Happy Easter!!

Sorry I haven't written in ages but I've been so busy with preparing for Easter and the holidays. I've been very busy though so lots to share and many many photos... So Sohail's been here which has been lovely and he enjoyed coming into my school and meeting my class - they liked that Mr Khan was a decent bowler compared to Miss Hughes so we had a good game of cricket! We also went to the planetarium in Cornwall Park near One Tree Hill and learnt all about the sky here and constellations that can be seen at this time of year in New Zealand. The guy showed us how to find south using the Southern Cross (which Sohail and I managed to do in Rotorua) and told us all about the exploration of Mars which was really interesting. For Easter weekend we went down to a surf town called Raglan, stopping off on the way at the Botanical Gardens in Hamilton which were lovely. We went with my teacher friend Libby, who teaches at the same school as me, and her husband. Libby used to live in Raglan and so knows the area well so she was a great tour guide! We went to see the beaches there which are apparently world-famous for surfing. On Easter Sunday we did an Easter Egg Hunt at out hostel and then kayaked across the harbour to see Pancake Rocks. It was fairly calm on the way over but then the tide turned and the wind picked up so it was rather like a log flume, especially for me who was at the front of our double kayak! Safe to say we got absolutely soaked! On Monday we went down to Waitomo Caves and saw the glow worm caves. These are limestone caves where the environment is just right for glow worms which lie on the roof of the caves and emit light from their tails. They were beautiful and when we took the boat ride through the caves it was like looking up to a starry sky at night! (Didn't see the Southern Cross though!) We then went down to Taupo, which is on Lake Taupo and is very beautiful. The town itself isn't very exciting but there are some lovely views and we went out on another kayak to the Maori carvings which were really cool. The weather was gorgeous so we were really lucky. Oh and we also went to the thermal spa there which was very relaxing - the whole area is naturally heated by geothermal energy because of all the volcanic activity around so lots of thermal springs and pools to go and sit in! Mount Doom is also near Taupo (from Lord of the Rings) but we didn't really get close enough for a proper look - you can just about make it out on some of the photos amongst the clouds. Next we went up to Rotorua which is a real thermal hotspot and stinks of rotten eggs (sulphur) because of it! Seriously, the whole town smells but it is home to a Thermal Wonderland which we visited and was pretty cool. We also visited a Maori thermal village where they settled and built homes over the vents to heat their houses - very clever I thought! We saw a Maori performance of singing and dancing and they even did the Haka and got lots of the men and boys involved! Finally we went to the Mount (Mount Manganui) and went for a walk around the base track before heading home. On Friday we went out with Michelle and her friends in Auckland and played mini-golf yesterday which was fun! Overall an action packed week with still another week of holiday left!!

A Surprise Letter! :D

I was so excited to come home today to a surprise letter! I studied the handwriting but didn't recognise it, then looked at the post mark - Birmingham - and still didn't know who it was from and then when I opened it was so happy to see lovely Steph's beautiful handwriting! Thank you Steph! :D

It was so nice to hear your news and I'm so sorry you haven't been able to leave messages - I have no idea why as I haven't changed any of my settings and other people still seem to be able to...a very strange mystery it appears!

Steph told me that she too has seen Bjorn Again so I think they must be world-famous! They were really good and I hope to catch them again at some point. On Saturday night they were showing Mamma Mia at an outdoor cinema in the park on the North Shore but I didn't find anyone else who was quite as keen as me to go and see it - boo!

Thanks again Steph - I really loved hearing from you and it has cheered me up on a very dull Tuesday!

Matakana and Point Wells

Yesterday, Jennie took me on a little road trip north to visit a few nice places not far from Auckland.

First, we stopped off at a Honey Centre where you see all the bees on the honeycomb and could taste loads of different types of honey. I bought some local honey and some strawberry honey - yum! This guy who works there started chatting to us (he was VERY passionate about bees and told us that without them humans wouldn't exist!) and he gave us lots of information about the bees and pointed out the male bees and baby bees but we couldn't spot the queen. He asked where we were from and it turns out his wife is from Solihull and her parents still live on Rectory Road-what a small world!

