Well folks, we’re on our way home! Can’t quite believe that the year has gone by but we’ve waved farewell to Wellington for the last time (sniff!). It was hard to say goodbye but the dispersal of our furniture did much to soften the blow (sleeping on the floor for the last 3 nights wasn’t much fun) and we knew a holiday was on the way so we can’t complain too much!

We had a great final weekend in Wellington – it coincided with my birthday (hurrah!) so Alan took me to stay in a rather swanky hotel in the centre of Wellington. Which just so happened to have Sky. Which just so happened to be when England were playing their first match. Hmmm. A cunning ruse me thinks. Anyhow we had a slap-up meal and met up with Nicky and Ben to watch the match at 3am (well, Nicky and I watched for the first 4 minutes, saw the goal and then spent the next 86 minutes gossiping. Perfect!).

From Wellington we went for a few days in the South Island – flew down to Dunedin (sooo cold!) and went exploring in the Catlins (which is right at the bottom of the South island). Luckily, the weather was brilliant….

Then again, maybe not.

But we did get to see some wonderful, wild coastline…

…along with seals, sea lions and a friendly yellow-eyed penguin…

I really enjoyed seeing the “Petrified Forest” – fossils of tree stumps and fallen tree trunks dating back 180 million years. I just about managed to refrain from the plethora of gags to be aimed at Alan (“oh, some of these must look pretty familiar to you” etc) but only just.

From the Catlins we drove up to Queenstown – a trip which saw completely different weather altogether. Clear blue skies and warm sun really set the snow capped mountains off perfectly. Nowhere was this more apparent than at Lake Manapouri where we stopped for a spot of lunch….

…and the sun going down over Lake Wakatipu on the way into Queenstown was glorious…

This time we headed much further round the lake than Queenstown to a tiny out of the way place called Kinloch. We arrived at our lovely, comfortable lodge as the sun was setting. While we could still see the mountains in the distance, it wasn’t until the morning that we saw the area properly…

We then had a very stressful morning…

…and then headed out to catch some more great views…

Even from the plane the pictures kept on coming!

Then it was back to Wellington for a final night – this time we were very brave and just parked the camper by the sea on the South coast, near where we used to live. (Those of you who have been to see us may remember the spot – near Alan’s favourite bit of beach between Lyall Bay and Houghton Bay). It’s an impressive bit of coastline but we arrived when it was dark (having been out for dinner in Wellington) and left when it was dark (to go and see the football in town!). Still, we chose a good spot to do our only bit of “freedom camping”.

From then it was off to Napier and on to Rotorua – which have been great….

…but absolutely freezing! We piked out and stayed in youth hostel/backpacker places for the last couple of nights as we couldn’t quite face the van (letting the Venga bus down at the last minute!)

From there we headed to Auckland to stay with Guy and Marny – in their nice warm house! Most of what we did revolved around chilling out…

…eating fine food and drinking beer. Oh, and football of course! We did manage to drag ourselves away for a couple of days out on Monday and Tuesday. We went over to Devenport on the ferry in beautiful weather then into the Waitekere National Park for a day. We particularly enjoyed seeing Piha Beach in the sunshine…

…and having a picnic on the beach.

We said goodbye to the Venga bus – we managed to sell it pretty easily in the end so the feeling was more relief at not having to spend days trying to sell it rather than feeling too sad!

We also had to say goodbye to Guy, Marny and Marny’s expanding tummy (baby, not pies) which really was very sad. But we managed to be as troublesome as possible right up to the moment of departure (“Guy, we’ve set the burglar alarm off again”, “Guy, we’re leaving in 3 hours and don’t have any travel insurance. Can you help??” etc). So undoubtedly they were pleased to see the back of us.

From there it was time for Melbourne with Kim, Tim and Emma – and here I sit. With Lionel Ritchie playing in the background (mercifully Kim’s stopped singing along) and Alan pretending to be doing some washing but really just sat on the floor playing with Emma! Who remains as gorgeous as ever…

We’re having a great time with the Storeys so far and we’re off this afternoon for a weekend away in Rye which should be brilliant. Anyhow, we’d better go. Kim has no doubt got a lovely lunch venue in mind – oh this holiday lark is tough!

All love
Christie and Alan

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Well I hope you’re all enjoying the lovely summer weather. It’s getting pretty nippy over here but the sun is shining today, thankfully! I know it’s been months since I’ve updated the site so I’m going to have to give some very edited highlights!

The first thing of importance to happen after our last update was Alice’s arrival. We had a great time catching up and doing the main Wellington sites….

We really enjoyed having her to stay and she gave a much-needed (!) boost to the wine business of New Zealand!

Our next visitor arrived shortly afterwards in the shape of Tina. While I met up with Tina in Martinborough (and while I was being treated to a night in the v swanky Martinborough hotel) Alan did the Tongariro Crossing - a walk across a National Park in central North Island. Looks like he had fun (although I think I was happier coiffing wine)…

We went for a trip to Castlepoint, which was gloriously sunny and got to explore the city at night...

