First P2P for 2006

After a very "EVENTFUL" 7 day tour and a (Sparrows fart) tsfr this morning my People to People tour (P2P) group has left New Zealand and is off to Australia.
We had it all....Sunshine,beautiful clear sky follwed by blustery wind,pealting rain, biting cold,red noses all around,power cuts,hunger pains and frozen toes................but in among the dramas we had a abs-so-lute blast with heaps of fun, alot of laughter and brand NEW friends.
On the way down to The Bay of Plenty we stopped off at the Karangahake Gorge and with the sun just starting on its journey downward and with the shadows getting longer it made for a typical late winters afternoon.
A few of the students thought it might be a good idea to try and cross the river by jumping from rock to rock.........a few close calls and probably the odd wet foot,but nothing major.......I guess me throwing rocks in to try and splash them wasnt helping?
But we couldnt hang around forever as we still had a wee way to go before we could check into our hotel in Tauranga.

The following morning we headed off to Sapphire Springs at the foothills of the Kamai Ranges near Katikati for a days insight into what NZ is doing when it comes to protecting and conserving our environment and with the sun shinning the Faintail's and Tui's singing no one really noticed that the weather was slowly starting to change.......for the worse........


Come 1400 that afternoon we all fronted up to Paparoa Marare in Te Puna for a overnight marae stay with a HUGE amount of culture.

Things were kicked off by a traditional welcome ,which judging by the look of most of the students and poor ole CJ (who we "kindly volunteered" him to act as our Cheif)
But as the tangtawhenua (people of the land) showed a more gentle side with waiatia (song) of love and peace,I could see the look of relief on alot of faces,but that was short lived as the next new experience was the Hongi (Pressing of the noses)..........."Wow that was "like" weird..." was one of the comments and as the people of the Marae explained how theyhad just been welcomed on as Manuhiri (visitors).....but now they were part of the extended whanau ( family) and as we re seated oursevles I could see the smiles starting to shine once again.....
Flax weaving,the making of poi's and singing songs was to occupy most of the afternoon,which was followed by a meal (Hangi) and a concert by the local younger people.
A great night.

Sorry no photos of Rotorua....I kinda want to forget that as the weather was abs-so-lute crap

All things come to a end sooner or later and as we were heading back to Auckland I decided to show a movie to pass the time......everyone was so deeply engrossed in the movie "The Whale Rider" that they didnt see the sunset and then all of a sudden someone did and it was all on......it was a mad dash as people stood on one another to get a photo of one of natures wonders.







...........what a awesome way to finish off the tour.

Have a great trip to Aussie you guys and safe trip home

Just a average Winters day

Mind you ALOT better than the last couple of days,what with snow down to 200m in the South Island the Central Plateau inpassable,heavy rain,airports closed cellphone's out,high winds,blackouts in Auckland......I guess you could say today was pretty good.


Mana and I did the walk around the neighbourhood just before lunch which involved me pushing/pulling her tricycle.
Off we set,all wrapped up to brave the Winter bite-first stop the pond, to check out the locals (pukeko's and duck's) then over the bridge thru the Manuka & Cabbage tree's to the sports field with a quick pit stop before a light rain shower sent us on our way home to a yummy hot pasta lunch.

K's still under the weather abit so we decided it would be a good idea to do the shopping for Mummy,this involved yet "another" push/pull session for me down to the local supermarket.
Keiko wrote Mana a shopping list and it was so funny to see Mana pull out her list at every section and announce that we do not need that because its "NOT" on her list.

So with our 3 items (Bread,Mince & cream) we loaded everything into the back of her tricycle and we were homeward bound........

Rainbow

First it was Mana now its K's turn to be sick so Im at home today doing the Daddy/Husband thing and looking after my girls.......... its definitely going around the whare.....hopefully I wont catch it.

Still got up this morning opened the curtains and Mana & I were greeted by one of natures natural wonders...... Mana shouted out with glee "Niji"......"Rainbow"......."Aniwaniwa" (how can a Dad not be proud when his daughter is tri-lingual) and YES the curly hair belongs to Mana.

Anyhoo its a day off at home for the whanau,not too cold and between the rain showers the sun comes out so you wont find me complaining about that.

We watched the DVD "Finding Nemo" this afternoon (again......) and I have to say "I love it" there is excitment,danger,fun,laughter,struggle,love,sadness all bundled up into a perfect family movie.
(Always cracks me up when Dory talks to the whale....haha)

Mana and I went to the local supermarket and brought some nice fresh bread for lunch.
She went up to the bakery section selected the one she wanted and then said that she "HAS" to buy Mummy a chocolate muffin....... ......apparently chocolate always makes Mummy feel better........Huh,wonder where she got that idea from?

Anyway that was about it today,nothing really special,but any day I can spend at home has to be a good day.

Sorry but Ill be off line for awhile as Im busy,busy,busy with students from USA and I wont get much time (if any) to sit down in front of the computer.
It doesnt mean that Im not going to completly forget,but it will be awhile untill my next update.Kia ora

Happy Birthday Daddy

Otanjobi omedetoo.....that's how I was greeted yesterday morning by my little princess as she climbed on my bed and "thrust" a birthday card towards me with a picture of a chicken on it and launched into a historic re-count of how she picked the card out,to which I still have no idea of what significance the chicken crossing the road has..........

