News Items

There are always things happening in the news that catches my eye, interesting little stories that probably are not much, but interesting to read and understand.
This week in New Zealand I have read 3 stories that interested me.

1) Whilst erecting a Christmas tree in Auckland Viaduct this week, the helicopter used to raise it got its rotor blade struck by one of the wires assisting the tree and did a 180 degree flip onto the concret below. The pilot walked away from the wreck and to an extent was lucky he was so low to the ground when it happened. I am sure if you search the internet or check out the New Zealand Herald website you will be able to see video footage of the whole thing, as there were many people video the spectacular sight of this tree going up.

2) 6 girls at a local college (aged between 13-15) got taken to hospital this week after one of the girls brought, what they think were Ecstasy tablets, to school and proceeded to take them along with the other girls. Unfortunately they all had agressive side effects, getting abusive and agressive.
The girls have all been suspended from school and when 2 of them did visit the school gates to see mates they received a lot of verbal abuse from other pupils for their stupidty. They are still waiting for the toxicology reports to come back to knwo exactly what the sunstance was that was taken.
The big question at present is where did the pills come from? The answer tcirculating is that one of the girls obtained them from her parents stash in the house!
Again check out the above link to read more on this.

3) This item is not really a big headline story, but you just feel so sorry for them.
A little 13 month old girl burnt the soles of her feet when she stood on tiles on the balcony that had been heated by the sun. As she had not long learnt to walk, her reactions and ability to move quickly were still not mastered. She stood on the tiles and her little feet got burnt.
The parents did all the correct things for treatment of burns and she is currently in hospital receiving treatment.
Her father, got a thermometer and tested the temp on the tiles in the sun and discovered that they had gone to 69C. the tiles were made of basalt stone. The home was new and the parents had no idea this could happen to the tiles when they laid them, however, they were again reiterating the fact that the child didn't have the reaction ability to move off the tiles fast enough when she discovered them to be so hot.

The helicopter pilot, well he is just so lucky, especially when you see the video, makes you grateful for all littel miracles that come our way.
The girls with the tablets, were just plain stupid, but at the end of the day, they were being teenagers, but think they might have learnt the hard way about trying things out.
The little girl, she will have months of rehab and will have to learn to walk again but makes you realise the power of the sun nowadays.

Whats happening in the news in your country this week?

New Zealand

New Zealand has always promoted itself as being a clean, tranquil and green place to live.
Like most countries there are pictures available of some gorgeous places to see, wide open spaces, lots of countryside and quant little towns in the middle of nowhere.
They have strict border controls over the intake of food and plants to stop any harmful pests arriving and destroying the flora and fauna that we have.
We currently have a population of 4.4 million people divided over the 2 islands that make up New Zealand.



if after seeing all these wonderful pictures you feel like shifting south, immigration assure me they will be able to cope with the sudden influx of calls!

 They have always been lead to believe that we are indestructable and very safe from anything down under in our little spot 1500 kilometres east of Australia.

Sadly, this year, this has not been so true. Whilst we may not get people bombing major cities or any other terrorist attacks we have been unlucky this year in our natural disasters.

At the end of last year and again in February of this year, Christchurch, in the South Island, has been hammered by earthquakes. They may have only had 2 major ones but the aftershocks that have been rumbling since February are enough to turn everyone into the mental ward.
People wonder why those living there don't just get up and move? But when everything you own is in your house, it is very difficult to just walk away knowing that you may never be able to sell your one major asset that can help you move forward in your life, you almost feel like you are having to start all over again but at the sametime questioning as to why you had house insurance in the first place?

The 2nd major disaster to hit our shores is just that, a major disaster that is damaging our shores at present on the beautiful east coast.
The disaster is the delightful strickened cargo ship "MV Rena".

On Oct 5 at 02.20am and with a speed of 17 knots (20 mph), the MV Rena ran aground on the Astrolabe Reef, near Tauranga. The ship was carrying 1,368 containers, eight of which contained hazardous materials, as well as 1,700 tonnes of heavy fuel oil and 200 tonnes of marine diesel. Initially the ship listed 11 degrees to port, with the front stuck on the reef.


By Oct 9, a 5-kilometre (3.1 mi) oil slick threatened wild life and the area's rich fishing waters. Oil from the Rena began washing ashore at Mt Maunganui beach on Oct 10. Unfortunately bad weather that night caused the ship to shift on the reef, and the crew were evacuated. The shifting of the ship caused a further damage, resulting in a further 130 - 350 tonnes of oil leaking.

