Sunday 10 May 2009

A blog from Jody at last!!

Hi
OK so first I have to say sorry, I have meant to write a blog for ages and just haven't got round to it. Maybe because I'm having too much fun or because I'm lazy - most likely a mixture of both.
So sorry.
News Flash!!! I'm in England 29th May until 18th June, so if you want to meet up book yourself in now. In case I don't blog again soon- Congrats to Lou and Darrel who will tie the knot on the 6th of June

Well I know James has updated you a little but he did miss out a major event in our New Zealand lives, and that is my Parents came to visit for a month, Yay!!! Hopefully I can persuade James to put up some photos so if there are photos, great, if not it's all James' fault. I put the photos in my self. Yay for me!

Hopefully Mum and Dad had a great time, I did, other than I was a little bit ill on one of our mini breaks. I'll give you a run down on the activities that we did together and you can see the fun you'll have if you visit us. We like to call ourselves 'Club JJ'

Well, when they first arrived I was working so I met them at the top of the drive where they were sitting outside a little cafe having a coffee in the sun. Me and the kids welcomed them and showed them round the house and facilities and caught up a little, before I left them so they could rest.

I have to say having anyone to stay is exciting and I was like a little kid cause it was my Mum and Dad.
That weekend we went to a bustling farmers market in a very pretty town north of Auckland, that is touristy, called Matakana. On the way we discovered Dad's secret obsession - he likes to take photos of sign posts, which over the holiday progressed to car number plates.
We had lunch there and mum and dad seem to be coping really well with the jet lag.

In the afternoon we drove a little further to a beautiful beach, Omaha, where they are currently building lots of Bachs (holiday homes) by the beach. James loves these buildings as no two are the same and some are very cool. My Dad on the other hand didn't like them at all, and called them boxes. It was an interesting conflict!

We sat on the beach and we all swam in the sea (well Dad didn't exactly swim more of a wade) Mum and me were convinced that if we just floated a while the waves would eventually bring us in. So that's what we did, the experiment back fired a little as when we decided to see how close we were and realised we further out and could no longer touch the bottom. It was a great day which ended in taking Dad the lobster home (burn burn burn)

Back to work for me but due to really cool bosses I was able to meet up with Mum and Dad in the week at the zoo with the kids in tow, and we even had a bbq in the evening with my bosses and their parents, plus they lent Mum and Dad their car. Mum and Dad did lots of exploring as well and went to lots of beaches and I think Mum managed to swim in the sea everyday and did lots of walking.
Now luckily while Mum and Dad were here there were two bank holidays and James and me took a few days off as well and we all decided to go somewhere new- the Bay of Islands. It is further north so everything should be even warmer and it was.

We did lots of things: we went Kayaking down a mangrove river to a waterfall with a guide which was beautiful (this is where I felt ill so James and me had a two person kayak and he did most of the paddling - I'm a lucky girl). We also went dolphin watching for a day on a sailing boat and swam from the boat to an island. Mum and me on another occasion decided when we were swimming at a beach (while Dad was snoozing and James was reading (Boring)) that it might be quite interesting to see if we could swim to an island so we set off . We realised half across that there was quite a current as we were aiming at various markers (boats and buoys) and getting dragged slightly around, but we made it safe and sound after a few incidents with sea weed (agh). The island was uninhabited so we explored a little (but with bare feet it wasn't ideal) and we found a little bird nest (can't remember what type - you'll have to ask Mum) just in amongst the rocks. On the swim back we noticed a figure on the rocks in the distance - James! apparently he was worried, and we shouldn't just swim off without telling anyone blah blah... I think he was just jealous that he didn't get to go on the adventure. Dad on the other hand said he had been worrying but as we found him exactly where we left him you have to wonder how worried he was and whether if James hadn't mentioned it he would have even noticed we had gone.

On the way home we stopped at Whangarei and went to a massive waterfall and along a tree top kauri tree walk (massive trees). It was a great break, fantastic to go somewhere new too.

Back to work for the JJ's. Mum and Dad continue to explore the north island and went to Hobbiton and glow worm caves. We met them on the weekend at Hamilton Gardens and introduced them to Kieran and Nic in Cambridge. We left them in Cambridge with a list of places they could visit and headed back to Auckland and work.

For the 2nd bank holiday we met them on the Coromandel peninsula (one of our favourite places in NZ) at Hahei. We had a lovely few days there going on walks, swimming in the sea - this time when Mum and me went on an adventure James was keeping an eye on us and as quick as a flash he was in the water with us. We all swam (minus Dad - snoozing on the beach) around an out crop of rocks to another bay and clambered up onto a rock island and jumped off (Mum couldn't climb up without losing her bikini top, it was quite funny). We also had fish and chips on the beach which just has to be done anywhere in the world.
Photos of us post chips We headed home in convoy and that was pretty much it for our month with Mum and Dad.
It was so great having them here. I'm so glad they came and now they know a bit about my life here, makes me feel more settled and I now have lovely memories of them in New Zealand. I know James will love the feeling of having his family here too when they come.
Oh it's the first holiday I have had with my Mum AND Dad since I was five which also made it super cool.
Bye

Jody