Mum arrives and we do Taupo

Taupo lakeside panorama

So Mum arrived just over a week ago and says the flight 'wasn't too bad', make of that what you will.  I was working the first weekend after she arrived (world cup final weekend - very quiet, there wasn't a Kiwi in the country who was going to miss that match by getting admitted to hospital!), so she, Hannah and the kids chilled out and pottered around our local beaches.  This weekend just gone I was speaking at a conference at Lake Taupo...

Pottering round Piha

We're getting a bit behind with our blogging here, but at the beginning of September we went to Piha for the day.

Q: What is wrong with this jar of Marmite?

A: It is EMPTY.

And at the third stroke the time in Auckland will be...

Just a reminder that it's now officially summer in New Zealand - that is, the clocks have gone forward for summertime, so we are now 12 hours ahead of GMT.  Bear that in mind if you're planning on catching us via Skype (and please do - we'd love to hear from you!)

Photos of Tilly's birthday

Only a month after the event....  Here are some photos of Tilly's party and of present opening on her actual birthday.

We visit the hellhole of the Pacific* and celebrate our anniversary

It's our wedding anniversary on Wednesday and this year it's Dave's turn to organise something, so this weekend we finally got out of Auckland for the first time and went to Russell in the Bay of Islands.

Tilly gets a bigger present than expected...

Momentous occasions down under!  Tilly turns 2 and gets the entire contents of a 3 bedroom house all wrapped up in a big steel shipping container.