We had a trip away at Easter up to Tongariro….

…and went walking on Mount Ruapehu. We couldn’t go all the way up as it was too icy but managed to get above the cloud…

We then headed off to Lake Taupo..

And to see the amazing Huka Falls….

We’ve also managed to get out and about around Wellington – I’ve been wanting to walking in the Kaitoke National Park all year so we managed to squeeze that in…

We’ve also enjoyed seeing Nicky and Ben since they’ve been living in Wellington.

Nicky and I have particularly enjoyed our girls’ nights out where we can talk about make up and kitten heels to our heart’s content without lots of eye rolling from the boys. Although we did do our bit by accompanying the menfolk to a rugby match which was really quite exciting!

Other than that, we’ve had an abortive attempt to climb Mount Holdsworth where we had to come down as I thought I’d left the iron on. I kid you not (you can imagine the endless mocking I’ve received).

We also had a trip to Wanganui last weekend with one of Alan’s friends from work, Sam. His parents have a farm in Wanganui so a few of us went to stay for the long weekend. Had a great time jet boating and clay pigeon shooting.

The jet boating was particularly good. The Wanganui river is stunning - runs through a gorge so cliffs on either side and the river is so still its like a mirror. There are also rapids in other parts, which is very exciting to go speeding through on the jet boat. Although we did have a minor crisis on the way back when we hit some rocks!! All very exciting - once we'd established that no-one was overboard and no parts of the boat were floating downstream - but was mighty chilly for those that ended up in the water trying to manoeuvre the boat off the rocks. Which was everyone but me!!

We also enjoyed seeing the “Bridge to Nowhere” which was built for the settlers in the area to cross the river around the time that all the settlers upped and left. Helpful!

So not too long for us to go now – we leave the house in just over a week so our last weekend just so happens to be my birthday weekend. So we get to do what I want!! We’re staying around Wellington I think – watching the football in the middle of the night (hang on. That’s what Alan wants to do! Rats).

Anyway, we arrive back in the UK on 29 July so we’ll see you soon!

Christie and Alan.

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www.eatons.blog.co.uk

Christie xx

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Ahhhhh (or, more likely, “eeewwwwww”). Fear not – within about 5 minutes we were back to the “have you left that kitchen light on again”/”its your turn to make a drink” routine. Ain’t love grand??!

Anyway, I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas and New Year – we certainly did (details to follow!). Before I start, I do appreciate I will not be the most popular girl in the class when I start telling you about sunshine and beaches but I hear that the temporary blog-writer is thinking about making a comeback (by allegedly “popular” demand. Ha!) so I thought I’d better pull my finger out and get the page updated. After all, I won’t be the only one attempting to drown myself in a cup of tea if I have to read any more lengthy descriptions of cricket scores…. (just kidding petal).

Although it seems like a really long time ago, it was great to see you all back in the UK – despite the circumstances. Even though I was back for nearly 2 months there were still people I didn’t get to see/see as much as I would have liked so I’m really looking forward to catching up with you properly in August.

My arrival back in Wellington coincided with the New Zealand premier of King Kong at the Embassy cinema (where I used to work). As I’d been really looking forward to it (and in an attempt to stave off the jetlag), we headed downtown to see what was going on. Alan had biked past the venue earlier in the day and seen it being set up…

…but it was a bit different by the time we got there.

It was a great atmosphere with people hanging out of windows etc but there was still plenty of room to mill about without getting squidged. Saw 1 or 2 famous faces (the last one being the most famous of all of course)...

…but sadly was not invited inside for the premier. Invite must be lost in the post.

The next 10 days fair flew by before Christmas Eve arrived and we found ourselves on a plane – again (really very bored of this flying lark). However, we had a very big incentive in the form of Christmas with the Storey/Richards family. As Hugh and Merrilee well know, we are the masters of turning up at family functions, eating all the food, drinking all the wine and leaving the entire family wondering who the hell invited these people. This time Kim and Tim’s family had the pleasure of our company! They all made us feel very welcome (while no doubt planning security for next year’s festivities) and also very Christmassy. I really didn’t think I was going to feel like it was Christmas given the baking heat and scorching sunshine but Christmas carols, roasting turkey and sufficient Christmas decorations to sink a battleship really do the job. As does being with family – even if we have hijacked someone else’s.

But most importantly, we also got to meet baby Emma who is truly gorgeous

…and it’s safe to say that the Eatons were truly smitten!

We also got to do our “Christmas Day on the beach “ manoeuvre – not quite the whole day but we went for a lovely walk in the morning. Kim and Tim had rented a house in Point Lonsdale, which is about an hour away from Melbourne along the most glorious stretch of coastline. The beach is golden, soft sand and just beautiful. We had it practically to ourselves.

Then it was back to the house for food, drink and Christmas Day Storey/Richards style….