I went for a "BIRTHDAY" surf that afternoon..........another great day,smiling faces all around again,offshore breeze again,2 ft swell again,sun shinning again and clean as again.........GROUND HOG DAY.....

Mana and Keiko made me a birthday cake with peaches ,fresh cream and sprinkles which was consumed as if we had not eaten for a week.....yummy!


At 1745 (that's just before 6 for those non military types or another way, just before the six o'clock news) We drove the 8km to Kumeu to the "Golden Silk" a Thai restaurant.
We had been before and really enjoyed it.Two burning gas touches mark the entrance and there is both the classic and modern art work inside,toss that in with the traditional Thai smile and warm friendly-ness you cant help but melt into the surroundings.......

K started off with a small mixed entree and I ordered the local "Singa" beer (did you know that bad boys 6%??....Nice drop)Then it was straight into the main course and although we tried our very best when it came to pronouncing "Pad Med Ma-muang" a ever so slight smile came across our waitresses lips, so we resorted to the "Ill have one B4 and one E12 and this one (as we point with our finger) for our daughter....Thank you"

The food was undescribable I had a dish with fried tender chicken and a mix of Thai style stirfried vegetables bamboo shots,mushrooms,baby corn (which Mana took a liking too) green beans,spring onions,carrots,ginger,cashew and roasted chilli and HEAPS of piping hot Jasmine rice.........I KNOW!!!

K had bar-b-que chicken (which was cooked a bit like Peking duck) with this amazing carrot and tomato salad and this yummy special peanut style dressing with her own bamboo basket of sticky rice.

Mana had golden strips of chicken with rice and veggies.

We had almost finished when I noticed the only thing we had said since we started the meal was the odd "Mmmmm"....."Good" a couple of grunts of approval and a "Here try this" so for those of you planning on going for a night of pleasant conversation......DON'T go there the food will distract you from all intelligent conversation!!

We made our way to the cashier feeling rather proud of ourselves in the fact that there were only empty plates left on the table and as we paid a very reasonable $62 and walked out we all noticed a definite sway as we were carrying abit more around the mid section than on arrival.
I love birthdays,specially mine.......

For those of you lucky enough to be in the Auckland area

Golden Silk Thai Restaurant

2a/88 Main RoadKumeu

Shopping VillageKumeu Tel 09 4122454

Ka pai te rangi ataahua

What a beautiful day yesterday...............Man, I could handle Winter if everyday was like this.Woke Mana up for Kindy at 0715 and she sleepily rolled over dragging the covers up over her head all the time complaining about being tired "Mana chan mada nemuiiiiiiiii" (boy it sounds so cute in Japanese)But after some convincing she got up dressed and we sat down for the traditional Kiwi kids breakfast which consisted of "Weetbix" and toast with Marmite on it of course.Then it was off to morning Kindy session for her ......YATTA!!! we both thought,sometime to ourselves.K and I headed off to the local Starbucks for a coffee and hot chocolate.Abs-so-lutly awesome day not a cloud in the sky,bright sunshine,a typical crisp winters morning and as we sat outside with the sun warming our faces and hands firmly clasped around our mugs to warm our digits we both sighed in unison......Ahhhhh!!

1130 I shot out to Muriwai for a surf,how could I go wrong on such such a beautiful day?The beach was awesome and I was greeted to the sight of smiling faces of Mums heading off for a beach walk with there oversized 4 wheel drive beach/buggies with babies tightly bundled in,Runners and Walkers with their dogs.........you know even the dogs were smiling.
The tide was coming in, a offshore breeze that could only be described as a zephyr and a clean 2ft swell.Even when I entered the water expecting that ole so familiar "Brrrrhhhhh" I was pleasantly surprised it was if Tangaroa was making one last ditch effort to hold on to something that resembled Summer.Paddling out was a breeze and I positioned myself a wee distance from a longboarder,but close enough to acknowledge him with the kiwi version of "how are you,Yes I can see you and no I wont drop in......." I'm talking about the every so subtle jerk of the head skywards while raising the eyebrows......Char bro!With the surfer etiquette out of the way I turned my attention to the task at hand,but having"Bluetack" jammed in my ears and being able to hear ones own breathing it kinda sends you into a trance like state (that and bobbing about like shark bait in the line up) and on a day as such it gives you time to really contemplate life's little mysteries......But that was soon forgotten as the longboarder yelled out and frantically pointed to a very tidy 2ft right........(nice wave bro thanks for that) and the rest of the session was to be repeated again and again.....paying for it now as my arms and shoulders are abit on the "al dente" side.

K and Mana came out and together we made all kinds of castles,water holes plus a very strange looking cake (that Mana insisted we eat) as we played I noticed Manas footprints in the sand so I made my own right next to hers and then just had to take a photo (as you do)

Driving home to the sounds of Jack Johnson,I tell you..........windows down stereo LOUD and the soaking up the last remaining sunshine........very cruiseeee and very happy.
Ohh yeah the mystery I was thinking about earlier......well not so much a mystery.......but today is the day both me and my Sister will celebrate our birthdays.....yes same day,but year apart.

Sorry I'm not there with you in person Sis but I know your whanau will look after you and show you a great day.....Happy birthday Sis.
Arohanui