happy new year!!!

I took this photo of the sun setting on 2005 in Rangiora..
Rangiora is a Maori name meaning Glowing ('Ora') Skies ('Rangi')
...can't think how they came up with that...;)

update four: thelma and louise... the out-takes

Lake Taupo with Rachel (l) & Kathryn (r)

Well its been a while since my last email... Hope you had a wonderful Christmas, I thought I would wait until after the festivities to send this one to give you all something to do once you have got bored with your christmas toys. so snuggle down out of the cold with a cup of coffee and a hot snack ... (anyone for turkey casserole?) and imagine the sunshine......

Christmas was certainly different! I spent the sunday evening of Christmas Week relaxing in a deckchair on an early summers night watching a full re-enactment of the Christmas Tale... complete with a full cast of angels, wisemen and their camels, (well llamas masquarading as!) shepherds and their sheep, all emerging from various parts of the large garden and surrounding fields... and of course no Nativity Story would be complete without the shepherd boys fat Labrador which had the (unplanned) starring role by regally taking up its stately residence at the crib at the start of the night and not budging for the rest of the performance, with its fine and -it must be said timely contributions of a huge and rather bored sigh every so often- made my night!

Christmas Day itself was a day I was gearing myself up for to get through... definitely a family day and I was fearing feeling very lonely and far from home! However whilst a couple of times during the day I did get a real pang for home (and my mums TOP Chrimbo lunch!) I looked on the bright side, mainly that I was getting out of helping with tackling the drying up, but my guilt was minimised by sending my family a sheep-decked tea towel to open over dinner as my contribution to the annual chore! (p.s. just to clarify I sent them other presents as well!)

Seriously though, I was very well looked after and we had a great pressie opening sesh before the morning service then onto lunch with Andrew parents then a walk in the sunshine (very odd!) then (even odder!) onto Andrews sisters house to join with loads of other family members for an evening BBQ at their VERY SWISH pad in the hills overlooking Christchurch. All great fun.

Since I last wrote I promised you some Non-Rangiorian tales as I was about to embark on my road trip with my friend Rachel who came over from London for a couple of weeks. So here goes....

First thing to say about the trip was how blessed we felt- I was getting pretty worried about how I was going to finance the trip as work hadnt (still hasnt!) worked out but we were given free use of a car and were put up for half the trip at various friends and parents of friends homes all around the country, (5 star treatment as well- this 'Kiwi Hospitality' I had been hearing about certainly lived up to the hype!)) what amazed me was not just that it was all affordable but that it was affordable but we were getting over and above the BEST, people would pay a high premium for many of the treats and hospitality we got for nothing! God (and our hosts!) are good!

I wont go into details about each place we visited as that would be horribly dull! (I'll save it for the 4 hour marathon holiday pics slide show you are all invited to on my return....(attendance compulsory..."what do you mean you're washing your hair!? ) Also I wont bang on about the beauty of this place, take it as read, its stunning! I'll attach some pictures and let them do the talking (they still dont do it justice though!) SO heres a whistlestop tour of the Islands!


auckland

Half a day spent here, must admit to enjoying the city vibe after weeks in Rockin' Rangiora!

We shunned the tourist trip up the sky-tower (cost: $18) for a walk up the slopes of Mount Eden (cost: free - with a complimentary leg workout thrown in). same view... actually a better view as the sky tower was actually in it and thats the main landmark of Auckland! photo is of post-picnic (well we deserved a treat after the hike!)

My residing memory of Auckland will forever be the traffic lights! You could wait for HOURS at a pedestrian crossing trying to get across the road, I was wanting to post some postcards and spying a post box on the other side of a crossroads I thought Id nip across- big mistake. I was still there 20 minutes later, I could have hand delivered the postcards to their recipients in the UK and returned to find the same group of people patiently waiting on the kerb waiting for the lights to change.(OK so I exaggerate*)

*but only very slightly

rotorua

Rotorua smells, it really does- of rotten eggs and bad drains but only when the wind is blowing in your direction! I was fascinated by the boiling mud pools and steam happily puffing away all over the place, made me laugh! We stayed with our friend Kathryn who had just returned to NZ after a few years in the UK. She rather disconcertingly kept crouching down and feeling the ground to test how warm it was (very warm means the surface is very very thin- eek!)