The rest of the week was spent in a whirl of….well, relaxing actually. The weather just got hotter and hotter so we celebrated our anniversary on the beach

(but not, thankfully, in matching wetsuits)

(Tim and Alan head off for a swim - but not walking together. That would ruin the manly image - grrr)

…and then, given my English rose (aka – pasty) complexion, in various cafes offering shade. And beer. Well we were on holiday.

In the end it got a little too hot (cue lots of flopping round the house feeling lethargic) so we headed back to the city a day early to stay in Kim and Tim’s lovely apartment. This was a bonus for us, as we hadn’t seen their place before (plus they had air conditioning!) so we spent a lovely evening walking through the botanical gardens with a beautiful sunset as a backdrop

and down to St Kilda beach followed by a meal of delicious Thai food on their deck…

(Nice beard Alan)

We left early the next morning to prepare for Sam and Jo’s arrival the following day (needed to make sure the accommodation passed muster or we’d never live it down!). They arrived on New Year’s Eve and coped remarkably well with the jetlag. We spent the evening down on the beach with a bottle of champers in hand .

We didn’t quite make it to midnight (jetlag well and truly kicked in) but we had a great evening.

Jetlag was also a great excuse (not that we needed one) to spend New Year’s Day on the beach and swimming in the sea (Sam was the only one who didn’t venture in. Girl).

We’d been looking forward to getting out and showing Sam and Jo the sights of Wellington that evening. Unfortunately Wellington seemed to be shut! They do take Bank Holidays very seriously over here! Managed to find a couple of places open that would serve us food and drink so we made the most of it.

Having left us to do a tour of the South Island they came back for another couple of days, once again bringing some lovely weather with them. By this time Alan was back at work so, in addition to the cable car and Botanical Gardens (think the staff may be starting to recognise me by now), I took them for the obligatory tour to Martinborough for some wine tasting. This involved taking Max the Venga Bus over the Rimutakas – a winding mountain road that has a couple of posts and some wire to stop you plummeting over the edge. Sam coped with being on the drop side very well. Ok, I thought the crying was a step too far but apart from that he did quite well.

No wonder he necked the alcohol when he got there….

(“Mmmmmm……it’s a soft blend of summer breezes and fruity tones”. Or should that be “is this not Blue Nun?”)

They left last week and we were very sorry to see them go – but they did leave us with the entire first series of Lost on DVD which has softened the blow!

2 days later Guy and Marny arrived for a weekend visit and despite all our best intentions to go and play golf we decided to go to (guess where)….Martinborough! (Am thinking for applying for some sort of loyalty card).

This time Alan drove and the drive between vineyards became increasingly noisy until the drive home, which was suspiciously quiet (zzzzzzzz).

This was unsurprising given the number of vineyards visited.

But despite all that, Guy was the life and soul of the party when we got home....

We’re looking forward to seeing them again in March for our long weekend in the Bay of Islands.

That just about brings us up to date. We’re getting some great weather at the moment – yesterday was absolutely glorious. Had a fantastic walk around the boundary to Karori bird sanctuary (in my role as fence monitor! Checking its still there!) and met Alan down at the beach on his way home from work for a little post-work swim.

It’s a tough life out here in New Zealand! We're off on holiday for 2 weeks (again?!) to the South Island on Saturday so they'll be even more pics when we get back!

Love to you all
Christie and Alan
xxx

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Having said that, I will be monitoring the situation and will return if the readership appears to be falling or if my audience demands more!

I guess there is a little gap for me to fill you all in on since my last update before I go – it’s been a busy few weeks with rock and roll, leather and willow, parties and of course more Saturday morning dives and Sunday walks and bike rides.

The rock and roll comprising a quite drunken Friday night out to see a New Zealand band called Pluto – you may be hearing from them soon but they are well worth a listen (downloads on www.pluto.net.nz/media.html )and put on a good show before we joined them backstage for after show drinks. Not quite as grand as it sounds – backstage comprising the old toilets with a tatty old sofa and a 12 pack of Heineken!

Next came the leather and willow when Australia came to Wellington to play New Zealand – the previous game had ended in an embarrassing defeat for New Zealand and when Australia scored 330ish with 150 from Andrew Symonds, it looked like it was going to be repeated. It turned out to be one of the best one day games I’ve seen, with New Zealand finishing just 2 runs short with 2 balls left – they made up for it in Christchurch a few days later though. I think its fair to say the locals aren’t particularly fond of Brett Lee judging by the chants around the ground everytime he ran in to bowl – an excellent day and night of cricket though....

Although there is a major lack of Christmas around Wellington, with no Christmas tree or lights on show in the city, Christmas party season as started. I had high hopes of the work Christmas party being in baking sunshine on the harbour front by the yachts – however it turned out to be ‘real’ Christmas weather with fog, rain and cold winds....

Another good night though and the official party.....

.....was followed by the unofficial party with some friends from work – as you can see the British can handle the beer much better than the kiwi’s (but don’t tell the guy in the middle I said that!!!

