Dear All,

Been here 4 weeks - awesome. A quieter weekend! We stayed local and explored our city. Friday was Anzac day (Google Gallipoli). Kiwis take it very seriously and it is a public holiday. We rose a dawn for a service on the beach attended by 1000s. The day is much more participatory that Nov 11th. The short service was very moving with poppies all round.

Getting dark at 18.00 as Autumn begins to turn to Winter...but still the sun shines! Not getting my thermals out yet. Just had supper at home Monkfish stir fry and feijoa crumble. Drank too much on Friday night under bad Kiwi influence! Keep meeting kind folk.

Bought bikes for exploring forest tracks. Walked along beach and back up Mt Maunganui today. Google Tauranga. Kiwis keep teasing us with tales of volcanoes exploding, earthquakes, tsunamis.......

We have tickets for All Blacks v England in Auckland in June. Not sure who to support?!

Week 3

Hello again, well now completed week 3 and it has been eventful to say the least! We planned to go to Gisborne down the cost for Easter to house sit for one of Malcolm's colleagues but it did not quite go to plan!
We picked up our lovely shiny new car a 2010 Honda Jazz on Wednesday and set off on Friday stopping on the way near Ohope to have morning coffee with Ruth and John, relatives of a good friend in Altrincham.
After a lovely walk on the beach with them we set off through the 80 km Waioeka Gorge to Gisbourne only to hit a very large rock about 40km in, which took the sump out!.
So big bump, massive noises and crashes, we VERY quickly stopped, to see the oil pouring out of a huge hole.
No phone reception in the gorge, so it was decided that I (Shona) would hitch a lift back to Opotiki and try to get a tow truck???!!!. Not only could I not pronounce the names of the places we were in, we had not brought any details of the insurance and recovery AND it is a major holiday on Good Friday here!. In fact we hadn't even paid for the insurance yet!!
Everyone we flagged down stopped and were very kind but the small car with 4 huge Maoiri blokes had no room (phew!) nor did the car full of indian people. Then a farmer and his wife stopped and I got a lift with them, they dropped me at the petrol station in Opotiki. I managed to google the number and get through to breakdown who said I had to  phone insurance as it was an accident!. Anyway eventually a great chap called Graham in his tow truck picked me up and took me back through the gorge to Malcolm.

The car was them left in a garage full of wrecks!, in the mean time Ruth and John came 40 minutes to rescue us in the most horrendous electrical storm with waterfalls of rain, thunder and lightning and put us up for 2 nights. I was as much of a wreck as the car!
After 2 days of great company in their amazing smallholding we hired a car in Whakatane (pronounced Facatane - think fa as in fax!) and did go to Gisbourne where the cat in the house we were supposed to be house sitting was very pleased to see us.
I drove back through the gorge with much trepidation but it was fine, the gorge is very sheer and there are lots of rockfalls especially after the amount of rain we have had recently, but I think we were just extremely unlucky.
So now waiting for the car to be towed back to Honda where we bought it less than a week ago and to pick up the courtesy car.
Amazing Malcolm and I have both been driving since we were 17 and never had to claim on insurance or get a car towed.

We did enjoy Gisbourne and say where Captain Cook landed, he apparently misunderstood the welcome Haka and shot quite a few of the locals on first meeting so they were not helpful and he sailed off without provisions naming it Poverty Bay!

Lets hope this week is calmer!

HAPPY EASTER.

Settled into our home and now have chosen a car - Honda Jazz. Most Kiwis drive Japanese imports. Motoring is cheaper, food more costly to buy but eating out good value/quality and great choice.

Started site seeing with a trip to Rotarua to see volcanic activity. Celebrated our 25^th wedding anniversary with a dinner for two – we had planned a big party !! Easter coming up and we are off to house sit in Gisborne with trips to the wineries at Hawkes bay.

Next step -  looking for second hand bikes, golf clubs and tent. Hope to sign up at the sailing club for crewing opportunities. I thought Wales was rugby mad – you ought to experience it here ! 

Our new home is: 36/21 Gravatt Rd, Papamoa, 3118 Tauranga NZ.  MVT mob: +6421 1901 339, SAT mob +6421 1901 448. See you on Whatsapp or Facebook as well.

 

 

 

 

 

End of week 2

Hi, well we are at the end of week 2 and have made great progress, new phones, new apartment, which is lovely, 36/21 Gravatt Rd, Papamoa 3118, Tauranga, NZ.

Next big issue is the car, we just don't know what we want and neither of us are 'car' people, it will definitely be a Japanese something and hopefully we will get it next week.

Malcolm is enjoying all the new learning in his job and his colleagues are very friendly, in fact we are now living next door to one of them! I have made contact with quite a few friends of friends and all have been delightful and we are meeting up with them over the next few days.

Last sunday we had a lovely walk near Waihi beach over a headland to a black sand bay.

This weekend it is our big celebration - 2 birthdays and a 25th, so we are going to Rotorua.

First 7 days

Brilliant 2 days in Singapore and now we are in God's own country. Found a home today www.pacificpalmsresort.co.nz and looking for a Japanese (everybody does) car. We live by the beach. Work for Mr M is interesting and Shona is organising our settling in. Off on our first trip next weekend to Rotorua. Surfng, diving, sailing, tramping here we come....wish I was 20 years younger.