Running up that hill

Well, the good news!! Kz has a job - it's part time and she's somehow managing to earn more money than she did in England! Perfect!

I've been offered one but the offer was a bit rubbish - long story - suffice to say I politely declined - however I do have a few things on the go so I'm fully hoping I'll get something soon!

Still, we're keeping ourselves busy with interviews and ministry which is great!

I'm obviously getting far too old - can't keep up with all the socialising here - a four night weekend is killing me!! Just kidding, but it's great to have made so many great new friends so quickly.

There are a group of us currently organising to go to Rotorua for a weekend in April. They have a big triathlon event there and so about 25 of us from the cong are all going and entering as teams or individuals. Kz and I are both doing the 11km run/walk. So some serious training is in order. We have a great route worked out where we spend most of our time going down hill and on the flat (someone could have warned me how many hills there were in Auckland!) Its down by the marina, through the park and then finishing in style by running up this seriously steep set of 98 wooden stairs called Jacobs Ladder - I'm telling you now - it's a heart attack waiting to happen! It's a great short cut back from the city but lots of people use it to train - the other day I was coming back from an interview and there was a personal trainer there with some people making them run up and down them and then do push ups - so i obviously had to prove that even in a skirt it was no problem for me to just run up these steps and I was NOT going to stop half way up! I had to then keep going until I was out of sight and then collapse round the corner!!

So on Sunday evening we had a bbq for those going on the Xterra weekend - part of our training very much involves sitting round discussing how much we are going to train whilst sitting round drinking wine! Not everyone could make it but there are some pics of our erm.. training below!

Co-ordinated team t-shirts and we've not even reached Rotorua!

Intensive training!

Josh is swimming this year and Shi doing the 11km walk/run

Marcelle and KZ - two more runners/shufflers!

Running, swimming and cycling all represented here!

This weekend is a long weekend in Auckland. Slightly randomly, each different area gets to pick their own 'anniversary' weekend to have a day off but no-one co-ordinates it so depending on where you live in the country depends when you have your long weekend!

Kz and I are going to take advantage of it and hire a car to go down and see Bjorn and Kelly for the weekend in Tauranga, about 2 1/2 hours south of Auckland. The name of the car hire company is 'Rent-a-dent' - ha ha! And you wonder why it's cheap!

Four seasons in one day

So you may be secretly pleased to hear that it is actually raining here at the moment - and I mean torrential, monsoon like rain, which is actually quite odd as its still warm outside! Its been very changeable all day, from sun to rain to back again to sun, so we have been using the weather as an excuse to stay in and work on our job hunting, which has had a measure of success - Mich is at an interview as I type, and I have one tomorrow! So things are looking up...

We have been pretty busy trying to formulate some kind of routine and our days have been taken up with ministry, job applications and trying to get to know about the local culture!

We had a lovely Sunday afternoon in the park (see pics below) listening to one of the brothers from the hall play jazz in the park and have been attending multiple bbqs - it still seems weird that it is summer here and back home is so cold...

Jess, Maria, Shianne and MZ

James and Laura

One of the most fascinating experiences about local customs (for Mich at least) was discovering about faa fa'fini... apparently on some of the pacific islands if families don't have a baby girl they take the youngest boy in the family and basically raise them as a girl - so they dress him like one and treat him like one... leaving some really rather confused people... Maria has a call on one called Vicky and Mich was fascinated to go and meet him/her (apparently it was the hands that gave it away!!!)

We are also currently trying to decide whether or not to train for an 11km run in April down in Rotorua... I'm slightly concerned about the whole thing as it would involve having to work out a good running route here and there are rather a lot of VERY steep hills in the area! However we also get to run along the water, which is really rather pretty!

My other reservation is probably just laziness on my part as I am also becoming mildly addicted to Flight of the Conchords... but hopefully that will pass!

World where you live

Kia ora!