Anyway I will leave you with a few other pictures of my weekend adventures.

This is Waihoine Gorge...

Not many great views from here due to the trees.....

But some nice streams.....

And Christie tells me she is keen to go although I have my doubts as this is the only way in and out....

....we’ll keep you posted on that one!

This is a view along Wellington’s South coast from when I went for a walk to see the seals. The seals weren’t home so I went to explore the hills. You can just about see the island of Island Bay where I (whoops – we!!!) live about four bays along and the entrance to Wellington Harbour in the distance – pretty impressive considering the city centre is five minutes drive from Island Bay....

..and finally this is the local mountain bike park at Makara Peak – I have just clocked up 500 miles on my bike since arriving in New Zealand....

……and you can just about make out from the sign here at Makara summit – its about 28,000km to Coed y Brenin in Wales....

So anyway – even though you are 28,000km away, we’ll be thinking of you at Christmas and hoping you are having a great time and looking forward to seeing you soon.....but not too soon - there's still plenty more to see!!!!

In the words of Slade - Merry Christmas Everybody

Alan and Christie x

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Still three weeks to go until Christie gets back - she assures me it will fly by but I'm not convinced.

Speaking of Christie, I guess I should update you on what she has been up to as well. Having survived her 'Bird' Flu she is currently embarking on a Tour of England, attempting to talk AT as many people as she can get to listen!

By the sound of it she is doing quite well and I understand her latest victims.... ooops i mean hosts.... have just recovered and their ears have stopped bleeding. Here's Hugh after a couple of hours - it sounds like it went downhill from there......

So congratulations to those that have survived and good luck to those who have yet to experience it - you have been warned!

Well its been a busy few weeks since last writing and I am now a certified scuba diver - which is nice!

I've been doing a course over the last couple of weeks and passed the exam last sunday, meaning that I can now go diving (not quite solo) without having the instuctor getting me to swap masks and breathing apparatus with people underwater. A particular favourite was taking air tanks, mask and everything off on the bottom of a 5m deep pool, swimming to the surface and then diving back down again to put it all back on!

Its all been good fun though and I've been for a couple of dives off the Island Bay coast, which has rocks and caves to explore and lots of fish, octopus, eels and stingrays and stuff to play with.

Unfortunately (or fortunately) there's no pictures of me in my diving gear - I'll try and get someone to take one for my next posting though!

Something that will come in handy now I've done the diving course is the old New Zealand Navy frigate the Wellington which was sunk in spectacular style off Island Bay last week as a diving site.

Here's the boat arriving in the morning....

and then they set the sinking off with a bang....

and she starts to disappear....

Looking forward to exploring that sometime soon.

Thought I better mention the rugby as well - although I didn't quite manage to stay up until 3.30 on Sunday morning. I quickly left the house on sunday to go for a walk up Colonial Knob (no sniggering at the back please) in an attempt to avoid hearing the score until the replay came on in the afternoon. Fortunately the sheep kept the score to themselves and having survived the wind on top of the hill I then spent the afternoon arguing with the highly biased NZ commentators - at least the English commentators try to be impartial!

Shame about the final score but at least it wasn't embarrasing like the Wales and Ireland scores - a quick reminder of who won the last world cup soon stops the gloating!

Anyway i'll leave you with some pictures from my rugby score avoiding walk - more fantastic views of the amazing countryside and coast around wellington and down to the South Island. As you can see there's plenty more of it to keep me occupied for the next three weeks!

and finally - here's me

See ya all next time

Alan

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So here's an update on my solo adventures so far.

Fortunately, or unfortunately in Christie's case, the first weekend she was away was a long weeked with Monday being Labour Day in New Zealand.

An activity packed weekend ivolving my first round of golf in New Zealand.....

.....a trip to the mountains for my last ski trip of the season now that the mountain has closed.....

all finished off on the monday with a trip out in the clouds and rain around Wellington Harbour.....

and then the clouds disapperaing as soon as I got home so a nice sunny bike ride in the hils around Island Bay....

...and back around the coast....

All in all a pretty good weekend but my mind was elsewhere having heard the sad news from Christie.

So now we come to this weekend. It is now Sunday afternoon and I'm writing this with my feet up with no plans for moving for the rest of the day!

The reason being I got the idea during the week that I fancied getting away from it all and going for a walk in the countryside. I therefore asked a guy at work if he could suggest a nice walk for the day - his suggestion was Mount Holdsworth!

Mount Holdswoth is 1470m high, about one and a half times the height of Snowdon and a few hundred metres higher than Ben Nevis - its the one just to the left of the line of the road....

Armed with map, food, drink and emergency Dairy Milk rations I set off.

I definitely got away it all! Walking mostly though forests.....

and getting some breaks in the trees to show how high you have come

.....and also how far you've still got to go.....

