Dances with Kiwis

The Last Post

2007-12-23T21:00:00.000+13:00

This is where we say goodbye to New Zealand (for now) and to this blog. We started this journal to keep our families and friends up-to-date with our adventures in Aotearoa and now our big OE (Overseas Experience) is over. We leave tomorrow morning at 5.50 am headed for Japan and then home to Bristol. We hope you have enjoyed reading our pointless mutterings and looking at our photos of this beautiful country. We'll miss our Kiwi mates and cherish the special memories we have of Pukekohe and our travels around New Zealand. Our hearts will always be here with Katie.

Pads & Yvo xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Akaroa

2007-12-23T13:14:00.001+13:00

Us in Akaroa

2007-12-23T12:32:00.001+13:00

Our last day go New Zealand and its a beauty.

Akaroa

2007-12-23T12:25:00.001+13:00

Pingu Rocks

2007-12-22T21:00:00.000+13:00

We saw this little family of penguins on the Otago Peninsula - Donna, Douglas and unnamed baby (we called him wee fluffy Dougie!). Donna had just been fishing and narrived back, after avoiding the seals on the beach, to up-chuck dinner for the littl'un. Nice! Hope the video works.

Moeraki Boulders

2007-12-22T13:42:00.001+13:00

Moeraki Boulders

2007-12-22T13:36:00.001+13:00

Fleur's Place

2007-12-22T13:19:00.001+13:00

The seafood linguini is amazing.

Baldwin Street

2007-12-21T17:51:00.001+13:00

The steepest street in the world. You wouldn't want to nip out for the paper every morning, I can tell you!

Otago Peninsula

2007-12-21T16:06:00.001+13:00

Larnach Castle

2007-12-21T15:59:00.001+13:00

P...p...p...pick up a Penguin

2007-12-21T13:56:00.001+13:00

Spotted Shag Colony

2007-12-21T11:49:00.001+13:00

Royal Albatross Colony

2007-12-21T11:09:00.001+13:00

Dunedin

2007-12-20T17:18:00.001+13:00

We've made it to Dunedin. Time for cakes, movies and burgers.

Otago Central Rail Trail

2007-12-20T12:28:00.001+13:00

Looks like a good spot for lunch.

Otago Central Rail Trail

2007-12-20T12:26:00.001+13:00

Taieri Valley

Otago Central Rail Trail

2007-12-20T12:24:00.001+13:00

Otago Central Rail Trail

2007-12-20T09:35:00.001+13:00

This is where we spent the night. A little remote, eh?

Otago Central Rail Trail

2007-12-19T16:13:00.001+13:00

We've arrived at our stopover for the night. 49 kms, mostly uphill. Well done us!

Otago Central Rail Trail

2007-12-19T15:15:00.001+13:00

Otago Central Rail Trail

2007-12-19T13:43:00.001+13:00

Otago Central Rail Trail

2007-12-19T13:41:00.001+13:00

Otago Central Rail Trail

2007-12-19T13:40:00.001+13:00

Otago Central Rail Trail

2007-12-19T12:45:00.001+13:00

Otago Central Rail Trail

2007-12-19T12:42:00.001+13:00

If I jumped off a bridge, would you?

2007-12-18T18:33:00.000+13:00

OMG - Paddy did a bungy jump! Off the Kawarau River Bridge - the original place for bungy jumping! Don't believe me? See the photos! I almost fainted.

Eglington Valley

2007-12-17T20:26:00.000+13:00

Does it need blowing up?

2007-12-17T20:03:00.000+13:00

Rush Hour

2007-12-17T20:01:00.000+13:00

Anyone for quoits?

2007-12-17T18:46:00.000+13:00

Paddy and I enjoyed an overnight cruise on Milford Sound. There weren't any quoits. Nor any shuffleboard. Shame. There was a guitar for anyone who felt game enough to entertain the troops but alas we didn't feel confident enough in our four chords.

The cruise was great - private cabins, 3 course meal and kayaking - a step up from what we expected as we received a surprising upgrade after our little boat konked out and we had to go on the bigger one. We had a rainy/cloudy evening that created spectacular waterfalls and eeriness followed by a sunny day that was just stunning. The main plus from the whole experience is that the pills given to me by the doc worked and there was no heaving overboard (see swimming with dolphins post).