As you probably have worked out we have finally arrived in the land of the long white cloud and were pleasantly surprised to discover a distinct lack of clouds and beautiful sunshine! After the humidity and stormy weather of Brisbane this was a real relief, as I'm not sure we really could have coped pioneering in Queensland.

It was fantastic to be met by Shianne though, to successfully get through immigration and be properly granted our visas, and to experience our first flight where we didn't have a major stress about being over our baggage limit!

Josh and Shi live in the lovely area called St Marys Bay, next to Ponsonby and just a short 15 minute walk to the centre of Auckland. And just to prove it is sunny, check out the view from Shianne's office:

It was amazingly easy to set up visas and bank accounts (we had switch cards within 10 minutes, can someone please introduce this into the UK??!) so we rewarded ourselves with a little day trip to the western beaches - Muriwai and Piha. They are distinctive because they have black sand beaches, which outside of a boy band music video does seem rather odd! It also causes the sand to really heat up because it contains iron, so you really have to keep your flip-flops (sorry, jandals) on! And although Josh was disappointed not to have time to fish, we had a great time catching up!

Check out the extreme anglers on the rocks!

No Shianne hasn't shrunk, she is just standing in a dip!

Not a boyband in sight!!

We've moved into Central Auckland congregation, which is a lovely welcoming cong with nearly 200 publishers! They have 24 pioneers, although some of these are in the Spanish group which is attached. We have the circuit visit this week and so have been thrown straight into things but I think we are going to settle in well, all dependent on getting jobs though!!!

NB: now that the lovely Josh has very kindly fixed my wireless connection, I am hoping these posts will get a little more regular!!

Mr Tambourine Man

Firstly, to anyone suffering over there in the snow - we are thinking of you!!

Our last few days in Australia were spent in Brisbane with Brad & Salini, beginning with dinner at theirs on New Year's Eve. Their lovely new/old home has a great view from the decks over Brisbane city and allegedly a view of the fireworks - unfortunately in the five years since they've been away people have inconsiderately planted trees which therefore obscured much of the view!

Hayley starting the new year as she finished the last one!

What's an Aussie dinner party without a pavlova?!

The following day we went to Mount Tambourine, way up in the Queensland Hills. Randomly on the way you pass Piano Rock - originally named because it is a rock that looks like (and therefore someone has painted it!) a piano that has been thrown down the mountain!

Allegedly, there are great views but when we were there these were being slightly obscured by the clouds as the heavens decided to open as soon as we arrived! After lunch in a pub whose other claim to fame other than its views is the massive St Bernard dog, we indulged in a little bit of wine tasting before heading to the rainforest to do a little walk to Curtis Falls!

A uniquely named Australian vintage from the local vineyards!

This took slightly longer to get going than we thought it would as conveniently placed at the foot of the walk was a traditional sweet shop which involved lots of reminiscing and a lively discussion (Salini!) with the shop keeper about whether certain sweets were of Australian or New Zealand origin!

We finally headed off though, appropriately attired in our walking shoes ie flip flops, onto the muddiest walking track in the world, through the rain forest to Curtis Falls. Most of our concentration seemed to be based on staying upright and not falling face first in the mud however it was actually a pleasant walk through the forest to the falls - were they worth it?! I'll let you judge for yourselves...

Our final day in Brissy was a spent being proper tourists and catching the ferry over to Brisbane's South Bank to compare it with London! We had a lovely lunch with the most lurid coloured cocktails!, before walking back along the river and catching the ferry home.

Brisbane's answer to the South Bank - complete with fake beach!

No artificial colours at use here!

And now.....on to New Zealand....!

Island in the Sun - Part 2

Of course, it didn’t rain all the time we were there and we were able to go back to Brown Lake another day and appreciate it in the sunshine! You can really see how the tea tree colours the water and it was a much more relaxing swim this time, although we were serenaded continually by some very loud frogs and toads!!

