notshetland

1st Feb to 28th Feb – Birthdays, Birds & Booze

2010-05-18T13:13:00.002+12:00

Update time again, struggling to remember so far back so please bear with me while I try and get this infernal thing up to date.

Kelly Tarlton’s

As a precursor to Aidan’s birthday we took him up to Auckland to Kelly Tarlton’s Antarctic Encounter & Underwater World.

Aidan then spent most of the day wishing he had taken his fishing rod with him.

(Picture: As Steve Irwin once put it…Ouch!)

(Picture: Under the sea)

(Picture: A deadly creature – and a Sting-Ray)

(Picture: Something fishy)

(Picture: Do ya know what it is yet?)

(Picture: One of them colour-changing Octupus thingummys)

(Picture: Du du…dud du…du du du dud du)

Due to time constraints/length of the queue we didn’t bother going to see the penguins although Aidan has vowed to come back with Auntie Sossie and go swimming with the Stingrays.

Birthday Boy

02/02/2000 – The day that Aidan made his way into this crazy world we live in.

02/02/2010 – The day that Aidan made it to double figures. For a 10yr old he has experienced quite a lot. Doesn’t look like there is much chance of holding him back either.

(Picture: Anybody remember this little guy?)

Not so little now is he? Anyway, on the morning of February the 2nd I got woken up at a ridiculously early time of the morning by a not-so-little boy who wanted to open his prezzies.

(Picture: Aidan at stupid-o-clock)

(Picture: Having been instructed to read the cards first!)

(Picture: Hmm, a Wii controller, I don’t have a Wii Console!??)

At this point we wound Aidan up and told him that the Wii controller was so he could play on his friends Wii without having to borrow a controller. We let him stew for a few minutes until we told him to go and take a look in the spare bedroom.

(Picture: This parcel was a little heavier)

(Picture: A delighted birthday boy)

All in all I think Aidan enjoyed his birthday.

Doodles

Most of you will have heard of ‘Doodles’ by now. This is the latest addition to the household and seems to fit in quite well. It’s as crazy as anybody else here.

(Picture: Doodles)

(Picture: Do the Doodles dance)

Doodles is an Australian Rainbow Lorikeet and has a rather strange personality. Oh, and he can talk. At the moment his vocabulary is quite limited but I am planning on teaching him some “new” words. ;)

(Picture: He also likes getting his gut tickled)

Booze

February also saw a few beers, a few games of pool and all the usual nonsense.

(Picture: Da Local)

(Picture: Da Bar)

(Picture: Da Pool)

Can’t really remember what else happened. Around the weekend of the 20th we had Louise and Wade staying so Heather and Stu came over for a meal. The weather was bloody warm again with Tauranga once again being the Warmest for February.

(Picture: Aidan’s haul of Passionfruit)

So, that was February.

25th January to 31st January – UHA/ACDC

2010-05-02T16:08:00.002+12:00

Still alive. Just in case anybody was wondering.

Up Hella Aa 2010

Tuesday the 26th of January was a sad day. Up Helly Aa arrived and I wasn’t there to be a part of it. Thanks to the wonders of modern technology I did however get to experience it.

2010 is the first year they have broadcast the days events live on the internet and it worked surprisingly well for a trial run. We managed to watch them setting off at the start of the day and kept an eye on it until the burning at the end.

Between Facebook, email and other forms of digital wizardry I was kept in touch with what went on with Sigurd ‘Snake-Eye’ Ragnarsson and his band of merry men.

I was happy that the billhead and banners were appreciated by many having spent many a day and night with Rae trying to get the things to look right.

(Picture: The Billhead being moved to the Market Cross – Picture courtesy of Shetlopedia)

(Picture: One of the banners – Picture courtesy of Shetlopedia)

This year was also an interesting one as it was the first time that the a third-generation Guizer Jarl has been in charge.

(Picture: Halfdan the Black 1968, AKA Grandad – Picture courtesy of Shetland Museum)

(Picture: Ragnar Lodbrok 1987, AKA Uncle Mitnie – Picture courtesy of Shetlopedia)

(Picture: Sigurd “Snake-Eye” Ragnarsson 2010, AKA Cousin Rae

– Picture courtesy of Shetland News )

Weel done to Rae and his squad, it was good to see it all.

Tsunami

We were planning to go off fishing with a friend on the 28th but that idea was thrown out the window when we were told that impending doom due to a tsunami was imminent. Turned out to be more like a fine day doon at Wast Voe.

For those about to Rock…

To get over the sadness of not participating in Up Helly Aa, I flew down to Wellington. That was interesting in itself. It is the first time that I have taken an internal flight in New Zealand and was quite surprised by the security procedures. Or rather the lack of them. I have never had such a relaxing time travelling through an airport in my life. I checked in and then walked on to the plane. No security checks, nothing. Absolute bliss.

Lowrie picked me up from Wellington Airport and we headed back to his temporary abode. His balcony overlooked the Parliament Buildings.

(Picture: The iconic ‘Beehive’ and…what’s that? Ah it’s none other than Sigurd “Snake-Eye” on the cover of the Shetland Times!!)

That afternoon we headed into town and sat outside a bar having a few beers in preparation of the night ahead. During this time, I heard someone calling my name which was a bit odd, didn’t think very many people would know me about these parts. Turned out it was my next-door neighbour wondering who was looking after her cat seeing as I was in Wellington. Small world.

It was good to see Lowrie again, he hasn’t changed a bit.

(Picture: Lowrie…unchanged)

I forgot to mention the reason for the visit………..

AC/DC!

The 2nd video is my very own recording. Unfortunately the speakers were too loud for my phone to pick up. Wait until the end.

The setlist was bloody good and they played a whole bunch of old stuff as well as some of the new:-

Rock N’ Roll Train
Hell Ain’t a Bad Place to Be
Back in Black
Big Jack
Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap
Shot Down in Flames
Thunderstruck
Black Ice
The Jack
Hells Bells
Shoot to Thrill
War Machine
High Voltage
You Shook Me All Night Long
T.N.T.
Whole Lotta Rosie
Let There Be Rock
Highway to Hell
For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)

Not bad for a bunch of old farts.

January Summary

So that was January, which has taken me an age to get up to date. Tauranga was also the Warmest & Sunniest throughout January.

15th January to 24th January – Weather and Beasts

2010-04-01T22:33:00.001+13:00

The Weather

This week started by being fairly uneventful, settling back into work after the Chrimbo break. Not a lot to report at all. Apart from maybe the weather, the weather is always a good conversation starter when you have bugger all else to talk about.

I have good reason to talk about the weather though. For Christmas I got a present that I have wanted for many years. Don’t ask me why but I just always have. A WEATHER STATION!!

You may have noticed the banner at the top of the page which shows the current weather here in Sunny Tauranga. This is constantly updated from the weather station which now lives in the garden outside Aidan’s bedroom.

(Picture: The NotShetland Weather Station)

Now from the picture above you may notice that I didn’t have a conveniently sized piece of wood available to attach the station to. Tania looked less than pleased when I walked past the balcony carrying her broomstick, minus the broomhead (she’ll find another way to fly, I’m sure).

The Station itself continually updates to the base station in the house which in-turn updates to the PC which then uploads all the data to the NotShetland Weather Website at www.notshetland.com/weather/ – Eat your heart out Mr Metoffice!!

Now the great thing with this is that anybody that hasn’t had a reply to their email can see whether I am on the balcony drinking beer or not.

I managed to get the Weather Station up and running on the 2nd of January so I will hopefully have a nice gauge over the year as to how the weather has been doing.

Beasts

Aroundabout the 20th of January we got some new additions to the household. Branston & Pickle – Not the small brown lumps of tangy-ness, although they do create quite a few, they are the names of the rabbits which have appeared. I did suggest they be named Stu & Pot which didn’t go down terribly well.

(Picture: Branston & Pickle)

On the 23rd Aidan returned from his travels in Russell. We had neglected to tell him about the bunny wabbits. Needless to say, we had a very happy boy when he returned.

(Picture: Aidan discovering the rabbits)

(Picture: A happy boy)

You may notice in the photo above that a picture of a rabbit hangs on the wall above Aidan’s bed. This was his last rabbit which Hazel & Tommy kindly adopted for a life of roaming the greenery of Yell.

I was thinking that this might remove fishing from his brain for a little while, seeing as he has done nothing but fish for the past month or so. No such luck. The very next day he wanted to go fishing.

(Picture: Aidan fishing…again)

That pretty much rounds up this little update. Coming up next is Up Helly AC/DC…

8th January to 14th-ish – The Last of the Sophie Rover

2010-04-01T13:21:00.001+13:00

Soooo, update time again. I am getting grumps and groans from various directions that I haven’t been updating the blog enough! At least I know that a few people are actually looking at it I suppose! Currently about 3 months behind with updates so bear with me while I get back into realtime.

Sophie Birthday Meal

So what has happened? Good question. It was that long ago that I can barely remember. Around about the 7th or 8th of January we went into town for Sophie’s birthday meal with Wade. Quite a nice leisurely evening was had by all. We dined out at Zeytin, a Turkish restaurant on the Strand. A bluesy band were playing which was quite nice. They even managed to sing Happy Birthday to Sophie which she thoroughly enjoyed.

Sophie managed to stay totally sober for the evening which was a nice change.

(Picture courtesy of Sophie: Sober Sophie)

Wade also abstained.

(Picture courtesy of Tania: Wade)

Night Oot

The following night we headed out into town again. This time for a few drams.

We spent the majority of the evening at the Cornerstone Pub where drinks flowed quite nicely.

(Picture courtesy of Sophie – Taking advice from Oli’s T-Shirt)

Unfortunately the drinks appeared to have been laced with some form of plasticine or silly putty mix. It caused unnatural dynamics within the epidermis, dermis or hypodermis… possibly even all three.

(Picture: Cheeky!)

Mount Stroll

On the 10th of January we went for a stroll around Mount Maunganui. This was quite uneventful apart from the fact the Sophie managed to fall in a hole. How somebody can do this sideways is beyond me.

(Picture courtesy of Tania: Holy Sophie)

The walk around the Mount proved to be quite successful. So much so that Sophie said she had an absolutely swinging time.

(Picture: Hangman noose fail)

We also went to the beach and had our lunch. For me this involved half a sheep in a burger which proved quite difficult to eat.

(Picture courtesy of Sophie: MmmmMmmm Lamb-burger)

Auckland Airport flood

The following day I received reports that Auckland Airport had flooded. Flights were delayed due to the storm drains backing up. Strange thing was that there had been no reports of rain. To this day nobody knows where the hundreds of gallons of water came from…until now…Tania went to see Sophie off at the airport. You know what it is like when the water pressure is so strong that it pops the hose off the tap?

Anyways, they said their goodbyes and Sophie was gone. Until next time.

Coming up next, the return of Aidan!

1st January to 7th January – Russell to Wellsford to Auckland to Tauranga to Rotorua to Taupo to Rotorua to Tauranga

2010-02-16T19:30:00.002+13:00

The Journey Home

On New Years Day we set off on the long trek back to Tauranga. The long trek ended up taking longer than anticipated. My poor car was struggling under the weight of the luggage and passengers and when we reached Wellsford we decided to take a good look at the rear suspension. We had hit the ground on more than one occasion and on inspection I couldn’t even fit my hand between the wheel and arch. 151km out of 439km, we weren’t even halfway!

Wellsford

I wasn’t happy to continue and took a walk through Wellsford to see if I could find any information on busses that might be passing through. Apparently not. The Wellsford population had never heard of a bus. Or at least that was the impression I got from their blank expressions and replies of, “Bus?”.

We phoned Nan to see if she could track down a bus. Unfortunately the last two seats had just been booked. We then phoned the AA to see if they could do anything, it is worth being an AA member out here as you get free maps which would cost you more than the membership if you were to buy them. The AA man turned up and gave the car a sympathetic look. His advice was that if we took it easy we might make it to Auckland.

Auckland to Tauranga

Luckily the roads between Wellsford and Auckland are quite good and we made it there in one piece. Bart, Sara and Myself disembarked and wished Tania a safe journey back to Tauranga. We had a couple of hours to waste before the bus arrived so we found a nice little bar and had a few beers.

The bus seemed to take an age. We went via Hamilton with a couple of stop-offs which probably slowed things up a bit.

We set off at about 10am and the journey would normally take about 6 hours. Bart, Sara and myself arrived in Tauranga at about 9.45pm. Then it was off to Burgerfuel for a BioFuel Burger for supper!

The following day (2nd Jan) we had a barbecue…again.

(Picture courtesy of Sophie: YAB (Yet Another Barbecue)

(Picture: What was she taking a picture of?)

Bart in the meantime was in two minds about the amount of beer that he had consumed over the festive season. End it now or continue?

(Picture: Bart considering the unthinkable)

The following night we went out to Imbibe for a meal before heading back to Cruzaz for a few beers. Sophie was amazed at the upmarket clientele that frequent Cruzaz. She felt the need to leave quite early as she was feeling a little under-dressed for the occasion.

White Island

On the 5th Tania, Sophie, Sara and Bart all went to Whakatane before heading off on a boat to White Island.

White Island is New Zealand’s only active marine volcano, lying 49km off the coast and was used for Sulphur mining briefly around 1913 before a lahar killed all 10 workers at the site. The island remains on an alert level of between 1 and 2 on a scale of 1 to 5.

The Geonet website has a web camera installed to monitor any potential eruptions or changes on the island.

(Picture: Geonet.org.nz webcam)

(Picture courtesy of Tania: “Whoops, pardon me”)

(Picture courtesy of Tania: Remains of the sulphur mining operation)

Taupo

On the 6th Jan we headed to Taupo for a spin. We stopped in Rotorua for a coffee on the way.

(Picture courtesy of Sara: In the tardis that is the ‘Red Car’)

The main reason for heading to Taupo was so Sophie could receive her birthday gift. She was duly blindfolded before we arrived and when the blindfold was removed she was delighted to see that we were parked outside a Prawn Farm. She failed to notice that the Huka Falls Jet was just next door.

Bart, Sara and myself headed up to the top of the falls for a better vantage point.

(Picture: Looking down the Waikato river from the Huka Falls)

Over 220,000 litres of water passes over Huka Falls every second.

(Picture: Ah, there they are, at the front…typical)

(Picture: Everybody wave!)

(Picture: Wheeeeeee)

(Picture: Off they go)

We headed back to pick them up from Huka Falls HQ only to find out that they had booked themselves to go for another spin! This however brought the perfect opportunity for me to scuttle off next door for a beer.

After this we headed into Taupo to find the accommodation that we had booked for the night - Acapulco Motor Inn – Basic but clean enough.

(Picture stolen from web: Our accommodation)

That evening we had a takeaway by the side of Lake Taupo watching the sun go down. I am not sure if it was the noodles that Sophie had eaten or if her brain had moved slightly during the Jet Boat ride but she started exerting stranger than normal behaviour (which is very strange).

(Picture: Sophie photographing a random person’s bottom)

This was soon followed by ‘Do not push the big red button’ syndrome.

(Picture: Sophie thinking that “Dan ger" is Maori for “Do this”)

(Picture courtesy of Sophie: White balance totally off. No way my face is that orange!)

(Picture: Sunset over Lake Taupo)

That night we headed over to Finn MacCuhal’s Irish Pub where Sophie forced us to drink shooters. Seeing as it was Sophie’s birthday trip I thought it only fair that she be treated to an extra shooter. Appropriately named ‘F*ck-Up’ seemed to be a good choice with a wonderful blend of ingredients including Absinthe.

On the 7th of January it was time to bid farewell to Sara & Bart as they set off on a voyage to Wellington en-route to the South Island for the remainder of their trip. We then spent the rest of the day driving around trying to find Sophie something else stupid to do. We went for a look at the Zorb, the Agrodome, the Swoop and the Shweeb as well as a trip to the Honey Hive.

(Picture courtesy of Sophie: Feeling Good Naturally, beehave!)

Then it was time to head back to Tauranga.

31st December to 2010 – Happy New Year!

2010-01-25T17:55:00.002+13:00

Fishing…again!

Once again Aidan started the day off by going off on a boat fishing. This time however it looks as if all his fishing has finally paid off.

(Picture: It was this size!)

Aidan hauled in a Snapper weighing 6.8kg, only 115g under the record for his age and had he been in the Swordfish Club he would have taken the prize for his age group for 2009.

The tourists were particularly taken by his catch, asking to have their photos taken with it when he was sitting outside Russell Radio/The Swordfish Club.

(Picture: One very, very happy boy)

For some reason unknown to me, I was tasked with the challenge of gutting and filleting the beast.

(Picture courtesy of Sara: With a little help from Wade we hacked the head off)

He also managed to reel in one weighing 3kg before the holidays were out.

Hogmanay Grub

That evening we headed to the Russell Boating Club for a meal and drinks before the bells.

(Picture courtesy of Tania: Dancing the night away)

(Picture courtesy of Tania: Sara and Bart)

(Picture: Techno-raving in da BC!)

Aidan immediately headed out onto the jetty attached to the Boating Club and decided he wanted to fish. Having no fishing rod, he asked the kitchens if they had an old milk bottle and some bread. He proceeded to cut the top off the milk bottle, put bread in the end and then tied it to some rope so he could try and catch some fish.

After that we headed down to the waterfront at Russell Wharf to take in the New Year and watch the fireworks. Unfortunately, by this stage my hand didn’t seem to be quite steady, so the fireworks photos are but a blur.

