One Year here!

wow! its really been  a year since we landed on on a glorious sunny afternoon, all tired but excited to start our new life down under!
Who would have thought this time last year we would have bought a house and be busy decorating it???
speaking if which- we now have a new decked balcony. (the old one was carpeted- yes carpet outside!..so you can imagine what it looked like after 8 years of being outdoors in all weathers- yuk!!)

new decking

we have been painting, chopping, gardening, fixing, and furbishing...but always a little time to enjoy some sunshine in the hammock...

Hammock time

                     

New home for us

I cant believe we are thinking of buying a house over here. We always said we would give it 2 years whether we were happy or not. But even after the first few weeks we were both sure we would want to live in NZ for good! The rental house was ok, but it wasn't ours. we couldn't hang pictures, decorate, improve or do anything to it. so we decided to take the plunge and start looking at houses with a view to buying!
renting for a year gave us some idea of what we wanted and didnt want in a house. we wanted somewhere bigger to accommodate family comfortabley, somewhere quieter, with a nice sunny garden, but in the same area as we really like Cockle Bay's proximity to the beaches and town.
Not knowing how the system works over here when buying a house was a bit daunting, but we got through it with guidance from the realtor and solicitor.

tropical garden

Its a very quick, slick operation over here. When you want to make an offer, its done officially in writing, the realtor acting as go between. and going back and forth until an agreement is made. And that document is binding until the sale is completed. it took about 4 weeks to buy this house!
We love the outdoor area, and cant wait to try the solar heated pool when it gets warm again.
there is even a view of the sea from the front balcony!

kitchen

A bit of paint and TLC will trun this into a lovely home for us.
some before pix....

living room

balcony

Easter on Great Barrier Island

We were very lucky to be invited to spend Easter on GBI with Jax's lovely friend and and fellow nurse from work, her partner, John, and his niece and husband. They have a second home out there (its very common out here to have a holiday home, or Bach, as they're called), and often escape for weekends there. Its not too far away, just East from the Auckland coast
Their place is set high up, with great views from the deck, overlooking Okupu beach in Blind bay. And there is a great story of how the house came to be there, after uprooting it and transporting the whole thing on a barge from Cockle bay over to GBI!)
We opted to fly over, on the inter island planes. Little 10 seaters with propellers, and a multi functional pilot. He loads your luggage, gets you on the plane, wipes down the windows, and does the same at the other end!
quite scary at first, but fantastic views on the way, as you dont fly too high

GBI from the air

view from deck jax and wendy

pilot of plane

Jax's ambition since emigrating to NZ, was to catch a fish and eat it - Everybody fishes here- it is the done thing! so John took us out in his boat to try and catch some dinner. (we had emergency steaks at the ready- just in case!!)

He showed us how to chop and attach bait, cast the line, and as soon as Jax's line hit the sea bottom, she had a bite!! what luck!, and what a great fish. definitely a keeper for eating!

Matts got a big One!

Jax's 10 second snapper

 After that it became quite a fish fest. We caught loads of fish between us all. They were almoast jumping into our boat! Matts speciality was catching 2 tiddlers at the same time..but he did catch some big uns too!   We also caught Gurnard (very pretty) and Rob caught a big Kawai- which we used for bait the next day. Apparantly fishing is not always this easy.. but i think it would always be enjoyable- bobbing around in the sunshine, telling a yarn, and putting the world to rights...bliss!!                                                                                             

Gurnard- like a butterfly

the days catch

 The second day was fine and sunny again and we heard over the 2 way radio that dolphins were in the bay. Off we went in the boat again, as John also wanted to go diving for crayfish. we were amazed to find the dolphins as they swam under and alongside the boat. they were massive!. John caught 3 crayfish for tea- so the emergency steaks were put on hold again

dolphins- up close and personal

crayfish for dinner

The third day, we decided to climb Mount Hobson, and find the geocache that is there. a very steep and long climb, we were rewarded with great views, the cache, and blue mushrooms...yes they do exist! At the end of the walk, were some amazing natural hot pools which we could have gone for a dip in had we been prepared!

climbing Mt Hobson

Windy Canyon

have you ever seen blue mushrooms??

Kaitoke hot pools

Mt Hobson from airport on way home


More fotos here

Mount Ruapehu

 A leisurely weekend away planned for a change?..not a chance! this weekend we set out on a trek to find the highest geocache in New Zealand.
On the top of Mount Ruapehu, overlooking Crater lake is a a small shelter, inside of which is hidden the cache. Mount Ruapehu stands at 2,700M, (twice the height of Ben Nevis in Scotland), and is used for skiing etc.. in Winter. Unfortunately in winter, the hut is often buried under snow, and to access the cache you can climb down the chimney (hence the name 'Santas suprise').
This volcano is NZ's most recently active volcano- last eruptions were 1996, and 2007! The active vent is filled by the famous Crater lake, which is frequently ejected across the ice and snow during eruptions,causing Lahars


We went with a small group of geocachers, and stayed overnight at the 'Skotel', so we could get an early start on the Sunday morning

The Team

                                
The ski lifts were active on this calm, sunny blue zinger-sky day, and we started the long ascent with a wee lift!
Man it was a tough climb!. All vertical apart from a very narrow ridge near the top, with lots of boulders, rocks and loose scoria to negotiate.

