Les Poissons de Mer du Sud

After JZ's little expedition to Rotorura, we welcomed him back into the fold by making him feel at home with more London visitors - this time in the form of Manni and Lisa! So to give them a warm welcome (well a brief one really as they were only with us for a long lunch before catching a plane!) we thought we would introduce them to a kiwi delicacy in the form of feijoa. For those of you who have never heard of them, feijoas are a type of fruit, also know as the pineapple guava. You get them in parts of South America too and they are eaten like a kiwi fruit and used a lot in juices etc. The opinion of those who tried them was that they were nice but perhaps tasted ''slightly of soap'' as they have a perfumed aroma!!!

JZ getting excitable!

Manni not really sure if he likes Feijoa...

Still, it was nice for Park View group to be represented again on this side of the world (plus JZ!!) and it was great to catch up, albeit very briefly...

Sunday afternoon saw us back at the West Auckland beaches - these are the black sand ones - so that John could do some fishing. I felt that this was actually a bit of an extreme sport as you obviously have to stand quite close to the edge of the rocks and the waves can be quite wild there - check out how wet the rocks look!

Why would you do that??

Standing way too close to the edge for my liking!

However Josh and the boys decided to be intrepid and threw out a few lures to see if anything would bite...

Josh and his rod...

Not quite sure of JZ's technique...

Sadly John's hopes of catching something were dashed when it was revealed to him that the tug on his line was actually being caused by the fact that it had got stuck between the rocks, so he was forced to re-bait his hook.... this was carried out with much hilarity and exclamation as apparently fish bait does not smell particularly nice!!!

New bait!

Yes, it really does smell!

Why help when you can look on and laugh??!!

Having failed to catch any real fish the day before, on Monday we went with JZ to Kelly Tarltons, an Auckland landmark that was one of the first aquarium's to use curved tunnels rather than flat panels and because of the way that they are shaped, everything actually appears one third smaller than it is! Its particularly well known for its penguins and stingrays...

Thats one bus you don't want to be hit by...

The closest I've been to driving over here!

Happy feet anyone??

Protecting their young

John auditioning for Jaws - the remake

We got there in time for the stingray feeding, which was really impressive as they truly are massive and they still have their barbs in place. Apparently it is extremely rare to be killed by a stingray though - only about 19 people ever have been, so Steve Irwin really just was unfortunate. At one point I thought they were going to knock over the girl giving the demo though as they come right up out of the water!

I was scared even if she wasn't!!

MZ and JZ with the Auckland skyline in the back

John enjoyed the experience so much that he decided to use the next day whilst we were at work to do his introductory PADI dive there and so was able to swim with them up close and personal! In the evening JZ very kindly took us out to dinner at this cool bar called the Northern Steamship, right on the harbour. It is characterised by its upside down hanging lights and has been converted from the old offices of the Northern Steamship company into a pub so it is actually quite old and has a lot of character by New Zealand standards!

One picture, many frames...

Shame we couldn't reach them, I need a lamp for my room!

Josh, Colin and John

So it was a sad farewell to John but we were safe in the knowledge that we'll see him again in a couple of months when we head back to the UK for Carey and James' wedding.... but next on our list is the big south island tramp.....eek!!

Half the World Away

So it's been like home from home recently with a flurry of English visitors passing through! Jz has been touring round NZ and came into Auckland a number of times to catch up with Kz and I and Josh and Shi.

We decided to go away the first weekend he was here to the Coromandel. The Coromandel Peninsular is basically about 55km east of Auckland and extends 80km north of the Bay of Plenty, its 40km at its widest point and mostly covered in subtropical rainforests - and here's the best part - beautiful beaches!!!

We headed out on a beautiful Saturday morning and took a leisurely drive down there, with our first stop on route (after the obligatory coffee stop - obviously not for me!) being Hot Water Beach!

Hot Water Beach - before the mayhem starts!!

Look who discovered a danger sign!!

Low tide!

At Hot Water Beach (the clue is in the name!) within two hours of high tide it's possible to dig trenches in the sand and allow the natural hot water springs to come to the surface to create your own spa! Because of the limited time period in which this can be done, this naturally creates a very busy beach with lots of frantic activity as you desperately try and dig your trenches before the next wave comes to crash over them and destroy all your hard work. It does mean that there is a lot of camaraderie between strangers though as everyone seems to end up just building one long trench and jumping in! Word of warning though - the water does get VERY hot - they reckon up to 147 degrees farenheit!! So it is more than possible to burn your bottom, as we discovered!! It's actually quite nice to have the waves crashing in on to of you because it cools it down slightly!