Happy New Year!!!

30th December – Road Trip

2010-01-25T17:09:00.001+13:00

On the 30th we headed over on the car ferry to go for a run and see what we could see.

Te Waimate

First up we headed to Te Waimate Mission house. This is where Nan works. It is also the second oldest house still standing in New Zealand.

(Picture: Te Waimate Mission House)

The Rt. Rev. George Selwyn bought the redundant Te Waimate Mission House in 1842 to establish St John’s Theological College. This only lasted for a couple of years though because his wife being a female of the species moaned about it too much. She called it ‘comfortless and untidy’ and poor Selwyn moved the College to Auckland, where it still is today.

(Picture: Looks comfortable enough to me)

(Picture: iBook, Google Maps, Graphics Tablet and External Storage)

Next-door was the Kirk and graveyard, always good for a wander around.

(Picture: Da Kirk next door)

Missionary George Clarke helped design & build Te Waimate house. Here he lies, next door.

(Picture: Missionary George Clarke in his final resting place)

Rainbow Falls

After that we headed towards Rainbow Falls for a wander. You get a good few from the top of the Falls.

(Picture: Rainbow Falls)

(Picture: Bart framed)

(Picture: Yet more water falling)

The real beauty is when you take a walk down to the bottom of the falls though. It is at times like these that you wish you had brought the tripod and some ND filters. The rest of them wandered off to the car and got annoyed with me taking so long. Can you blame me?

After that we headed back to Russell for yet another barbecue. Yum

Coming next – New Year!

27th to 29th December – Sailing, Philosophising, Fishing and Flying

2010-01-25T15:28:00.001+13:00

Sailing & Philosophising

The 27th was agreed to be the day that all the ladies would go sailing while the men-folk stayed on dry land discussing life’s many unanswered questions.

This started off with everybody meeting down near the Wharf while Aidan and Granpa navigated the Yacht from Matauwhi Bay to the Wharf.

(Picture: The girls got the YMCA thing all wrong)

Luckily the girls were sitting where they were as Nan’s stair-lift malfunctioned and jettisoned her towards the bench.

(Picture: Nice catch girls!)

Once Nan was propped up again we kept an eye out on the horizon for Captain Granpa and his trusty Skipper Aidan.

(Picture: I spy a Shetland Flag)

(Picture: Ahoy me hearties!)

(Picture: The ladies bundled aboard)

Once we had seen them safely set voyage, Wade, Bart & Myself had the small task of deciding where would be a nice quiet serene place that we could go and discuss life and all its intricacies. A unanimous show of hands appeared when the pub was suggested.

It being a Sunday afternoon also meant that a partially live band was playing. I say partially because it was a father & son team who had opted to use a backing track for all other musical instruments. Interesting decision.

Even with the background noise we managed to discuss and solve many of the world’s mysteries.

(Pictures: Great men, deep in thought)

Before long the wimmen-folk returned and we began to realise just how mentally drained we were by the afternoons hard work. Thus it was time to start on the Jack Daniels. Unfortunately nobody had reminded Nan to take her tablets while they were on the boat.

(Picture: Nan – Medically unaided)

Us younger generation decided to hang back and play a few games of pool. Jack Daniels conveniently had a promotion running at the time. Lord knows how many wristbands, wallets and hats we had procured by the end of the night.

(Picture courtesy of Sophie: Bart in action)

(Picture courtesy of Sophie: Hmm, less balls on the table than I remember)

Fishing Trip

On Monday the 28th Bart, Aidan and I headed off on a fishing trip aboard The Belfast while Tania & Sophie went dolphin swimming/watching.

(Picture: Aidan & Bart poised for action)

We also saw dolphins. Not exactly the critters you want to see when you are out fishing. It may go some of the way to explaining why we didn’t catch much. By the time I got the camera out of the bag they had travelled quite a distance.

(Picture: Dolphins in the distance)

All our fish were too small and had to be thrown back except for the Golden Snapper that Aidan managed to snag.

(Picture: Aidan and his Golden Snapper)

(Picture courtesy of Tania: Meanwhile Tania and Sophie spotted these critters)

Flying

That afternoon Aidan & Sophie went flying.

(Picture: What’s that yellow blob?)

(Picture: What is that???)

(Picture: Ah! It’s Aidan & Sophie!)

Aidan was told that they were only going to go up to 100ft, which he reckoned was about the height of the mast on Granpas boat. Only once they had been up was he told that they were actually at 1200ft. He thoroughly enjoyed it though.

(Picture: On the descent)

That evening we all headed down to the wharf for a spot of fishing.

(Picture: Aidan, fishing, again)

(Picture: Russell Wharf at night)

Lazy day & Fishing (Again)

Tuesday the 29th of December was quite a lazy day. Aidan and I went down to the wharf in the morning for a spot of fishing…again. While we were there Aidan got invited back out on The Belfast to go fishing…again.

Sophie went diving, Tania and I headed over to Paihia on the fast ferry for a stroll about town. While there I purchased a new polarising filter for my 50mm lens.

(Picture: Zipping along on the Fast Ferry to Paihia)

(Picture: Aidan at the helm of The Belfast)

So, that brings us up to New Years Eve, I am slowly getting this thing up to date!!!

26th December – Boxing Day and 7 Months in

2010-01-25T12:13:00.001+13:00

Boxing Day

Was a fairly lazy day, we all set off down to Long Beach from where I Skyped the oldies. Amazing how far technology has come when you think about it. I was able to have a voice and video conversation with people across the other side of the world from a 10” Netbook equipped with a Mobile Wireless Broadband dongle, all while sitting on a beach in the sun!

(Picture: Long Beach)

The kids played in the sand whilst the adults soaked up the rays.

(Picture: Sophie and Wade playing on the beach)

(Picture: Tania with cuzz and her hubby and my new camera bag)

After that I headed off into town to take a few pictures and have a beer.

Russell is swamped in history as it was the first permanent European settlement in New Zealand. The Maori were happy to trade food and timber in return for firearms, alcohol and other manufactured goods. This resulted in Russell being a busy port but also meant that it gained a reputation for lawlessness and prostitution and became known as, “The Hell Hole of the Pacific”.

It is now a popular holiday destination with a population of nearly 900 and many holiday homes. It is also home to New Zealand’s oldest surviving industrial building (Pompallier Mission) and Christ Church, which happens to be the country’s oldest surviving church, and probably the most photographed as well.

(Picture: Obligatory pic of Christ Church, Russell)

A few more beers that evening and then back to our temporary accommodation. We had a couple of extra guests that were discovered during our stay in Russell. Here is one of them that we named, but I can’t remember the name now…

(Picture: Our friendly guest)

So 7 months in as of Boxing Day. Not much else to report for today, a nice short post.

25th December 2009 – Christmas Day!

2010-01-23T01:00:00.002+13:00

Christmas day in New Zealand is a rather strange affair. I would imagine that the bookies would have some pretty peculiar odds for a White Christmas out here.

Aidan awoke us bright and early. Too early. We sleepily plodded down the road from our temporary residence to Nan & Granpa’s to see whether Santa Claus had been good enough to take a detour for Aidan this year.

Turns out he had.

Christmas Morning

(Picture: Aidan opening one of his many presents)

(Picture: Aidan opening more presents)

The opening of the presents started to make me feel a little more christmassy, but, as always, some people just have to ruin it. Just when I was starting to enter happy festive mode and possibly even place a santa hat on my head despite the heat, the impossible happened….

….two people managed to get the dress code wrong! Yup, this was the moment when the Easter bunnies turned up!

(Picture: Easter Wimmen)

Shortly after this, Nan was presented with a special hand-made mini replica of herself. The head wobbled all by itself and included a wonderful comment about criticism that has slipped my mind just now. Perhaps somebody would be kind enough to add it to the comments. Also if someone could lip-read, I would appreciate knowing what Nan is trying to say here….

(Picture: “Minime where have you been?”)

After that Aidan discovered that somebody had got him a very nice fishing rod and reel for Christmas…

(Picture: An appreciative little face)

After all the present opening finally finished (far too much everybody, we can give it a miss next year), then Granpa realised that something else had appeared outside.

(Picture: Aidan and his shiny new BMX)

The Bush

After that was all over we headed off into the bush. We followed a road that seemingly went nowhere for a considerable length of time. This really was, ‘Out in the sticks’.

Once we arrived, we were met by a bunch of friendly people with ice buckets to keep our beer & bourbon in and a plethora of amenities. The ladies were particularly taken by the toilet facilities.

(Picture courtesy of Sophie: The unisex toilet)

Aidan, as usual, made himself comfortable around the food that was available.

(Picture: Ow, ow, yow!)

Realising it was going to take some time to cook he set off on his new shiny BMX.

(Picture: Off-Road BMX riding)

(Picture courtesy of Sara: Bart enjoying the local beers)

Meanwhile Wade seemed oblivious to the goings on around him…

(Picture courtesy of Sophie: Uncle Wade testing the tenderness of the meat)

(Picture: The Bar)

The above picture shows the bar where (rumour has it) Nan spent quite a bit of her time. I personally don’t believe it in the slightest…

(Picture: “You never forget…”)

(Picture courtesy of Sophie: “…how tiring it can be!”)

(Picture: Cooking Mussels Kiwi-Style)

(Picture courtesy of Sara: Tchhh, some people just don’t like getting their photo taken)

(Picture courtesy of Sara: The kids all gathered around in bewilderment as Sophie told the story about the day that she broke nothing at all!)

Civilisation

After all that we headed back to civilisation to meet Aaron and Laura who drove up from Auckland with their pet shop for a couple of days in sunny Russell.

Why is it that the return journey never takes as long as it does on the outward bound leg? It appears to have something to do with your subconscious having no idea how long it is going to take to get there so decides to stretch it out as much as it can. The return journey is different though. Is it because your mind knows how far you travelled? Does it recognise turns in the road, certain trees, bumps, landmarks? Does your brain keep telling you to continue when you recognise a scenario? Does it slow down when it doesn’t? If anybody is aware of the definitive answer then please leave a comment.

Anyway. What the hell is this?

(Picture: Nan’s ball of wool started panting)

Christmas Day was finished off by drinking some more, and some more, then a little more.

All in all, a good day.

21st December to 24th December – Run-up to Chrimbo!

2009-12-30T23:52:00.001+13:00

Here it is Merry Christmas, everybody’s having fun!

Since the last update we have been out for a few beers to wish people all the best for Chrimbo before we set off on the great adventure to the Bay of Islands.

Day 1 – The Journey

The trip north was a long one. The brucks of 500km. Through some peculiar fate all of the people expected actually made it! Sophie somehow managed to get on a plane without breaking it and Sara and Bart managed to get their flights after trains and whatnot were cancelled due to snow. The point I am getting to is that they survived the journey and made it to NZ. Louise headed up with Aidan and collected Sophie from Auckland en-route. We headed a couple of days later and picked up Sara and Bart from the airport. The journey was fairly uneventful apart from an arsehole on the motorway leaving Auckland who decided that clipping a car and possibly having a major crash would be better than just following the Highway Code and letting that person into the lane. I have your number plate Mr Arsehole, consider yourself reported. Anyway. That is a story for another day.

Upon reaching the Bay of Islands we soon heard the news that Sophie and Aidan had been fishing. Unfortunately, Sophie seemed to think that you had to spear fish rather than use the modern day method of hook and line. Spearing fish with a rod doesn’t really work too well. This resulted in the rod going overboard and finding a place to rest on the bottom of the seabed. Aidan was rather displeased. Not only because this brought an end to the fishing for the day but also because the rod was something of a family heirloom and belonged to his Great Grandfather at one point.

Attempts to retrieve the rod proved fruitless and the decision was taken to leave it and try again the following day.

That night we had a barbecue at Nan & Grandpa’s where Sophie sat incredibly upset due to the earlier events and emitted no feelings bar sorrow and sadness.

(Picture: Sophie – Incredibly upset)

Day 2 – Christmas Eve

Our second day in Russell brought with it some good news. Tania, Sophie, Aidan and Wade set off down to the harbour early in the morning while the tide was low to see if they could retrieve the fishing rod. Wade managed to snag it with a grappling hook and lift it from the deep, dark murkiness of the ocean floor. Fearing that it would slip, Tania launched herself into the sea and grabbed the presumed missing rod. She then realised that she had to swim around to the other side of the Wharf before she could get out of the sea. On doing this she managed to slice her hands and feet open on the mussels attached to the bottom steps. So off she went to the doctor’s for a Tetanus jab and a clean up.

Aidan, delighted that he had a rod again, set off fishing.

(Picture: Aidan with Mr Hull, don’t know where Emu was)

(Picture: The fish here swim upside down due to the centrifugal gravitational pull in the Southern Hemisphere)

The highlight of the days fishing came when Aidan landed a 33cm Kawai.

(Picture: It was this size)

Oh did I mention that we met Santa Claus? Several times. This is officially the most surreal Christmas I have ever had. When you are standing by the waterfront in shorts and a t-shirt, the last thing you expect to meet is Santa Claus.

(Picture: Sophie, Santa and his little helper)

Another thing that you must do every Christmas Eve is go hat shopping. Very Christmassy. Although it does stop the searing heat from burning through the mass of thick hair on my bonce.

(Picture: Sophie hat shopping)

(Picture: Model picture from hat shop)

After that we headed up Maiki Hill to the Flagstaff. This hill overlooks Russell and the surrounding area and offers some fantastic views of the harbour.

(Picture: View from Moiki Hill)

It is also steeped in history. After the Waitangi Treaty the Flagstaff was erected only to be chopped down by Māori four times in protest against the British Authorities and the way they were running things. This led to war in 1845 and it was another 13 years before the flagpole was erected again. A chain now runs around the flagpole to make sure that absolutely no one has any similar intentions ever again.

(Picture: Ahem…)

(Picture: Another view from the hill)

On this trip to the Bay of Islands, unlike other trips I have documented, I was lucky enough to have onboard GPS. I think the technology still has some way to go before it can be considered reliable though. It continually relayed me conflicting reports as to which direction to take. It even seemed to get its left and rights mixed up.

(Picture: Global Positioning System somewhat flawed)

Seeing as the GPS had failed to do its duty, I decided to head to the pub. At least I could find that without tracking devices. Lo and behold, who should I see there but none other than Santa Claus.

(Picture: Another Santa Claus)

Then it was back to the beach for a little while before the street party started in the afternoon.

(Picture: Russell’s pebbly beach)

The street party was quite interesting for me. I managed to pull a bird! She seemed to be drawn to me by my lovely chin whiskers and brightly coloured plumage.

(Picture: Coco and Me up a tree, T W E E T I N G, first came love then came shi….)

Yes. You read correctly. As per usual, my life is never very straight-forward. After the initial honeymoon period then Coco crapped all down my front. Literally.

This didn’t seem to particularly perturb any of the revellers at the street party however.

(Archive Photo: The failed Stena-GlassLift)

(Picture: Look, there’s Annette, no it’s Tania, wait…Rod is that you???)

Then as the sun went down it was time to head back up to Nan & Grandpa’s for the Chrimbo Dinner.

(Picture: Sunset at Russell Wharf)

(Picture: Sara & Bart – 1, 2, 3, Awwwww!)

(Picture: Crikey, look at the mussels on that!)

(Picture: Flaming Pud Batman)

So, that was Christmas Eve. Hopefully this little update will keep you happy until I manage to get another one put together…

COMING SOON – Christmas Day in the Bush and other peculiarities. Stay tuned….

22nd November to 20th December– Chrimbo!!

2009-12-21T00:01:00.001+13:00

Hello and merry chrimbo to you and yours. Nan is back in Tauranga and made it clear that I haven’t updated the blog since the 22nd November!

I had great plans to give you a “6 months in” post. However, it is now nearly 7 months. The 26th of November was the six month anniversary. Boxing day will be the 7 month anniversary.

6 Month Moan

As a moaning old git, I thought I would share some of the things that have riled me slightly since getting here. However, I have found it difficult to find too much to complain about.

Driving. Time to ditch the stupid turning right rule. It might have worked with horse & carriage but it certainly doesn’t anymore. Fog lights are also a problem. It may be down to the fact that I haven’t actually seen any fog here yet. People perhaps don’t realise what fog lights are actually for.
Pickled Eggs. They simply do not exist here.
Vinegar. Fish & Chip shops do not know that vinegar exists. You get salt on the chips whether you want it or not but if you want vinegar then you will need to wait until you get home.
Chips. Chips are crisps. Or rather crisps are chips…or something. Chips are known as “hot chips” and crisps are known as “chips”.
Christmas isn’t Christmas. When you walk into a shop and you see a stand with christmas decorations next to a stand of sunglasses it can cause the brain to sit back and go WTF! I managed to get sun burnt again yesterday, far too warm to wear the santa hat. Hardly christmassy is it?

I am sure that a few more niggly points will surface after I have posted this but in the grand scale of things I can hardly complain. When in Rome and all that.

Veggies

Meanwhile Aidan’s veggies seem to be coming along. Da supermarket totties produced good shaws but nae totties! Going to replant with some seed and see how it goes.

We had some of the beans and peas fae the garden in wir casserole tonight that Nan slaved over.

(Picture: Some of Aidan’s radishes)

The mint on the other hand has been reduced to a few measly stalks. We were unsure what had been chewing at it until we ventured out one night to find this flying beastie having a feed.