Kiwi

2007-12-15T18:36:00.000+13:00

After our walk on the ice, we were off for a well earned rest when we saw a brochure in the camp reception for a Kiwi walk. So we booked up and off we went to Okarita and met Ian, our guide.

He explained the drill and marched us off in to the bush. The plan was to sit very still and listen, hopefully we'd be able to hear the rare Okarita Brown Kiwi approaching. And after only 30 mins or so, two of them appeared. Ian shone a red light on them so we could see, and they carried on, doing Kiwi things as if we weren't there. Apparently, we met Jim and Beaumont, who are a couple and 1 only 120 (ish) pairs of their kind in the world.

Honestly, I was so excited by this - I am such a geek. The whole thing of being in the forest at night and listening to all the sounds was really cool on it;'s own. But Kiwi are great, so it was totally worth doing.

These are pics of Okarita -

Fox's Glacier - Mint!

2007-12-15T18:19:00.000+13:00

We took a walk on the Fox Glacier. Yvonne was really brave on the walk up to the ice, as there were some vertiginous climbs and big cliffs (and worst of all - a ladder). Here are some piccies!

We stopped and took a walk around Franz-Josef Glacier too, but the access route was flooded so we couldn't get on it without a helicopter.

Shantytown

2007-12-14T18:53:00.000+13:00

We stopped at Shantytown and went panning for gold! We both got some, so we are obviously naturals at this game and we will be rich in no time.

We also saw a Weka which was stealing pies and chips to feed its chicks!

TranzAlpine

2007-12-14T17:46:00.000+13:00

Today we left "sunny" Christchurch aboard the TranzAlpine. This train is one of the greatest train journeys in the world because of the spectacular scenery (not because of the on board dining that's for sure). Unfortunately, the cloud and rain ment we couldn't see any of it!

Actually, the views were fabulous and made eerie and sort of surreal by the low hanging cloud. This didn't come out too well in the photos so you'll have to trust me on this.

Christchurch cat

2007-12-13T23:34:00.001+13:00

We have had a visitor in our hotel room - he just strolled in and made himself at home.

Botanical Gardens

2007-12-13T23:30:00.001+13:00

Yvonne and the River Avon

2007-12-13T23:28:00.001+13:00

We've had a walk around the city in the rain today, and have become members of the cagoule club. Christchurch is an interesting place, and the art galleries are nice and dry (they get stroppy about you touching the pictures though. The ice-cream was go my other hand)

Christchurch tram

2007-12-13T23:17:00.000+13:00

The English City

2007-12-13T12:18:00.001+13:00

Christchurch has a reputation for being a very 'English' city. Well, it's certainly got the weather right today but we haven't seen any tramps yet.

River valley in Canterbury

2007-12-12T18:48:00.001+13:00

Rural Canterbury

2007-12-12T18:44:00.001+13:00

Kaikoura Coastline

2007-12-12T18:41:00.001+13:00

Kaikoura Coastline

2007-12-12T18:38:00.001+13:00

Terror on the TranzCoastal

2007-12-12T13:17:00.001+13:00

Yvonne was shocked to discover the buffet car had run out of muffins

A picture for Toby

2007-12-12T13:13:00.001+13:00

All Aboard

2007-12-12T13:10:00.001+13:00

We're on the TranzCoastal down to Christchurch.

Marlborough Sounds

2007-12-12T13:03:00.001+13:00

This morning we hired a boat and cruised around the Marlborough Sounds. Yvonne's sea-sick pills seem to work (take note Jo!) and we both enjoyed our expedition despite the rain.

Evening in Picton

2007-12-11T20:14:00.001+13:00

Waikawa

2007-12-11T20:12:00.001+13:00

Scooters

2007-12-11T17:56:00.001+13:00

Me and Yvo hired scooters to explore the area. We were very silly and it was tons of fun.

Picton harbour

2007-12-11T17:50:00.001+13:00

Picton

2007-12-11T17:46:00.001+13:00

Yvonne wants to buy this house.

Wairau River Valley 2

2007-12-11T14:59:00.001+13:00

Wairau River Valley

2007-12-11T14:55:00.000+13:00

Rainy Nelson

2007-12-10T21:10:00.001+13:00

Weather a bit grey today, so we wandered around Nelson. Ate Dutch cheese which was made in Mercer! Went for a drive to see the clouds over the mountains, and played pool in a bar where we were the only customers! Hot tub good too!

