Wahey... some pics... at last!

Sorry, we were in a bit of a rush yesterday... so forgotted too mention some other bits and bobs.

In all the tradition of Vietnam (as we're in NZ!!), we all decided we needed to have a birthday at the Lodge... So, Nao made a cake and Angie got her best decorating hat on and we all celebrated a hoooge birthday... each!!! It was tops!

We have also had many nights of chocolate fondue to celebrate various other... erm, well, made up things...

Our English classes are going really well, and there are now some crazy Japanese guys travelling around NZ saying 'Sweet Baby Jesus' and 'Brew up Lass'.... amongst other things :)

Max, the German loon, has some excellent catch phrases and would now fit into any role on Phoenix Nights! Hopefully, you'll all get to meet him as he will deffo be heading over to the UK to visit us at some point in the future.

there are finally some pics of life so far at the lodge.... click here
Laters :)

Lazy Days

... Well, we're still at the Endless Summer Lodge in Ahipara and our days basically consist of...
wake up, have brek, start work at 10 (which usually lasts about 1.5 hrs), have lunch, surf/relax/sunbath/stroll along the beach/read/have an afternoon bathe in the huge tub, afternoon tea (bitty Mr Hancock), shower, chill some more, dinner, drink, chill, play cards, supper, then retire to bed after a long hard day.... As you can imagine, we've ballooned!

However, inbetween our bouts of hard work we have managed to explore a few of the surrounding areas. We wandered up to Shipwreck Bay and took a stroll along the first part of Ninety-Mile beach, which were both gorgeous. We also took a drive to the KariKari peninsula and came across Matai Bay which is the most amazing place we've seen so far!

We've got loads of pics, but unfortunately the internet is still really expensive so we'll update ASAP.

Hope all is well in blighty!

TTFN,
M & T
xxx

Endless Summer....

Well, we've arrived at our next destination, the Endless Summer Lodge in Ahipara, and it is amazing! The Lodge itself is just beautiful, and we are right on the beach front!! We spent 2 nights in the van on the way up and they were fun (if not uncomfortable at times... especially when the air mattress sprang a leak! We managed to kind of fix it, but it meant that whenever one of us moved, the other was catapulted about 6 foot up in the air.... hmmm...)

Our first night was spent at the Kai iwi lakes, and we were the only campers there! We made a brew on a little beach area with our camping stove and watched the sun go down! It was fantastic! Once it got dark though, it was a tad scary... Friday the 13th kept springing to mind as we were parked by a big lake with nobody else around... but it was very exciting :)

We saw some amazing scenery en route too and followed the West Coast all the way to our current destination. The most amazing views were around every corner and we could go from a rolling English countryside view to a Canadian Rockies type view in literally 30 seconds! The most breathtaking place we saw though was Hokianga Harbour. We got out of the van and just couldn't believe it! There was sand, forest, lakes, crashing waves from the ocean, mountains, hills... its the first time a view quite literally took my breath away... maybe I'm getting old :)

Sorry, we cant put any pics on this entry (but the cafe we are at hasn't got very good facilities and it costs quite a lot too! Also, sorry for the slow response to emails... its for the same reason), but hopefully we'll be able to soon as we have some great ones!!

So, anyway, Ahipara... its a great place and we are enjoying our job- we are making beds and cleaning and stuff and for the first time in my life, I don't mind it.... still, it helps that it all only takes 2 hours and then we can chill and sit in the sun or go for a surf....

In fact, we went for our first surf yesterday!!!!! We both have the wetsuit chaffs to prove it too!! It was a lot more difficult than we both thought and the waves were really quite bad too... Trace couldn't get on the board and hated the waves coming at her... she said she had a near death experience.... and my board hit me in the head at one point when I stupidly tried to lift it above the wave... doh! Everything went very bright and suddenly I was being pulled along by my leg rope... lol, still, it taught me a valuable lesson..... never to surf again! Only kidding, I'm hoping to go again later. However, Trace may take a bit more convincing.

We've met lots of folk at the Lodge and we are helping a German guy called Max with his English... talk about the blind leading the blind... LOL, he'd reet fit in up north now tho I tell thee.

Anyhoo, we'll write more soon and hope all is well in Blighty.

Laters

M&T x

the first month comes to an end....

well, the first month has come to an end... we leave Piha bright and early on Tuesday morning and follow the east coast as best we can up to Ahipara and Endless Summer Lodge. En route we get to spend 2 nights in our lovely, newly furnished, van! We're both excited about spending some time in the van, but I reckon this will be pretty much short lived when we wake the next day aching all over and have no toast or TV :) nah, should be cool..........

we had a great week now that we're mobile and we have finally managed to get some of the stuff we wanted to do done! We headed off to Mount Eden (big volcano type thing with great views of Auckland).... the little black dots down the slopes are kids from a 'naughty' school sliding down....

we met a kiwi at the top who pointed us in the right direction for our next jaunt, which was One Tree Hill, which was so named because of its one tree... which is no longer there and has instead been replaced by an obelisk. Our new friend also advised us to visit Devonport, which is a quiet suburb of Auckland that you can either get a ferry across to or drive over Auckland bridge... we opted for the latter, which I soon regretted as the wind was mental and the views made it a pretty surreal driving experience! Still, we survived and it was a really nice, quaint little place.

Our next stops were Kitekite Falls, which were about a 40 min tramp but well worth it! We were both really surprised by the size of them! We were expecting a tiny little stream.... but, this was what we got!

And we also managd to get to Karekare Beach (where 'The Piano' was filmed), which again was awesome! Pictures just don't do it justice.... so, you'll all have to come on over for a bbq sometime :)

Anyhoo, this may be the last blog for a week or so while we begin the next leg of the journey and get settled in our new digs. Thanks for the comments and while we are still undecided on a name for the van all suggestions are welcome.... 'Road Runner' is so far in the lead :)

catch u all soon :) m&t xxx

btw, more pics here...