It has been 3 weeks of mayhem here in the countryside of Maungaturoto. My brother and his two boys (4 & 2) were visiting for great grandad’s 80th and an extended holiday. They returned home to Australia yesterday. Let me tell you it was rather crowded especially when it rains so often and they can’t go outside, but boy did we have fun. The house is very quiet now and has somewhat been returned to its previous state of tidiness but I do miss the little tykes.

During their stay we
-went to the beach to pick pipis,
- went fishing and caught a Kahawai
- went to the park,
- had fun at Chipmunks,
- shopping trips,
- fed the chooks and collected eggs,
- ran around the rugby field,
- watched the lambs,
- made the cat and dog freak out,
- visited the grandparents,
- went to McDonalds (on more than one occasion),
- helped Grandad Sears work on the car and much more.

Recently my grandfather celebrated his 80th birthday. We had a gathering of people at a house that we hired for the weekend. This way people could come and go as they pleased throughout the day. This also gave granddad a chance to have a rest and chat to differing people as they passed through.
There are many things that I can attribute to my granddad as having inspired and influenced me during my life. To me he is one of the most influential male mentors in my life and I see him as a strong man with an incredible work ethic, intelligence, humor, generosity and wisdom.
Here are some pictures from the day.

Took a day trip to Waipu Cave. There is a walk from the caves through the bush out to another road. The track was quite well signposted but having signs giving the distance left to go might be of benefit. Here are some shots from the day.

Steve recently took part in another half marathon in Taupo. We were very fortunate to get amazing weather over the weekend and a fabulous family to stay with in Kinloch just out of Taupo. Incredible views from their home, in the countryside, good conversation and great kids to boot.

I love Taupo. I mean what doesn’t it have going for it? A lake, mountain views, ski fields within an hour or so of travel, geothermal Rotorua only an hour away, should I go on?

Besides getting hit by another driver (while I was parked in a paddock I might add) it was a great weekend away with a good run result for Steve as well.

On the way home we went via the National Park as we just love this area. It was the first time I have also been able to see Mt Taranaki in full from this area as well. That’s how clear the day was!

Not far from where I am currently staying is Whakapirau beach which sits at the head of Kaipara Harbour. There used to be a fabulous oyster processing shed here but it seems to have closed down. Darn, I was looking forward to a delicious feed of fresh oysters. Oh well, I shall have to pick them myself now.

There is a great swing off one of the huge trees right on the beach. Thankfully that was still here!

Happy Maori New Year! Matariki is the Maori name given to the Pleiades star cluster, or by the name I’ve known it by, the Seven Sisters.

Waipu a little town near to Maungaturoto were having a fire show in celebration of the 2010 Maori New Year. The Maori New Year is marked by the rising of Matariki and the sighting of the next new moon.

Despite the look of rain a good turn out showed up for the 6pm fire show. Not a bad night out for a little NZ country town!

The best fish and chips EVER can be had at Opononi fish shop. Their breaded hoki fillets are the BEST!

We also took the ferry across at Rawene for only $12.00 it is worth a ride on a beautiful day.

We took a trip up north to visit Steve’s parents. Perfect day for traveling and seeing the countryside.

Love, love, love Hong Kong. The heat for one thing was incredible. Finally bliss to strip off and not have to wear thermals all the time, you need to wear a hat, sunglasses and sunscreen which would have been good if I didn’t have to toss it at the airport security point!

Our three nights here were fantastic with some excellent meals and just wandering the streets at night where the humidity was still at epic proportions. If you have been to a tropical location before you will also notice that most living bug-like creatures grow to epic sizes including their snails. I was quite thankful not to run into any spiders as I’m not a fan of foot sized creepy crawlies.

HK Disneyland was rather crap but I’m glad I can mark that one off my list of worldwide Disney’s to visit. Even Eurodisney was better. Just really lame rides in HK. I think they definitely go for cuteness and not thrill seeking.

Had a fantastic Korean meal as well as some delicious crab from a local, back street vendor. Still standing so that’s got to be good. Anyway, I would highly recommend HK. We stayed on Kowloon Island near Ya Mae Tai station and loved it. Three days just wasn’t enough time to explore. I wouldn’t bother with the evening light show on the water but the Walk of Fame is great around this area anyway. The cooling breezes off the water are lovely at night.

Getting to and from the airport is a breeze. Everything is so easy and air conditioned. I thought Germany was efficient. They look positively relaxed in comparison to the Chinese. The skyscraper homes were also amazing as were the chaos of people. Even though there are thousands of people surrounding you I was amazed at how respectful people are of keeping a personal space between them. Also, respectful of keeping their mobile phone conversations personal to themselves so you don’t have a constant barrage of mobile ring tones and screaming idiots. Everyone’s phones appeared to be on silent vibrate and then when they answer the caller doesn’t have some ridiculous conversation at the top of their lungs. Loving HK! The same goes for general conversations on the street and the flow of foot traffic. How can a city with a mega population just run so beautifully and be so clean! Amazing on so many different levels. I would visit HK in a heart beat.

Shopping wise -there is plenty of trash to be purchased but the big electronic ticket items didn’t have a cash price difference. We had done all the price shopping before coming here and really there were no major bargains. I did love the fashion sense though. Incredible individual labels if only I could get my western sized butt into any of it!

Any country that you have to catch a train to get to your plane gate, has to be an epic one to explore!

We really enjoy Germany and in particular staying with our friends H and U in Stuhr. The weather was lovely for us (only 1 day of rain) and it was great to slow down after a fairly hectic month. We are now back in Newport with M and the cats. Yes, Clarityn is a must for me with my cat allergies. Blahhhhh.

Anyway, here are some pics from our time in Germany where we managed a couple of bike rides, lots of yummy food (in particular the weiss spargel/white asparagus which is in season at the moment and totally yummy), church services and touring the countryside.

We got here from Wales with plenty of time to spare. I was rather thankful for this given we were over the weight limit by a significant amount and at £47 per kilo this required some repacking. What I failed to realise in my rush was that I managed to take with me all the liquids which of course are not permitted through security in the quantity I now held! Some more repacking and sharing the liquids with Steve. Unfortunately my shampoo, fav red nail polish and beloved Olay were among the items that had to go! The young lady working at Krispy Kremes scored big time today, she was chuffed.
We ended up taking the Heathrow Express (yep John, I caved) and paid the £18 each instead of the underground as the bags were too heavy.
Loving the airport with lots of room, ok lighting and plenty of shops to browse. Anyway I have managed to use half my iPhone battery life so far today. Goodbye England, Ni hao Hong Kong!