Abel Tasman 6

2007-12-09T21:06:00.001+13:00

Today, we got up early to go kayaking go the Abel Tasman National Park. It was as good as we had hoped and we say seals and penguins up close. You'll have to wait for those piccies, as they were taken on our old camera (waiting for them to develop is so last century!). After lunch, we enjoyed a bush-walk back to Marahau. Got some nice snaps, too.

Abel Tasman 5

2007-12-09T20:53:00.001+13:00

Abel Tasman 4

2007-12-09T20:51:00.001+13:00

Abel Tasman 4

2007-12-09T20:49:00.001+13:00

Abel Tasman 3

2007-12-09T20:46:00.001+13:00

Abel Tasman 2

2007-12-09T20:44:00.001+13:00

Abel Tasman 1

2007-12-09T20:42:00.001+13:00

Guess where we are!

2007-12-09T18:56:00.001+13:00

Goodbye Tuakau

2007-12-08T22:41:00.001+13:00

My last day at work was fun. The whole school went on trips - we went to the indoor pools at Hamilton and I got sunburnt!

Leaving do

2007-12-08T22:34:00.001+13:00

On Wednesday, Meg and Warren threw us a leaving do. There were a few mates from school, loads of great food (Warren is a fantastic cook), and a few beers - the perfect ingredients for a good night. Warren gave us both Pounamu necklaces which have been blessed specially for us. Yvonne's is a teardrop which symbolises acceptance me change, and mind is an adze which represents making your way go the world. They are gorgeous.
We had a great time and on hangovers. Yeah, right!

Homeless

2007-12-04T21:52:00.001+13:00

We moved out at the weekend. We spent hours cleaning like maniacs and trying to decide what to send home. I'm sure we've forgotten something important, but I can't think me it right now. Luckily, Justine and Aaron have taken us in to their new home in Te Kauwhata (hot tub, big TV, Lay-z-Boy chairs and sides in the paddock) so we are roughing it as best we can. Anyway, i'm off to look for the passports!

It looks like mo!

2007-11-27T23:16:00.001+13:00

Only 3 days to go till I can shave this thing off!

Movember update

2007-11-25T21:21:00.001+13:00

Only a week left and then Paddy can shave off his spiky mo!

Happy Thanksgiving

2007-11-24T20:28:00.001+13:00

Garage sale!

2007-11-23T22:18:00.001+13:00

Tomorrow we are having a car boot sale from the garage. However, people turned up tonight at 10 o'clock and almost cleaned us out! Should be fun go the morning. :).

Pukekohe Sunset

2007-11-20T20:30:00.001+13:00

As we walked home tonight, we saw this. Pretty isn't it?

Senior Prizegiving

2007-11-19T21:56:00.001+13:00

The seniors at college went on study leave today and there was much silliness. Loads of kids crying, signing of shirts and even a pair of streakers!

In the evening, the college hosts a formal prizegiving, which is a great way to say goodbye to the students. I was asked to give a prize because I am leaving and I managed to do it without making a fool of myself.

The highlight of the night was a performance by the Kapa Haka group, which was very emotional. I've tried to post a video of the performance - I hope it works.

Movember update

2007-11-19T21:34:00.001+13:00

Does this look any better, lyn. Nope, still looks rubbish.

Movember Update

2007-11-18T23:40:00.001+13:00

Not much better is it?

Coming home

2007-11-18T23:09:00.001+13:00

We sold the car this weekend. We dropped it off down in Hamilton so we went to the movies and did some shopping.

It feels odd, exciting and anxious to be getting ready to come home now. It only feels like 10 minutes ago that we were packing up to come out here.

Anyway, we've said goodbye to our groovy wagon...
and rented a car to keep us mobile in the mean time, but it is a shocker. It goes fine, once it has started. Mind you stopping is exciting and getting it going tin the first place is a real trauma. Wish us luck!

Paddy has a hat to go with his mo'

2007-11-16T22:07:00.001+13:00

School Assembly

2007-11-14T23:36:00.000+13:00

This is what a school assembly looks like in New Zealand. It's really not so much fun in the rain.

Movember Update

2007-11-12T23:07:00.000+13:00

Here's how my mo is going:

Less than stunning progress, eh?

Boxing

2007-11-07T22:54:00.000+13:00

Me and Yvonne have been learning to box over the last few months. It's great fun and a great work out. Our trainer, Riki, is really enthusiatic and makes every session tough.