(Picture: Flying beastie)

On Saturday night I went over to Phil’s to help him celebrate his birthday. This involved consuming copious amounts of cocktails while staying upright. Good fun.

Santa Parade

On Sunday the 6th of December we ventured over to the Mount to watch the Santa Parade. Several of my work colleagues were involved in this which was nice to see.

(Picture: As if being 10-foot-tall isn’t enough to draw attention to yourself!)

(Picture: Little old lady keys police car)

(Picture: Man beats child for hiding in drum)

(Picture: 101 reasons not to ignore the ‘Wet Cement’ sign)

(Picture: Hairy tottie parade)

(Picture: Man discovers car-pooling with the wife isn’t so bad after all)

(Picture: Avoid tail-gating – Affix a child to the bumper)

(Picture: Dat Robertson’s git everywhaur!)

(Picture: A&R Earthmovers – Taking the R’s out of Andrex)

(Picture: Man having a wheely good time) (Picture: The Trustpower float)

After all that, we set off home for a barbecue and a few beers.

(Picture: Did anybody mention we pay for water here?)

After Archie and the wife visiting we realised that we still hadn’t got a guest book organised. They will have an honorary entry as our first overseas visitors now that we have got one sorted.

(Picture: Da guestbook)

Wark Doo

On Friday the 11th December we got all rigged up for the work doo. On arrival we were greeted by a red carpet leading into a lavish spread. Unfortunately I didn’t have my camera with me and Tania’s had run out of juice so I have stolen all the following pics from Facebook.

(Picture: Stolen from Facebook)

I would hate to think of the cost of this evening. The venue was Bay Park Stadium, the MC was this bloke of the telly, the band were hired in from Auckland, then they threw a hypnotist into the works as well.

(Picture: It’s a Kind of Magic)

Mix all that in with free grub and a free bar all night and the end result is some very merry punters.

(Picture: Da Menu)

(Picture: Da Boys!)

(Picture: Peculiar bunch)

A good night had by all and I think I even managed to remain fairly sensible.

Sunday barbecues & beer

On the Sunday we headed into town to try and get some shopping done. Aidan and Poihipi insisted on riding the train at Memorial Park.

(Picture: Aidan & Poihipi training)

After that we headed home and fired up the barbecue. Tania decided to see what would happen if we fed the kids some hot curry sauce stuff. They seemed to like it.

(Picture: Aidan enjoying the curry sauce)

(Picture: Tania soaking up the rays)

Last week of work

A huge sigh of relief came from everybody this week. It was the last week of work, 3 weeks off! As if the work doo wasn’t good enough they also presented everybody with a big chunk of ham for chrimbo.

(Picture: Muckle chunk o’ ham)

On the last day of work our office had a secret santa thing organised as well as an awards ceremony. Secret Santa got me a hat, a bar of Bailey’s chocolate and a beer chiller. I’m guessing they know what I am like now. The awards ceremony resulted in me getting presented with “The ‘Best Accent’ Award”, apparently because none of them can understand me. The last day of work also meant that we headed to Imbibe for a good few beers before making our way to Steve & Rhondas for yet another barbecue. The food was good, the beer was good, the head wasn’t so good the next day. I had to pick up the car from work so took Aidan in to see the fishies in the pond and let him see where I spend my days. He thought it was pretty cool.

Yesterday saw Nan arriving and managing to make her way to the top of the stairs unaided. This was partly because a couple of friends were around scooping lots of beer so we were quite unaware of her arrival. I should perhaps think about getting an intercom at the bottom of the stairs for the day that she can’t make it….either that or a mattress.

Test for Uncle Ronnie

Here’s a little test to see if Uncle R can recall this beastie!

(Picture: It has flown a long way)

Chrimbo-time

Next week will see us heading up to the Bay of Islands for Chrimbo and New Year, I should hopefully have some new piccies to show you then.

Tania’s sisters are making the journey over from Brussels if they can manage to get the flights from Heathrow. Trains and planes have been getting cancelled due to the snow they have been having. I am unsure as to how I am going to cope with so many of the same family congregated in one place. I can liken it to being shot in the head. One shot and you might survive if you are lucky. Three shots and their is very little chance of survival. Bart has assured me that he will be getting drunk to try and survive the escapade. I always did think he was a very sensible man. The only flaw with this is that instead of seeing 3 sisters we could end up seeing 6!!!

In case I don’t get the blog updated before the 25th (quite likely) and/or I don’t get to speak to as many of you as hoped then I would like to wish you all…

A very Merry Christmas

and a

Happy New Year!

Hiv a beer fur me, because I will most certainly be hivvin’ a beer fur you!

Aa da best!

27th October to 21st November – VIP visit

2009-11-22T23:16:00.001+13:00

Well here we are. Update time again. What shall we start with? The weather, that’s always a good conversation starter.

According to the News, “New Zealanders have just shivered through the coldest October in more than 25 years”. Well that was news to me.

We seem to have had a high of 22.5C……brrrrrr. The coldest October in over 25 years and I got sunburnt! As you may already know, snakes are not allowed in New Zealand. This is because there aren’t any and they are considered too dangerous to the wildlife here. I am slightly worried that the authorities might deport me if I shed any more skin!

Pisces

Aidan wandered into a pet shop ‘for a look’ recently. He left with a tropical fish tank and a pile of fishies.

(Picture: Fishies)

He now has a selection of aquatic critters including Samurai Fighter, Clown Loach, Neon Tetras, Black Neon Tetras, Tiger somethings and a suckerfish.

Edit –> Today. When I got home. Headed to the toilet facilities and noticed an object in the passageway. First glance told me it was a leaf or some other similar object that should be ignored until the bladder emptying process had taken place. Once I had finished said bladder emptying process I took another look at the leaf. It wasn’t a leaf at all. It was Aidan’s Samurai Fighter making a break for it. I scooped it up and headed for the tank. After the mini-submerge-session I watched it swim for a little while before I actually calculated the distance that it had travelled. How does a fish (maybe 4cm long) make its way from a bedroom, half way along a hall without dying? This poor fish must have travelled at least 8ft from its original position. Aidan has now been instructed to make sure that the lid is on the tank before he heads to school.

Who let the dogs out? WOF WOF WOF

The beast required its WOF recently. For those in the know, this is the Warranty Of Fitness. For those not in the know, this is the equivalent of the MOT out here.

I hurled the beast into the WOF testing station at VTNZ passing subtle comments to the tester. “Look at the underbody seal on that chunk of metal”, “She’s had a good few pit inspections in her time”, “Only one careful lady driver….scrap that….who has ever met a careful lady driver???”.

The nurturing comments failed to appeal and he failed it. Perished brake pipes and buggered front tyres. A trip to the garage was required. Turned out that two garages were required bringing the total to 400-odd bucks. Pretty much a quarter of what I paid for the car.

Once the required remedial work had been undertaken, I returned to VTNZ with a cheesy grin and a newly medicated car. The good thing is that they only charge you once. If you fail, you drive your non-roadworthy car away and then return when you think it will be OK. You do not get charged again for a retest. Lovely place.

The beast is now Woffified. A clean bill of health. A healthy beast.

Remember remember da 5th o’ November

Fireworks, house of lords. Funny how after 404 years we still celebrate an attempt to do away with any aristocracy and/or politicians of the time. Has much changed?

The strangest thing about this is that the Guy Fawkes gunpowder plot was an attempt to kill King James the First of England. This just happens to be a relation of mine. The whole damn world is celebrating an attempt to pop off one of my ancestors. Not because they understand the history but because they like the sparkly fireworks. Luckily enough so do I so we shall not linger over the boring history aspect.

I had great plans to trek to the top of the Mount for the fireworks to get some pretty piccies. Unfortunately I had too much beer and driving to the Mount was not an option. Luckily for me though, every man and his dog had fireworks around here. After 3 or 4 nights worth of continual fireworks I am actually quite depressed that I didn’t get some more decent piccies.

(Picture: Fireworks)

(Picture: Mair fireworks)

Aidan eventually rolled in about 10.30pm with some firecracker things he had acquired from somewhere.

(Picture: Firecrackery things with an apparition of Aidan)

For the record King James the First was my 1st cousin, 13 times removed. Probably best not to admit to that…

100-t6 Birthday & Barbecues

The weekend of 07/11 brought with it a birthday celebration. Tania’s granny reached the prime age of 94, Nan came down and Wade came up for the occasion. They all went to Mills Reef Winery for a meal to celebrate.

On the Saturday we had a barbecue and Stu and Heather came over to sample the sausages, steaks and pork delights.

(Picture: Yum)

Softball

For those that have been asking Softball is a bit like baseball but with under-arm throws rather than over-arm throws. Aidan has softball practise every Saturday morning from 0830 to 11ish. Last Saturday he said he didn’t want to go because he didn’t think he would get a game. After a reassurance from Midder that he isn’t going to get a game unless he turns up for it, he returned quite happy.

(Picture: Softball Player of the Day)

Shetland Society

That Saturday night we were invited along to the Shetland Society Christmas Dinner. An enjoyable night was had by all. Met a woman who emigrated out here in the 60’s and went to school with Granny Meg. Aidan got a bid fed up because he was the only kid there. Usually there would be other kids.

Water da matter?

You may recall a post of mine from a while back that involved experimenting with taking photos of water droplets. I stumbled across this video on Youtube that explains the whole process rather well. Who would have known that a water droplet actually diminishes in size before merging with the larger body of water. Weird old world innit?

Our first Shetlanders visit

Yes indeedy. Our first holidaying visitors came for a visit. I have only just now realised that I neglected to welcome them as our first overseas visitors. Even worse, we didn’t even get a visitors book organised for them to sign.

I am not even sure if we can class them as our first Shetlanders as they are technically Glaswegian Shetlanders. With an aussie side. Anyways, they have been accepted as Shetlanders and as such I will class them so for the rest of the post.

Archie and Sandra came along to visit as part of their 3-month tour of strange places. It was helluva good to, ‘See a kent face’. Even Archies!

I should perhaps explain a little of the background. Archie and I have known each other for quite some time. Going back to when I was a young boy and he an old man. Since then we spent time together in the SAS where we were both very lucky to get out alive. The unmentionable perils we had to put up with can not be repeated here, or indeed anywhere for fear of our lives. The Gaseous Life Afflicting Death Year Syndrome is particularly worrying and will probably cause us nightmares for years to come.

Anyways. I picked them up in town and hurled them to their accommodation before we headed back to ours for some grub and a few drinks. The following day I picked them up and dropped them off at the Mount to have a wander about while I went to look at a pooter. We then grabbed a coffee before heading out to McLaren Falls.

(Picture: Archie in a death-defying stunt)

(Picture: I will snap thee like a twig)

The wander around McLaren Park was enjoyable had it not been for the pesky Sand Flies that decided we were quite tasty. I got bitten several times while taking this picture.

(Picture: Ouch, ouch, click, snap)

(Picture: One of the bites)

Hopefully Archies bites haven’t come up quite so bad.

After that I dropped them back at the Motel they were staying at. That evening we had arranged to meet up for grub at the Crown & Badger. When we went to pick them up we were greeted with a Lone Piper in the Motel Car Park. One of the best greetings I have ever had in my life! I am not too sure if the other residents thought the same though…

After our meal at the Crown & Badger we had an impromptu run-in with the Tauranga Pipe Band before heading back to ours via the Liquor Store.

(Picture: Archie “Blawin’ “)

Archie gave us a tune which I thoroughly enjoyed. The pipes reverberate through the body and give the listener more of a feeling than any other instrument I know.

Couldn’t have been that bad, I seem to recall I even managed a peerie birl in da living room wie wan o me freends!

Next update sooner than this one took. Hopefully. Cheery bye.

26th October – Monday in Rotorua

2009-11-07T01:14:00.001+13:00

I have finally got around to posting day 2 of our Rotorua spree. My apologies for the excruciatingly long wait.

On Monday we got off to an early start and I dropped Tania, Aidan & Poihipi at the Agrodome. Although this might sound like a huge stress ball it is in fact an Agricultural show. Very interesting but I have seen it before so I headed off for a drive to try and get some photos.

Agrodome

(Picture: Aidan with headless lamb – Pic by Tania)
(Picture: Baad hair day – Pic by Tania)

(Picture: Moo’ve over little boy, possessed coo comin’ through – Pic by Tania)

(Picture: Aidan milking possessed coo - Pic by Tania)

(Picture: Woof Quack Baa – Pic by Tania)

(Picture: Totally baarmy – Pic by Tania)

Meanwhile I went for a hurl and took a few pics around Lake Rotorua.

(Picture: Mokoia Island)

(Picture: Strange black blobs approaching at speed)

(Picture: Ahar! It be them Black Swans again)

(Picture: The yellowish hue is down to the high sulphur content)

(Picture: A small pier/jetty/wharf/thingy)

Gondola

After that it was time to go and pick up the milkman and his crew before heading to the Gondolas. Now, if you are like me, then you have always thought of a Gondola as a long boat regularly seen in Venice. This didn’t involve Venice, or boats. Turns out that a Gondola can mean many things.

A traditional Venetian rowing boat.
A low flat-bottomed freight car with fixed sides but no roof.
The crew compartment that hangs underneath an airship.
A fully enclosed ski lift, in which skiers remove skis and stand or sit.

Turns out that our Gondola was the last option, albeit without skis, skiers or even snow for that matter.

(Picture: Aidan admiring the view)

(Picture: Aforementioned view)

Knowing that Auld Midder would be enjoying the thought of this so much I thought I had better let her know what the view is like hanging out of a Gondola heading up the side of a mountain.

(Picture: Tis a very pretty view)

Sky Swing

Once you get to the top one of the first things you see is the “Sky Swing”. This is basically a big horizontal bungee cage that is twanged out over the side of a 50m drop at 120km/h. No thank you. If I wanted to see what I had eaten the night before I would have taken a photo of it.

(Picture: That blob is two people travelling very fast)

Da Luge

Apparently this is the first place in the world that this has been done. Whit da hell is a luge? It’s a sledge, a toboggan with wheels and bloody good fun. Hurlies without the pram wheels. About 5km of concrete track is sprawled down the hillside and you race down it. Simple.

Shetland Islands Council take note. You want to give the kids something to do and increase tourism? This is the way to do it. Staney Hill for da toon and Compass Head and Fitful Head for da Ness.

(Picture: And they’re off!)

(Picture: Small blip in middle of pic is Aidan)

They even have screens showing pics of them half way down the track. (Picture: Aidan showing no fear)

(Picture: Poihipi takes the lead)

(Picture: Aidan not enjoying himself in the slightest)

At this point I am sure that Midder is wondering how they manage to get all the way back to the top again. Surely not in that peculiar Gondola contraption again? Nope. They use a device similar to a claes line but for people instead.

(Picture: What goes down must come up. Can you spot the red ganzie waving?)

(Picture: Ah yep, there they are. The dangling duo)

(Picture: What goes up must come down)

(Picture: He never did pay much attention to signs)

Oh yeah, did I mention the view from up there?

(Picture: The view from up there)

After that we headed back down on the Gondolas again.

(Picture: The Gondola hanging to one side is Aidan & Poihipi)

(Picture: Don’t touch my effing camera!)

Then it was time to head back to Tauranga. On the way we stopped at the 3d Maze. Why anybody would purposefully put themselves in the position that they are lost is beyond me.

And that was day 2 in Rotorua. I will hopefully get the next post up a bit sooner. Tata.

25th October – Sunday in Rotorua

2009-11-01T16:19:00.001+13:00

Labour Day Weekend

It is Labour Day Weekend. The origins of this holiday are quite interesting. It arose due to the shift to a 8-hour working day. Now you work another 8-hours less because of it. How ironic is that? Not that I am complaining mind you, this means that I had Monday off as did all the kids, giving us a long weekend.

For this reason we decided to head to Rotorua on Sunday morning and stay the night. Aidan invited his friend Poihipi along for the trip and off we went.

(Picture: Rotorua here we are)

Coachman Motor Inn

First job was to find somewhere to stay the night. This didn’t take long as most of the Motels in Rotorua are all along the same road. We opted to stay at the Coachman Motor Inn. They had Sky, Free Wireless Internet, a spa and a fridge for the beer. What more do you need?

(Picture: Stolen from the web)

Paradise Valley Springs

After that we headed off to Paradise Valley Springs, a nature park with all sorts of critters and an abundance of trout.

It didn’t take Aidan long to find someone to share tales of his eating habits with.

(Picture: Long time no see bro!)

(Picture: They shared a joke or two)

(Picture: Aidan meets the deformed deer that grows other deer from its antlers)

The Ngongotaha stream passes through this place carrying with it thousands of freshwater trout. Aidan and Poihipi were mesmerised, imagining what they could do with a couple of nets and a fishing rod.

(Picture: Can a troot proot?)

Aidan and Poihipi stopped to take a swig from the Te Waireka spring. Used by early Maori inhabitants as a source of fresh water.

(Picture: Aidan and Poihipi)

(Picture: Some form of small yellow thing)

Tania started shouting something about a “Bee on the wall” or something like that. No idea what that had to do with this overgrown rat though?

(Picture: Overgrown rat that grows birds out its butt)

(Picture: Like a duck to water)

(Picture: Told Ryan I would post some chicks sometime)

(Picture: Or an old turkey)

(Picture: Hair today…)

(Picture: …gone tomorrow)

(Picture: There’s that little yellow thing again)

Once we had wandered around looking at all manner of little critters it was time to go and see the big critters.