On Oct 11, the spill was declared New Zealand's "worst ever environmental disaster".
Strong winds and bad weather on the night of Oct 11 caused the ship to list over to starboard, to 19 degrees, and resulted in between 30 and 70 containers being washed overboard.

All we can do is sit and watch as a cargo ship of this proportion crumbles in front of us. We are being hit with some typical spring weather at present. Not cold but not hot either but with what you guys would understand as 'April Showers'. This in turn is causing rough seas off the east coast and so is hampering any rescue missions they set out on. They are trying very hard to empty the fuel and oil tanks on the ship but getting it pumped off into other boats is difficult in rough seas.

The beaches being affected by this disaster are among some of the east coasts finest. They are the summer playground for a fair few people during the upcoming summer holidays due to start in 10-11 weeks.
Remember, Christmas falls in our summer here, so everyone migrates to the beach for this time of year.

The sand is soft and golden, the water cool and inviting and this is all being affected by an oil spill that will take a while to clear up.

The other people I feel sorry for, are the people who's belongings are in those containers. People who are shifting their entire house to a new start, about to loose everything into the sea off the east coast of New Zealand.
I read about a family, who use to live in Christchurch, but due to all the goings on there have upp'd and moved to Brisbane, Aus. They packed up their house, placed everything in a container and flew to Aussie knowing it would take a couple of weeks for their belongings (furniture, pictures, memories, past family momentos etc) to join them out there.
They didn't even know their stuff was in trouble as they didn't know it was on the MV Rena nor did they hear about it on the news as it is a disaster within NZ not AUS.
It was only when the company emailed them to inform them that they may have lost everything did they start to discover just where their belongs currently are.

For some people 2011 is just not going to be their year at all and I am sure they are welcoming the upcoming new year in 11 weeks

Rugby World Cup

Oh I am sorry, did you not know this was on??
I guess when you live in a country where it is not happening and not in your face constantly for weeks and months leading up to it, then you are allowed to be a little blaize about it.

However, we live in New Zealand and yes... the Rugby World Cup (RWC) is in full swing and has 3 weeks left till final time. Everywhere you go there are flags flying for the country that person is supporting. Shops have designed their window displays around the RWC theme. Offices are decorated to support whoever. People are talking rugby every morning and people are not at work because they happen to be away a day or 2 due to having tickets to whatever game is on. So it has affected life just a little.

Have we got into it, well just a little, the boys have had times at school where they have been required to wear their favorite teams colours, one project they had was decided upon by choosing countires within the RWC.

The media, well what can one say about the media?? They have hyped this to out of this world proportions.

My 8 yr old is now wild about the All Blacks (New Zealand's team, if you didn't already know that) and I can honestly say it is due solely to the media. Sadly he only knows 2 of the players but again that is because they are the 2 highest profiled ones.

We are not a rugby family, yes we will watch it, yes we understand it but no we are not avid fans, no we do not have Sky Tv so we can follow every game religiously and no life does not revolve around a certain game on a certain day!

However, saying that, we did get tickets to a game during the pool games. We went and saw Wales v Samoa that was played right here in little Hamilton.

The boys loved this and were all excited about going. We got flags to wave, although we could only find Samoa flags at the time, so we waved green pompoms for Wales.

We painted designs on our face to show which team we were supporting. The family decided to split up and have 2 support one team and 2 the other.

Team Samoa

Team Samoa

Best Wales flag I could draw!

Team Wales

However, eventually Alex got a little bored in the 2nd half of the game and he just cheered for whatever was happening.

Samoa huddle prior to game

 

The whole atmosphere was great and I am really glad that Steve went to the trouble of getting tickets to a game. I thought the boys were a little too young to apreciate it but I was wrong, they didn't totally understand what was happening at times but hopefully they will remember the fact we, as a family, had a day out to the Rugby World Cup when it was held in New Zealand.

Useful Blogs

In the 6 years, (wow is it really 6 yrs already?) that I have been blogging things have changed in the blogging world.
Firstly when I started 99% of the blogs I followed or casual glanced at were from America. Nothing wrong with that, I have a love of the country so happy to read about it and people's life all the time.
Nowadays there are a lot more blogs from our home country of New Zealand.
Seems everyone is joining the blogging world and sharing a little glance into their world and life.