We go along with Catherine from school, who is in her 50's and leaves us both in her dust on occasion.

Here are some silly pics:

Movember

2007-11-01T23:04:00.000+13:00

I am growing a moustache in aid of Movember, which is a New Zealand charity raising money for cancer research and men's health. Mostly though, it is an excuse to grow dodgy facial hair.

I'll put some pics up in a while to show my progress.

New Job

2007-10-30T22:50:00.000+13:00

I have a new job!

A few days ago, I had a phone interview with QEH for a job as a Maths teacher. At the end of a nice chat with the Headmaster, he said he had two other candidates to see,and he'd let me know in a day or so.

I think the other candidates mst have turned up drunk or something because he emailed me to say I have the job!

I'm very happy, but also a little concerned as I have to wear a jacket and tie, and I have to teach Differential Equations. Wish me luck

The Meaning of Queap

2007-10-23T22:24:00.000+13:00

We went to visit Fran and Brian for the Labour Day weekend, which was a nice break. Fran was my HoD at Tuakau but she retired (at the age of 30 something) to build boats in Whangarei.

Fran and Brian have built there own home on a ridge with a view down to the sea. It's a gorgeous house and they have great plans for growing their own food. It all sounds a bit like Tom and Barbara in the Good Life! They also have a fantastic workshop/shed and are bulding boats and wooden kayaks.

Here are some pics:

Camping with Kangaroos...

2007-10-03T12:53:00.000+13:00

...and snakes, spiders, scorpions and all kinds of poisonous nasties.

We drove down to Rawnsley Park for a spot of bush camping. We set up the tent and went for a stroll up a mountain. We saw a stack of creatures again, but the highlight of the walk was getting to the lookout and gazing down into Wilpena Pound.

The pound is like a lost world. It's totally surrounded by cliffs and mountains, and I expected to see dinosaurs strolling around. There were emus - nearly the same?
We had an awesome meal - cooked on the campfire - maybe camping isn't that bad. After pancakes for breakfast in the morning, we headed of to explore the area, and went to Sacred Canyon, which is covered in Aboriginal Carvings that are thousands of years old.

Then we went off to an abandoned settlement, next to a dried up creek. Back in the 1860's there was a period of rainy weather which lead settlers to believe that they could farm out there. The rain stopped after a few years and left them with nothing. There was an attempt at mining a few years later, but without water it must have been hellish.

Then we set off on the drive home - first (and only) stop in the Clare Valley to try some wines. The Tim Adams Reisling was niiiiiice. Next morning we drove the 900kms (or so) to Melbourne listening to the AFL Grand Final. Liz and Wayne were well pleased that the Geelong Cats destroyed Port Power. Something about Victorian supremacy.

We said goodbye the next morning - what an amazing trip. Huge thanks to the Aussies for organising it all.

More of Oz

2007-10-02T14:59:00.001+13:00

After a few daysin Arkaroola, we drove south to go go camping in the Southern Flinders Ranges. On the way, we stopped for Quandong Ice-cream at the Praire Hotel in Parachilna. The menu looked good - you run it over, we'll cook it!

As you can see, Parachilna is a huge town, and we passed several such outback Metropoli (is that a word?) on our journey.

Obviously we saw more wild life, including an angry Stumpy-tailed Lizard, herds of Emu and more Kangaroos. The countryside started to change, becoming a touch greener. It's bizarre to think that this was thriving farmland in the 1860's.

Off to Oz

2007-09-30T13:01:00.000+13:00

Mum has gone again, off to visit with Toby, Ella and Becky in Brisbane. We were back at the airport again, less than 24 hours after we waved goodbye to Mum, on our own visit to Australia.

We flew out to Adelaide to meet Liz and Wayne, and do a bit of exploration of the Outback.

We met them at the airport, and headed to the youth hostel. We've not stayed in one before and had visions of crusty hippies and way too many lentils. Luckily, this was not the case and in fact it was better than some hotels we've been in. I had developed a bit of a thirst on the flight so we went to a pub nearby, the Grace Emily, which was great.

We got up early next morning and headed north to Arkaroola. It's a wilderness reserve in the Northern Flinders ranges about 700km north of Adelaide. The last 130km are along unsealed roads and we managed to wreck 2 tyres on the way up. As you can see, it is a bit isolated and the RAC woud take a while to find you!

