All rugbied out

Not blogged for a while. Sorry about that. Rest assured we are still alive!

Went to the England v Scotland game on Saturday and spent most of it looking through my fingers in disbelief. We were lucky to win that one. The banter on the bus home was hillarious though. We spent yesterday arvo with Nik and Penny watching the last pool games and the warriors games. I think I'm all rugbied out now and am looking forward to a rugby free week!

Today we are meeting up with Stuart, our actor buddy and are taking him to meet Nik. And tonight we are Ada sitting as Penny won tickets to see the Silver Ferns netball team play tonight. Kiwis take their netball very seriously here. Actually they take all sport seriously. We even saw a full on F1 style programme for kids karting.

We only have a few days before we go home now. So we are going to cram in a bit more Auckland then try to pack our suitcases. We have all the Wrinklies wine so better pack carefully!!

See you all soon!!
Love Archie and Faye xx

Wrinklies went home...

I haven't blogged much this week. This is mostly due to a lack of Internet connection. I've been getting withdrawal symptoms. The parents went home yesterday, leaving at 6am and should be home later today. We took them to the Sky Tower and the Orbit restaurant. Actually to be fair they took us and I loved it. Mum wasn't too happy with the height but liked the view when she could t see straight down. Dad and Colin loved the glass lift and we all enjoyed the food.

We spent the rest of yesterday slouching about as I didn't actually manage to sleep on Tuesday night. We stayed at Penny and Nik's on a blow up bed that deflated on us and walked back to the motor lodge to see the parents off at 5am so I wasnt any use to anyone for 24 hours. Today we walked to and up Mount Eden which is an old volcano (one of 58 that Auckland is built on). It's still active but happily very quiet. Tomorrow we are off to the west coast with Penny and Ada and we are babysitting tomorrow night.

Right off to watch DW.

Love Archie and Faye x

And a wandering we will goooo!

Yesterday was "The Most Exercise Endured" by the Wrinklies.

We had another fry up (solo effort by Dad this time), Faye was still in bed when he started. We have all decided that diets don't count when you are on holiday. I took mum and Yvonne shopping for some warmer clothes for Queenstown which is Alpine and fairly snowy. Dad, Faye and Colin went to the lake for a wander.

Yesterday afternoon we took a minibus to Huka Falls, just north of Taupo. Huka falls is New Zealand longest river and one of only 3 in the world that flows north and the only one in the southern hemisphere to do so as well. We had tried to describe it to the wrinklies, but they weren't prepared for what they saw and I am glad to say they were totally blown away by it. It got emotional.

We walked back to Taupo along the river, which is only supposed to take an hour and we did it in 2 and a half hours. There was much stopping for mum's knees and Yvonnes asthma, and the incredible views. Again I am glad to hear that they thought the walk was worth the wheezing and aching knees.

Colin offered to cook steak for us last night and we got through 3 bottles of wine with it. And spent the rest of the evening giggling at snooring stories.

Today we are off to the DuBretts Spa (YAY!) and anywhere else they decide to go. We also need a mini golf rematch. The boys were definately beaten by some flagrant cheating in Napier and we have to reclaim our honour!

Parents head off to Queenstown tonight via Auckland and we go back to Auckland tomorrow for the rest of our games.

Love Tui and Kiwi

Burble... HIC!

As promised, yesterday was all about wine tasting. Faye and dad have discovered that they are a world class fry up team and were more like two Russian ballet dancers moving around the kitchen stealing utensils off the French!

We had 5 vineyards and an olive farm to visit. The olive farm was first and a surprise to us all (it wasn't on the list), none of us really like olives and Yvonne hates them so we were all trying very hard to be polite about the place. Turns out though that the stuff we get in the Uk wasn't a patch on these and even dad liked them. Mainly he was more impressed with the tech they used but that's not surprising for someone with only 2 working tastebuds. Yvonne is stillnot convinced.

We were taken to a boutique vinyard first which gave us 14 wines to sample and we were feeling fairly warm headed by the time we left that place. That one was called Askernes and was superb. It reminded us a lot of Brookfields from our last trip and parents all brought something from there. The second two, Vitell and Selini, were larger vineyards and were not as good as the first. We had lunch at Vitell though and the food was perfect, if that had been at the first vinyard I think we might have all made camp there!

Winery 4 was Unison. They were an English couple who were deep into getting the best quality possible so didn't have a large output but that made it all taste better. Yvonne kindly bought us a Sirah (Shiraz if you are Australian) as a thank you for bringing them out here. Our last vineyard was Moana and they work to very traditional non sulphur methods. Apparently this stops hangovers!

Faye and dad decided to cook spag bol for us all and did enough to feed the entire hostel! I made friends with another French chap (there were lots of them), forgot to mention we had two French chaps on our tour called Frank and Billy and they were very funny. Frank is a Hurricanes s15 supporter like me which was great. We both got to complain about losing our players. Sadly no one else had a clue what we were on about!

