Glenfield Rovers AFC

Within days of arriving in NZ I was asked to play for football.  Fortunately the lads who asked me to play were part of Glenfield Rovers and I've stayed with them.  Its a fantastic club with a great family atmosphere.  In fact, Alex recently came down with them and put his book down! He climbed some trees with a friend.

We trained at the Onepoto basin which, as you can see, is very close to the Auckland city centre but is great place to train.  I play in the over 35's first team in Division 1 (there are 4) and they train once a week as well as a game every Saturday.  It has been so positive to be in environment where so much football is offered to you and I am looking forward to a new chapter in my football career!

Omaha trip Pt 4

This was our batch.  It was great with large bedrooms so we could all sleep in the same room. There was plenty of garden for the boys to play in and they did nearly all the time.  Click on the picture to make it bigger and you can see the boys are still in their pajamas, it was midday! The kids being constantly occupied should have been a great thing but Nathan was into backyard cricket.  He had me out there working on my batting!

Oliver really got into the backyard cricket and improved massively nearly hitting the ball everytime.  Not quite Fin's standard of hammering the ball into the next house!  When we felt they needed a break from the house we headed to the nearby play area and played Monsters vs Aliens.

Omaha trip Pt 3

My calm walk was shattered as they ran towards the sea screaming.  I wouldn't have been bothered if they had togs but no they were wearing their clothes for the day.  At first it was,"Oh well there trousers will be a little wet" to, as they fall flat on their faces, "Did I bring enough spare clothes?"  

The water here is a little warmer, not enough to get me in, and so they jumped over waves for about half an hour before they stood by me like drowned rats wanting me to miraculously dry them off!  Fantastic beach though.

Omaha trip Pt 2

After exploring the apparatus for a couple of hours we found out they had some animals we could terrorize.   Alex had not come across Llamas before so he was very chuffed.  Ollie was hungry so he fought over a carrot with a donkey.

Shortly after visiting the animals we headed out to Omaha beach.  It was a 2 minute walk from their batch across some long wooden paths.  I was looking forward to a calm stroll across the beach.

Omaha trip

We travelled North for about an hour to meet up with Claire and Nathan.  We ended up meeting in a small town called Matakana.  I found the Matakana country park and waited there to meet up with them.  Fortunately they had this ace play area.  They were all made of wood and the boys couldn't believe their luck.

They were great but to get to the top of the lighthouse you had to climb out of the window and crawl onto the top.  A little dangerous especially as once Alex did it so Oliver wanted to too.  Ollie was particularly pleased with the Nemo but it didn't take long before they noticed the amazing apparatus at the back with lots of slides and hiding things! They disappeared into those for an hour.  Perfect, so I could buy a coffee and tell Nathan all about Liverpool losing to Chelsea! 

Ferry to the City

Our favourite trip to share with friends is the ferry from Devonport to the city.  When we reached the city we had some lunch and a walk down Queen Street to the book shop.

Alex is into Harry Potter at the moment and is trying to read it when ever he can!  Tom and Ollie are not particularly pleased as he ignores them! He has just finished the first two and is about the finish the third.  Can't believe my son at 7 has read books I want to read before me!

Even though it was a little windy the trip was as spectacular as ever.  The boys love spotting various boats and events on the trip.  Alex couldn't help quizzing Sid on his knowledge of the Harry Potter books.   The boys wanted me to take a photo of a 'fast boat' Poppy. 

Montgomery Reserve

We were on our way to the city with Sid and Clair and we noticed Montgomery Reserve pop up on the Sat Nav.  Ollie, surprise surprise, remembered the advert in the paper saying that it had recently been upgraded so we had to check it out.  Interesting boat look? The boys loved running around making bases in dark places?!