Who said red and green should never be seen!!

This is how Waitamo Caves camp ended. Abseiling, caving, rock climbing and much more but Sam fell over after a game of soccer ( football to you!!) He scored a goal and then slipped and fell back on to his wrist and broke it. Now the pain has gone sam is managing to enjoy the attention and looking forward to having a coloured plaster on next week.

He is not sure if he is going to go for the glittered one yet or not! He also lost a tooth in a seperate incident - just a baby one so all is well with that.

Not to be outdone Joe cartwheeled across the lounge and fell badly on his foot. screaming in agony we went on our second trip to A&E . No break this time but a torn ligament. Although we are not convinced as he keeps forgetting to limp!!

The rest of us are in one piece (at the moment)

Martin has been sampling the NZ christmas do's - iced bottled beer and a bbq, what more could you want. We stayed at home and then played taxi!!

Due to injury we didnt make the sailing club - so we will have to postpone this for 6 weeks and the swimming and the athletics! Sam had just got picked for the relay team so he is disappointed with that.

We came to NZ for the kids to have adventures and enjoy being children - and this is what we have got so far!

We have a birds nest just outside our patio doors. The chicks hatched the other day. Not sure how being next to a well used basketball net! We keep seeing the mom and dad swapping shifts on the nest and coming back with food. Jess is loving it, we keep catching her chatting to them

Most Saturdays throughout the summer the boatclub has sailing lessons for the children. Sam and Joe are going to have a go next week but we have to go and get life jackets first. Lets hope the manage to stay in the boat rather than in the sea! Jess is just looking fore creepy crawlies - her new hobby.

On Saturday the school and boat club organised a duck race to raise money for the school. They sailed out in one of the boats and placed all the rubber ducks in the sea and waited to see whose duck got back first. It was funny as no one had any idea which duck was theirs until someone could jump in and collect the winner. The chefs duck never arrived back and there is now a post card up from the duck saying in Acapulco -gone travelling!

We had our first New Zealand fireworks night. We were invited by some friends to their school to watch the display. The school was in town, with the school field finishing on the beach. The views were amazing. It was like a mini Glastonbury! we all sat on the grass on our rugs drinking wine waiting for the sun to go down. The kids loved running around listening to the music with their glow sticks.

We finally got to see the fireworks about 9pm. They were fantastic but too loud as Joe put it. Next time he will bring his earplugs! It felt very strange not wrapping up in all our winter clothes for bonfire night.

We spent Labour day bank holiday exploring some of the area. We went to Waihi Beach and had a picnic, we visited Katikati and then came back to our beach for an ice cream to finish the day off with a play in the park. Even on a bank holiday weekend we didnt really see and traffic jams or crowded places it was lovely.
This week we have had a quiet week really, just getting used to things. We had our house sprayed inside and out ready for the summer. You can get lots of bugs in the house during the hot season so this helps to stop that. We decided to go ahead and have this done when one of our neighbours told us she had woken up and was sharing her pillow with a large insect! So she has had hers sprayed every year since. Jess thinks we are cruel as we shouldnt kill any animals or insects.
Kids still loving school, they have 2 assemblies per week and certificates are handed out for good behaviour, being kind, good work etc. Jess got 3 on friday - one for good reading, one for good spelling and one for always sitting down ready and quietly to start work. Bless her. She was then given the school dog to bring home for the weekend. As you can see below he has been busy colouring.


We have planted some more vegetables this weekend, we are hoping to get enought to freeze and save on buying. Have to say you can only have so much rhubarb though! We now have 5 crumbles frozen and several pots of just stewed rhubarb. Going to give generously to the street with the stuff that is growing now! Lots of house here have a rack at the end of their drive with all fresh produce in called an honesty box, you just take what you like and then pop the money in. I bought a lettuce a couple of weeks ago and they leave all the roots on in a bag with water in, so they last for ages.

We went to the local DIY shop yesterday to buy some garden furniture and I was approached by a man who said are you from Sheffield?? I said yes is my accent that obvious, he laughed and said no I am from Eckington and your sons Sheff Wed shirt gave it away! They have been here a year and are loving it.
We then went to Omokoroa market yesterday and got chatting to a stall holder, who had been here 6 years with a very familiar accent. They were from Bramley rotherham. He used to work in Kiveton pit and now worked in engineering over here. He said his prices had to go up to a Sheff Wed fan, then a comment came from the back that would this also apply to a ManU fan, and stood behind us were a family from Manchester! Is there anyone left in the UK!!
Thank you for everyones emails, its great to here from everyone.
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