For those that aren't as fit (!) as myself and don't want to do it all in a day, they have a series of huts around the mountain ranges for you to stop in overnight complete with water, toilets, bunk beds, heaters, gas cookers. This one is Powell Hut at 1200m high - nice views from here...

Once past the treeline the views were amazing and kept getting more so until I eventually arrived at the summit....

Heres a few of the other pictures I took up at the summit.....

And then after a long slog back down, there was a nice river for a well earned, cold, refreshing dip!

Note to self...must remember to take some swimming shorts next time!!!!

Now where did i put that emergency Dairy Milk....?????

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Well this update really is shamefully overdue and I have received several emails demanding news (yes, Finners – that means you!). So what’s a girl to do? I can only do what my public wants…. (oh, and I think people might want to hear about Alan aswell…!).

First of all though (and apologies to those of you to whom this will mean absolutely nothing)…….

CONGRATULATIONS JAN AND MARK!

…who got married on 24 September. We hear it was a beautiful day. I have seen photos of the bride so can definitely agree with everyone that she looked stunning. Interestingly I have yet to see a single picture of the groom but am assured that yes, he was definitely there and yes, he looked v handsome! We hear that the day was marred only by the absence of someone to sing “happy birthday” to family, friends and random members of the catering staff. (Anyone who has ever been to a wedding with Alan there will know precisely what I’m talking about)

Lastly a big thanks to Clarey B who did a marvellous Anneka Rice impression (without the jumpsuit sadly) by running round the castle to find the bride for me to speak to. And thanks to all of you who let us know we were missed. We raised a glass to you all at the appropriate hour!

Onto Wellington news.

We had our first visitors in the form of Nicky and Ben looking sickeningly healthy fresh from Fiji. Happily they brought the weather with them and we whisked them off post haste to our favourite Island Bay hostelry overlooking the sea

The next day we went to Cape Palliser, which is the southern-most tip of the North Island. Along the way we stopped off at the Putangirua Pinnacles which is a valley of rock formations and a lord of the rings location (how excited was I?! Especially as its one which is actually recognisable for once!)

Cape Palliser itself was beautiful – with sweeping views around the coast.

The next weekend saw Alan and I leave Nicky and Ben to their own devices while we had our first trip down to the South Island. This coincided with a cold snap the like of which apparently hadn’t been seen since “the big snow of ‘92”. Excellent! Now I have to warn you that the pics of the trip aren’t brilliant quality – someone (mentioning no names but I’ll give you a clue – it wasn’t Alan) had left the memory card for the camera at home. Oops. So the photos were taken on the video camera and hence a bit blurred.

We flew into Christchurch and headed straight off to Queenstown. Fairly mammoth travelling day but worth it – the drive itself was spectacular, nobody on the roads and miles of incredible views of lakes and mountains. We particularly enjoyed seeing Lake Pukaki again. When we were there on honeymoon it had been a really cloudy day and the lake had been almost milky in colour but this time it was a brilliant turquoise. Sadly the photo doesn’t do it justice.

On arrival in Queenstown we checked into our youth hostel. Yes, you did read that correctly. A youth hostel. The children on reception (well, they looked like kids to me) managed not to laugh when we arrived. But only just. I don’t quite know what’s happened to me over the years – I never wanted to stay in a youth hostel when I WAS a youth (as Helen will no doubt recall!) so why I’m willing to now is a bit of a mystery. We’re clearly regressing. But it was all very clean and nice and more the point, an absolute bargain!

For our first evening my little plan had been to have fish and chips by the lake. Did it matter that it was absolutely freezing? Did it heck. We were down by that lake dressed in coats, hats, gloves, thermals etc!

Saturday saw us hitting the mountains again – this time the Remarkables. Thankfully there was no skiing involved but we did decide to go “tubing” (aka: throwing yourself down a slope in a rubber ring. Not quite as “extreme” as it sounds. They let 5 year olds do it!). Once again, I was given yet more proof that our trip is designed to put me in as many humiliating scenarios as possible…

But hey! At least I didn’t look like this…..

Bless.

We were hoping to go to the top of the mountain on the ski lifts but unfortunately the weather wasn’t good enough so we didn’t quite get the views we had been hoping for. However, the ones we did get were pretty good!

On the route down I managed to humiliate myself AGAIN (twice in 1 day – doing well even for me) by falling over in a spectacular spread-eagle-on-the-ground manoeuvre. Alan did re-enact it for you but the photo is on the non-digital camera so I’ll have to get it scanned in!

In the evening, we’d been hoping to go to the fantastic restaurant we’d been to on our honeymoon but when we got into the centre of Queenstown we realised the lovely Victorian cottage it was housed in had been pulled down! The swines! It still exists but on the top floor of some soulless shopping centre. Not the same at all.

On Sunday we drove to the Mount Cook National Park – once again staying in a youth hostel. Think we’ve got the hang of this! Mount Cook village is really small and sits in the valley surrounded by mountains with a view down to Lake Pukaki. Really beautiful. Our video photos aren’t that brilliant (as mentioned before) especially as the day was pretty cloudy and didn’t lift until we got to the end of our lengthy afternoon walk.

