Back in the game...

Well, thanks to the lovely Brett and Ellie we are now back in the game and more blog posts will be coming your way (and more pics once I upload them). The reason that Brett and Ellie have saved the blog is that they have now left NZ and have left behind their internet connector with us... they have also left us loads of food and cutlery and bedding for our van which is now finished, We used Don's workshop and built a fab table in the van which collapses at night and turns into a comfotableish bed... it's very swanky. We have lovely foam mattresses which were professionally covered by Don. Sam has a fold out foam mattress which was professionally covered by Coralie (Ellie's next door neighbour) and all these lovely people helped us out and gave us their time and their stuff for free,,, we love NZ!

We have all surfed and me and Ellie went for a lovely horse ride on the beach, we have eaten lovely food and are just having a great time. Yesterday we spent our last night with Brett and Ellie and a couple of their friends, Jamie and Mattie, at a music festival near to Mount Maunganui. A music festival here is very different to UK, it's a much smaller scale, more like a local festival, with a beer tent, a small stage and maybe 100 people, but it was great, we sat in the sun and drank a few beers listening to the music and Sam played rugby with a few kids. The festival finished at 6pm (bless) and we went to the campsite which was beside the river and free... Sam, Will and Jamie went in the river on the surf boards for a paddle and then we had a BBQ as the sun went down. Sam also had a go at fishing with his mates and has decided that he would like a fishing rod from father Xmas this year. All in all it was a perfect evening and we were very very sad to say goodbye to Brett and Ellie this morning :(

We drove back to Mount Manganui and decided to do all the touristy things we had missed out on. We walked up the mount which took about an hour and was beautiful (Will went in bare feet and is now foot sore!!) then Sam and Will went for a surf and afterwards we went to the hot springs for a soak, followed by a kebab!! We are all now in the back of the van parked up by the sea and Sam is reading, Will is snoring and I am updating this... sorry it's been so long I'm sure I have missed out loads of things. I hope you are all not freezing too much in the UK. Me and Sam wish we had snow but we have a Xmas tree in the van, loads of tinsel and advent calendars (much to Will's disgust). More updates tomorrow evening as we head off up the coast on our NZ roadtrip.