Secondly, all the blogs with useful information were sadly again based in the US, blogs that gave you reviews of products, retailers and great useful places to visit with a family etc.
How I wished there was something like that here in New Zealand?
With a growing family of 2 boys, who sometimes without realising it, do actually keep growing and getting bigger by the day, then I love reading about great places to visit that don't cost a fortune, that someone else has been to and highly recommends and is family friendly with something to hold every member of the family's attention.

Well, I have found it........




Let me introduce you to this developing blog written by Kiwi Mums for Kiwi Mums like you and me.
Welcome to Undercover Bloggers.

What It Is.......A resource for people who want to know the great places to go... and the terrible places to avoid.
The Purpose.....To harness the power of blogging to rave about our great experiences and warn others about the bad ones. To shout the praises of people and companies who go the extra mile. And to scold the ones who have forgotten that service is everything.

This blog is written by mums around New Zealand, so sadly it does not cover all areas of the country, but they are working on that one. So for all you people in Auckland, Wellington, Dunedin and Tauranga then  there are some places that you might want to check out.
For those in Hamilton, well there will soon start to be some reviews of areas appearing.
For people in other areas who have places to shout out about then why not consider getting in touch with Nicci and seeing if you can't help out.
So when you have 5 minutes with a coffee, yea I know when does that ever happen! Go over and check out the blog and see if there isn't something that takes your fancy to use as your next place of interest for your next family day out.

Mother Nature

I am one of those people that believes things happen for a reason, but at present I haven't established the reason for yesterdays earthquake in Christchurch.
5 months after the last one and they are just getting things sorted and wham the whole CBD is now flattened with many still trapped in buildings. The sad thing to me is all the old churches that have been destroyed, all that glorious history disappeared and crumbled, I know it is just a building but they are icons of Christchurch.

I discovered it at about 3pm yesterday and did not turn on the tv until 6, since then sadly it has been compelling viewing, even though they are repeating the same thing over and over you just don't seem to be able to resist watching further, waiting for news of wonderous moments etc and trying to comprehend the devestation that has happened.

I was thinking myself lucky in that I know no one down there, well a nephew, that I have not much to do with (sounds sad really) and wouldn't have any idea how to contact him, although his mother will soon let us know if there are problems.
However this morning I was watching some more footage and suddenly on the tv is one of the Doctors (Urologist) I use to work with in Auckland and now suddenly I realise I do know people down there. Not people who live there but unfortunately much worse, people who are visiting the city for a few days to have a conference. People who are staying in hotels in the CBD.
Suddenly it is hitting home a little more, are the Urologists I know from Hamilton there as well, we know one of them very well, seeing as they mentioned on the tv that they were all together, I guess they are all safe but I feel for their families all over New Zealand.

An organisation I am part of is holding its annual conference in Chch this year too, June July time, who knows if it will be held, will the CBD be able to hold it?
Who cares really, a conference is a minor thing and can be rescheduled when everyone is back on their feet and a little more stable.

Unfortunately life goes on, we will not forget this, but in a few days life to us in Hamilton will continue, you will work for 8 hours without thinking about them and you will catch up with friends over drinks the same as last week, but we need to still remember Chch is going through hell and we need to continue to let them know we are here and ready to help however we can.

Disaster

Not sure if any of my friends overseas are aware that sadly over a week ago New Zealand was hit with a terrible mining disaster!
29 guys sadly lost their lives when there was an explosion in the coal mine they had not long started their shift in.
At the time it was extremely dangerous to go in and attempt to rescue them and sadly as the days wore on, it became apparent that it was even worse than they originally thought.
Unfortunately 5 days after the first explosion there was a 2nd explosion.
It was then deemed that New Zealand had a recovery on their hands not a rescue.

Yesterday there was yet another explosion.

They are unsure as to when the recovery attempt will start, it may sadly be many weeks before they are able to deem the mine safe enough for rescue teams to go in the mine.

At present, as is company rules, all 29 miner's tags are still hanging on the security board at the entrance of the mine, and as is rightly so, I feel these tags will stay there until the miners are safely brought to the surface.
It goes to show that the miners are still underground and that is what those tags mean during working times.

I hope that when the miners are safely recovered, someone will kindly take the tags down to show they are no longer underground.

I remember many years ago, when 2 Australian miners got trapped underground. The first thing they both did on successfully returning to the surface, was to remove their tags from the board to show their shift had ended and that they were no longer underground.
It was a poiniant moment watching them remove the tags, as it symbolised so much.