We walked to the lake at the face of the glaciers and Alan dipped his toes in – with big chunks of icebergs floating past! Rather him than me it has to be said!

On Monday morning we got a bit of a surprise when we woke up to a deep coating of snow – the scenery we’d seen the day before looked totally different with a coating of white. Thankfully the roads were ok and we made it back to Christchurch to get our flight.

Shortly after our return our next guest, Susan arrived. Obviously her visit was ALL about the culture…

But we did manage to drag ourselves away from in depth discussions of the arts and literature to get out and about – we went walking along the coast…

…and some very civilised wine tasting in Martinborough….

…followed by a bird watching trip to Kapiti Island. That's to say nothing of being dragged around Wellington in a bid to get our campervan fixed!

Despite that we hope Susan enjoyed her trip as much as we enjoyed having her to stay.

We have also started to have a little bit of barbeque weather – which is great for a number of reasons. Not least as an excuse for me to relinquish cooking responsibilities. I have set the work of feminists back some years by saying things like “oooh, barbequing is your job” etc….

The barbeque weather has also enabled a bit of beach time down at Island Bay - albeit shortly after this photo Alan had to be treated for frostbite. (Ok, a slight exaggeration but I won't pretend the water is anything other than mighty chilly!)

I also managed to snatch a day out with Wellington friend Claire before she headed off on her travels (which is frankly nothing less than selfish!)

Since then we’ve had a weekend away up the East coast at a marine reserve called Te Angiangi. I think we would have seen a little bit more had it been snorkelling weather but there was plenty of poking about in rock pools to be done (without disturbing anything of course).

Sorry if the end of this post is becoming a bit disjointed but I’m determined to get this finished tonight and am having a few problems staying awake – I met Alan on his way home from work for a bike ride round the coast. 20 miles later we were absolutely shattered!

Right that's your lot folks - as some of you may know, I'm heading back to the UK earlier than anticipated so hopefully I'll see you soon.

Christie and Alan
x

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Sorry that this update’s a little bit overdue – seems a while since we last posted but its been a busy few weeks. We’ve had all sorts going on from illnesses to rowing competitions to skiing.

First up is Alan overdoing it a little and coming down with flu. Real life flu aswell – not just man flu. Of course I was on hand to mop the fevered brow and generally run around satisfying his every whim (I felt honour bound to really). Obviously that got tedious after about 5 minutes so thankfully he was back at work within the week. Which was lucky as we’d cleaned the video shop out of James Bond movies and I’d run out of soup.

Unfortunately the end of that week saw Alan and his rowing team on the water for a mini regatta in preparation for the full race a couple of weeks later. Alan wasn’t really well enough but it was good job he went along as their standby was already being used in place of another member of the team. (He’d top-trumped Alan by seeing his flu and raising him pneumonia. Poor chap). They were doing very well when Alan’s oar broke – foiled by a technical hitch!

Meanwhile I’ve been out walking around the coast locally and a bit further away in Eastbourne. Rashly decided to do the walk listed as “challenging” and nearly conked out half way up. Great views through the forest and across the bay though…

Not quite mastered the timer so had to do the arms-outstretched-and-taking-photo manoeuvre.

Can’t really see what’s behind me but it seems that my Farrah Fawcett style flick is coming on a treat.

We also went skiing a couple of weekends ago – same mountain (Ruapehu) but different ski field. This time the trip was organised by Alan’s work so we go to stay in a chalet rather than in the van, which was a treat, let me tell you! Especially as we got the room with the flat screen TV on the wall - and Sky! All the better to watch the cricket with (cue Alan waking me up to watch the replay of Andrew Strauss’ marvellous catch…) which makes a change from listening to it on the radio at 4am! Unfortunately we were too shattered after a day’s skiing to stay up. No good at this après ski lark. In bed for 10pm and out like a light!

We really enjoyed the skiing – after a slightly dodgy start by me. I’d got a group lesson booked for the Saturday morning so we decided to fill the time beforehand by going down the easiest ski run. After all, I’d been skiing only a couple of weeks before - admittedly on only the baby slopes but what could possibly go wrong? Fast forward half an hour to me sitting on the slopes in abject terror fighting back the tears. (They don’t call me the adrenaline junkie for nothing). Alan managed to coax me down though (must have taken about an hour!) and I persevered with my lesson, which I did enjoy.

After that I’d had enough skiing for one day and went up on the ski lift with Alan to look at the views

...which became somewhat lost after a while!

Then I came down on the lift, following Alan’s progress down the mountain

On Sunday I decided that the only thing to do would be to have another lesson or I would never don a pair of skis again (which in fairness would probably be a blessed relief to all other ski slope users). Lesson was pretty good, after which I attempted the run which had caused so many problems the day before – this time I managed it several times without tears even though I did need a summit meeting with Alan to discuss tactics every time we approached a steep bit!