Trying to beat the tide!

Relaxation at last!

We then stopped for a yummy lunch before heading to Whitianga, to have a little look round and buy provisions for our bach.

Josh - acting natural!

We hired at the last minute what turned out to be the most gorgeous cottage (well done Shianne!) and only a fraction more in price than the campsite! It was situated in the grounds of a farm and you could even wander down to look at the pet pig, on your way to the water hole, which according to Josh - the only one brave/stupid (delete as applicable!) enough to venture in!

The next day we went to Cathedral Cove. The region is a marine reserve and Cathedral Cove named for the big cave/arch that links one beach to another. If anyone has seen the Chronicles of Narnia, Prince Caspian film - its the cave and beach that they use to re-enter Narnia! Fascinating eh!!

It is probably the most beautiful beach I've been to in Nz and well worth the 30 min walk there. It's just like being in Sardinia, without all the Italians, and definitely gives Spiaggi del Principe a run for its money! The pictures pretty much say it all!

Err - bring back the Italians!!

Kz found the Genie of the Rock!

That's better!!

We finally dragged ourselves away for a late lunch, where Jz and Shi finally got their green mussels and oysters, before making the journey back to Auckland, having definitely decided that the Coromandel was worth another visit before we come back to England!!

Wherever I lay my hat (thats my home...)

Finally, the day that Josh had been looking forward to for weeks arrived!! We moved out! We have literally moved about 30 seconds walk around the corner from Josh and Shi (so it’s perfect for still popping in for dinner!) into a 5 bedroom house with some girls from the congregation.

We had a bit of a mare because our new landlord is a bit of a numpty (Braid girls – Peter Adams seems like the best landlord in the world in comparison!) and had kept saying he would get a professional cleaner and it just hadn’t happened. There had been Chinese students in the house before us and there was just a layer of grease over every surface, plus no windows seemed to have ever been opened! We ended up having a massive argument with him about what constituted clean as he seemed to think it was perfectly acceptable, which eventually resulted in him walking off in a strop saying he didn’t want difficult tenants and us (well, possibly me – in a very helpful manner!) retorting that we didn’t want a difficult landlord!! Finally however, we did manage to sort it out and arranged to the key off him on Sunday at 1pm and get going! Fortunately, we had a team of willing helpers that set to work helping us clean and lift furniture which was great.

KZ spent 2.5 hours just scrubbing the kitchen floor!


Chad demonstrating how much he could lift!

Shi cleaned all the windows in the sunroom and killed a LOT of spiders!

Ginny did a great job cleaning the bathroom

Clint pretended to be useful!

Taking a well earned break!

After about 6 hours of kitchen scrubbing and with a ready supply of beer flowing, we were finally all able to collapse with our fish and chips! Hopefully you’ll be able to see the fruitage of our efforts in the pictures below!

We basically have a large open plan area, with a kitchen, dining room and living room and then a sun room off. The rooms are huge – living back in a London flat will seem very small in comparison!

Kz and I are still finishing off our rooms so photos of them will follow – I’ve still got a floordrobe at the moment!

In typical fashion, I then got over enthusiastic and asked about 10 people to dinner the following night as a kind of thank you and also because Ben Rutherford was up visiting from Dunedin.

At about 6pm I was seeing the error of my ways when I couldn’t get the oven to work and then realised I couldn’t fit all the pans on the hob! Still, it wasn’t a total disaster – even if people did have to wait until 8pm to eat, as I had to make one lasagne and then the other! Mel and Jessamy kindly helped out though by providing salads and dessert and it ended up being a really good night! Clint (Jess’s boyfriend) wants a shout out for turning up with chocolate and wine – he wants to prove he’s just as good as you Dominic!! (Although I have pointed out to him that if he wants to rival James, he’ll have to turn up with flowers for ALL of us!!)

Too short for the stove!


Ben

Am fully looking forward to getting all my bedroom sorted this week though and my room looking good – just in time for Jz to arrive meaning I’ll be evicted from my room once more!!