(Picture: Big Critters)

Aidan seemed to get along with them quite well, managing to sit in close proximity and not be eaten by them.

Rainbow Springs & Kiwi Encounter

After that we headed off to Rainbow Springs for a look. Mental note to self. Paradise Valley Springs seems to have a greater variety of things to see than Rainbow Springs.

(Picture: A White Swan)

(Picture: A Kaka)

(Picture: Feeding the fishies)

(Picture: A muckle Troot!)

(Picture: Tuatara)

The Tuatara is a ‘living dinosaur’ having survived evolution for over 100 million years. They can live for up to 300 years old and can be without food for up to a year. Unlike Aidan.

(Picture: A stuffed Possum)

For those of you that were wondering what a Possum looks like after I failed to get a picture of the one outside the house. Cute critters ain’t they?

After being at Rainbow Springs we went next door to Kiwi Encounter where we were lucky enough to see a new-born baby Kiwi being hatched. We then watched a Kiwi scurrying around before leaving to head back to the Motel.

(Picture: The Spa)

Aidan and Poihipi had a great time in the Spa at the Motel, then we had some grub before heading to bed. That was Sunday…

19th October to 24th October – 5 Months in!

2009-10-28T09:42:00.001+13:00

Welcome once again. Here we are again, another week on. Today turns out to be 5 months since we landed at Auckland and here we are, both with jobs, Aidan at school and settling in quite well.

Black Monday

Monday. Which we will from this point on refer to as “Black Monday”. On Black Monday I went to work as usual. It was a hell of a long day though and I struggled to see light at the end of the tunnel. Perhaps my sub-conscious was trying to tell me something, pointing towards a sign that something was going on, something was WRONG.

I scraped and scrabbled my way through Black Monday and came to the end of the working day. As I made my way home nothing eventful happened, it was a normal trip home. Black Monday was nearing an end.

It was then that I saw the light at the end of the tunnel. Or more correctly I saw light at the end of the driveway. Huh? Where was this light coming from? Then it dawned on me, my sub-conscious had indeed been trying to tell me something. The bloody tree had only gone! Tree murderers had been during the day knowing I was powerless to defend the nice tree. I hadn’t even had a chance to find out its name. What I did know was that its bark was worse than its bite and it didn’t deserve the untimely trip to landfill heaven that it has had. Hopefully it will one day live again, reincarnated as a protected species where it can live out its full life.

I present to you – The last picture ever taken of “Da Tree”:-

The next few days were either uneventful or I was in such deep mourning that I have blocked them from my memory. I have no memories, no photos, nothing. Please bear with me as I drain the tears from my keyboard.

Clouds

On Thursday I was rudely awoken from my slumber with the announcement that I would have to come and look at the clouds. Errm? Excuse me? I have seen clouds before, indeed I make a note of looking at them regularly. Partly because I am sad and like to half-guess what type of weather is coming, partly because they can make a mediocre photo a good photo and partly because I know if I look at them during the day then there is less chance that someone will wake me at a god-awful hour to look at them.

As I dragged my still sleeping body through to the living room I was soon wondering if perhaps I was actually still asleep. The sky was filled with little spaceship globules that I can only describe as what I imagine the inside of a marshmallow would look like just as you introduce it to an open fire.

The photos don’t really do it justice.

(Pictures: Peculiar skies)

On Friday night we had a nice fiery sky. Unfortunately I had sunk one too many beers to drive to a suitable spot to get a decent picture of it.

(Picture: Fiery Sky fae da balcony)

Five months in

I have kept this update quite short as the next couple are going to be lengthy. This weekend means that we are officially 5 months in. We also had a long weekend as you will see in the upcoming posts from Rotorua.

Tata fer noo.

11th October to 18th October …

2009-10-18T16:16:00.001+13:00

Anidder week, anidder peerie update.

Piccies

On Sunday I went out for a little hurl and took a few pictures to make up for the lack of visual delights recently that you, the dedicated NotShetland readers, have been pining for.

I didn’t go far as we were expecting Aidan, Nan and Grampa to return at some point.

(Picture: That strange looking things are trees)

(Picture: Looking out over Waikareao Estuary)

(Picture: Looking out over Waikareao Estuary again)

(Picture: Motuopae Island – AKA Peach Island)

Sunday afternoon brought the return of the child, eager to get back to school after his boring time up in Russell. Actually that last sentence had no truth whatsoever apart from the return of the child…and it was Sunday. He wasn’t exactly eager to get back to school and he didn’t have a biring time in Russell. He had thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it by the sounds of things.

Monday was pretty uneventful. Got up, went to work, went home. This was the beginning of week 4 at the new place of employment. I am on a 4 week probationary period so this week could mean a lot.

The moment we have all been waiting for!

Tuesday evening brought with it the eggscrutiating eggsitement of the Grand Pickled Egg opening ceremony. Aidan and I were quite tentative as to whether our concoction would be edible.

(Picture: Aidan preparing the tasting session)

(Picture: The all-important “Sniff Test”)

(Picture: Taking great care to place them eggsactly right)

(Picture: The final product)

It has been a long 5 weeks or so waiting for the eggs to become ready for consumption. Unfortunately I have no pictures of the eating ceremony for you as they were just too damn delicious to stop and pick up the camera!

I think I can safely say that we were both delighted with the results and it is definitely something we will be trying again once we have eaten our way through these two jars.

Tuesday also brought a nice little surprise for Aidan. His whole class from Dunrossness Primary School had each taken the time to write him letters. He is going to have a lot of writing ahead of him to reply to them all.

Boom boom shake da room

Wednesday was also fairly uneventful – Apart from the 5.5 magnitude earthquake that shook the Bay of Plenty. We slept through it. As did most of the Bay of Plenty by the looks of things. It occurred at 2.55am and GNS Science reckoned that it could be felt across the central North Island. Or maybe not. It was centred 10km South West of Matata at a depth of 150km.

Shagged by a rare parrot

On Thursday I stumbled across a clip of Stephen Fry and zoologist Mark Carwardine in New Zealand searching for the Kakapo Parrot. Quite amusing!

Who turned out the lights?

On Friday I opened my eyes and for a short while thought I had not been eating enough carrots. My eyesight was failing me, until we realised that we had no power. Darkness. Was this a tsunami or an eruption or the “Big One” they keep mentioning? Nope. Turned out that the telegraph pole at the end of our road (that has been leaning at an odd angle for some time) finally toppled. Thankfully the hot water tank had enough heat for my shower.

This was also the end of week 4 at work. They haven’t sacked me yet so I shall presume that I passed the induction period.

On Saturday Tania and me were both working extra. Aidan and Caleb went to the swimming pool and then Caleb stayed the night at ours.

Sunday has been pretty uneventful as well – Lets see what next week brings.

- Oh yeah, one more thing. Tania wouldn’t let me take her photo. Silly girl.

Good night!

4th October to 10th October – Beggar all!

2009-10-10T21:12:00.001+13:00

Thought I would throw in a quick update even though I have nothing interesting to share.

Once again, I have failed to take any photographs this week so those of you that can not read will have to employ someone to dictate this to you. Then again, you won’t be able to read this so the last paragraph will be of no significance.

Like I said, this is a brief update, mere ramblings more than a delectation of indulgence and I would like to kick it off by mentioning the Harvest Moon. Did anybody see it? Apparently here we get it at a different time of year but the Full Moon this month was a big ‘un and could be attributed to the same Harvest Moon. Anyway, that was Sunday.

Monday – Tania got a job. Whoop whoop – well done Tania! She seems to be enjoying life back at work but I am a little concerned as to where this leaves me. I was getting used to having the doting little housewife to prepare everything for me. Will this now come to an end? Might I have to fend for myself again and try to figure out the difference between lemon and lavender washing up liquid? Time will tell.

This week we also had the coldest October day in 23 years (since records started) with a maximum temp of just 8c. A little further south from here, along the Napier to Taupo road, 600 people had to be rescued after being snowed in. We didn’t see so much as a flurry.

On Thursday we had another Tsunami warning. Looks like the Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Management had taken note of the criticism after the previous Tsunami warning and made sure that everybody knew of this one. Unfortunately, somebody along the lines had managed to get 40cm mixed up with 0.4cm or something suchlike. Needless to say, nobody noticed the impending doom that had been thrust upon us. Still, better to be safe than sorry. Aidan was out on a fishing boat when the warning came through so he would have been able to ride it out!

Aidan returns tomorrow and he is back to school on Monday. The holidays are over again and life might return to a semblance of normality once again for a short while.

Apart from that I can not think of anything even remotely exciting to share with you. Tania in her green fingered expeditions has seemingly decided that planting, watering, feeding and nurturing the seedlings is not enough. She has started talking to the plants now as well.

Yun is aa fur noo.

20th September to 3rd October – Two weeks of exciting updates!

2009-10-03T21:15:00.001+13:00

Why does it always rain on me? Or not…

Something that I have noticed is the lack of rain that we had been getting. We have over the past week or two been getting some much needed rain. For instance last month we didn’t see rain until the middle of the month.

(Picture: Graph explaining my last sentence or two)

Spring is here though. We have been getting daily highs of 19/20 degrees C up to 23 degrees C.

Working for a Living

What else? Oh yeah. Got a job. So how has that been going? Well, not too bad really. Seems like a decent enough bunch of folks to work with. First Day at Work – Met some old bat coming towards me on wrong side of road. Two lanes going one way, two lanes going the other way. She had to choose one of the lanes that wasn’t going her way didn’t she!!!

Anyway, managed to avoid her and made it into work on time. Was glad to see that free tea & coffee was in abundance at the new work. Not only that but also freshly ground coffee, Cappuccino, Latte, Mochaccino, Hot Chocolate as well as soup and a selection of things I can’t pronounce. All for Free!

Work Day 2 – First of many tests. Which I apparently did well at. I also found out that 50 CV’s were considered out of which they employed two people (including me).

Work Day 3 – More tests

Work Day 4 – One of the blokes at work organised a Hangi for lunch. No, this didn’t involve rope and less desirable members of staff. A Hangi is a traditional Maori method of cooking. Basically a big hole is dug in the ground, a bunch of rocks are thrown in and a large fire is lit. Once the rocks are sufficiently heated the grub is thrown in and covered with soil. This is then left for a few hours to cook. We had chicken, lamb, kumara and veg. It was bloody good.

Work Day 5 – First day on the phones. It is also Mufti day. The last Friday of each month is a jeans and ganzie day. No shirt or dress breeks required. Day 5 also means that it is Friday. Friday means it is the weekend! Woohoo. I have never really had a reason to say, “Thank christ it’s the weekend”, before now as all previous employment has involved at least an element of weekend work. Working Monday to Friday and getting the weekends off is a novelty in itself.

It’s the weekend!

This weekend also brought with it Nan & Grampa who were down to help gut the garden and take the boy back up to the Bay of Islands when they left.

This is always a joyous time for me as I can have intriguing in-depth conversations with Nan about such exciting things as provisioning Stena Stair Lifts and suchlike. This conversation came about after Tania and Nan were deciding whether a bed or a sofa-bed would be more suitable in the spare room along with some bookshelves. Nan proclaimed that we might have a decrepit old grandmother staying at some point who wouldn’t be able to climb over the end of the bed. I pointed out that if the decrepit old grandmother wasn’t able to get over the end of the bed then they wouldn’t be able to make it up the stairs either so the garage would have to suffice. Needless to say this comment went down incredibly well. Hence the stair-lift suggestion.

(Picture: Nan-mobile)

Morrinsville

On Saturday we took a hurl up/across to Morrinsville to meet a couple of Shetlander-types that Nan knows.

(Picture: On the road back from Morrinsville)

Emma & Davie were fine folk and even donated a few fresh eggs to us. A much needed beer was most appreciatively necked along with some scones before we headed back to Tauranga.

Save the trees!

Like I mentioned earlier some major gardening works have been taking place. I am considering employing Greenpeace to form a picket line around what is left of the foliage in the garden. A mix of Shetlander with no trees and lumberjack Kiwis results in perfectly fine foliage being cutback or even killed off entirely! Every day I returned from work the garden had taken a different shape. Stewart did a brilliant job of building a raised vegetable garden for Aidan though. I am currently campaigning to save one of the trees in the garden that is under threat of being chopped down as we speak.

Code Red!!

Yep, New Zealand went Code Red the other day as a result of the earthquake off Samoa. A Tsunami warning was issued for all coastal areas along with an element of confusion. The Rescue Helicopter was deployed along the Bay of Plenty coastline with a megaphone to tell people to get off the beaches and head for high ground. The local paper had huge black headlines warning of the impending doom that was about to strike. Buildings were evacuated, roads were closed. The 1m Tsunami when it hit was like a fairly calm day on da Wast Voe Sands. Still, it has prompted the various regions and official bods to speed up the current draft plan of what should happen when a real Tsunami strikes. The few Geordies living in NZ were left confused when the Toon Army didn’t materialise as hoped.

Nowt else to report

That is all for now. We had Heather, Stu, Carol & Graham over for grub one night this past week which was good. Aidan is having a great time up in Russell, my second week of work was fairly uneventful, they haven’t sacked me yet.

Be sure to tune in again for another exciting episode!

7th September to 19th September – Green Fingers

2009-09-19T17:25:00.001+12:00

Eegads. Been a while since the last update. So, what happened? Have you missed me?

09/09/09

We celebrated 09/09/09, did you? This is the last time that there will be a set of repeating, single-digit dates until January 1st, 2101. Be sure to tune into the blog for that event.

Monthly Pics

What else? I updated the picture a month blog over at Twabble for 2008. Will hopefully get the 2009 pics done and bring it up to date.

Facebook Diet

Looks like somebody has been listening to me. They have released Facebook Lite, doing away with all the nonsense that I complained about in my previous post.

Dusk Crab Hunting

Aidan went for a paddle at Fergusson Park and ended up coming back with a couple of crabs.

It was a nice night for it.

Wasp or Hornet?

Which is it?

(Picture: Waspy/Hornet thing)

I dunno. Either way I don’t want them building hooses near me! They have been blindly flying about no doubt wondering where their humble little abode has disappeared to. I shall be keeping a close eye on their comings and goings over the next few weeks.

Flutterbys

It is a little strange to see butterflies gliding through the sky rather than battling with an on-going wind. Loads of them about at the moment and some of them seem to be a lot bigger than what I am used to seeing.

Fitba

You may recall that Aidan took part in the Eastern Schools cluster and qualified to go through to the Western Bay of Plenty 7’s. Unfortunately Aidan spent a lot of the tournament on the subs bench, but, they won. Well done to all involved.

Beechgrove Garden

In other news this past week or two we have been planting things….and they are growing. You may remember the grass growing from the bird seeds? Not only that but Tania discovered that radishes have also been growing quite successfully from the same packet of bird seed.

In an endeavour to make more room for veggies I was instructed to chop down a couple of tree/bush things. No idea what they look like in the summer but they are gone now, along with a whole bunch of ferns that were taking up room. Before and after:

(Picture: Before)

(Picture: After)

Unfortunately, the NZ gardening tools don’t seem able to stand up to the might of a Ness Man’s strength.

(Picture: Totally forked)

Perhaps I could enter a new career path bending garden forks in a Uri Geller style. Although not as camp, or with such strange deceased friends. In fact nothing like him at all.

Apart from that, not much else has been happening. Everything moving along at a snail’s pace.

So that’s cheerio for noo. Hopefully I will have a more exciting installment next time. Oh yeah, got a job. Toodaloo.

31st August to 6th September – Spring!

2009-09-06T18:44:00.001+12:00

It’s officially Spring! No more Winter blues! What a terrible Winter it has been, several days I had to go without sun-cream!

Soccer 7’s

Speaking of which, Aidan had his Soccer 7’s and managed to get sun-burn. Playing in goals for the Year 5 Otumoetai Aces they managed to win the competition allowing them to go through to the next stage – The Western Bay of Plenty Sevens.

(Picture: Aidan’s Certificate next to another certificate for something)

(Picture: Aidan in action)

Breaking News

Breaking News Just In – Tauranga is sinking below sea level. At the same time Shetland has risen above sea level. A group of top scientists and geologists have been working around the clock to figure out why. A quick call from NZ Vanlines informed them about the container of boxes they dropped off in Tauranga. Yes, our stuff has arrived. It has possibly shifted the earths natural rotational axis but it has arrived.

You may recall from my last blog post I was contemplating having a night without sleep in an attempt to balance out my nocturnal behaviour. I did. Unfortunately for me the bloody artic with our boxes arrived the next morning. As there was no way the truck could even contemplate getting up the driveway we had to lug the boxes up manually. Not a very pleasant experience after a night of no sleep.

Anyway, we managed and the boxes were unpacked and we are now surrounded by the same clutter we left over 3 months ago.

Beach Bums

Saturday morning we spent over at the Mount beach, soaking up the rays and generally not doing very much. While we were there we took a wander around Moturiki Island (attached to the beach via a walk-way).

(Picture: A rather damp Aidan)

(Picture: INCOMING!)

(Picture: Where we were, from Moturiki Island)

Absolutely Pickled

Yep, got absolutely pickled on Saturday night. I didn’t, but my eggs did! The time came where the ceremony of the pickling of the eggs had to take place. The ingredients were brought together, the eggs came out of their shells and we all had a cracking time.