Last weekend we stayed in Wellington as Alan had the final rowing race on the harbour on Saturday. This is pre-race...

and mid-competition..

And this is the team shot (some attempts at manly expressions on the back row apparently...)

They did really well – getting into the final and coming 4th but I was a little disappointed for them as they were good enough to come higher. Alan’s story is that the weather which had started out lovely and calm and sunny turned against them, getting really choppy. Boat started taking on water and they were doomed! We really enjoyed the day but I think Alan is glad to see the back of the 6.30am starts!

We also had a fairly social weekend – went on Saturday night for dinner (along with the rest of Alan’s section) to the house of one of Alan’s work colleagues then to another colleague’s house for Sunday lunch. Very sociable for us!

Fairly busy times coming up too – first morning at the wildlife sanctuary tomorrow and then off out tomorrow night with friend Claire from the Embassy to take a look at the new boutique cinema in Island Bay – its all go in the Bay, you know!

Will keep you posted!
Christie and Alan
x

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Spring is here – hurrah! The sun is out (most of the time!) and its getting noticeably warmer. I see long days at the beach looming…..

In the meantime, we’ve had a busy few weeks. The conservation stuff is starting to come together for me – should hopefully be doing a couple of days a week at a nearby wildlife sanctuary which is trying to recreate the NZ environment as it was before the predators were brought in. I’m really looking forward to getting started with that.

Nothing else yet in the line of paid work for me – obviously the 2 weeks I did at the cinema need some getting over. Particularly as my last day involved going out until 4am. Yes, that’s 4.00 in the MORNING. Didn’t know I still had it in me. Took me the rest of the weekend to recover. Which I could do without interruption as Alan was away on an outward bound weekend with work. The powers that be tried to get me a place to go aswell so I wouldn’t be left on my own – a very kind thought so I didn’t like to mention how bad I am at lighting fires, orienteering blindfolded and making rafts out of egg boxes. True to my suspicions there was apparently much crawling through mud filled ditches so I was especially pleased that I hadn’t been able to go.

Thanks to the good weather I’ve been able to get out a lot on my bike and get to see lots of the coast

Although I am doing my best to create the impression that I am a finely honed athlete I keep getting overtaken…by other bikes. The day that I get passed by a toddler on a Barbie bike I’m heading for home and not coming out again.

Alan is doing a far better job of projecting the athletic image. He’s started going rowing 3 mornings a week with work which culminates in a race on Wellington harbour in September. He's being very dedicated and getting up at 6am to row before work. I stay in bed, obviously!

Last weekend we stayed in Wellington and went mountain biking near the Kaitoke national park. There’s a walking/biking track which follows the route of an old railway line which was put in for the first settlers. After our last exploits on the bikes we took the gentlest route to the summit!

Alan enjoyed the water…..

…and the views were once again, brilliant.

It was so warm that I even ventured into shorts.

Lycra has a lot to answer for.

This weekend we flew up to Auckland to see Guy and Marny. Had a fantastic weekend – we were fed fine food and plenty of booze. Need I say more? Oh, and the company was pretty good too! In addition we took the ferry over to Devenport…

…and saw why they call Auckland the city of sails.

While I remember, I thought I should provide some proof that Alan and I are actually on this trip together (the photos don’t really seem to reflect that!) so here’s one from the ball a few weeks ago…

And as Hugh posted such lovely comments about the photo of me wearing my red hat I thought I’d start a caption competition. (Although “ competition” suggests some sort of prize. Which there isn’t). All captions on photo below welcome!

All our love
Christie and Alan

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By crikey, this working lark isn’t all its cracked up to be. Apparently I’m not allowed home in the afternoon to make shortbread, watch DVDs and walk along the beach. Pah.

In fairness, I’m really enjoying working (albeit suitably briefly) – I’m not doing anything taxing but am being kept busy and working with a really nice bunch of people. Sadly they all seem to be in their early 20’s so clearly I’m some sort of fossil. On the plus side one of the people I work with said I look about 25 so he is my designated new best friend.

We’ve also still been getting out and about – last weekend was skiing on Mount Ruapehu. First time for me and by some miracle I managed to stay upright the whole time (although there were a fair few “whooaa….out of the way…” moments). Happily there are no photos of me skiing but we do have one photo of me looking sporty (yet rather chic) on the ski lift….

The views from the slopes were fantastic

…and again we had the best room in the house with our camper site. Views of 3 snow capped mountains to wake up to in the morning. Perfect.

This weekend we’ve stayed in Wellington as we went to a ball last night organised by Alan’s company. We had a choice between formal and masquerade – I chose formal on the basis that a masked disguise is fairly pointless when no-one has a clue who I am. It was a great night although it felt like a Christmas party!