Some friends of Liz and Wayne were camping there, and we did a lot of walks and an astronomy tour.

There are 2 observatories in Arkaroola, and we were able to see Alpha Centauri (a binary star), 47 Tucanae (a globular cluster of over 1,000,000 stars) and the Jewel Box (an open cluster of stars in the Sothern cross which is full of beautifully coloured stars), as well as Jupiter and it's moons and craters of the Moon.

The colours of the place were intense and changed at sunrise and sunset. The pictures don't do them justice. We saw some great wildlife too, Wedge-tailed Eagles, Elegant Parrots and several Wallaroos (I did not make this up).

Posh Dinner with Mum

2007-09-25T12:42:00.000+12:00

Mum's here again, and so to celebrate we took her to Hotel du Vin in Mangatawhiri for posh nosh. Our friend, Ade from soccer, is the executive chef there and they recently came second in the NZ Restaurant of the year.

We showed up and started eating, and had a great time. Yvonne and I had a the fish special which was amazing. It was very fancy food - our first fancy dinner in Aotearoa.

Paddy's Moko

2007-09-13T21:49:00.000+12:00

Paddy decided that he needed a tattoo or moko as a memento of our time in New Zealand. So, he took himself off for a chat with a Maori artist called Patrick Takoko who could interpret Paddy's experiences into a meaningful piece of arm art! [He could chat about teaching the All Blacks their new haka which Paddy was very impressed by].

The patterns represent strength, a wish to return home and growth -all things Patrick interpreted from Paddy's description of our overseas experience. (I bet very few of you would guess at Paddy's spiritual nature!!).

Here it is. Bit bigger than he had originally planned, took two and a half hours to complete (plus the other hour of chatting/designing). He likes it very much and I'm sure it will grow on me........

Te Marama - It's a lunar eclipse!

2007-08-29T21:31:00.000+12:00

We had a lovely view (through a bit of fleeting cloud) of the lunar eclipse. We tried to take some photos but they don't really capture how red the moon was.

We've Seen Gandalf's Magic Wand

2007-08-19T14:03:00.000+12:00

We went out for our anniversary, and made a big day of it. We got tickets to see the Royal Shakespeare Company production of King Lear, with Sir Ian McKellen as Gandalf, I mean Lear.

We went in to town early and had a posh brekkie in Parnell. Then we had a lovely walk around town looking for valuable souvenirs and momentos (or tourist tat). We saw Paul Holmes, who was out doing some shopping. This will mean nothing to any one outside New Zealand - but he is dead famous here. I had to be dragged away before I embarassed myself by asking for autographs and stuff.

For no good reason, I decided to have my palm read - the 'psychic' told me that I would have better luck with my next relationship (which will be nice) and that I would soon be taking a long trip (how ever do they think of these things?). Yvonne thinks the woman was a gifted mystic as she also said that I need to be more mature. I can't think what that's about.

So we headed of to our posh hotel and spent a bit of time in the casino. We won $50 on the roulette (woo hoo!). Funny - you'd have thought the psychic would have mentioned that. A bit later, after a pizza we headed off to the theatre.

The cast was very starry - as well as Sir Ian, there was William Gaunt, Frances Barber , half the cast of the Bill and an old Doctor Who. We were all happily enjoying watching the play (you know - asking "Who's that?", "Is that the same actor who was in Judge John Deed", and "What's going on?" ) when suddenly Magneto - sorry, Lear - dropped his undercrackers and started to wave his tackle around (I knew that Sir Ian had a large part in the play but this was ridiculous).

I'm pretty sure that there was no mention of nudity in the script and some of the other actors looked a little surprised too. Personally, I think that Sir Ian wanted to get his old fella out just to show what a bloody good one he has. If mine looked like that, I'd be showing off too!

We both enjoyed the play - I'm sure that it is one of the best Lear's we have ever seen! However, neither of us wanted sausage with our breakfast this morning.

Congratulations!

2007-08-05T11:14:00.000+12:00

Neil and Annabel have a new addition to the family - Michael Oliver (and not Barry as Paddy insists.....).