(Picture: An ‘egg’cited boy ova the moon. Eggstatic)

The Ingredients:

A couple of dozen unborn Chickens
A couple of bottles of white vinegar
A box of pickling spices
Some mint freshly picked from the garden
Beetroot Juice

(Part 1: Boil the buggers)

(Part 2: Remove from the horrible crunchy bits)

(Part 3: Boil up zee ‘erbs and vinegr’e)

(Part 4: Bung it all in jars)

You will notice from the above picture that there is a distinct difference between the two jars. This is where the beetroot juice comes in. One jar of plain pickled eggs and another being pickled eggs in beetroot juice. Eggsactly as planned.

(Part 5: Label the Plain Pickled eggs)

(Part 6: Label the Pickled Eggs in Beetroot)

(Part 7: Sit back and admire!)

The finished product, without even having to ‘shell’ out much cash. Stay tuned for an update in 3 to 4 weeks time as to how the taste-testing of this wonderful creation went. Sorry about the puns, I was only yolking.

Father’s Day

Sunday brought with it Fathers Day which was a little confusing. I sent my father a card 2 or 3 months ago. Turns out that father’s day is wholly dependant on where you might actually be at that time of year. I did wonder if I could perhaps travel for a while and milk it for all its worth. Turns out you could have around 24 Fathers Days.

Aidan got me a computer chair (with arms to stop me falling out of it) for a bargain price. He also presented me with a card. On the outside it said, “Having a Dad like you has made me what I am today”, followed by, “…part of a very strange family!” on the inside along with a picture of Uncle Glyn.

(Picture: Happy Feider’s Day)

The plan for Sunday was to pick up Caleb and go and take part in the grand opening of the new harbour bridge. They have been doubling the width of it since last October or so. Unfortunately the queue was going to be intolerable so we spent the day doing what we had planned for the second part of the day.

The All Black’s Roadshow

The All Blacks were in Tauranga with their roadshow. First up Aidan had a shot at the ‘Score a try’ run. This involved being attached to a bungee cord and running as fast as you could to reach the try line. Aidan achieved 16 points. 5 for each attempt and 1 point for a try.

(Picture: Aidan testing the strength of the bungee cord)

(Picture: The bungee cord won)

After that we wandered off to hound some All Blacks bloke for his autograph. Turned out he was Wayne “Buck” Shelford, Captain of the All Blacks between 1987 and 1990, during which time they never lost a game. Aidan got the poor man to autograph his Shetland shirt as well as a photo. This more than likely makes Aidan the first person in the world to have a Shetland shirt signed by a former All Black.

(Picture: Aidan with All Blacks bloke)

Once that mission was completed, more signatures were needed. I am not entirely sure if it was Aidan or Tania that was more interested in getting the signatures but nevertheless off they went.

(Picture: Aidan receiving autographs from some All Blacks blokes)

In addition to the autograph Aidan received from Wayne “Buck” Shelford, he also managed to persuade Richie McCaw (current All Blacks Captain) and Tanerau Latimer to sign their names away.

(Picture: Aidan with former & current All Blacks Captains)

They were handing out free Rugby Balls. That is free if you were a Mastercard holder. If you are fortunate enough to have rid yourselves from the shackles of such a firm then you didn’t get one. Mastercard being one of the major sponsors of the event, you would think that they might like to give a little to those that don’t have. Whoops, forgot that they are a multinational finance firm. Little chance of getting a little something for nothing from them. Another reason not to get a Mastercard then!

That’s pretty much the roundup for this week. Nothing else to report bar me looking like a lobster after today’s events.

(Picture: Before the sun-burn set in)

Toodaloo da noo.

21st August to 30th August – 3 Months In

2009-08-30T21:00:00.001+12:00

Here we are again, time to update the blog. What is time? How can a day go slowly for one person and quickly for the next? Since we got out here the days have been flying past, barely giving us time to think. My sleep patterns seem to have resumed to their normal up all night scenarios. I am planning to avoid bed perhaps tonight or tomorrow night to see if I can’t get the pattern to alter and allow me a more normal routine.

Night Photography

Anyways, what have we been up to this week? I have been trying my hand at night time photography again. Aidan and I went for a hurl last Friday night and took a few pics. I will really need to go out some night myself so I have more time and less distractions though.

(Picture: Mount Maunganui looking South)

(Picture: Chapel Street bridge)

Road Trip

On Saturday we went for a 252km round trip to Whangamata. Some brilliant scenery and amazing winding roads although there is not an abundance of places to stop and take piccies.

(Picture: Tauranga to Whangamata and back)

We travelled up the east coast and then drove over towards Thames for the return journey.

Aidan picked up an uninvited guest on route to Whangamata. A bee landed on his upper arm causing him to freeze. I have never seen him stand so still or quiet in my life!

(Picture: Aidan ‘bee’ing quiet!)

The bee decided not to hang around for long though, leaving Aidan to resume his normal noisy, active life. I did manage to get him to stand still long enough for the photo below.

(Picture: Aidan, standing still)

Upon arrival at Whangamata we stopped off briefly at the beach for yet another nice view.

(Picture: Whangamata Beach)

On the way back we stopped off at the Karangahake Gorge for a quick look.

(Picture: Ohinemuri River)

We are planning to go back there to spend a bit more time and explore the old railway tunnels and things. Aidan didn’t seem to sure about the suspension bridges we had to walk over after he read the sign - “No more than 10 persons at any one time”. In an attempt to reassure him I bounced up and down which resulted in having the opposite effect.

(Picture: Aidan seeing if the bridge could hold his weight)

After that we took a detour through Omokoroa (so the trip would have been more than the 252km’s I mentioned earlier). On reaching the end of the road we discovered the Omokoroa Boating Club which has a very familiar looking logo!

(Picture: Yet another OBC!)

So that was Saturday.

Rumble…BOOM!

The start of the week brought some brilliant thunder & lightning. I awoke to the sound of the thunder at about 0400. It can take a lot to wake me normally! Amazingly enough Tania and Aidan appeared to sleep through it. I have never heard thunder rumble on for so long. It was powerful enough to shake the house and the local paper reported peoples windows being shattered. The following night we got another couple of rumbles but nothing quite as dramatic as the previous night. Over 10,000 strikes were recorded over NZ with about 180 here in the Bay of Plenty. It managed to knock out the power to about 8500 homes although we weren’t affected.

There were more power-cuts in Mount Maunganui later in the week due to “high winds” ahem. Please take that with a pinch of salt as the highest gusts recorded at the Airport were 70km/h or 38knots or 43.5mph. Yep, you read that right, 2400 homes had their power disrupted due to a 38knot wind!

Catalogue of canine catastrophies

In other news it looks like dogs are having a hard time out here. My last update informed you of the barbecued pooch. Since then a man has shot his dog over a dispute with Whangarei District Council. The man attempted to register his dog with the council three times but refused to supply his date of birth as he regarded it an invasion of privacy. When the council didn’t back down, he shot his dog, stuffed it in an empty dog biscuit bag and dropped it off at the council HQ. Man’s best friend?

Grumpy Old Git rant

My rant this week is all down to Facebook. I currently get emailed any updates and as they were mounting again I thought I had better log in and clear out all the shite. For those of you that don’t know, Facebook has a number of ‘Apps’ that people can invite you to take part in. These range from one or two useful ones to a billion or two that are a complete waste of time. As I hadn’t logged in for 4 or 5 weeks I had over 100 of these invites and suggestions and suchlike. I do not care to be kidnapped by anybody nor do I want to join their vampire club. Thank you for your offer of a virtual drink but what exactly am I supposed to do with it? Virtually drink it and get virtually drunk. Perhaps I should stop by the hospital after partaking in so many virtual drinks and ask them politely if they will virtually pump my stomach.

The thing that got my blood pressure to rise enough to make me rant about this subject was when I got an invite to, “When will you get pregnant?”. Now excuse me but I can’t see that happening anytime in the near future can you?

I am seriously considering registering www.facebookwithoutalltheshite.com and campaigning for Facebook to have a simple button, like a light switch, that lets you turn off all the crap and use the website for what was originally intended and what it could be very good at. Keeping in touch with colleagues and friends. So please support FWATS today by not sending me shite!

Rant over…for now.

Fizzy Eggs & Pickled Bru

Irn Bru and Pickled Eggs don’t exist. At least they don’t here. I have still been fruitless in my search for pickled eggs on these shores. They just don’t seem to sell them. It is for this reason that I have taken it upon myself to attempt my very own pickled eggs. Stay tuned to find for the next update to find out how “Pooks’ Pickled Eggs” turned out!

Three Month Holiday

I guess that this is us now officially at our 3 month mark. That means that I have now been unemployed for 1/4 of the year. I had an interview earlier in the week which turned out to be a little strange. As soon as I arrived at the hotel where the interviews were being held, alarm bells started ringing in my head. Nevertheless I went through with the interview and the interviewer commented on how he could see that I was a smart person. Well, Rod, yes I am. I was smart enough to go home and do a little digging on the company. Every report I read said to run, run as far as you can. The whole employment is basically a Multi Level Marketing/Pyramid Scheme where you end up earning nothing and working every hour of the day for it. Normally I wouldn’t mention company names on here but in this case I am going to make an exception. Purely down to the fact that they are the most ethically repulsive company I have come across. So to anybody considering Combined Insurance as a future employer, I suggest you do a little googling first.

Smish, smash he was making a dash

That pretty much rounds up my news for this week. Nothing much else to report apart from the usual breakages that occur. Aidan managed to shove Eggy (my egg cup) off a teetering precipice the other night, murdering him in the process. I do have another, matching, egg cup. Eggy 2. Nobody seems to care that Eggy 2 will now be quite lonely in the dark cupboard all by himself though. Tania smashed another Pyrex dish (Un-named) tonight, I am beginning to think that it is a ploy to make room for all the crap that is being shipped out.

That is all for now, I am off to perfect my recipe for Pickled Eggs. Tata.

15th August to 20th August – Backyard Beasts

2009-08-20T12:08:00.001+12:00

Thought it was time I gave another little update. I am doing my best to not leave it too long between posts.

Aaargh, writers block! Where do I start when very little has happened? Do I mention the pet dog that a family barbecued the other day, rant about the stupid power plugs out here or rant about driving again?

Better start with the dog story, yes? Headline news the other day that a family had barbecued their pet dog. They spit roasted the pet named “Ripper” and then invited the neighbours around for a nibble. They apparently put the whole dog on to burn away the fur and char the skin before taking it off the barbecue to gut and skin it. It was the excess smoke produced in this process that caused the Fire Brigade to be called to the scene, which, in turn, caused the SPCA to be called. The SPCA investigated and as the dog had been humanely killed (by striking it to the head and then slitting its throat and bleeding it), they couldn’t prosecute in any way. According to the SPCA Chief Executive, “backyard dog barbecues were becoming more common”. I’ll save the hotdog jokes for another time.

(Picture: Stolen from somewhere)

Power plugs. Useless. Doesn’t matter whether they are of the two-pronged or three-pronged variety. They are useless flimsy things. Usually a UK plug will under no circumstances have bent pins. Half of the time here you have to bend the pins to get them to fit in the socket! Now, perhaps I am being slightly biased. My first encounter with Mr N.Z Plug was when Aidan was nearly two and got electrocuted by him. It certainly isn’t reassuring when you plug something in and watch the flashes of electricity occurring.

(Picture: UK v NZ)

So where exactly has this latest little outburst come from? Well, to avoid the pit of snake cables that inevitably occur as soon as you have more than one cable trailing somewhere I decided to tidy up the cables behind the computer desk. Everything is very neat now with speaker wires, power cables, USB leads etc etc all hidden out of sight. I have mounted a 6-way power block to the back of the desk and routed all plugs to it. But. Harrumph. Due to the stupid design of these things, the power adapter for the external hard drive has a tendency to work its way out of the socket. Redesign called for!

Next rant.

Cars, driving, stupidly. For some reason people seem to think that fog lights are a requirement here whether it be rain, wind or sunshine. I haven’t actually encountered any NZ fog yet so time will tell as to whether they use them in such circumstances or not. I haven’t looked into too much detail to see whether it is illegal as it is in the UK to use them outside times of low visibility. Surely it is? Maybe not. At least somebody is listening to me. Yep, the AA has brought up the ridiculousness of the right-hand rule again. A survey has revealed that 20% of drivers don’t even pay attention to it. The rule was brought in from Melbourne where it was used to help the tram system. I haven’t seen any trams around here yet. Australia did away with the rule in 1993, leaving New Zealand as the only place in the world to use such a rule. They reckon that banishing it will reduce intersection crashes (2560 crashes a year) by 7%. I quote, "In most cases he who is bravest goes first and gets across."

I think that is the end of my grumpy old git persona for today.

Neil gave me a call the other day to see if I would take a look at his computer which was struggling a bit. We all popped along and pizza was ordered for those that wanted it. I stuck to the beer, wine and garlic bread. We might be meeting up this weekend or the next to go for a wander in the countryside somewhere.

The grass in the garden is struggling to grow where Aidan has been playing football/rugby etc. He is under instruction to stay off it in the meantime. With Aidan’s help we have spread a bag of grass seed over the affected area in the hope it will regenerate a little. I have bought some other stuff to put down once the seed takes hold. Failing that we might just need to buy another bag of bird seed which seems to still be thriving.

(Picture: Bird (seed) Garden)

Speaking of which, Tania and Aidan have been very green-fingered lately. No, it isn’t due to bogey extraction procedures. They actually planted some stuff…and it hasn’t died yet! We now have strawberries, chives, rosemary, parsley, mint and things growing in the garden.

The noise created by this pair don’t seem to have distracted the bugs though. Mr Spider came out to play for a while the other day.

(Picture: A spider came and sat down beside her)

Our friendly Praying Mantises (Manti? Manties? Mantids?) have been paying a visit these past few days as well.

(Picture: Holy Bug!)

A strange cocoon resulted in some extra investigation however. We were expecting a butterfly or moth to emerge but when a caterpillar-like critter popped its head out we were slightly confused. Turns out it appears to be Liothula Omnivora otherwise known as the Common Bag Moth. The Latin name gives it away as something that likes to eat your whole plantation and needless to say it is now living in a box as a pet of Aidan’s.

(Picture: Common Bag Moth devouring the plants)

Turns out that it is only the male of the species that takes flight. The female lives in its bag/cocoon its whole life. Funnily enough while I was writing this, ‘Bugs’ by Pearl Jam came on the stereo. Listen below.

Not all of the critters in the garden have been multi-legged beasts. Tania spotted this two-legged multi-coloured fellow in the tree out the back.

(Picture: Colourful dude)

Another nice sunny day the other day so we took a run over to the Mount. We didn’t stay too long but long enough for me to take a couple of snaps. Slightly different angle this time.

(Picture: Mount Maunganui…again)

Although I have been signed up to the curse that is Twitter for some time I have been avoiding using it. Something just doesn’t appeal to me about it. You tend to get a strange stalker sensation when using it. Anyway, I have succumbed and started using it for this blog. So anybody that tweets, twitters or twittles can now follow me and get notified when the blog updates.

Dat wid be aa’ fur noo.

6th August to 14th August – Jeez has it been that long?

2009-08-15T00:36:00.001+12:00

I knew I hadn’t updated for a little while but I didn’t realise it had been quite so long.

So, what’s been happening? We had Wade staying last Friday night. We met up with him and Carol and Graham for lunch and a beer which was fine, followed by a roast and a bottle of vino at night. Tania had a job interview which seemed to go well, unfortunately she hasn’t heard back from them yet though.

On Saturday we went to the Classic Flyers exhibition at Tauranga Airport. Quite a collection they have on display, well worth visiting. Even the cafe was appropriately named – “Avgas Cafe”. Aidan seemed to enjoy it.

(Picture: “No Aidan not the red button!!!”)

(Picture: Too late…EJECT EJECT)

There was even a whole display dedicated to ‘Robertson Air Service Ltd’.

(Picture: Robertson Air Service – The Tiger Moth era)

(Picture: “Take ‘em out young Robertson!”)

(Picture: ‘Peerie Toots’ and ‘Little Toot’)

(Picture: Aidan taking FU910 out for a hurl)

Entry gets you to see both the Aviation Museum and the Military Museum. The Military Museum is the result of a collection from one man, a chap called Andy Moreland. The quantity of exhibits is simply astonishing and highly unbelievable that one man has managed to gather it all together.

(Picture: Another hangar full of exhibits)

(Picture: The M*A*S*H chopper being towed out for a run)

That was Saturday. What else has happened?

You may recall in an earlier post about our trundle over to Rotorua where we passed through State Highway 36 which I described as, “almost off-road/quarry driving”. Turns out I was right, they had a rockfall the other day sending a car off the road and crushing another.

(Picture: Squished car on SH36)

(Picture: Showing both cars)

Miraculously all occupants of the vehicles survived. Needless to say they have closed the road in the meantime until they get it all cleared up and check for other possible rockfalls/land slips.

I hope you all enjoyed the Perseids this year. Unfortunately in the Southern Hemisphere they never really appear above the horizon but there is still a chance you might see them when they are at their peak. Aidan & I set off on a journey to find a prime viewing spot…just in case. Needless to say, the sky was completely covered in cloud. Not a star to be seen. Just as we were about to drive off again, Aidan suddenly burst into life! He had seen something! As we scoped the horizon for this streaking light to reappear, our hearts beating fast and beads of sweat coagulating around our eyebrows it happened! The beam of light, peering through the clouds, emanating brightly from the lighthouse it had set off from. Never mind, always another year.