Next we went to a village called Matakana where there are lots of nice shops and a market every Saturday selling delicious food. I bought a lentil and mushroom pie to eat for my dinner from a stall called 'I Love Pies' - all of the pies had a pastry heart on top! :)

After that, we drove a little bit further to Point Wells. We went to look for a bench which was put their in memory of Jennie's mum's cousin who died there in 1985 when she was travelling around New Zealand in her twenties. She was doing a cycling tour and was knocked off her bike on the Point Wells Road. Jennie's grandad had a bench put in the tiny village in her memory but after almost a year of looking, Jennie and her mum have never managed to find it so it was a bit of a mystery to solve.

We knew it was on Point Wells Reserve so walked along the riverside for a while, checking any benches we came across and speaking to a few locals but with no luck. Then we went to the store (the only shop in the village) but they knew nothing about a memorial bench so we wandered down to the community hall. Round the back of the hall there was some tennis courts and a small playground and from a distance we spotted a bench which happened to be it! It had a small plaque on it so we knew it was the one and Jennie was so pleased to have finally found it after all her searching.

Afterwards we decided to try the local library to see if we could find any records of the accident in the local newspaper (The Rodney Times) but they had already closed for the day so Jennie's going to try and look at the archives online. It felt as if we were on that 'Who Do You Think You Are' TV programme!

On our way home, we stopped off at a cheese factory (yes, the day was very food-orientated!) where we had lunch. We each had a cheese platter and I had a French one called 'Parlez Vous Francais?' so tried lots of brie and smelly blue cheeses! It was very tasty and I had to resist buying some to take home!

It was lovely getting out of the city for a day and the weather was beautiful for our adventure!

New address (again!)

Yes, I'm afraid I'm having to move out of my lovely home because Shaun and Richard want to travel to Europe and they're the lease holders so we're homeless!

Luckily, Sarita who I work with (she's on the Round the Bays photos) has a spare room at her house and although it's not in such a great location it's a bit cheaper and closer to school so should work out just fine!

Please don't continue using my old address as no-one will be living there anymore!

New address is 208A Penrose Rd, Mt Wellington, Auckland 1060 (If you type it into Google maps you can see my new road!)

Round the Bays

Today I took part in an event round the bays in East Auckland where I live. It is an 8km road event that hundreds of thousands of people run or walk, many of them in teams and/or in fancy dress. I walked as part of the Yendarra School Team and completed it in about 1 hour 45 minutes. It was so packed that we had to walk sooo slowly! See the photos for evidence! It's been a beautiful day so it was a really lovely walk and afterwards we went back to Jennie's for a BBQ which made the walk very worthwhile!

PS The guy waving from the bridge is John Key, the Prime Minister of New Zealand! He was giving us encouraging words as we crossed the Start line!

Pasifika Festival

On Saturday I went to the Pasifika Festival at Western Springs. The weather wasn't great so I didn't really feel like I was on the Pacific Islands but it was a really great atmosphere and free! :D There was a little village for each island or group of islands with live music and dance performances, food and art from their culture. There were loads of islands I'd never even heard of! My favourite bit was seeing these female dancers from the Cook Islands with feathers around them-they were amazing! (See the photos and hopefully videos if they work). It was great for me teaching so many children from the islands and I learnt quite a bit. Also brilliant to 'visit' so many places all in one afternoon! Shame the pouring rain meant we weren't there for long! Felt like I was back at home! ;)

Night Out in Auckland!

Last night, Jill (who I haven't seen since the clothes swap party in January!) invited me out to celebrate her friend Caylie's birthday. Caylie is from Durban in South Africa but moved over with her family and is now a NZ resident. We went for a Thai meal which was delicious and then went to a few other places around the city including Sky City which is at the bottom of the Sky Tower. It was really fun going to lots of new places that I didn't even realise were there! Not a great picture but we were trying to get one to send to Caroline who introduced us!

Shakespeare in the Park

Last night, I was very cultured and went to see a production of The Tempest put on by Auckland University students. It was outside (a bit blustery!) and they'd done a really good job of the set making it look like an island with sand, rocks and scattered driftwood.

I found the whole thing quite funny because the musical 'Return to the Forbidden Planet' (which I did costumes for at uni) is based on The Tempest and has lots of the same lines in it so I half expected the actors to burst into sixties rock and roll songs when I heard certain lines! Very amusing but only to me I think!

Overall it was good though and I very much enjoyed my first outdoor Shakespeare experience but maybe next time I'd like a slightly warmer theatre! ;)