pikihia

Well back from our Xmas on Great Barrier Island.  Highly recommend anyone who has not been to go.  Didn’t last long enough to fit in all I wanted to do but was extremely beautiful.  Check out the DOC website for info on Great Barrier if you intend going, for one, it has a great map of the island.

 

 

The trip over took four & half hours as we decided to take the car and John’s (Amanda’s dad) little boat over so ended up on the car ferry .  Well worth the expense as we had transport on and off the water.  Many a morning was spent fishing and a bit of snorkelling also.  Managed to catch lots of snapper and a few other species (trevally, etc) and ended up eating fish everyday.  Managed to fit in one dive with Aaron and ended up with a bounty of scallops which were devoured by all.  We set the cray pots a couple of times but alas the bloody eels keep eating the bait so missed out there and ran out of time for another dive to go catch some. see the photos here… (more to come later)

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written by Hardman

We are off to Great Barrier Island (in NZ not the Oz one!) from 22nd to 27th December.  Diving, fishing, eating, drinking and chillin out on the beach. Staying here 

Can’t wait and have a Merry Xmas everybody.

 

 

PS Any ideas for NYE??

written by Hardman

AA are running a competition to find the No 1 must do for Kiwis at home.  Have a look and vote for your favourite.  It is good to see what there is to do in this country too….

101 Must Dos for Kiwis

e.g check out this one near Gizzie….

written by Hardman

After the success of the Whangapoua mid winter Xmas weekend, the next themed Whangapoua weekend “Dine & Dance” was a cracker!!  With spring in the air and the wonderful discovery of the Martha Stewart website, “garlands” were the theme of the day.  (I, up until now had no idea what a garland was!).  

Check out the photos (more to come soon).  A great time had by all – Mike and Hannah with the hula hoop dance routine, the wonderful spring flower hat made by Kate, and the mix of beer, champagne, red and white wine, desert wine, fruit wine, port and limoncello, I think most people felt a little slow on Sunday except the kids and pregnant wives.

Looking forward to the Summer Whangapoua survivor series……..

 

 

written by Hardman

Well the week is over and back at work – boo hoo!  Had a great week down in Wanaka/Queenstown getting 4 out of 6 days on the slops boarding.  The snow wasn’t great but was good enough for us and the scenery amazing. Check out the photos.

We spent the other 2 days sightseeing in Wanaka, Queenstown with trips to Glenorchy and Arrowtown and a few luge rides and a trip to Puzzle World.  Amanda had her Birthday in Wanaka so dined at Relishes before watching the rugby at the Speight’s Ale House.

Dick and Erica came down from Christchurch for the weekend and cool to catch up with them after such a long time.

All in all, a great week off with my snowboarding not improving.  I have come to the conclusion I need a season in Canada to improve, so working on Amanda to give the green light. The light is sitting in amber at the moment which is better than red!!

written by Hardman

Well the snowboards have been assembled (finally!!) after a year of gathering dust and the flights, car hire and accommodation has been booked.  Off to Queenstown and Wanaka for a weeks boarding next week – Yeah a break from work that I am sure the body will hate me for subjecting it to all that exercise.

 

 

Anyway fun in the snow is coming, and looking forward to catching up with Dick and Erica. 

written by Hardman

The Te Ara Project by the NZ Minstry for Culture and Heritage has photographs, sounds, moving images, documents, graphs and maps, combined with text in Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand. See it now at http://www.teara.govt.nz/

‘Te ara’ in Māori means ‘the pathway’. Te Ara – The Encyclopedia of New Zealand ( www.TeAra.govt.nz ) offers many pathways to understanding New Zealand.

It even discusses why you are more likely to find a left footed jandel washed up on a New Zealand beach rather than the right!

written by Hardman

Went for a Sunday drive last weekend and shot up to Mangawhai (North of Auckland) to have a look at all the cool art in the Smashed Pipi Gallery.  They have some cool stuff.  Check it out! Although it looks better as the real thing you can get the idea from there website.

written by Hardman