Today, following another rendition of "swan fry up" by the curtis ballet company we got a coach to Taupo (prn. Tow-paw). There's been a massive rock slide in the gorge so the bus was late and our second driver had to have been brought back from the crypt using special tools we reckoned. Yvonne couldn't stop giggling at him. Mum finally got to see a rugby match on telly tonight, Russia vs. Italy and we all cheered the Russians valiant efforts. Now the fresh air has got to us again and it's off to bed we go. Hopefully spa and Huka Falls tomorrow.

Night all!
Tui and Kiwi xxxxx

... And anyone playing Australia!

Well it's been a few days since the last blog. Wrinklies loved Paihia and are impressed by how friendly people are here. We've been noodling about a fair bit. On Friday we had a day out with Penny and Ada down at Mission Bay, taking lots of photos. It's so windy here at the moment and raining all the time but Ada was very well behaved as always.

Yesterday we surprised the parents by appearing as they arrived in Auckland for their coach transfer to Napier. It was great to hear that they loved Paihia as much as we do. There's always a worry that you can talk a place up too much but not in this case.

Last night we got to watch Ireland squash Australia and I am amazed I still have a voice!! Very pleased the Ozzies lost and found it funny that the kiwis call the fly half Beiber which he definately looks like! Couldn't kick for toffee either.

Today we have done half of our own trip to Napier and are about to get on the secon coach now. See you all soon!

Wine tour tomorrow so don't expect a blog straight away!

Love Tui and Kiwi xx

Wrinklies do Shawn of the Dead

Well today was the day the wrinklies would land in NZ and start their holiday. We got up at 5am so we could catch 2 busses to meet them at the airport at 7.30am. Thankfully despite the blustery weather they landed safely and Yvonne had recovered from the double vodkas that Colin and Dad were feeding her. They were all knackered and had barely slept on the plane so its felt a little like herding zombies, but they were very well behaved and there were no overtired tears or fistycuffs!

Today there has been a lot of coffee and tea drunk, the odd cider and we packed them off on their coach to Paihia where they probably all fell asleep the moment the coach had passed the city limits. They get there tonight at 21:30 and have an hour 30 at Whangeri (pronounced: Fungerai), right in the middle of a world cup match (we didnt mention that to them at the time! they have to discover some things by themselves!!).

I hope they enjoy it up there as much as we did. We've got an evening of watching rugby on TV and eating a huge bag of cookiees that accidentally jumped into our arms this evening and tomorrow down to the beach and possibly a nice Indian curry for lunch.

Love you all
Missing the kitties
Tui and Kiwi (and love and hugs sent from the wrinklies)

Underground Overground Penguining Freeeee

We took a trip to Kelly Tartons Antartic World today. Kelly Tarton was an adventurer who after years of study build an underground aquarium and penguin sanctury. We now have many Penguin pictures and some strange sharks as well.

The weather here still hasnt improved. It keeps raining and its freezing, but Ive still got sunburn on my head, thats what happens when someone nicks all the ozone layer!

Not sure what to do tonight, but some major relaxing will be achieved I am sure.

See you soon! Its parents turning up tomorrow so we need an eary night.

Auckland ZOO

Yesterday the weather decided to forget it was spring and lashed it down (their predicting a few small tornados tonight!). Faye wanted to go to the Auckland Museum so we took the bus in (and got soaked). Can't say I was too happy to be wandering around in wet socks but what we saw of the museum was good. Lots of Pacific islands history. Nik and Penny invited us over for dinner and we took tonnes of pictures of Ada.

Today the weather was windy but not as wet so we went to Auckland Zoo!! I always regress to 8 years old when I get to go to the zoo. I have to resist running up to the enclosures and shouting "LOOK A TIGER!". We have lots of tiger photos now, and about 50 other animals as well. Being winter here still a few of the animals are still in hibernation and a tree was blown over into one of the enclosures (giraffes I think) so we weren't able to go and see a few enclosures but we both still got to see the animals we wanted to see.

Not sure whats in store for tomorrow but Parents will be in the air then on their way and we are VERY excited to see them. Hope they have an uneventful trip.

I was only looking for a quite game of rugby!

Well theres been a lull in blog posts since we landed I realise, the truth is we have been far too busy having fun and couldnt be fussed with paying for internet out here until now.

We spent friday down at the Viaduct and Wharf ready to watch the opening festivities. The entire downtown area was closed to traffic so for once it wasnt possible to get run over. We saw a flash mob dance in Queens Street and watched the Waka (Canoes) leaving for the afternoon performance. We attempted to explain Rugby to a german girl (she seemed grateful if a little bewildered) and found some very friendly old ladies to hang out with at the railing to wait for the Waka. One of which has invited us back to her house in Taupo when we get there to share the photos we took with her. Seems like a fair deal!!

The Waka looked awesome, sculling into the viaduct 5 at a time (carrying 600 mainly naked warriors). 200000 people managed to pack themselves into an area that at most was able to hold 150000 (it got a little cramped) and we had to get through the crush of people to get out and run to the game. Sadly for the organisers the transport system couldnt cope. Two idiot english blokes thought it would be fun to press all the emergency stops on the train because they do it in the UK all the time, not realising that here they have to shut the ENTIRE network of Auckland down to reset it and then they have to account for every passenger before they can move again. This left 2000 people with game tickets stranded as a few tourists jumped off the train and ran up the embankments so the trains couldnt move for the rest of the night. Fortunately we caught a bus and got there with an hour to spare to get comfy. We didnt get to see the 600 strong Haka because of the crowd of people.