Above the clouds

the hut on top of Ruapehu

 We got great views on the way up, climbing higher than the clouds, and lots of interesting rocks, in fabulous colours- purple, pink, blue, yellow, red etc..
                

crater lake

When we reached the top, we were rewarded with amazing views of Crater lake.

yey we made it to the top


                                                                      

Extreme ridge walking..don't look down! 

It was quite cold at this altitude, so we quickly located the cache and signed the logbook to say we had found it. Then there was a quick lunch break, and a few photographs, before we started the descent.. but not before we were treated to the unusal sight of a half naked youth, running along the ridge and past the hut, to perform some Yoga poses!! ...
                  "Only in New Zealand"- is the phrase that springs to mind!

Mount Dooommm!

Extreme yoga

Yoga for the brave

few more pix for you......

Huge melted holes in crater floor

no need to climb down the chimney today

but these poor guys did....

Santas suprise in winter!!!

and link to rest of FLICKR fotos     here!

East coast

tired and a bit jaded, we drove east and visited Neslon, (sunniest place in NZ!) and Kaikoura (famous for whale watching) there are organised tours by boat to see whales and dolphins, but we just chilled and did a nice coastal cliff walk with some good view points to view Sperm whales, and Pilot whales- which must have been a bit shy today :(...saw more sealions though!
then back to Christchurch to catch a plane home in time for dinner lol!
what  a great holiday- we need another one for a rest now though.

no whales today!

view from plane

more seals

Jax's birthday suprise!

I opened my birthday card at breakfast, to find info for a 2 day Kayaking trip along the Abel tasman coast! how cool was that!! very exciting. We arrived at Kaiteriteri, where our adventure would begin. Altogether there were 7 in our party and the guide 'Darryl' who would be looking after us for the next 2 days. Weirdly, most of us were ex pat Brits!
So we had instruction on how to pack out kayaks, paddling technique, and a discussion of where our journey would take us.
 We were then taken by water taxi, to our starting beach, and loaded our belongings, camping gear and food/.drinks onto our boats.                  

loading up

chez matt&Jax

                                   We had great fun kayaking along such beautiful coastline. dipping in and out of hidden coves, stopping off for lunch on a secluded beaches, only accessible by Kayaks. It was tough going when the wind got up and made some decent waves to paddle through, and were were very relieved when we made our final stop for the day on Tonga quarry beach, where we would camp for the night.

wine cooling in our 'fridge'

the gang getting ready for dinner

happy b'day Jax
By now, the others had cottoned on to Jax's birthday, and the atmosphere became quite party-like. Darryl set up tables, and cooked a curry and rice, followed by sticky toffee puds, a makeshift birthday cake with candles- and plenty of wine and beer to go around .
it was great camping on the beach, we were all aching and tired from kyaking, slightly tipsy,with full bellies and crashed out in out little tents!                                   

sunrise

 Morning time- and we were greeted by birdsong, and a glorious sunrise. Our shoulders had a good rest, and we ready for the second day. a fantastic breakfast of warm muffins, cereal, fruit and yoghurt and filter coffee set us up for the day. (we still don't know how we managed to bring so much food and drink!)
Today the sea was  forgivingly calm and we spent a lot of time in peaceful lagoons, spotting sea birds, sting ray, fish and seals!
                            
                                                

 My best birthday ever- thanks Matt- xx!

north western coast

we hot footed it up to the Farewell spit. an amazing natural penomena
the spit
and stayed in a very eco friendly lodge (the day time loo was a 'compost toilet' ...you can use your imagination as to what this entails!) the friendly owners gave us some pointers as to what to do and see in out limited time here. high on the list was the baby seals in a rockpool at low tide on the beach. we went to the beautiful and vast Wharaniki beach and found the little darlings. so cute. 3 of them playing in a large rockpool, chasing trapped fish and each other. The parents were basking in the cliffs behind, keeping a watchful eye on them..and us.. that we didnt get too close to their babies!

matty on Wharaniki beach

seals pups @ Wharaniki

practicing being grown up

aw!! cute az

next day was Jax's birthday, and Matt had been noticably evasive as to where and what we were doing the next day. I was told to pack a rucksack and we'd be setting off early next day....

west coast

next stop Punakaiku- famous for its pancacke rocks and blow holes. we stayed in a great lodge in the middle of the jungle, with a little track just 8 mins down to the beach. we stayed for 2 nights and went to watch a lovely sunset on a clear clear sky...and hopefully spot some fairy penguins...well  we managed the sun set..:(

Thar she blows!

  next day we went to see the pancake rocks and blow hole and timed it for high tide. quite impressive! that western sea is wild and mighty!

we didnt see any penguins (except dead ones washed up by the sea- yuk!), but saw lots of seals. there are many colonies dotted around the shore- some with good view points. we didnt realise we would get much closer to them during the rest of the holiday

seal colony