He's a little cutie so we couldn't resist sharing! Big grins all round :)

Skiing at Whakapapa

2007-07-22T14:04:00.000+12:00

We had a day up the mountain - well, up a live volcano called Mt Ruapehu! We went with friends Justine, Aaron and their little one Max who was having his first attempt on skis. (He did brilliantly). It was a sunnier occasion than last year when we got stuck in a blizzard and we managed a few hours - although it was all a bit easy for Paddy as we were restricted to the bottom of the mountain because there hadn't been enough snow further up. It was great fun and we saw some amazing views.

Kai Ora

2007-06-25T13:40:00.000+12:00

I won a cooking contest! No messing!

At school the staff organise an annual cooking contest. It's called Kai Ora, which is a little joke because Kia Ora is hello and Kai is food in Maori. Basically everyone brings in a dish and the most popular wins a prize. I made Praline Semi-freddo, straight from the Jamie Oliver cookbook.

Through a mix of shameless self-promotion and outright vote-rigging I won.

Yvonne still doesn't believe it.

Pad and Yvo go to the Bay of Plenty

2007-06-12T12:59:00.000+12:00

We took a trip to Tauranga and Mt Maunganui over the long weekend. It was really good to get out, and we enjoyed some nice long walks - especially the stroll to the top of Mt Maunganui. We stayed in a very flash apartment, with plasma screen TV and private hot tub on the patio.

We also went to try a 4 wheel drive adventure. The place we chose had a very friendly Cockatoo called Sailor. He decided to sit on me - which was nice - but he didn't want to get off again - in fact he dug his (very sharp) claws in as the owner tried to prise him off!

The 4x4 safari was a kind of challenge thing - we had to complete a set of difficult driving maneuvers over horrble terrain. Me and Yvonne were awesome and had no problem with the any of the tasks.

Drive through a canyon of mud - easy.
Do it again blindfold - piece of cake.
Power through a lake with the water coming in over the windows - no worries.
Drive up the rocky hill - been there, done that, got the stupid t-shirt.
Drive down the hill again - too simpl...wait a minute.

As we drove towards the path to go down the hill, the track dropped away very shrply. Yvonne had a small moment and got out of the car to check it out (as she was driving at the time this led to some excitement). There was a little discussion and the short version is that Yvonne walked back. It was a bloody steep hill.

As we drove home we went through Te Puke, which is where the first kiwifruit was grown in New Zealand. We stopped at the giant kiwifruit. Well, you kind of have to! The main attraction is the 2 hour long 360 Kiwifruit experience. How much is there to know about kiwifruit? It's green and hairy, a bit like an unshaven frog.

As we drove in to Pukekohe we saw this - which made me laugh so hard that stuff came out of my nose.

Paddy Moore - TV Star

2007-05-25T20:24:00.000+12:00

I have been auditioning for a TV show called the Rich List. It seemed like a really good idea, because there are big cash prizes - up to $1.3 million dollars - and it rewards nerdy knowledge of lists. I was already spending the money.

So I went to the first audition, which involved a general knowledge quiz. No worries, I thought. However, I struggled a bit with the questions about Kiwi fashion designers and Shortland Street, but I managed to squeak in (mostly because thanks to reading Heat magazine while queueing at the supermarket, so I knew all about Angelina Jolie's babies).

So, on to the second audition.

I turned up for the interview, absolutely full of confidence. When they called me in for the face-to-face chat, it was all going really well. I had a nice chat with the producer, and she gave me really positive signals. Then the senior bloke came in and said, "We're going to put you through a mock-up of the show, like a trial run. Just a final check to see how you'd go."

"Ch-ching!", I thought. "I'm well in!". I started spending the prize-money in my head, a nice trip to Tahiti sounded good.

As I sat down, they introduced me to partner, a nice lady from Waitakare.

"OK," said the blokey in charge, "We are looking to see how you work as a team. Tell us what you're thinking, be active and interesting. We'll give you a simple topic - name as many Bruce Willis films as you can. See if you can get 15. GO!"

The nice lady from Waitakare said, "What a great topic - entertainment is my specialist subject." This, I thought was to good to be true. An easy subject, and my partner knows it all, too. Brilliant, we'll upgrade the Tahiti trip to 1st class!

We conversed for a second and then announced our answer.

"Die Hard, Die Harder and Die Hard with a Vengeance," we said.

"I'm sorry that's wrong," he said. "The first sequel was called Die Hard 2. Not Die Harder."

"What?" I said. "No, it wasn't."

"Yes. It was."