The Opening ceremony was great and the game was brilliant for the first half but everyone here is criticising the ABs for slacking in the second half. Having watch England last night, I wouldnt think they are too worried now!!

Getting home was a nightmare, the busses couldnt cope, Loads of people got stranded. We had to wait an hour for a bus but at least we got home OK. We upset the cleaner the next morning though by still being there when she came to tidy our room. I'm on holiday, I shall sleep in if I wish, methinks!

Yesterday was a turn up for the books, I got a free ticket to another game. France Vs. Japan. Penny couldnt bring herself to leave Ada-Marie for a whole 5 hours so Faye went over to effectively baby sit to get her used to the idea of being away from Penny (with her still there) and Nik took me to see the game at North Harbour Stadium. The whole stadium is open to the elements so we felt much closer to the action and bless the Japaneese, they tried their best, but the French team were just massive compared to them. They were fortunate to score 21 points. We worked out that the only time Japan could score was if either Nik or I was at a concession stand whilst the other watched the game, so we were forced to go for tea and donuts more than once. The Fish and Chips here was also superb, even in a little van they can cook it here better than in restaurants. You dont even need a stupid wooden fork to eat it.

We got back just in time to watch the second half of the england match and have cuddles with Ada before she went back to bed. Shes a little rugby fan for definate. We couldnt get her attention away from the tv even to eat whilst the game was on.

Today the weather has remembered its spring and is soaking. Penny and I were planning on going for a little run but as I now have a cold from sitting outside too much, I thought running in the rain might be foolhardy so we are off to the museum for a few hours, and hopefully later on it might have stopped long enough to get a mile or two in before dinner. Right now I am not convinced though.

Tomorrow the parents fly out here. I know they are going to be grumpy and tired when they get here, so we intend on taking them for breakfast as soon as we get them into town. They should arrive on Wednesday morning for us before going to Paihia in the evening. I've now got to find a car to hire to get them all here, or else they have a long bus journey and I will have sore ears.

No more rugby games now until Saturday so will have to content ourselves by watching them on TV for the rest of the week.

Hope all is well in Blighty!

Tui and Kiwi

Landed and sleepy

Well here we are in Auckland, safe and sound. We landed this morning without incident at 7am and got to our lodge in Remuera at 9am. The lodge is pleasant and cosy and 15 whole minutes walk away from Nik and Penny's flat, but considering the easy access to very naughty food and pubs here I think we will need the exercise!

Tomorrow nights festivities are going to be incredible. I suggest you get up and watch because it will be the ONLY time you will ever see 20 full war canoes coming into the harbour and a Haka of 600 warriors.

The jetlag has caught up and I was almost dead on my feet earlier. We both fell asleep on the bus, but managed to get our butts back up to Nik and Penny's for dinner and are about to go home for bed. We won't be getting up till about 12:00 tomorrow. I think we both deserve a massive lie in because we won't be going to bed until at least 3am on saturday morning!!


First game is New Zealand Vs. Tonga... Got our All Blacks banner all ready!

See you all soon!

Tui and Kiwi

Heathrow

Well you wouldn't have thought that there would be anything interesting to report at the airport but we have already bumped into some fellow rugby fans (who bought 10 games!! - must have cost them at least £1700 for that!) we have already picked up our first older lady! This is an odd and recurring theme to all our NZ trips. This particular lady is very friendly and is moving to NZ to be with her partner :-)

Right now we are sat in costa watching the planes and drinking tea and I just bought a Seconda watch in duty free for 1/2 price so I'm very pleased.

More later, we have an hour and a half till the gate opens.

Love Tui and Kiwi xx

One More Sleep!!

So its one day to go until lift off. Packing is mainly done, the team have been given Helen's details and we just need to tidy the house and finish off a few deliveries and we are ready!

Just a week to go

Well there is just a week to go now until we jet off to New Zealand again!

I feel like I am 6 years old again!


WOOOHOOOO!!

Only 39 days to go

So the clock is ticking, we just need to pay for our own accommodation and make sure the parents have somewhere to sleep the night before they go home and we are ready!

Business has been reorganised to give us some spending money and all in all its looking good.

Time to start debating how many times its considered acceptable to wear the same rugby top before putting it in the wash.

YIPPEEEEE!!!!

New Trip, Bring on the Rugger!

OK so we aren't in NZ at the moment, but we will be out there again in September. Only this time we are taking family.

All the plane tickets are bought and paid for, Parents and Yvonne are coming out for the 2 1/2 weeks in the middle of our trip. We've booked all our Auckland accommodation and just need to book the parents and our accommodation for Napier and Rotorua again. Maybe we will even be able to see Nigel and Lisa in Napier this time. I will certainly make an effort to. We will be there for an extra day this time so we should be able to squeeze it in.

Its certainly going to be a very different holiday this time. Lots of rugby and showing the parents the wonders of NZ. It will be interesting to see their reaction to it.

Must stop writing blogs now and do something constructive.