Well its been ages since we wrote anything more than a wee thingy under the photos and they do say a photo is worth a million words but hey ho here I am.
As we approach the end of the boys term here the summer holidays loom which is very odd when we are hearing daily reports of snow, snow, road closure, school closure and well, it seems, everything closure.  It is amazing how quickly we have adapted though to a hot December!  The boys end of year beach parties were today which involvd some fiercely competitive sandcastle building, a manic swimming session and sand in the sandwiches.  The swimming session revealed a very refreshing Kiwi lack of interest in health and safety.  The teachers did tell the kids to wait until the teachers were in the water before they were allowed in but then 150 kids then ran into the water with about 3 teachers vaguely watching them.  Marvellous! 
The twins had their kindy party today too, which was in a field, to which Santa came.  YOu have no idea how excited Rory was about that but interested in how his present was made in China!  Alfie and Rory both rode on an enormous horse (with me in Alfie's case).  We are all sad that school is finishing actually as they have all got nice friends and I am thinking another 7 weeks of entertainment - yikes!  I imagine we will be at the beach a lot!
Sorry to go on about the beach but it does feature heavily in life here, even for normal people.  EVeryone goes out fishing in some way or another (I had no idea there are so many different ways to fish), and the wharf here is a thriving commercial fishing point albeit on a very small scale.  Whitianga is surrounded by water so it is difficult to miss really.  Some Orca's decided that too last weekend and came into the estuary (through the very narrow entrance) to chase stingrays and play.  A lovely sight particuarly after the boys had got out of the water!
Hamish's birthday weekend (lots of photos of this) was action packed and involved lots of beaches, sun, water, friends and shooting!  The latter at Combat Zone which is boys heaven.  I saw a new side to Dave- even he with all his salad eating - gets all excited with a gun in his hand!
We went inland last weekend to a beautiful gorge which used to be a very busy gold mining area.  Lots of tunnels are still there so that added excitement to our walks.  It was a gorgeous river along the gorge so we did have to leap in the water a lot too.  For anyone with a bit of time (Dad!) this was near Paeroa - see if you can find that on the map!  I may have got the spelling wrong. 
Most names of places here are Maori and amazingly difficult to say or spell.  And quite a lot of people have Maori names too which I instantly seem to forget so that does not make for great social skills.  Some fantastic place names round here.... Kuotuno, Pauanui (there has to be too many vowels in that), Matamata or Katikati, combined with Whangamata (remember the Wh is pronounced F) or Whakapapa.  In a couple of  weekends we are going to the much more easy, but more confusing village of National Park, which is in a.... national park.
That is to take us to the 3 of the big active volcanoes in north island (and Tongariro National Park).  Dave and I are doing the Alpine Crossing which is a 20k walk through the volcanoes (seperately as although Hamish is now 9 and therefore highly responsible he might not manage the whole day entertaining his brothers!).  It is a beautiful area and we hope to get pretty high up with the kids (with teh help of a ski lift).
The boys are featuring on a float in the Santa parade this weekend - quite cool! - and we have sleepovers and a party... and of course the beach...some things don't change.
Christmas is here with Daves colleagues which I am sure will be fun - lots of kids, some calves, a swimming pool and buckets of top NZ fizz.  And no idea about new year yet as Dave does not know when he is working. 
And off to south island on 15th Jan for a whistle stop tour and to see my lovely sister, Daves aunty and good friends near Christchurch.  And before you know it we will be back there wanting to show you our 2000 photos!  Maybe the snow might have melted by then.
We do miss you all - honest.  But not missing that weather!
With all our love Emma, Dave, Hamish, Dougal, Rory and Alfie x x x x x x

Hello all of you

We are now officially settled in here and so I think a wee hello is due. 

Life is shaping up now into our new' 'normality' and it is working out pretty well.

We live in a nice wee house which feels a bit like a caravan - all very thin and temporary - but perfectly functional and there is a trampoline in the garden.  How did we survive without one before?  Boys are on it for hours a day!  We are in one of the least exciting streets in NZ with the Masonic retirement houses opposite - clearly a great match and lots of potential mates there - I don't think!  We reduced the average age and increased the noise by a lot when we arrived.  It is a 5 min walk to school during which we meet lots of other nice people so they are not far away! 

Whitianga is a nice wee place - very holiday-ish - in thee most stunning location.  There is an awesome beach in town, with another 100 beaches within a few miles of varying degrees of gorgeousness.  And large mountains provide the backdrop to most views.  We have yet to conquer any of them.

The coastline wriggles around all over the place with caves, cliffs, trees, and miles of sand.  Hot water beach is just down the road which is heaven... dig a big hole and then wade into the 64 degree water which is blooming hot - we had to add a bit of cold for it to be perfect.  We all loved it, but particularly wee Alfie and me.  Also Cathedral Cove which is a massive cave tunnel thing on the beach.  The sort of place on the adverts.