"Don't talk rubbish - it was Die Harder. Look it up. IMDB is a good site. Do your research. What kind of 3rd world, Mickey Mouse operation is this?"

The nice lady from Waitakere stared at me and started to edge slowly away. Now I look back on it, arguing with the guy in charge was probably not the best idea.

"We did." He handed me a print-out. It was a list of Bruce Willis films, from IMDB. It didn't mention Die Harder at all.

"Thank you for your time," he said showing me to the door. "We'll let you know in a few days."

Happy Birthday Paddy!

2007-05-11T15:45:00.000+12:00

It was Paddy's birthday on Wednesday. He had to go to work so I made some blueberry muffins for him to take in with him and he had fun ferrying the soccer team to their first match. (They lost). We were planning to go karting this Saturday as his birthday treat but instead he'll be attending an audition for a new TV quiz show. If he does well on Saturday he'll be back on Sunday for another go and then after that the show will be filmed in June. Should be fun although Paddy's nervous that he'll be asked kiwi-specific questions that he won't have a clue about. (E.g. name 5 famous netballers!).

A Sad Anniversary.

2007-04-23T00:28:00.003+12:00

This week we'll be thinking about Katie as the anniversary of her death comes round. Sad time for us. Paddy will be occupied with jury duty and I have two assignments due in on Friday so we'll be keeping busy.

Happy Birthday Yvonne

2007-04-21T22:22:00.000+12:00

We went to Rotorua for my birthday - had a curry night, walked through a nature reserve (saw more kiwis - the bird variety), went to see a movie (Disturbia - 3 stars) and went to a rugby match in Hamilton (Chiefs won - hurrah). Fun day and Paddy managed to be lovely all day! Don't ask about the prezzie he bought me - a book called 'Paddy the Farting Dog'! (Honestly, would I lie!?)

Easter Break

2007-04-17T23:41:00.000+12:00

We went to New Plymouth for a bit of a break and cycled down Mt Taranaki and around about. We covered around 90kms and it was great fun except for dog attacks - we escaped through amazing pedal power (yeah right!) - and uphill bits - mostly my bike was pushed up on foot with Paddy cycling really, really slowly!

We visited a Kiwi House and saw lovely NZ birds including a friendly Kea, which is a big green parrot. It liked getting its head stroked.

Here are some pics from our trip.

Bit Busy Lately

2007-03-24T23:42:00.000+12:00

Some 'avid reader' asked us to update the blog! Well, whoever you are, this is a quick round-up!

1. We've been at work.
2. Paddy went on a Year 7 camping trip in the Hunua Ranges. He didn't have much fun!
3. We took part in the Relay for Life with some students from Tuakau College. This was a 24 hour relay and the team managed to keep going for the lot. Paddy and I did 2 hours on Saturday and 2 hours on Sunday - walking, jogging and a bit of rowing! Good fun and the team raised just over $1000 for the Cancer Society. Very sore legs on Monday - although not as sore as the kids who walked/jogged all through the night or Karen (another teacher) who managed to power walk a marathon over the two days!
4. I'm a month into an e-learning course that I'm doing online and I'm having to get used to producing assignments again. It seems to be going ok so far although I havent sent in anything for marking yet - it could all fall apart then!
5. We've been going to the gym...a lot. We're trying to lose weight (again) and we've been doing weight training (LOL), boxing training, spin classes, five-a-side footy. We're mostly shattered which is why the blog has lapsed recently. Paddy has lost 7KGS so far and I've lost 4 then put 1 back on! (Paddy is looking very good from it and I look no different:)
6. We're watching American Idol as there is still nowt on the telly here. Can you believe that SKY sports are not showing the England Internationals? We're paying hefty dollars to watch rugby match after rugby match and the one professional footy(soccer)team is moving to Wellington so we won't see any live footy till we get back to the UK! Just have to hope Bristol City get promoted this season and we'll have something half (!) decent to watch then!
7. We were hoping for a holiday away to a pacific island for Easter but apparently they're all sold out! All of them. Not one left. So we've promised to make Beef and Yorkshire Pudding for some Kiwi friends instead.

Can't think of anything else, although we didn't mention that Berni and Graham were here in Jan/Feb for a holiday and we had a great time in the Coromandel with them. They went all over North & South Island and seemed to have a fantastic trip. We miss Graham bashing himself on any inanimate object that got in his way as well as Berni's lovely cooking - Chicken Val Dastana anyone?