My heart goes out to all the families who have been affected by this sad disaster. I fear they will not have closure very quickly and I hope they manage to get through the many weeks ahead until closure comes to them.

Whatever You call It?

Football or soccer, whatever, it is something I have grown up with. Dad was a referee and brother has played, so does my 9yr old nephew, very well in fact.

Blogging about football (as I call it) is not something high on my list either but........
When the All Whites thrash Italy, all be it with a draw of 1-1, then I am happy to blog about it.

New Zealand is small, I will give you that.
BUT look what we are capable of doing.

GO THE ALL WHITES

ANZAC

Today is ANZAC Day in New Zealand, April 25.
We get a Public Holiday today, well not this year as it fell on a Sunday, but any other year we get the day off, where ever it falls in the week. They actually passed an Act in 1949 that forbid the date from being 'Mondayised' meaning it had to be celebrated on the date, not moved to the closest Monday due to a weekend.

Anzac Day is a national day of remembrance in Australia and New Zealand, and is commemorated by both countries on 25 April every year to honour members of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) who fought at Gallipoli in Turkey during World War I (1915).
Although it now more broadly commemorates all those who died and served in all military operations for their countries.

Ben has just had a very small intro to the day at school.
They touched on it very briefly and are walking to the Cenotaph tomorrow morning with School to view all the wreaths.
As the park where the services are held is not too far from us we decided to take the boys to one of the services today. The 10am friendly service.
Most people get up and go to a dawn service, you know the type, up at 5am etc etc.
Not quite my type of thing, still sleeping at that time! Although this morning we did hear the plane that flew low over our area on the way to the service.

I decided that we had to dress nice for the service as I wanted to instill in the boys how special and important this remembrance is.

How we are lucky to have the ability to remember those that fought for us.

And how proud we are of those people.

I don't feel that this service is something you wear your scruffy jeans and t-shirt too, although I won't judge people by what they wear to the service, that is just my opinion.

The boys were very good at the service that was kept very simple and basic and was well attended by lots.

I think Ben will have fun visiting the Cenotaph tomorrow having been to a service today.

I look forward to taking them to a service again another year. This was actually my first service I have attended for ANZAC Day in the 12 years of living here, funny what you go out of your way to do when you have children just so they can experience important things to their country.

Sadly though, a RNZ Air Force Helicopter crashed on its way to a service in Wellington this morning. Killing 3 of the 4 on board.

Not what you like to wake up to on such an important day for NZ.

Town Icons

Back in December 2008 I posted about the Town Icons around New Zealand.

They were a group of iconic statues around New Zealand that were made into stamps.

I made it my mission to get my picture taken at all of the ones mentioned.

Well on our way to the snow last weekend, we went through Te Kuiti. Sheep Shearing capital of New Zealand.

And here are the pictures to prove we saw the statue.....

You mean one day I may grow to be this big?

Why does mummy keep taking our picture at oversized statues?

Me and the boys at the statue

Not a very clear picture but at least it shows we were all there.

Anzac Day

Anzac Day is a national public holiday in Australia and New Zealand, and is commemorated by both countries on 25 April every year to honour members of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) who fought at Gallipoli in Turkey during World War I. Anzac Day is also observed in the Cook Islands, Niue, Samoa and Tonga.

Anzac Day marks the anniversary of the first major military action fought by Australian and New Zealand forces during the First World War. The acronym ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, whose soldiers were known as Anzacs. Anzac Day remains one of the most important national occasions of both Australia and New Zealand. This is a rare instance of two sovereign countries not only sharing the same national day, but making reference to both countries in its name.

The Gallipoli campaign
When war broke out in 1914, Australia had been a Federal Commonwealth for only thirteen years. In 1915, Australian and New Zealand soldiers formed part of an Allied expedition that set out to capture the Gallipoli Peninsula, under a plan by Winston Churchill to open the way to the Black Sea for the Allied navies. The objective was to capture Istanbul, capital of the Ottoman Empire and an ally of Germany. The ANZAC force landed at Gallipoli on 25 April, meeting fierce resistance from the Turkish Army commanded by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. What had been planned as a bold strike to knock Turkey out of the war quickly became a stale-mate, and the campaign dragged on for eight months. At the end of 1915, the Allied forces were evacuated after both sides had suffered heavy casualties and endured great hardships. Over 8,000 Australian and 2,700 New Zealand soldiers died. News of the landing at Gallipoli made a profound impact on Australians and New Zealanders at home and 25 April quickly became the day on which they remembered the sacrifice of those who had died in war.