Having managed to survive the waves on Deadman’s Beach, in spite of getting completely dumped on more than one occasion, it was a relief that Salini suggested going to Cylinder Beach which she insisted would be a lot calmer. After a nerve wracking climb over the rocks to get to the beach (we later discovered there were actually some steps we could have gone down at far less risk of falling off!) I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the water was beautifully flat and perfect for swimming, although sadly half the beach had disappeared as the tide was coming in. So I was happy to go for the best swim of my time on the island until I got to the point of feeling a searing pain on the back of my knee and realised that I had been stung by a jellyfish!! I don’t think it was a bluebottle but it did really hurt!

The lovely calm Cylinder Beach!

Ouch!

Trying not to make too much of a fuss, I got out of the water pretty smartish to inspect the damage and to get advice about whether or not you really should get someone to wee on jellyfish stings to take the pain away! I was relieved to hear that all the Australians thought this was unnecessary and once MZ had stopped laughing at the fact that it was typical that it was me to get stung out of everyone there and had taken a picture, I was able to sit down and nurse the pain! In case you were wondering, vinegar was prescribed by everyone as the cure, but as we didn’t have any I just settled for iced water. I managed to survive the experience and by the next day the sting had virtually disappeared and as I hadn’t at any point fallen into a poison induced coma I thought I came out of it pretty well!!

As MZ mentioned, the sea in Straddie does seem to contain a lot of wildlife! We were even informed of the fact that you can be bitten by sea lice, another bug I’d not heard of but thankfully we managed to avoid these! We did however see loads of dolphins whilst we were there, big pods of them would swim offshore on most days, and we got up early one morning to go on a beautiful walk round the Gorge before breakfast (it was so hot it was impossible to lie in past 7.00am!). We even saw a turtle swimming and came across some more kangaroos! Michelle of course managed to continue to recklessly ignore any warning signs and went right to the edge of the cliffs but the views were spectacular!

Note that she has gone past the sign!

Our enjoyment of our time on the island was increased by making new friends and meeting up with old ones again. For a few days we were joined at our beach house by a lovely couple called Danny and Sarah Ang, a welcome addition, particularly for Brad as he was able to have another guy to do ‘guy things’ with and who didn’t make him watch period dramas or chick flicks with! It also meant that we had two guys to do the bbq and the annoying jobs like taking the rubbish out! They managed to arrive at our place without any mishap, which can’t be said for our old friends in the form of Hayley and Neeka!

Brad and Danny do 'man' things!!!

To give them their due, apparently they had actually checked when the ferries were running over to the island but they had been sadly misinformed and what should have been quite a straightforward journey over to see us on xmas day, ended up including a 4 hour wait at the ferry terminal as they decided not to run any ferries over the whole of the lunch period! During that time poor Hayley got a little sunburnt and by the time they got to us they were just grateful to have arrived, as the whole journey had taken them 8 hours! However, a bottle of cold bubbly later, things were looking a lot better and it was great to be able to see Neeka and to settle back into reminiscing over old times.

It was sad to say goodbye to Neeka and Straddie the next day, but who knows, maybe we’ll all be back there for a reunion tour next year!!!

The Beach House gang

Farewell! Until next year...

Island in the Sun - Part 1

We’ve just arrived safely back from North Stradbroke Island (“Straddie” to the locals – of which we virtually are now on the basis that we’ve seen more of Queensland than the natives – Hayley!!)

We hired a beach house with Brad and Salini which overlooked Deadman’s Beach (personally one of my fave beaches on the island – aptly named because they found a skeleton on it in the 1950’s that they believe was the victim of a shipwreck at the turn of the century!)

As most of you that have been to Australia know, it is a very different beach experience here to when you go to Sardinia – no gentle paddling in the total wave free Med whilst showing off your latest sparkly bikini – going to the beach here basically involves getting totally soaked and usually dumped at least a couple of times by the huge waves, whilst manfully trying to maintain your dignity – let alone your bikini – whilst avoiding being hit by surfers, pulled out to sea by a strong rip or stung, bitten, maimed by one of the many animals that seem to inhabit the ocean!!