It was lovely to have friends again(!) and we had a great few days going to all sorts of fab places, cruising on Lake Taupo, seeing the glowworms at the Waitomo Caves, gondala rides, An evening with a Maori tribe etc etc. Kathryn made a top guide with SO much know-how, we were taken off the tourist trail loads which was great as Im very keen to experience the REAL nz not just what you're told you should see to 'do' the country! Kathryn's family are such great fun. her dads BBQ'd garlic prawns are to die for (see photo!)- my only regret was that we never got to meet her 80-something year old gran whom they were treating to an abseiling experience she wanted for her birthday the following week!

One of the many kiwi things Kathryn introduced me to was the nations total and complete hatred of Possums. they are loved in Oz but LOATHED over here. Animal lovers look away now but running over Possums is a hot contender for the National Sport! The road is littered with them. We saw a stuffed one in one of the museums we visited, "ooohh so THATS what they're supposed to look like!"


roturua to nelson

We drove down to spend a night with our friend Ruth's lovely gentle parents in Wellington before hopping on the ferry to cross back to the South Island. The ferry trip across the Cook Strait is just beautiful if a little choppy!

We stayed that night at Danella's parents (Danella is my old manager and was one of the people who was very influential in my decision to come over here!)

Their home is FANTASTIC! on hills overlooking Nelson and the bay and Danella's dad had put out the British and Canadian flags (Rachel is from canada) on the flag poles to greet us as we drove up!

nelson to queenstown

We drove down (picking our way through the Possums (R.I.P.)) over a couple of days via a night at Punakaiki beach (where we sipped Moet on the beach at sunset! Rachel had bought a couple of mini bottles with her! (ooh we may be backpacking but we're from HTB dahling!!!)

We then drove down to Queentown via Franz Josef Glacier, this was awesome (to coin a Kizi phrase!) you can take your pick out of several walks to the glacier (from a 10 minute walk to a viewing platform to a fullscale hike on the ice) Due to time constraints (there was still many hours driving ahead! we opted for the shortest one and Rachel didnt bother changing out of her 'daywear' so it was very funny to witness her skipping up the hill in her sundress and sandals as we passed by hikers in full survival kit! A new adventure sport was born.... "Hiking with Handbags!!"


queenstown

To compensate for her glacier exploits Rachel did a bungee jump at Queenstown- on the original bridge where it was all invented, I was short on money so couldnt go for a skydive which is something Ive always wanted to do, will save up for that one! (Dad, make sure mum doesnt read that bit!) so I cheerily waved her off to near certain death and went into town to indulge in the rather safer pursuit of christmas shopping. (though the term 'safer' is perhaps rather questionable if you are undertaking the said activity on Oxford Street the week before Christmas) Anyway, it provided another great chance for me to immerse myself in 'urban life'. Queenstown is the adventure capital of NZ and is a buzzing place though still very quiet in UK standards but certainly beats Rangiora!


fjordland

We then headed to the most isolated and supposedly most beautiful place in NZ- Milford Sound. A BEAUTIFUL and tranquil inlet in Fjordland National Park where we took a cruise and saw seals and a penguin (but sadly no dolphins!) The photo is of the scenery on the road to Milford Sound.... may all look idyllic but Im actually getting bitten to death by the dastardly sandfly.... felt rather like a scene from an Alfred Hitchcock.... they came at me silently from everywhere!

fjordland to christchurch

Back on the road via a couple of overnight stops in random places- not much to write home about- to Christchurch probably most notable en route stop offs were Mount Cook and then Lake Tepako (see pic- taken through the altar window of the church of the good shepherd (dont know how they concentrate on the sermons there with that view to distract you!)) .... then onto Rangiora... ahh I had missed the old place!!!

It was tough saying goodbye to Rachel and feeling rather 'friendless' again but I am looking forward to catching up sometime once hes settled in, with my friend Jarrod who is returning to live in Christchurch this week after a few years in London with his wife and new baby Levi! Not least because he owes me big time from a bet we had over who would win the Ashes- I dont think he counted on me going to such great lengths to make sure I could collect my winnings!

I'll leave it there for now, you're probably about due for a snooze infront of Morecombe and Wise Christmas Special now... will write soon with other news.

Happy New Year! (I shall let you know what 2006 is like as I reach it first!)