Though the Gallipoli campaign failed in its military objectives of capturing Istanbul and knocking Turkey out of the war, the Australian and New Zealand troops' actions during the campaign bequeathed an intangible but powerful legacy. The creation of what became known as an "Anzac legend" became an important part of the national identity in both countries. This shaped the ways their citizens viewed both their past and their future.

Every April 25 there are dawn services held all over the country to mark the significance of this day to New Zealand history.

Waitangi Day

Today is Waitangi Day, it is a very important day in the history of New Zealand.
To most people it is just another day off work and the chance to occassionally make it into a long weekend.
Waitangi Day always falls on Feb 6, so sometimes we are lucky enough to gain a long weekend from it, other times it turns out to be in the middle of the week and so we gain a day off mid week.

For more indepth information about what Waitangi Day means, then slip on over to my mum's blog where she has put up a post about it.

How Stupid

The main headline news today in New Zealand is the fact that 2 Australian Tourists, 2 brothers aged 22 & 24yrs old, here on holiday with their extended family, have been killed on Fox Glacier in the South Island.

Turns out they decided they wanted a better picture of the glacier and so they crossed the safety barrier and walked a little way to stand under a lip and have their picture taken. You can imagine the rest....the glacier was unstable due to recent rain and collapsed, killing both of them.

Now I know 20 yr old boys can be defiant but this takes it all a little far. I also realise that this was a freak accident, but still.....how stupid can people be? There are safety barriers for a reason?! Turns out one of the brothers was an Areospace Engineer, so you would have thought they would have had half a brain between them!

I feel sorry for the parents, who went on a wonderful family holiday with their sons, their only sons at that too, and now have to return home without them because, simple put, they were stupid!

My thoughts are with the parents because the thought of loosing my 2 precious monsters is not even worth thinking about!

Town Icons

New Zealand occassionally does 'First Day Covers' (postage stamps) with a theme. Now I am not a stamp collector, but this set was put out in 1998, just after I arrived in NZ and I thought they were really good. It also gave me something to aspire too. Because the Town Icons are all over New Zealand, I decided that I would make it my mission to visit all these places and get my picture taken by them all.

In 1999 my parents came for a holiday here and we travelled around a little bit, and during that time, without realising it I managed to get my picture taken with 3 of the icons.

The Carrot, the L&P Bottle and the Sheep Shearer.

Unfortunately this holiday was back in the day before digital camera's so I only have hard copies of the pictures, oh and no scanner, so one day I will get them on the computer.

What made me remember about this mission is the fact that we pass the L&P Bottle everytime we go to the caravan. The Kiwi Fruit is also about an hours drive from the caravan, very close to where we have relatives, so we get over that way occassionally. I have mentioned to the boys several times on our way to the caravan that we will stop one time and take their picture. Well when we left this last weekend I remembered and so we stopped. Alex sadly was a sleep in the car (another post for later!) and so we managed to get a picture of Ben with the Bottle.
So maybe my mission has changed slightly and now I have to aim to get pictures of all my family with the icons instead of just me?

Here is a little bit about the Icons:

The true essence of New Zealand is captured in the initiative and friendliness of the country's many small towns. Many communities are fiercely proud of their identity, and have gone to quite extraordinary lengths to keep their spirit alive and to put themselves on the map with powerful visual statements that signal to passers-by just who they are.

Lake Tekapo's Border Collie: The area around Lake Tekapo was, in part, made viable as a farming area by the wonderful sheep-herding abilities of border collies. This bronze sheepdog, on the lookout near the Church of the Good Shepherd at Lake Tekapo, is often referred to as Friday - a border collie famous in local mythology.

Riverton's Paua Shell: This giant shellfish on the roadside at Riverton was originally intended to draw attention to a local family's souvenir shop, which specialises in paua products. Since then, the four metre high shell has taken on a new status, and is now seen by many to represent the entire town.

Hawera's Cow: Hawera's 'Big Cow' can be found two kilometres south of the township, on the corner of Whareroa Road and State Highway 3. The 'Big Cow' also draws attention to the Dairyland Visitors Centre and Cafe, and Kiwi Dairies' manufacturing site.

Te Puke's Kiwifruit: This gigantic slice of kiwifruit was one of the country's earliest big roadside icons and can be found in Te Puke - the self-appointed 'Kiwifruit Capital of the World'.

