Doris goes to the Far North

Doris is our 21-year-old campervan, and what she lacks in style (grimy pink carpet, blue upholstery, beige fabric lining to walls and roof, waterstained and a bit saggy in places) she more than makes up for in guts and determination.

My bottom has a close encounter with Graham Henry

So.  There I am walking back from the library in St Heliers with the children this week and we stop off at the playground by the beach when I spot a face I recognise sitting at one of the picnic tables.*

We Rejoin The Propertied Classes

Yes folks, after eight months of being tenants we have become homeowners again as of today.  Yay!

Merry Christmas Everyone!!

Just hanging out by the beach, Christmas Day afternoon 2011

Happy Christmas from New Zealand!  It's been a bit of contrast with Christmas Day last year...

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.

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.