Still tracking our container on the good old internet. We got slightly concerned when the Hyundai Brave left Singapore and started heading back northwards. Turns out the container was offloaded in Singapore and loaded onto the ‘Kota Permata’ for shipment to Auckland. It left Brisbane yesterday and as far as we are aware hasn’t sunk yet.

(Picture: The ‘Kota Permata’ hopefully still afloat)

Yesterday was an interesting day. Parent/Teacher day at the school. Lets just say that Aidan has promised things will improve! Not only that but it was Lefthanders day! Did you celebrate? Did you take notice of all the objects around you that make life difficult for lefthanders? Bread Knives, Tin Openers, Vegetable Peelers, Notepads, Rulers, Golf Clubs, Tape Measures, Stanley Knives, Pencil Sharpeners, Keyboards, Bank Pens, Cheque Books, Buttons on TV’s, Microwaves, goddammit even Boomerangs. The list goes on and on. To finish the day off we headed to a ‘Shetland Night’ in town. Kind of weird being in the middle of New Zealand and walking into a hall to find Shetland Flags strewn around and the majority of people wearing Fair Isle ganzies! One of the speakers was Linda Brown (nee Mouat o’ Clumlie) who did a good job of explaining Up Helly Aa to the non-shetlanders in her Jarl Squad outfit. Aidan spent most of the night playing with her boy, in between demolishing the Tottie Soup and Reestit Mutton on offer. Aidan was chuffed to see a picture of himself in one of the touristy brochures that were lying around for people to read. Thoroughly enjoyed it and thanks to Ruth for bringing it to my attention.

The weather this week has been pretty sub-standard. Weather warnings have been issued for this weekend with heavy rain forecast. There has been 22mm of rain in the past 12 hours with up to 120mm forecast for the next 24 hours. This is quite good though. It has given me time to play around a little with piccy taking in the house. :)

(Picture: Self portrait, self lit, self clicked, self posed, selflife expired)

(Picture: Aidan in a similar light)

After those exciting photos we took it upon ourselves to make a mess in the kitchen. The following pics were taken under extreme studio conditions.

Quite chuffed with how these have come out. Never really attempted any sort of abstract photos before now but one of the pics from this venture has made it onto my desktop wallpaper. What? Oh, you want to know the extreme studio conditions? It involved me, a tripod, a dimly lit kitchen, two metal bowls, a sink, and Aidan standing on the bench with his juice bottle squirting it towards one of the bowls of water. A little bit of timing, a little bit of luck and a handful of photos I am happy with. Aidan enjoyed it so much he wants to do it again so that can’t be a bad thing.

Not much else to report at the moment. Got a phone-call from a chap that interviewed me for a job to let me know that I had not been successful on this occasion (I am beginning to hate that sentence). He also apologised for not letting me know before now but there had been a spot of confusion over who was going to inform me. Each person thinking the other was going to do it. He did go on to say that out of 168 applicants for the job I had taken 2nd place. So either he was lying or I didn’t do that badly at the interview.

To round it off with a little bit of good news, Aidan has been chosen to play for his school/class in the Annual Soccer 7’s Tournament on the 1st of September. They recommend shin pads and a mouth guard. Dunno about that malarky. Shin pads fair enough but a mouth guard? Isn’t that what teeth are for?

Will let you know how he got on nearer the time.

29th July to 5th August – Wade, Weather & Wasps

2009-08-05T22:12:00.001+12:00

Time for another little update.

So what’s new? Again, not a lot. Still getting used to the helpfulness of people out here. The ‘Can I help you?’, ‘Have a nice day’ attitude can be grating at times but I am getting used to it. In the supermarkets they nearly always pack your bags for you. If no-one is available to help then they apologise profusely and suggest that you should be getting paid for packing your own bags. Petrol stations are much the same. Petrol attendants will come scurrying over to help you fill the tank. The pumps have a function that allows you to put in how much fuel you want and seeing as the amount is always rounded up or down then you may as well get 4 cents free fuel every time you fill up!

The price of lamb is still causing me some distraught. Living in a place that has the most lambs per head of population in the world you would think it would be cheap. It’s not. Why is it that you can find NZ lamb in the Co-op Supermarket in Lerwick comparatively cheap yet you can’t in NZ? Why is Shetland exporting its lamb to Spain and suchlike and importing lamb anyway? Why is NZ exporting that much that it is keeping the price high in its own country? Grrr, world commodities, imports/exports, blah de blah. Think of the carbon footprint of that poor yowe bleating away at you next time you see it.

Anyway, on to my next rant…the weather…again. Apparently we have had a terrible cold Winter out here. I almost sprooted my coffee all over the screen when I read those headlines.

Yes, I will admit that we have had a few frosty mornings and it has been pretty cold some nights but…but…but most days seem to no less than 13 to 14 degrees C. we have had highs of 19 degrees in July. Hardly time to go out and buy a sledge is it? God help me come summer. I may need to invest in a hot-tub and run the motor in reverse, living in an icy cold tub for the summer months.

Tania is still doing a good job of breaking things. While she was repositioning Heathers car in the garage she managed to crack the passenger side mirror casing into four pieces. I have managed to glue it back together and inform Heather of the damage. Currently on the lookout for a replacement if anybody knows of any breaker yards in or around Tauranga. Not long after that she broke a plate. Then a roasting dish. She will probably break me now for posting this on here.

We had Wade staying with us on Friday night on his way back to Wellington from Auckland. He treated us to lunch and a beer on Saturday at the RSVP restaurant at Cherrywood which was bloody good. He might be staying with us again this weekend.

Speaking of Wellington, I am heading there at the end of January. To see AC/DC!!!!! Lowrie phoned the other night wondering if I fancied it. Looks like it could be their last ever world tour so it would be rude not to go. The lead singer is now 62 and not getting any younger. Needless to say I have been listening to a lot of AC/DC recently.

Aidan is being his usual self. I think he may be somewhat confused between football and rugby though. While out chucking the rugby ball back and forth he has a habit of heading it rather than catching it. He has got the throwing and catching pretty good now though. Speaking of which, I persuaded him to hit the wasps nest with a broom the other day! I didn’t think he actually would but there you go. Upon investigating the nest we found a wasp. Unsure whether it was dead, hibernating or had died from the shock of a broom handle coming at it with speed. Turned out we had three wasps nest. I removed the other two and crushed them. Hopefully it will deter the little buggers from coming back in the summer.

(Picture: Nasty buzzy stingy things homestead)

Aidan survived his attack on insect life and went out to do a spot of skateboarding down at the park.

(Picture: Skater Dude)

In an effort to encourage exercise and weight loss with a certain young fellow, I went out and bought a set of scales the other day. Not your ordinary run of the mill ones, but ones that let you know your fat content, water content and suchlike. Unfortunately this backfired on me a bit as it turns out I have put on weight. So Aidan and I are now embarking upon a weight reduction programme, noting our weights weekly and hopefully seeing a reduction in fat content.

We took a run down to Whakatane and Ohope today for a look. Saw lots of big birds hovering above but couldn’t do much on the photo-taking side as we were hurtling down the Highway doing a tonne at the time. I am going to have to return to the same area with some fresh roadkill and try to get some pictures sometime.

Another bit of good news came this week. We got word that our boxes are en-route to New Zealand and should arrive in Auckland on the 16th of this month. They are in a container aboard the ‘Hyundai Brave’ and after a bit of detective work I discovered that the ship left Kaohsiung, Taiwan yesterday. The ship is a new build (2008) 339m behemoth.

(Picture: The ‘Hyundai Brave’)

If you look closely you can see our container third from bottom, six along….

(Picture: New Zealand – Land of the Long, Pinky, Purpley, Splodgy Cloud)

That’s all folks!

Up to Day something (64?) – Big Update

2009-07-29T20:48:00.001+12:00

Once again I have neglected you poor readers who are obviously teetering on the edge of your seats awaiting another exciting notshetland update. Well here it is.

Over the past week or so since I last updated the blog a few things have crossed my mind that I think deserves commenting on. The first being Mobile Phones. Or rather, the use of Mobile Phones whilst driving.

In NZ you can still legally use a mobile phone while driving. I didn’t actually realise it was still legal to do so until I read about it in the newspaper. Since then there have been big debates about it and it looks as if the NZ government are going to implement a law banning the use of mobiles by the end of the year. One of the punishments being bandied about is to confiscate the perpetrators phone and then post it back to them, along with a fine. In this day and age where people cannot leave the house or function without their mobile to hand I can see how this could be very effective. A cunning way to make people think twice about using their phone whilst driving.

Also in the past week or two have been birthdays. Lots of them. Happy birthday, Euan, Emma and Me to name a few. Unfortunately my birthday celebrations had to be a subdued affair due to me having an interview the next day. Interview?!?! I hear you say. Yes an interview. It will be a week tomorrow since the interview and they said that I should hear back from them at the start of the week…not looking great. I haven’t got my hopes up too much as the total number of applicants was 168. Even to get as far as an interview is pretty good as far as I am concerned. Still waiting to hear back from a few more applications, so please everybody, cross your fingers, legs, ears or anything else you can cross.

On Saturday we took a hurl up to Waihi to show Aidan the gold mine.

(Picture: Aidan at Waihi)

(Picture: Aidan with some dude)

After that we went down to the park to have some lunch and let Aidan feed the ducks and little birdies.

(Picture: Little birdie full of bread)

(Picture: Aidan feeding da ducks)

Once we had finished scoffing, we headed towards Waihi Train Station, bought a return ticket to Waikino and hopped on the train to trundle along the Goldfields Railway.

(Picture: Wir train!)

We sat in the Open carriage EA3868 built in 1911 and admired the scenery as we were dragged along by the diesel-powered engine.

(Picture: Halfway between Waihi and Waikino)

The trip takes about 30mins each way with a turnaround of about 15mins in Waikino.

(Picture: The view from the carriage)

Saw some kind of hawk gliding overhead but, as usual, had the wrong lens on the camera. All in all I think a good day was had by all.

(Pictures: A happy Aidan trundling along the track)

On Sunday we went up to McLaren Falls to trek along a short bushwalk to see a waterfall.

(Picture: McLaren Falls waterfall)

We drove along and saw some kind of Cockatiel/Parrot/Budgie type things flying around which I couldn’t get a picture of due to me driving at the time. After that we went down to the waterfront so Aidan could feed some more ducks and things.

(Picture: Aidan with the Black Swans)

(Picture: A sole rower)

After all that we headed to Carol and Grahams where we had been invited for grub. Grub was good, beer was good and then it was home to get Aidan chucked into the bath before school the next day.

In other news, I have now uploaded the monthly 2006 photos to twabble.blogspot.com and have uploaded a few aircraft submissions to the CRCShetland website.

Day 53, 54 & 55 – Another week, another update

2009-07-20T21:00:00.001+12:00

As many of you have probably realised by now, my tipple of choice out here is known as Waikato Draught, it has a similar aroma and flavour to that of my favourite tipple back in Shetland – McEwan’s Export.

The other night I decided it was about time I found out some of the history regarding Waikato Draught. I am glad I did. Did you know that back in 1864, and I quote, “The God Father of Brewing in the Waikato, determined Scot Charles Innes arrives in New Zealand”. The man responsible for Waikato Draught turns out to be Scottish, McEwan’s Export is Scottish, can anybody see the link here?

Anyway, as I donned my monocle and studied the history a bit further I came across an astounding discovery. In 1899:-

“Charles Innes loses his life after mysteriously

drowning while bathing in one of his vats”

Now then, excuse me but can anybody think of a better way to die? :)

So, my favourite tipple out here is concocted from a Scottish Blokes bath water, nevertheless it tastes all right to me.

Tania and Aidan brought some gifts with them when they returned from Russell. Louise had been good enough to provide Tania with new placemats and coasters after she had shrunk the last ones. They feature Shetland Scenes which is nice. She also gave Aidan a Shetland book and Tania a picnic rug. The picnic rug turns out to have a lot of history,

“This pure New Zealand wool rug was made by Wellington Woollen Co. at Petrone.

It was to have been presented to the Queen Mother on a proposed visit to New Zealand in 1949. The visit was postponed because of Her Majesty’s ill health.

The Manufacturers’ Association decided to present the rug to Dr. Val Armstrong of N.Z.D.S.I.R because of the assistance and financial savings due to his advice.

Dr Armstrong was leaving to join the staff of the New Zealand Embassy in Washington DC, USA as Scientific Attaché”

Dr Val Armstrong was Tania’s grand-father.

On Saturday night we were invited over to Neil’s for tea and a few beers which was fine.

Today I finally managed to upload the last of the aircraft photos I have from Sumburgh Airport. This brings the photograph total to 201 planes and 103 helicopters from 19 countries.

I have been planning for a while now to expand on the website and allow contributions from other people to add to the list. Simple rules apply, the aircraft needs to be one that doesn’t already appear on the website and needs to be photographed at or around Sumburgh Airport. So if anybody has any old pics lying around they would like to contribute please head over to the CRCShetland Aircraft Photo Contribution page.

I have added a form to the website to make it easy to submit photographs for inclusion. I will hopefully be able to add more about the history of Sumburgh Airport as time goes on.

Cheers fer noo.

Up to Day 52 – Living in a Zoo

2009-07-17T21:14:00.001+12:00

The last few days of solitude were quite uneventful, Tania and Aidan have managed to trek back down from Russell arriving back on Monday night. The house is once again like a zoo!

The Russell Birdman Festival appeared to be a hit with Aidan. He attempted the Spaghetti eating competition thinking that it was an all-you-can-eat contest and not a how-quick-you-could-eat-one-bowl-and-then-put-it-on-your-head contest. He won the beach-comb competition though, earning himself some sweets and stuff. He also managed to catch a 4kg Porae while off fishing.

(Picture courtesy of Tania: Aidan swimming in Russell)

Stewart enjoyed his 60th birthday bash, even managing to survive the shock of Louise appearing out of the blue when she was supposed to be in Fair isle.

(Picture courtesy of Tania: Louise surprising Stewart)

While Aidan and Tania were away the little birdies seemed to make a return to the garden. The either liked my choice of music or they liked the relatively peaceful surroundings.

(Picture: A Silvereye pinching one of the berry-things off the bush)

Speaking of birdies, we have discovered what the first bag of birdfeed contained. After it having been scattered due to the breaking of the birdfeeder we now have a couple of growths of very healthy grass.

(Picture: The birdseed garden)

On Tuesday Lowrie ventured North to meet up with me for a couple of beers. It was good to catch up with him, we will hopefully have a bit more time next time.

On Wednesday Caleb came over to play for a bit with Aidan before Aidan had to go and get an injection in his forehead. At least, that’s what I told him. The response, “They canna dad…it’s bone!”, didn’t detract from the worried look on his face. He survived the Hep-B jab in the arm even though he reckoned they had to put the needle all the way in.

(Picture: The scene of the crime)

Thursday was spent pottering about town doing very little. Took a couple of snaps and that was about it.

(Picture: Aidan looking out from Memorial Park)

Today (Friday) we decided to head to Hamilton Zoo. It was very overcast and threatening to rain when we set off but after we passed over the Kaimai Range it soon brightened up. It was a fine day out to round of the School holidays. Aidan is back to school on Monday.

(Picture: Aidan in a grump)

(Picture: Baby Zebra)

(Picture: Aidan at teatime)

(Picture: Giraffe)

(Picture: Tigger)

(Picture: Rhaidanocerous)

After today I realised that home life is nothing like living in the Zoo. The Zoo is much quieter!

Day 43, 44, 45 & 46 – All alone still

2009-07-10T14:54:00.001+12:00

Spoke to Tania earlier and it looks like I am going to be home alone for a few more days. There is a pretty crappy forecast over the weekend with a sub-tropical storm predicted over the north of the country making driving conditions look pretty bad. You wouldn’t think it looking outside just now. I have the door wide open and the sun is shining.

So what can I tell you about the last few days? Very little really. Got a reply from one of my applications. Looks like the selection process for that post could carry on into August sometime.

Amazing what a few days peace and quiet can do around here. The little birdies are back in the garden again. They might attempt to eat from the new bird-feeder once again. Stewart and Aidan have apparently built a bird-table so we shall see if that attracts them.

Money. There’s a strange thing. Apart from having a lack of it, did you know that New Zealand doesn’t bother with anything less than 10 cents? The coins that are distributed are $2, $1, 50c, 20c and 10c. Anything below that gets rounded up or down. e.g. $9.97 would be rounded up to $10 and $9.94 would be rounded down to $9.90.

(Picture: 10c, 20c, 50c, $1)

Yesterday I took a run out and about in the car, picked up Aidan and Tania’s medical history from the doctors and took a couple of photos. I headed over to Fergusson Park for a look. Loads of people there enjoying the weather. I still haven’t got used to seeing people running around in shorts and t-shirts and queuing at an ice-cream van when it is the middle of Winter!

(Picture: Looking North-ish from Fergusson Park)

I was thinking it was about time I did a new Hollywood Poster for this Shetlink thread. For those of you that don’t know what this is about here is a little explanation. Somebody came up with the idea of what would Hollywood Posters look like if the films were made in Shetland. I have contributed quite a few now, and have uploaded them to my CRCShetland site. Just click on the ‘Next’ link to scroll through them. I will hopefully have descriptions up soon. My most recent poster was this one:-

(Picture: Back to the Foo Tour)

This features Elma Johnson, a prominent tour guide in Shetland, and refers to her appearance in a spoof documentary by John Shuttleworth called, ‘It’s nice up North’. In it she is shown to enjoy a tipple. The original title is of course Back to the Future.

