Busy busy busy

Where to start, where to start?  Sorry folks, aware we've been lax in posting the updates recently.  We were out and about showing the sights to Dave's Mum and hadn't had time to post on one adventure before moving on to the next.  So, we left you in Taupo.

View from the deck

Our next jaunt was closer to home, when we headed over to Waiheke Island for a few days.

On a clear day, Waiheke is visible from Auckland but is normally sunnier and warmer than the mainland.  We stayed in a wonderfully dated 1970s style bach (think lots of brown) on a hill above Onetangi beach with a stunning view from the deck.
The Waiheke weather was true to form, so we spent lots of time doing beachy things and enjoying the island's amazing scenery.  Reuben's happiness was temporarily upset by the discovery of a dead hedgehog at Oneroa beach, but we gave it a formal burial and a good send-off which restored his equanimity.

The Hedgehog's send off

We even got to visit an ancient monument - in Kiwi terms - at Stony Batter, where two 16 years olds left in charge of the place sent us of down the pitch black tunnels of a Second World War gun emplacement with only a couple of torches.  A refreshing lack of 'elf and safety!  More photos here.

Sunrise over Lake Rotorua

We had a few days at home during which we created a small vegetable plot in our garden (and got Maire to work hard for her keep) and then it was off to Rotorua.  More by accident than design, we'd ended up booking a bach that was right by the lakeside, so on the first morning we woke up to this .  We had a lazy breakfast outside the house and then started to explore the little river near by on kayaks with Reuben and Tilly.  Reuben was very impressed with 'exploring' the river and pushing under the willow trees on the river (never mind that they were growing in someone's garden).

The bold explorers

Over the next couple of days we explored amazing geysers and mud pools, a Maori village that was buried in a volcanic eruption in 1886 with impressive waterfall, admired the 'Green and Blue lakes' and did 'swimming' in the hot tub (Reuben and Tilly anyway, the rest of us bobbed around).  Every sunrise over Lake Rotorua was spectacular (and we saw them all as Reuben and Tilly still get up at 6.30am) and the moon happened to be full that week, which in combination with a complete lack of light pollution meant the stars were amazingly clear and made the evenings beautiful too.

After getting back from Rotorua we fitted in a very high 'high tea' indeed at the rotating restaurant at the top of Auckland's Sky Tower.  We nearly lost Tilly and Reuben as they were peering out of the window and had rotated round to someone else's table.  The other customers seemed to want to hand them back though.  More Rotorua photos here.

For the final trip of Maire's stay, we went to the Coromandel peninsula, also visible from Auckland, but a large bay in between means a drive all the way down one side and up the other.
We followed a wiggly road up through the ridge of hills that runs the length of the peninsula and down the other side to our destination at Cook's Beach, named after the eponymous Captain who weighed anchor in the bay while circumnavigating New Zealand in 1769.  We stayed in a bach belonging to the grandparents of Reuben's friend Jamie which had an enormous number of windfall oranges in the garden.  The children gathered them up the first afternoon and we had fresh orange juice with every meal, but we still didn't manage to reduce the number in the garden visibly.

Cathedral Cove (note the teeny tiny Reuben)

Whilst in the Coromandel we visited Cathedral cove, renowned as a particularly beautiful beack even by Kiwi standards.  I can honestly say it was absolutely stunning, there's lots of photos here of us down there but it was glorious and we all kept stopping and exclaiming over how great it was.  Well the grown ups did, Reuben and Tilly got naked and ran around like mad things generally.

Hot Water Beach

Hot Water Beach is another of the Coromandel 'must dos', there are volcanic hot water springs coming out about 4 inches under the sand at low tide.  You take a spade, dig a hole and there you are, an instant hot tub.
In places the water is a scalding 65 degrees, but don't worry, we managed to pick a spot exactly in between 2 springs and not really fed by either, it was more 'Tepid Water Beach' for us.  Reuben and Tilly liked all the digging though.  We'll have to try again another time.

After all that Mum had about 24 hours to relax and then it was back on the plane and a short 'hop' around the world to the UK.  We've all certainly missed her in the last few days, she said she'd miss us too which was nice.  A bit of peace and quiet before the Christmas clan gathering is probably needed though.

In other news...

Hannah now has 2 jobs (contractor for district health board, 2 days a week, doing who knows what, they sound disorganised but that's all very familiar from DH; and - prepare for hilarity - tutoring German 101 at the university next semester.  Only 12 years since finishing my DPhil and using my German.  Gaaahhhh!)

We have bought a campervan - not yet used, needs 3-point seatbelts fitting for the infants, but that's our next few holidays sorted.

Tilly is now wearing big girl pants - she has had about 3 accidents in the 2 weeks since she declared herself a nappy free zone and has gone straight to using the loo.  Reuben takes her in the morning when they wake up which is rather cute

Reuben out of pull ups at night.  Combined with the above means we are now a one nappy per diem household.  This is a Good Thing.

And we've put an offer in on a house around the corner from here.  Weatherboard (i.e. wooden planks) which is usual in New Zealand but we can't get out of our heads that really it's a large garden shed.  Still, a great location and scope for improvements.


That'll do for now.  Remember there's a spare room and camper van up for grabs if you make it out here.  Weather's nice and sunny now, beaches are golden, sea is warm (actually that's not quite true yet), come on down and have a holiday!