Kayaking in Rotorua

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Rotorua - 'The Luge'

After enjoying a long walk with the thermals we thought it was time for something a little more extreme! The luge was recommended by friends and the gondola trip was enough to entice June although she was a little concerned on how we would get back. The luge was brilliant but very dangerous so Alex couldn't go on his own. Fran and I did our best to go as fast as we could to the bottom but you could easily come off by going too fast. The luge was like a wide skateboard with brakes!

Christmas Day

Although it was very different to what we were use to, it was a fantastic day which meant we could go swimming at our friends house. We are looking after their dog, Sipka, whilst they are on holiday and they said we could use their pool and spa. We still had to have our Christmas roast dinner with all the trimmings and Fran has been working hard on her stuffing so it was all lovely. Merry Christmas everyone!

Wai-o-Tapu 2

Wai-o-Tapu

What an amazing place! This was about a 2 hour walk around various thermals bubbling and smelling. They were situated in a beautiful forest so the walk was great although Fran's dad found it hard work! He is 77 to be fair. The boys loved the Champagne pool as it constantly steamed and enjoyed getting lost in the steam.

Geyser

There are some things that you have to do and in Rotorua you have to visit some thermals. We decided on this one because it had an impressive geyser which blew its top at 10.15 every morning. It took a while to get going but once it did, it was impressive.

Rotorua

The same day we broke up from school we were off to Rotorua! It took about 3 hrs to get there and was a beautiful drive particularly as you got nearer as it got more mountainous which is not what you think North Island would be like. Our batch was in an awesome location right next to the lake.

Gymnastics - Final Performance

The gymnastics has come to an end for this year. They finished with a public performance which was fully attended and quite scary for them! After a sweaty warm-up they split into small groups so they could perform separately, the huge ball was a highlight!

Summer is here!

After a few dodgy days the weather has seem to have settled and it has become a lot warmer, so much so that the boys were keen to get into Jo and Dan's pool! They had a great time although the water felt a little too cold for me yet.

The boys love Georgia's new playhouse with the climbing wall and bucket.

Tom was auditioning for the new Impossible Mission movie, he would probably make quite a good Tom Cruise although he is slightly taller!

Christmas is here!

Christmas has finally arrived. We went to a fantastic christmas tree exhibition but we were not allowed to take any photos! Tom was furious as there was one tree with Toy poodles on it and Nanna would have loved it!

We recently got our tree up but not allowed a real one as we are going away just before xmas. The boys, Tom mostly, loved putting Evelyn's decorations on the tree and they spotted the chocolate ones already sent over from my mum.

It doesn't feel very Christmasy at the moment, mainly due to the fact that its end of the year for school and Christmas is second to all the end of year stuff like reports and getting out of your classroom. However, we have our tree and Starbucks does a great xmas coffee with a creamy toffee and nuts!

Pearl Jam

The last band we saw was 'The Killers' at the Vecta in the city but this was at Mt Smart stadium with a much bigger audience and atmosphere. Ben Harper was much rockier than expected which was great and Pearl Jam were simply awesome. He brought on Neil Finn from Crowded House on towards the end, which went down well with the locals and he changed one song into 'Rockin in the Free World' which was very cool. Can't wait for the next concert!