So now you get the idea, any suggestions? It is either that or revive another, similar, thread - Shetland Magazines. The idea is the same but it is magazines rather than movies that have been produced in Shetland. My most recent creation for this was:-

(Picture: Penthoose)

This of course relates to the ‘Mens Mag’, Penthouse but looked at from a Shetland angle. So any ideas?

In other news, I have uploaded the 2005 monthly pics to twabble.blogspot.com

Tata fer noo.

Day 39, 40, 41, 42 – Eek, another 4 day post

2009-07-07T13:28:00.001+12:00

I think I am going to have to stop posting the day numbers as it is just confusing me and really has little bearing on what has been going on since we got here. We’ll see.

So, I suppose that there is loads of stuff to tell you since I last posted? Nope, not really.

As Aidan and I were leaving the garage the other day he let it slip that, ‘Mom had scraped the side of the garage door reversing out the other day.’ As I paused, had a rethink, did I hear correctly, ‘What?’ Upon stopping the car, getting out and then noticing the black mark on the bumper and a similar mark on the wall, I realised that I had indeed heard correctly. She kept that one bloody quiet!! No real damage done though, more a scuff than anything else.

Speaking of the car, we have done over 1000km since we got it and it is still running. That can’t be a bad sign. The mileage will have gone up quite a bit now as Tania and Aidan have driven off to Russell with it. Turns out that a tornado hit a little West of them earlier in the day when they were driving up.

This leaves me home alone for the week! Peace, quiet, silence, doors & windows opened without fear of spiders creeping in, telly to use as monitor and music to be played without headphones being a requirement!

I have been left a few tasks to complete while they are away which I think I am managing all by myself. Get rid of the rather large spider in the bathroom:-

Hoover – done, washing – done, tidy-up – done. Tania had informed me that, “Their should be enough for a white-wash”. What’s that then? I was of the understanding that a white-wash was something you did to a house that needed painting. Seemed a waste of time to separate out all these clothes when the machine has a thing called mixed load. A mixed load was exactly what I had, in it went.

On Sunday I decided to go for a little drive to scope out possible photo-taking opportunities when the weather improved. I ended up out at Te Puna, in between the showers the weather wasn’t too bad. The showers were heavy enough to put a car off the road I had been driving along. It paid off though, I found a spot that should be good for getting a better pic in the future.

(Picture: Mount Maunganui from Te Puna)

Nothing to report on the job front apart from some more people saying they have nothing going at the moment. My P45 along with my payslip turned up on Monday. You have to love the guys at my previous employment for their strange yet endearing sense of humour:-

(Picture: Sir Craig Robertson OBC BAR – Address deliberately obfuscated)

I am sure you are all concerned that I am eating correctly and looking after myself properly while the rest of the family are on a jaunt up north. To allay your fears I thought I would take a photograph of the culinary delight that I had for my tea last night. This is proper man food, none of your namby-pamby pasta or such-like nonsense. This is the culinary delight otherwise known as, “Wattie’s Big N’ Hearty Beef & Beer Soup with a side plate of Waikato Draught”.

(Picture: A meal fit for a King)

In other news, I have managed to get the monthly pics for 2004 uploaded over at www.twabble.blogspot.com

That’s all for now folks!

Day 35, 36, 37 & 38 – Whoa 4 days!

2009-07-02T18:22:00.001+12:00

So there have been a lack of updates this week. Mostly down to very little incidences of interest happening over the course of the week.

Aidan and I have been making paper planes like there is no tomorrow. He is going to have to get some practise in as there is a Paper Plane flying competition at the Annual Russell Birdman Festival when he is up visiting Stewart in the Bay of Islands.

Whilst conversing with Ryan on Skype the other day, I was reminded of an article which I read recently discussing how far we have come with technology in a relatively short period of time. 165 years ago, Samuel Morse dotted and dashed his way into the history books by transmitting a signal from one town to another. Now you can click on a link and seconds later be looking at and talking to somebody at the other side of the world. We truly do live in an amazing age when it comes down to technology. No doubt if somebody reads this in another 165 years time, they will laugh at how primitive everything was in 2009.

So what have we achieved with this modern technology that we possess? It enables us to talk shite to our colleagues and friends around the globe. It enables us to find out that they may have some derivative of swine flu with little chance of contracting it ourselves. It enables us to know that ‘home brew’ seems to be an effective combatant against the virus. Mainly, it allows us to keep in touch.

(Picture: Ryan nursing his illness)

(Picture: Swine Flu Bru!)

I am unsure if it is the wet weather that we have been having but my old git cynical side has been working overtime. One such subject that has caused me a mini-rant or two is the topic of School Fees.

You see, in New Zealand the government appears to be proud of the “free” schooling that it provides. However, the schools all request that you pay ‘School Donations’ or suchlike. Each school seems to use a different term but in general, ‘School Donations’ is the recommended usage. You do not have to pay it. It is entirely voluntary. We recently received an invoice for the school fees. Ahem, I mean ‘donations’. We are not entirely sure if it is for a term or for a year as it doesn’t say. It lists:-

GENERAL LEVY DONATION 1 CHILD	$45.00
TECHNOLOGY FEE	$15.00
TEXTBOOK FEE	$20.00
SWIMMING POOL LEVY	$5.00
Amount Owing:	$85.00

How can it be a voluntary payment when they end the statement with, ‘Amount Owing’? How can you possibly owe somebody a voluntary donation? Now, don’t get me wrong. I don’t have a problem with paying it. At the end of the day it is for the good of the school and my child that all parents contribute as much as they can. What does annoy me though is the sneaky attitude that most schools seem to go about receiving the ‘levy donations’. What is wrong with an open, honest request for payment? Not exactly providing an honest stance for the children to look up to are they?

This isn’t a direct dig at Otumoetai Primary by the way as all schools in NZ are guilty of it. Some of the schools in poorer areas are really struggling as the parents can’t afford to stump up the fees that are required for the day to day running of the facilities. A little more thought (perhaps a leaflet) explaining what your donation contributes to, the length that your donation lasts for and perhaps even a little time taken to ensure that the letter is addressed to the correct person (any idea who Miss Foffre is?) would go a long way.

I don’t know the solution and can’t even think of any decent alternative strategies that could be used but a bit more honesty from the government downwards wouldn’t go amiss.

Anyway, that’s the end of another little rant. It has been a lovely sunny day today. I have undertaken another little project. I decided to shake the cobwebs off an old blog of mine www.twabble.blogspot.com and use it to post a photograph each month. The plan is to pick out my favourite photo each month and post it to the blog. I have raked through my piccies and decided to start it in June 2003, following it up to the present day, June 2009 and then updating it each month thereafter.

The photos I upload will be in no way technically perfect and some months may have to be skipped due to a lack of photos. Some of the pictures will only have some sort of meaning to me while others may tell a story. So far I have uploaded 2003’s content and I hope to get more uploaded tonight. Keep an eye on www.twabble.blogspot.com for updates.

Took a couple of pics of the wasps nests today, so I might finally get around to removing them tonight.

Righty, better sign off for now, I’ve got to go and run Aidan to his School Disco tonight. Cheers.

Day 34 – Wet, wet, wet

2009-06-28T20:35:00.001+12:00

I forgot to mention in my last post that the weather has turned. Yep, the title of this post has nothing to do with the 80’s pop band. Friday, yesterday and today have proved to be quite damp. The forecast for the next week doesn’t look too pleasant either. That will teach me for gloating so much!

Still, for winter, I really can not complain. Now that we have cloud, the night time temperature has risen quite a bit. The rain that we are getting is of the straight down the way variety. No wind.

25mm of rain so far today and it is probably raining heavier now than it has at any other point today.

Not much else to report today, we were along the next-door neighbours for a coffee, gibber and cake earlier. Aidan seems to be getting along fine with her lass.

Onwards to more excitement tomorrow I am sure. Toodaloo fer noo.

Day 31, 32 & 33 – A month in

2009-06-28T12:20:00.001+12:00

So then, time flies when you are unemployed. I guess that this is officially us at our 1 month marker. We have managed to do quite a lot in this first month (although the blog might not reflect that very well) and we still have a lot more to do!

Tania and I made our way to the Mount the other day (25th June), another wonderfully sunny day. Walking to the summit for a look, I had forgotten just how nice the views are from up there.

(Picture: View from Mount Maunganui)

(Picture: Path leading down from the summit)

We also encountered some very friendly Fantails, either that or they were angry with us disturbing their peace.

(Picture: Friendly Fantail)

After a couple of Shags we headed back homewards.

(Picture: Pied Shag)

At the Mount I also recorded a little message for those peeps back home, reminding them just how terrible a New Zealand Winter is:-

Later that afternoon, Aidan and I went for a cycle to the Matua Saltmarsh again. This trip was cut short though when my handlebars came loose.

That night I bumped into Stewarts nephew, Neil (sp?) who succeeded in getting me very drunk. Needless to say, Friday was pretty much a non-event.

On Saturday, Aidan and I went into town for a few bits and pieces. Once again I encountered the bloody stupid Give Way rule that only appears to exist in New Zealand.

The rule pretty much amounts to:-

If you are turning left at an intersection, give way to vehicles coming towards you that are turning right.

This would be fine if it was a clear-cut rule. But it’s not. For instance only some people appear to adhere to it. Take the following example:-

Driving the blue-car, you need to give way to the red-truck. The New Zealand Road Code also informs you:-

Note: be aware of the traffic behind you. If you were in the blue car, vehicles travelling behind you may affect whether the truck can turn or not.

So you have to stop to give way to the truck but the vehicles behind you might carry on, therefore not allowing the truck to turn.

This is further clouded by the rule that you should always give way to the right:-

Yep, the red car has right of way in the above instance. These rules I would have no problem with if everybody stuck to them. Most people do not seem to care though and turn whenever they like, causing confusion and hesitation for all drivers.

The AA has a good article about this, highlighting the fact that there are 2560 intersection crashes a year in New Zealand and that this stupid rule could be contributing to many of them. Quote:

“This has been known in official circles for 10 years, but all efforts - by the Minister of Transport Safety, the Ministry of Transport, the Land Transport Agency, Police, local government, the Institution of Professional Engineers, Cyclists Advocates Network, Living Streets Aotearoa and the AA - to change the rule have been voted down by a Cabinet concerned it would be too hard for the public to cope with.”

So are the drivers that are ignoring this rule merely taking it into their own hands to change the driving laws? Are they all incomers to New Zealand that do not understand the rules?

Seeing as half the population seems to ignore the rules then I would vote that now is maybe the time to change them.

Rant Over.

Day 29 & 30 - Mount

2009-06-24T19:46:00.001+12:00

Another two days of sunshine. I have discovered that the Environment Bay of Plenty Website has a wonderful environmental monitoring network. Shows you the current wind/gusts as well as averages, historical data and rainfall information. Kind of strange when you look at the summary for the month and see how many days that there has been absolutely no rain. No wonder they charge for water here.

Yesterday Tania and I went for a stroll around the base track of the Mount. We realised that this is probably the first time that either of us have taken this route. Normally when on holiday we have trekked to the top. It is a nice leisurely walk around the base if you ignore the hundreds of other people that have the same idea.

(Picture: Taken from Mount Maunganui)

After that we went and had a cup of coffee with Heather before heading back homewards.

Glad to find out that da auld man received his Fathers Day Card. Lloyds TSB had flagged the payment for it as fraudulent and suspended my card!

It arrived in one piece though, a masterpiece if I say so myself.

Aidan discovered another wasp nest today hiding in one of the bushes (the wasp nest, not him), so it looks like I have two of the damned things to remove. They both appear to be empty or at least very dormant.

Haircut time again for Aidan, much to his disgust. Almost to the bone again!

To round off this boring couple of days, I’ll leave you with the Evolution of a Photographer that I discovered the other day:-

Evolution of a Photographer

Day 26, 27 & 28 – Rotorua, eggs & Tarawera

2009-06-22T20:42:00.001+12:00

Well, here we are, the weekend again.

Saturday was a fun, family day out. We set off to Rotorua to have a look at all the hot mud-pools and geysers. We took State Highway 36 from Tauranga to Rotorua (approx 1 hour drive) this turned out to be almost off-road/quarry driving at one stage as they are currently upgrading the road at The Mangorewa Gorge. When you drive into Rotorua you get a distinct smell of sulphur wafting through the air vents, prompting the inevitable, ‘Who farted?’ question.

We headed straight for Whakarewarewa to Te Puia, the New Zealand Māori Arts and Crafts Institute.

(Picture: Aidan at Te Puia)

Aidan hasn’t been here since he was 2 years old so he couldn’t remember much, if anything about the experience. The full name is Te Whakarewarewatangaoteopetauaawahiao. Yep none of us could pronounce it first time either. This apparently means, ‘The gathering place for the war parties of Wahiao’. What better place to spend your morning?

After walking around the first few mud-pools, Aidan contemplated for a moment before proclaiming that, “It smells like Nan’s egg sandwiches!”

“It smells like Nan’s egg sandwiches”

The largest geyser is known as Pohutu which can erupt up to 30 metres high.

There seems to be lots of spiders and their webs around these parts, much to Tania’s delight.

Before we left, Aidan stumbled across a mirror. Took a little while before we figured out it was actually a carving and not a mirror:-

Once we left Whakarewarewa we headed towards the Green and Blue lakes to have a picnic. Turned out that some boating thing was on at the lakes so we drove towards Lake Tarawera instead.

(Picture: The Blue Lake)

(Picture: Aidan paddling at Lake Tarawera – Mount tarawera in background)

After having our picnic and driving about for a bit we headed back towards Tauranga. This time we took State Highway 33 via Te Puke to avoid the roadworks. Tania and Aidan both fell asleep on the way back giving me peace and quiet!

Back in Tauranga just in time to watch the sun sinking below the horizon once again.

(Picture: Tauranga Harbour)

Sunday was a pretty quiet day. Spoke to the oldies on Skype for a bit and then Tania and Aidan went to Heather’s for tea and I went for a couple of pints at the local pubs.

Similarly, Monday was quiet as well. Aidan complained of a sore stomach in the morning which seemed to get miraculously better once he didn’t have to go to school. Did the whole job-hunting thing again and that has been about it.

Day 25 – Coffee, Ginger and Swine

2009-06-19T20:57:00.001+12:00

A frosty start to the day today. The park had a glimmering white sheen to it as did most of the roofs and cars when we got up today.

A nice warm cup of coffee was needed to get going. The first cup I made resulted in all the granules floating to the top. Immediately thinking that I had forgotten to boil the kettle, I automatically pushed the button to re-boil, poured the contents of the previous mug down the sink and proceeded to start again. Nay! The same happened again. I stirred and stirred and stirred some more with little progress. Those pesky granules would not dissipate into the steaming water. What had gone wrong? If it had been a new brand of NZ coffee I would have perused the instructions to find my fault, but no, it was Nescafe Instant; a tried and tested coffee with which I have had no problems before.

Calling Tania to my assistance, she noticed the coffee jar contained more material than previously, her immediate thoughts were that Aidan had filled the coffee receptacle with gravy granules. Had this been gravy that I had been attempting to make? After a puzzled look or two at the jar in question as if it were some undiscovered Amazonian frog, we realised that Aidan had indeed topped up the coffee jar. With coffee. Coffee destined for a percolator and not of the instant variety!

By the time I got my mug of coffee, the morning frost had thawed and the sun was rapidly warming the ground.

Once the panic of no morning coffee had passed we headed into town.

Another day with no clouds

I seem to be settling in quite well to New Zealand life, the people and the community. So much so that they have started erecting signs in my honour. I know, it came as a surprise to me as well.

Says it all really.

Not much else to report I am afraid. Still haven’t removed the wasp nest yet as I keep remembering about it around about this time of night when I can no longer be bothered with it. Expect an adrenaline-fuelled stinging post sometime soon.

Away for now to take my medication against the dreaded grice-flu……

Day 23 & 24

2009-06-18T19:49:00.001+12:00

Another two days of lovely weather. It has been down to near-freezing temps through the night but the daytime weather has been great.

Yesterday I thought it was about time I got out and about to take some photos. I set off in the car with no real plan of where to go. I started by heading out to the Mount for a couple of snaps.

(Picture: Mount Maunganui)

I then headed down the coast towards Te Puke (Great name for a toon!). Unfortunately it is pronounced Te Pookie, it would be good to be able to say, “I am going te puke”. Anyway, ended up at the Papamoa Hills Regional Park so I thought I would take a wander to the summit to see what the views are like. On the ascent I realised just how unfit I am. As I was striding at a 45 degree angle, sweat pishing from my glands, struggling to make any progress (yet quite determined and proud of my achievement thus far) a bloke went jogging past and wished me a good day!

Nevertheless it was worth it. The views were stunning. Me being me, I hadn’t checked the time of day nor the position of the sun, so it wasn’t exactly optimum conditions to be taking photos.

(Picture: View from Papamoa Hills,

looking towards Mount Maunganui)

(Picture: Looking East-ish)

As the day came to a close I thrashed Aidan at Monopoly before he went to bed.

The swine flu has hit Tauranga. Must remember to drink more whisky to keep it at bay.

This Winter weather isn’t doing me any good. Tania informed me this morning that my nose is peeling!

