Happy New Year...

Sorry for the delay in blogging but we have just spent 10 days in an internet free zone in the wilds of New Zealand. We were in a place called the Mahia Peninsula and if you look at the map it's the little bit sticking out on the east coast of the North Island. Will's friend Sid, has a batch there (that's a holiday home). It's a lovely wooden building on an acre of land about 10 minutes walk from the nearest beach and is very peaceful and relaxing. Sid and Leonie had various friends and family members joining them for Xmas and the New Year and at any one time there were about 20 people there. Most were staying in tents pitched up at the back of the house, which left the front free as a frisbe ground, badminton court, football/rugby pitch etc...

The days have been spent drinking beer/champagne and eating freshly caught lobsters for lunch dipped in hot melted butter and then a humongous BBQ of steaks/chicken/chops/fish and salads, I have never eaten so much red meat in my life and need a massive detox. In amongst the eating we managed trips to the beach for a swim/surf/stroll and fishing. Sam had a fishing rod for Xmas and has been learning to use it and we also used a Kontiki, which is a motorised fishing line that gets sent out to sea with about 25 hooks attached, you leave it for an hour and then reel it back in... unfortunately the fishing wasn't great and we only caught a couple of sting rays which we had to put back.

Sam has had an amazing time, he has mowed the lawns on a ride-on mower and ridden up and down the beach on a quad bike which he thought was amazing. There have been loads of kids to play cricket and swim with and of course use the new fishing rod. For Xmas day he also got a skate board, rash vest, shorts, books and card games and was very happy with it all (although I'm not sure how we are going to carry it all).

Today we left Mahia and were invited to stay with Scott and Karen and their family. They are friends of Sid and Leonie and said we could stay and use internet/wash clothes etc... bless them, more wonderful NZ people. So here we are back in Napier and I am using the computer, Sam is watching telly and Will is drinking beer in the shed with Scott (all NZ men have a shed to dring beer in!) Tomorrow we will leave for New Plymouth and will try and sort out our Aussie Visas, which hopefully won't be too much of a hassle although I think we need to send in our passports as we are staying for longer than three months.

So a belated Merry Xmas and Happy New Year to you all... May 2011 hold lots of adventures for you and bring you lots of happiness.