Gore's Brown Trout: Gore's giant brown trout leaps from giant rocks at the northernmost entrance to the town's main shopping area. It is 6.5 metres tall and weighs one tonne.

Kaikoura's Crayfish: Kaikoura has long been associated with crayfish. In fact the word translates as 'eat crayfish'. Determined to remind everyone that the cray was the town's traditional icon, Annette Paterson, the proprietor of the Suntrap Restaurant and Takeaways, built this massive seven metre-long crustacean over the entrance.

Te Kuiti's Shearer: Having produced more than its fair share of Golden Shears Open and New Zealand Shearing Championships winners over the years, Te Kuiti claims to be 'The Shearing Capital of New Zealand'. This 6 metre tall roadside shearer celebrates that status.

Napier's Pania: Napier's Pania of the Reef was inspired by a Maori legend. Pania was a member of the Sea People but met a human named Karitoki and left the waters to live on land with her lover. Her people lured her back to their world, and would not let her return to the land and the man she loved.

Ohakune's Carrot: The Ohakune region produces two-thirds of all the carrots grown in the North Island. Local carrot growers were determined to celebrate this achievement. They did so by rescuing and relocating a 9 metre tall carrot built as a prop for a television commercial.

Paeroa's L&P Bottle: Paeroa spring water was first sold in the late 1880s by the Paeroa Natural Mineral Water Company. Later owners added lemon essence to make Lemon and Paeroa. Today those entering the town are greeted by a seven metre tall L & P bottle.

So maybe you now need to start planning your vacation to New Zealand and see if you can't get around the whole of this lovely country and get your own pictures with the New Zealand Town Icons.
Oh by the way, there are many more large statues around New Zealand that were not officially mentioned by New Zealand Post so loads to see and do here in New Zealand.

Blogging in NZ

On Tuesday, whilst at work, I happened to read the NZ Herald (newspaper).
There was an article on blogging in New Zealand. It was really quite interesting to see what they had to say.

A new study has revealed one in 13 New Zealanders has a weblog, making us the keenest bloggers out of 15 countries surveyed for a world research project.
Researchers at AUT University asked 1430 people about their internet use as part of the World internet Project, a California-run initiative that tracks how people around the world use the internet.
The survey, the first comprehensive study of New Zealanders' attitudes to the internet, found one in 10 internet users had a blog - about 8 per cent of the population.
The director of the World internet Project, Dr Jeffrey Cole, said New Zealand had the highest rate of bloggers out of any of the 15. The other country that rated highly for blogging was Japan.

Now this didn't seem that many to me, obviously it is to the researchers.

In New Zealand, people identifying as Asian were the most likely to report having a blog, with 31 per cent of Asians blogging, compared with 12 per cent of Pasifika people, 6 per cent of Pakeha and 2 per cent of Maori. Most bloggers were under the age of 30.

So I come under the 6% bracket, although I am a little concerned with the age bracket....Most bloggers were under the age of 30....seems I am not the norm??

Most internet users said the internet had increased their contact with family and friends, particularly those overseas. However 22 per cent said they now spent less face-to-face time with the family they lived with.

NZ ONLINE
Of the 78 per cent of New Zealanders who use the internet:
* 66 per cent have broadband.
* 77 per cent check their email every day.
* 28 per cent use social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook.
* 25 per cent have made a friend online, and half of those have gone on to meet an online friend in person.
* 13 per cent maintain their own website.
* 10 per cent have a blog.

I honestly would have said that NZ had such a small population that we wouldn't have had much significance to that much research, but obviously I was mistaken!

Falling in Love

Yes I have fallen in love, but it is not with whom more with what....

I have fallen in love with New Zealand....

Yesterday I had the pleasure of driving through the Waikato region about 1 1/2 hours to get to the site where our caravan is being placed.

I did the drive on my own and I left Hamilton at about 8am. The sun was just rising above the tree tops and all the plains were covered in fog.

It was beautiful, the sun was just hitting the right places to make everything shine.

You could just see the sun poking through the fog. This big round circle trying to shine down.

As I came to the Kaimai ranges the fog was sitting like a skirt, I could see the top of the ranges and I could see the bottom but there was this fog over the middle, add to this the sun shinning down and making it all sparkle and you have the most glorious sights.

By the time I got to the campsite I was totally sold on New Zealand all over again.

Don't you just love life....?