(Picture: There’s the car…again.)

After I picked Aidan up from school we went cycling to the Matua Saltmarsh. 21 Hectares of coastal wetland that the council have built a walkway around. We saw a Kingfisher flying past, Aidan nearly ran over some Pukeko’s and I got covered in mud. Once again I forgot to take the camera. Maybe tomorrow.

Tonight Aidan managed to drop a glass on the kitchen floor. I have never seen a glass shatter into so many bits before. I now have a cut on my hand. How will I ever survive?

Day 21 & 22

2009-06-16T14:37:00.007+12:00

Twas another fine couple of days in Kiwiland. Encountered some heavy showers today but nice and sunny in-between.

NEVER buy Wire Crimpers from The Warehouse. Absolute crap! They only cost $3 but really are about as much use as an electrolysis hair-removal product for somebody with alopecia.

Tuned in the radio stations in the new car last night. Took a while. Interesting fact for the day:- Did you know that New Zealand has more radio stations per head than any other nation? The wireless in the car allows for 18 FM presets and 6 AM presets. They are all full now! 91FM (Hauraki Radio) seems to play a good selection of tunes. Not that Tania likes any of them...

There have been lots of yellow triangles appearing in the middle of the road everywhere recently. I thought that they were planning some roadworks of some sort. Turns out it is where they are putting in blue catseyes. What are the blue catseyes for I hear you scream. They are so the firemen can find the nearest fire hydrant. Simple but effective. Talking of which, Otomoetai Intermediate School was set on fire on Sunday (the other side of the park from us). This is the school that Aidan would go to for year 7. Not a lot of damage due to the bloody loud alarm notifying the whole neighbourhood to the fire.

Today we did a spot of job-hunting before setting off to Waihi for a run to try out the car and scope the place out to see if it is worth taking Aidan some day. Looks like he would enjoy himself. On the way up we stopped off at Waihi Beach where my camera bag nearly ended up underwater, bloody waves! (Pictured: Waihi Beach)

Waihi is one of the gold-mining towns in NZ. It isn't until you see an aerial photo of the place that you realise the scale of the mine (which is in the middle of the town). From the tourist office you can see nothing but the old mining shaft building but if you take a walk up a few steps you can look right down into the mine (which is huu-uuge). We thought we could take Aidan but not tell him about the mine until he sees it. I might tell him to run up the steps so I can get a photo of him and then wait for the reaction. Crappy photo I know and doesn't really do it justice. Look at the size of the buildings at the top and the size of the diggers half way down and you get an idea of the scale of the thing. (Pictured: Da mine.)

Edit --> Just found a better pic on the web

(Martha's Gold Mine in Waihi)

That's pretty much it on the updates front. Oh yeah, killed a White-Tail Speeder-Deeder da night. Perhaps I should start counting the kills... :)

Day 18, 19 & 20

2009-06-14T15:32:00.005+12:00

Time for another update. Went out to the Mount for a hurl the other day. It rained non-stop the whole day, weather warnings and all sorts were issued. Didn't really get much else done worth noting.

Spoke to a lot of the family yesterday morning. Phoned Glyn first of all to wish him a happy birthday (hope doo had a good een). After that we got Skype fired up and managed to speak to Midder, Feider, Uncle R and Auntie K before Euan came on for a gibber. (Pictured: Midder & Feider on the telly!)
Lovely sunny t-shirt day again today. We got Terry to come and have a look at the car that we were planning on buying. He reckoned that it all checked out pretty good so we decided to go for it. Managed to get a couple of hundred dollars knocked off the asking price and we now have ourselves a car!! Heather has asked if we want to keep a hold of her car for a bit as they have a lack of parking anyway so we have two cars. (Pictured: The new Pooksmobile!)

Ain't she a beaut!

Now I need to get used to driving an automatic. It does make life easier at traffic lights and the like. Had a dream last night about an old woman in a mobility scooter playing chicken with me. Hopefully it wasn't some sort of premonition...

Day 16 & 17 - Tauranga

2009-06-11T16:13:00.004+12:00

Again, a double-post.

Yesterday it rained solid. Rain, rain and more rain. Today it is bright and dry. Tomorrow looks like it is going to be crappy again.

Tania's murderous streak continues. Yesterday she managed to make new coasters, I would indulge you in the nitty gritty details but I am not allowed to until she admits the misdemeanour to her mother...

...today she managed to kill the bird-feeder by dropping it over the balcony! Smoosh! What did it do to her? No-one knows. Like a wonderful 3D jigsaw, I managed to piece it back together again. The bits I could find at least. It will never hang happily swaying in the tree again but at least it can stand up by itself again.

Nothing much else to report at the moment. :(

Edit --> The next door neighbour has just been over for a couple of glasses of wine. She seems like a friendly soul and has a daughter about Aidan's age so we are going to try and get them together to see how the get on.

Day 15 - Tauranga

2009-06-09T21:40:00.002+12:00

I woke up this morning, Lucille was not in sight, probably down to the torrential rain shower blocking my vision. Yep, you heard me right, I can stop gloating for the meantime. The rain has come and it has hardly eased all day.

This is of course not your typical Shetland sideyways rain. This stuff comes straight down, only altering its path when it hits the ground and makes an effort to go back up the way again.

Aidans 'walking bus' was duly cancelled due to the weather today so I dropped him off this morning. Just realised it is the class photos tomorrow so I am going to have to go up early to pay for them.

The main task today has been job-hunting and car-hunting. No joy on the job front as yet but we may have a car lined up. We have told the wife that we are going to mull it over and get back to her.

Tania spotted what appears to be a Wasp nest up above the front door. That could explain where the wasp came from that was in the house on our first day or two of being here. As Tania is allergic to the little buggers, I guess it will be down to me to try and get rid of it. Having never been stung by a bee or a wasp then I don't know if I might die or not. My acute allergy to anything else that moves would suggest that I probably am. If there are no updates to the blog for a while then you can surmise that I am indeed allergic to stripy-yellow-stingy things.

Then again, they may have drowned by the time morning comes! Cheers.

Day 13 & 14 - Tauranga

2009-06-08T19:32:00.002+12:00

I've combined yesterday and today's events into one post as, well, not very much worth mentioning has happened.

Yesterday I noticed that there appear to be a lot of so-called, 'Power-walkers', here. What's that all about? Why not just jog? Most of these people look like their limbs are attached at opposite ends by some kind of peculiar pulley system. Bill & Ben hanging from a washing line in a storm force 10 would look less ridiculous. How come their legs and arms walk in different directions? I am considering making up a bunch of flyers to hand to them as they go past. Blank with a small note in the middle saying, "Just Jog!".

Yesterday was a beautiful sunny day again unlike today which has been overcast and drizzly for most of it. Found out today that the D-Day celebrations took place in Tauranga yesterday. Lots of old aircraft were about but I missed the photo-taking opportunity. Saw a couple of old planes in formation flight today but the camera was in the car and I wouldn't have had a chance to grab it in time.

I awoke this morning to find that Bert (my pet spider in the shower), who has happily been living there for the past few days has been murdered! Some of his legs were lying next to my shower gel whilst his poor lifeless body was lying motionless near the drain. The only people that could have committed this evil crime are Tania or Aidan. Neither are admitting to it! Short of fingerprinting I may never know the truth. Could Bert have committed suicide? Decided that life above a shower was no longer for him?

Tania went to the dentist to get her tooth pulled today. $150 dollars later she is one tooth less and in a lot of pain. Could this be the world harmonising after the death of Bert? Perhaps.

In happier news, we got a bird-feeder today. Very similar to Grandads, but as Aidan pointed out, it has 6 feeding points instead of 4. We have hung it from a tree next to the decking area. Time to wait and see what peculiar birds it attracts.

Signing off for now as Aidan has challenged me to a game of Risk. Cheerio.

Day 12 - Tauranga

2009-06-06T15:19:00.010+12:00

Clouds! - Woke up this morning to an overcast sky. Turned out to be not a bad day though. Some black clouds around but the sun has managed to break through most of the day.

Phoned around Midder, Feider and Bro's this morning to let them know that we are still alive.

Took Aidan to the Animal Park up past McLaren Falls today. He thoroughly enjoyed himself with all the emus, ostriches, rabbits, deer, pigs, llamas, peacocks, hens and other critters they had in the Park. When we spoke to the woman that works there he asked if he could take the boar home to be his brother! Turns out that she lived in the UK for 9 years working in IT. She packed it in and now works with animals. Says it all really.

After that we took Aidan to where my duck-friend resides to have a picnic. He had a great time feeding the ducks, hens and Black Swans.

My NZ driving license turned up today! I can get rid of the temporary one I have been using until now and use my NZ one.

On the way home we stopped by the supermarket to stock up the fridge/freezer. Still haven't got used to the lack of black pudding out here. I may have got the purchase of the year though....

....Deep Sea Cod for only 2 cents!!! Looks like they have weighed it wrong. :) (Picture: My 2 cents worth!)

Day 11 - Tauranga

2009-06-05T10:20:00.013+12:00

Another fine sunny day in Kiwiland.

Just checked with Google Earth to see how far me and Aidan walked the other day to get into town. The route we took was about 5 miles. Not bad for the peerie fellow considering he was wearing new shoes as weel.

The essy-kert men dropped aff wir bruck and recycle bins da day. $200-odd dollars a year for the privilege of dumping stuff. This whole recycling thing is a bit of a challenge. Luckily they have sent me three leaflets now (all the same), explaining what and how to recycle. Perhaps sending me just one leaflet would have been slightly better for the environment but never mind (I have since recycled the extra two).

Managed to get Skype fired up today, so any of you that want to get in touch, head over to Skype.com, download Skype and set up an account (free). Once you have done that you can click on the button below to add me to your list of contacts.

Went for a run to McLaren Falls today, just outside Tauranga (Picture: McLaren Falls). Always a good idea for someone to put up a sign to remind you that you could die if you jump off a bridge (Pictured).

After that, took a run up the road to the park nearby. One of the ducks seemed to take a liking for me. Followed me everywhere, I'm not sure if I had some crumbs stuck in my facial hair or ganzie or something. Contemplated roast duck for tea before deciding that I would maybe let the wee guy live to see another day (Picture: My little duck friend).

Really wishing I had more time at the moment to be out and about taking photos. Managed to get a few today but would rather have had a lot more time to snap away.

That's all for now, let's see what tomorrow brings. Toodaloo.

Day 10 - Tauranga

2009-06-04T09:35:00.005+12:00

Thursday 4th June - Day 10 already, it seems to have flown past. Looking like it is going to be yet another cracker of a day as well.

Took Aidan to join up with the 'Walking Bus' this morning. Every Tuesday and Thursday morning, the school kids can meet up to walk to school together. After they have completed 25 walks to school they get a certificate to say they have done it.

Realised that Aidan has a really short day compared to old Shetty. He starts at 9 has a morning and an afternoon break, an hour for lunch and finishes at 3!! Hardly worth going.

Had to go and look for school books for Aidan today, got him the book on birds as well. One of the birds I spotted was a Silver Eye, they seem to be frequent visitors to the garden.

(Picture: Tauranga Harbour today)

The Wireless router turned up at Bond & Bond today, so we went and picked it up. We popped along the AA as well because when we received our member cards they had printed them with Mr C Craig and Miss T Tania. The wifey had put our first names in to the surname box!

Speaking about maybe taking a run to Rotorua at the weekend but we might just go to the Mount instead. See what the weather is like first.

Day 9 - Tauranga

2009-06-03T18:04:00.004+12:00

Wednesday the 3rd of June - Dropped Aidan off at school this morning under strict orders to behave himself. We then went into town to get some more bits and pieces. I went along Telecom to find out how my broadband order was coming along. Turns out it should be switched on, the girl had forgotten to phone me. After that I went up to Bond & Bond to see if my wireless router had arrived. It might have but they got a big shipment in today so it could be buried. I am going to pop back along tomorrow to see if they have found it.

Tania was suffering from toothache so I dropped her at the dentist to try and make an appointment. They told her to come back this afternoon. No 6 month waiting list here! Turned out that it is going to cost a fortune though so that is maybe why.

We went to pick Aidan up from school and the teacher came out to tell us that he has been a totally different boy today. Very well behaved. Hurray!

Got home and decided it was probably about time I dug out the patio chairs from under the house. We also phoned the woman that is responsible for the 'Walking Bus' to school. Turns out that they do it on Tuesdays and Thursdays so Aidan is going to meet them tomorrow morning.

Just plugged the freebie router (not wireless) in. I have a 14 Meg connection!!!!!!!!!!! Slightly better than the 2 Meg I had at Scatness!! :)

Day 8 - Tauranga

2009-06-03T17:10:00.008+12:00

2nd of June - Aidan's first day at Otumoetai Primary School. We bid our farewells to Wade and Dan before running Aidan to school at about 0840 (Picture - Aidan in his new school uniform).

Managed to get a quick picture of Wade, Aidan and Dan before we left.

The day was spent sorting out bits and pieces about the house, I won't bother boring you with all the details.

I managed to take a few pics today of various birds about the garden. No idea what they might be so we have decided to get Aidan a NZ bird book. Will maybe post some pics once I find out what they are.

Turned out Aidan's first day at school didn't go brilliant, with him being rude to the teacher. New start tomorrow.

We also spotted a Preying Mantis in the garden (Pictured).

That night me and Aidan went down to the park to feed the ducks. We walked across the football pitch (totally hidden by trees, you wouldn't know it was there), and then wandered along a path through the woods and realised it joins up with a street over the other side of the hill. We also found a rugby field hidden in the woods.

Day 7 - Tauranga

2009-06-03T16:53:00.006+12:00

Monday 1st June - More fine weather, the tan is getting topped up nicely!

The morning started off with Aidan setting off up around the back of the house, only to discover that his new wellies were still tied together! He was stuck for a while due to the ensuing hilarity that followed.

Tania, Aidan, Wade and Dan set off to visit Tania's Nana only to be turned away when they got there due to an outbreak of a sickness bug.

While they were out I managed to catch me my first cockroach. I decided to keep it under a whisky tumbler until they got home. :)

A pretty lazy day today, I decided to go and meet some of the locals at the pub (Cruzaz Bar). Ended up playing pool and losing track of time. Just managed to make it home in time for tea. Roast Chicken with a nice bottle of red.

That night we were standing outside the garage when a possum appeared, sat on the driveway for a little bit staring at us, wondering what these odd Shetland critters were and then it toddled off down the drive as if it didn't have a care in the world. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera on me! :(

Day 6 - Tauranga

2009-06-03T16:20:00.007+12:00

Sunday 31st May - Aidan and myself took a stroll up to Cherrywood before deciding to walk towards town. We got some good views of Mount Maunganui on the way (Pictured).

Aidan had a slush ice-cream thing which turned his entire mouth, tongue and lips bright pink!

We ended up walking right into town (a GOOD distance), only to find out that no buses run on a Sunday! Ended up we had to get a taxi home again. The contract for the local buses is changing hands at the end of June and the new company are going to provide a Sunday service.

Back home, just in time for a beer or two.

Tania, Wade (her Uncle) and Dan (her Cousin) got back from Auckland at about 2300.

Day 5 - Tauranga

2009-06-03T09:48:00.010+12:00

Saturday 30th May - Today was mainly spent around the house and investigating the local area. Aidan was off down to the park first thing to get in some more skateboard practise. Later on, Aidan met in with a couple of the neighbours boys and spent a while playing football barefoot in the garden with them.

Each day, Aidan has been watering the lemon tree in the garden in his own unique way by urinating on it (thanks Nan!). I am just hoping that he hasn't overwatered it. (Picture: Aidan's lemon tree)

I took a walk up to Cherrywood (local shopping area) and then back down Otumoetai Road to see what there was. I was glad to find a dairy (corner shop), fish & chip shop/chinese takeaway and the local pub.

It was outside the pub that I got talking to a regular named Buggy who had recently lost his driving license. He had tried cycling for a few days before deciding, "Bugger that!". He had his pushbike modified somewhat to incorporate a 49cc engine (over 50cc you need a license). (Picture: Buggy's bike outside Cruzaz Bar)

It was at this point that I noticed the building next door to the local. Lo and behold, here is OBC!!!! What a great idea, my old workplace right next door to the pub! Unfortunately it turned out not to be. Him upstairs was just having a chuckle at my expense....

I decided to give the Otumoetai Baptist Church a miss and got me and Aidan some fish and chips for our tea. That night I finally got around to hooking the telly up to the trusty netbook.

Day 4 - Tauranga

2009-06-03T09:27:00.006+12:00

Friday 29th May - Guess what? Another lovely sunny day! Struggling to get used to this Winter weather. (Picture: View from the balcony/decking area)

Tania and Stewart headed off at 0630 to pick Louise up from Auckland Airport. They are staying in Auckland until Sunday for Tania's cousins wedding.

Aidan and myself were thus home alone for the weekend!! Had Tania lost the plot? ;)

We got the bus into town for a look around and to get some more bits and pieces we were needing for the house. I managed to pick up a nice Sigma 75-300mm lens from a second-hand shop for the equivalent of about £25. (Picture: Aidan in Tauranga City Centre)

Went back along Telecom to get signed up for broadband and then went to Bond & Bond for a wireless router.

We went to get Aidan some shoes for school from the Warehouse. Managed to get two pairs marked at $40 dollars each for $30 for both!

Once we got home it was time for Aidan to practise on the skateboard again. (Pictured).