Seeing as Kz doesn’t really like to go in when it’s as flat as a mill pond with no discernable creatures present you can imagine her delight when she had lots of warning signs awaiting her as she stepped on to the beach! However, when you get used to the waves, they provide so much more entertainment on the beach and the beautiful beaches are totally worth it!

Brad and Salini also wanted to show us that Straddie isn’t all about the beaches but has some lovely lakes too – as long as you are prepared to 4WD to get there! So we ventured off on our first morning to Brown Lake, so called because of the tea tree oil in it, not a nice colour but makes your skin very soft!

Unfortunately as we arrived I was convinced it was starting to spit with rain, only for my concerns to be brushed aside so we went for a swim – just as a monsoon started!! Still, not many people that have been to Straddie can say that they swam in the lake in the pouring rain!

We indulged in a number of 4WD expeditions whilst on the island, with Salini and I both taking turns, (to the fright of the other passengers!). Apparently the key to it is to let your tires down so that you don’t get stuck in the sand – I had a go along Main Beach which was fun – before handing back to Brad, the expert, with some interesting results!!

A local speciality, seafood wise, are Moreton Bay Bugs – vile looking things that were put at the bottom of the sea for a reason, however we were assured they were lovely so one night we bought some and cooked some up! And yes, even I tried some – I think I can probably live without repeating the experience although to be honest, all I could taste was garlic!

Pineapple fields forever..

Phew - its hot!! Sorry - you can all glare at me through your computers if you like!!

I think 'random' is the best word that describes our time in Brisbane, or more correctly, Redcliffe so far!! Hayley didn't want us to have a typical Queensland experience so has been thinking up some of the slightly more unusual places to take us to!

On Saturday we went into the Queensland Hinterland - up into the hills, to grey sky and slight drizzle! (although still very warm!!) to search out quaint (or as quaint as anything can actually be in Australia!) little gift shops and afternoon tea in Maleny and Montville.

Then we headed to my personal highlight of the afternoon - the Big Pineapple!! For any of you that have ever been here you will know that size really is everything to the Aussies and there is a whole tourist trail of 'big' things to see from shrimps and rams (we nearly went to see the big ram in WA but it was 30km in the wrong direction so even we weren't that stupid!) to pineapples!! We even had to go down the Bruce Highway to get there, ha ha!

It's huge!!

I still can't resist climbing big things!

At the Big Pineapple you can even go on a little train ride round the plantation and they tell you lots of interesting facts about pineapples before you climb the big one! So here are my two interesting facts - pineapples take over 18 months to grow and once picked they don't ripen any more - so there is no point leaving it out on the kitchen table for a few days to sweeten up because it really won't! Fascinating, eh!

With Mummy and Daddy Brock on the Pineapple Express!

From the Big Pineapple we drove past Australia Zoo - cue massive pictures of Steve Irwin holding a crocodile! - to the Ettamogah Pub, which has to be one of the most hilarious Australian experiences, typifying everything Australian (its even right by Aussie World, if you want more of a fix!)

After the meeting yesterday (and the 20 minute public talk!!) Brad and Salini came down to join us! We caught up over date scones and bubbly and then headed over to Scarborough Boat Club (sounds a lot grander than it actually is!) to look over the great view of the harbour and some of the gorgeous boats whilst sipping our drinks to a backdrop of the Sunday entertainment which consisted of a guy and girl (think Same Difference off the Xfactor but dark) singing classics such as 'the birdie song' (and yes, they were encouraging people to do the actions - I had a sudden flash back to dancing around the front room at my grandparents house to this when I was about 5!), the Macarena and the Nutbush! As Hayley aptly pointed out - money doesn't buy class!!

Kz and I then went and did three hours streetwork this morning in 34 degree heat so are fully intending spending the rest of the afternoon sitting under the fans with a nice cold jug of water!!