The boys have settled into school very well.  Dougal has lots of mates - not many of whom he can remember or pronounce their names (one he is not sure if it is Dan, Dean or Dane cos of his accent).  Of couse none like the wonders of mates at home.

Hamish takes longer to get sorted but he is doing away.... and we sorted him out an art teacher today which he is excited about (a retired art teacher here).

Rory and Alfie love the kindy as it is called - you can hammer real nails into real wood and there aint anything more exciting than that.  And we went to a parent and child thing today which has awesome toys in it and we had a ball.

Dave is getting on great at his work which seems really relaxed and they are giving him lots of time to get used to the system.  Already had an evacuation by helicopter and chopped a few bits off people (they call it dermatology I think).  We are off out to dinner with his colleagues tomorrow.  And most shockingly he has been out running every day.... yes every day.... since we got here.  That is unheard of.  He might even be getting fit.

And me... I went on a wonderful yoga course at the weekend and feel like a new woman.  Learned about ayurveda and did lots of yoga, lots of walking and had time to think.  What a treat.  Feel like I have already shed lots of grumpiness and over-busyness that I was carrying around.  I really feel that this time in NZ is going to be very important at giving us a bit of time to re-focus and get back to being positive and cheerful... something I think was lacking a bit in the last wee whiley. 

And I cannot finish without letting you know about the weather in our British way.  Well we do certainly see it all here.  Mostly we have had lovely sunny days but some days are freezing when some wild Antarctic winds blow through (have to chose your beach carefully).  We have had hideous rain though too - which reached a peek when our friends Geoff and Ruth were visiting - great!  It will get warmer now though I am told because it is Labour weekend this weekend and outdoor things start after that... swimming in the outdoor pool, surfing etc.  So I will be writing to complain if it does not!

We do miss you all and it is great to know you are all still there.  Our bunting (care of the tribe girls) flies vigorously around in the wind and keeps me thinking of you.

Great to have seen Geoff and Ruth here and Doug and Lisa and Billy and BEcky in Oz.  Our buddies are not that far away!

Keep in touch dear friends (and family too of course).

love Dave, Emma, and all those boys x

 

First day at school.

Hot water beach: Dig a hole in the sand and lie in your own private spa pool completely free of charge. We lay around for hours like a bunch of hippos.

The surgery in Whitianga aka The White House.

We had a super walk from Koogie to Bondie beach with Tara.

Tara the firefighter-lifesaver-surfboat rower-physio and all round good spud turned up on the twins birthday with her fire-engine!

OK, I know we've been in NZ for more than 2 weeks now, but... here are some more pics of Oz! 

Not bad for a youth hostel terrace.

And Alfie at the wheel!

On the way to Goat Island with Sophie.

Dougal with Peter, his surf guru.

Amazing trees in Lamington.

The boys cuddled this Koala but we were too stingy to pay $40 for a photo!

Alfie eating the Kangaroo snacks!

Some more pics

Sydney on Twin's Birthday.

Hi everyone, making contact again 2 weeks into our trip.  We managed to forget one thing - the wee cable that connects camera to computer - so no mug shots yet.

We are currently in the most amazing youth hostel in the world overlooking Sydney harbour.  We've had a 12 day tour of the east coast of Oz which of course just gives us a taster.  After 2 nights in the bizarre world of Dubai we were given a perfect welcome by Billy and Becky in Brisbane.  We loved seeing them again and the boys loved their TV and pool! The perfect intro was to cuddle Koalas and Kangaroos at the local sanctuary. We had 2 nights on a 4WD tour of Moreton Island, the second biggest sand island in the world.  Quite an experience standing in the pouring rain watching the boys turn blue while boogie boarding.  You wouldn't expect that in Oz but it even rains here! Then when it stopped raining we all got sunburnt.

Next up was Byron Bay where we camped coutesy of camping gear donated by Billy and Becky.  Beautiful place by the beach.  Dougal caught his first wave on a surf board and to celebrate we went to the pub - they all promptly fell asleep in the middle of this huge bar - what shocking parents we are.

Sydney has been amazing.  Our new friends Sophie and Ben welcomed us to their island in the middle of Sydney harbour where we sat out watching the city light up. Our old friend Tara is now a firefighter in Sydney and brought her fire engine round to the hostel for the boys to see!  All totally unforgettable for all of us.

That said, we thought it a bit cruel of Mick to serve up baked Kiwi at the party last night.  Did taste good though.

Well at least Rory is packed and ready to go.  Presumably those 3 rucsacs are full of sun cream - he'll need it!  Thank-you so much to all you lovely friends, family and colleagues who have been incredibly supportive and just done and said some really nice things in recent days.  Going away makes us appreciate all the more this great community that we live in.