed camper - and she is looking good!! wil be heading to Tongariro tmr and then onto Rotarua towards the weekend. Napier after that and then down to Wellington. So similar dates and locations to you. Let us know where you are and we might be able to give you a lift if it all works out. see ya x

[Stuart (and Steve)]

All sounds good, we did the crossing yest was incredible. we cross 2 south island morning of the 5th so are about 3 days behind you. simluar thing doing abel tasmen then down route 6 so may see you soon!

[Mandy Nath]

wellington
we're currently in wellington loving the rugby sevens atmosphere!! over on the ferry monday 8th pm and straight to picton and nelson area for a week or so. maybe be able to catch up somewhere. how long do you ahve in the south?

[Stu]

Rubbish, we were in Wellington then too, thought you had moved on by then. Watch the sevens parade, pretty cool. South Island is amazing, just did the Nevis Bungy! x

[Mandy Nath]

South Island
bit of a pain to keep up without a mobile, coz with the van we have no internet till we stop at places. we're in Nelson at the mo, heading to Abel Tasmna for a few days on tuesday, then off to Nelson Lakes, before making our way down the west to the glaciers. does that talley with you?