Today we’ve been round the coast on our bikes to see a pod of seals…

What started out as a nice leisurely bike ride to see the seals turned into a route march. There was less and less biking and more pushing going on as 3 hours later we were still going uphill (and that description doesn’t do it justice. Just walking up there was a struggle!).

See the path up the mountain on the left hand side....

and then I was particularly pleased with the sheeptrack over the hills…..

But we were rewarded with some great views.

This one with Wellington in the background....

and this one with the South Island mountains in the distance....

…although I can’t say that I was entirely appreciative at the time. Too busy grumbling. We’re now just crashed out nursing our sore legs!

Before I forget – here’s the photo of our house that I forgot to put on last time.

Hope everyone’s well.
All our love,
Christie and Alan xx

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First of all thanks to all of you Londoners and London-visitors who let us know so promptly that you were safe. We felt very far away when the news started to filter through so it was great getting texts and emails to reassure us. Its all over the news here so at least we were able to see what was going on (in as much as anyone was able to tell what was happening in the early stages) and we're so pleased you're all safe.

In terms of life in Wellington, all is proceeding pretty much according to plan albeit we could do with some of your weather. Although we are getting far more sunny Winter days than we British are used to, we're feeling pretty parky tonight and I'm practically sat on top of the heater in an effort to keep my feet from getting frostbite. In fairness some socks probably wouldn't go amiss but I never miss a chance to complain (am currently subjecting Alan to "Ben-Hur" on DVD so he has twice the reason to complain).

Last week Kim and Tim came over from Melbourne to brave the cold - and my cooking. Albeit Melbourne is not a great deal warmer than here -and on the cooking front I'm fairly convinced that I am Delia in disguise. (Although I think its unlikely that Delia ends up covered in green gunge whilst making pea and mint soup. You'll be relieved to know that I remain glamour incarnate).

Unfortunately Alan had to work on Thursday and Friday (I like to keep his nose to the grindstone) which gave Kim and I the opportunity to talk until our ears bled and Tim to catch up on his reading matter whilst trying to block out the ceaseless (but endlessly fascinating) chatter. In between all that we managed to get out and about in Wellington, going up to the Botanical Gardens with great views of the harbour...

(Not entirely sure what I'm up to on that photo - think I may have taken my double-chin avoidance efforts a little too far).

It was also the weekend the Lions played in Wellington so we went out to see the City turn red with the shirts of Lions' supporters.

Sadly the result didn't quite reflect the level of support but the All Blacks' supporters around us were gracious in victory and didn't give us too much grief!

This weekend the Eatons have been on the open road again with Max-the-Campervan. Went up the East Coast to Castlepoint. The views on the way out there were fantastic....

...and we didn't see another car for the last hour or so. Just views of rolling fields, hills, forests and mountains. When we got to Castlepoint we were rather pleased with the spot given to us to park in....

Alan particularly enjoyed his room with a view....

We had a great weekend exploring the area - green hills and forests on the one hand then rock formations covered in fossilised shells.

In the background is Castle Rock (so named because of its similarity to Castle battlements - not convinced myself but I suppose Captain Cook knows best).

We also got to watch a lovely sunset....

Ski-ing next weekend. Will let you know how THAT one turns out!

The other big news is that I have found a job - for a whole 17 days! I'm going to be working at the Embassy cinema theatre during the upcoming film festival which I thought might be quite good fun. Was holding out for either a torch or a tray of icecream but sadly I'm to be a cashier. I'm guessing the 17 days should see me through work-wise for the year!

Anyway, enough for now. Will update again in a couple of weeks.

All love
Christie and Alan
xxx

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Well our first few weeks have flown by - hence the delay in getting this up and running!

We've got ourselves a 2-bed house in a place called Island Bay which (as the name suggests) is on the coast - photo of the Bay below. Island Bay is exactly the sort of place we wanted to live - close to the city (3 miles into Wellington), close to the beach but with its own centre of shops and cafes etc so I wouldn't get too lonesome while my lord and master (ahem!) is out earning a crust.

Speaking of the Petal - his job is going really well and everyone seems to be really nice. His boss met us from the flight with his daughter and took us for breakfast which was a friendly start. And what am I up to? Well aside from getting my 1950's pinny on (currently waiting for my chicken tikka masala to cook...!) I've been getting the house together and getting mightily distracted by the beach. Every day I have grand plans of all I will achieve and find myself pottering about on the beach, taking photos and poking about in rock pools! Clearly that is not going to be a long term plan (Alan hopes!) so I'm in the process of sorting out my volunteer conservation stuff. However, I'm still not minded to do any paid work!

Below is a photo of Wellington - in the sun. Even though its winter and some of the days have been mighty chilly we've also had some glorious weather. Today was really sunny and no need for coats. Long may it continue!

So where have we been so far? Well we've been getting out and about in Wellington, getting to know some good places to eat (aside from Hotel Christie!). The French restaurant Alan took me to for my birthday is definitely a favourite (as researched by Mrs Wilcock - a fantastic choice!) so those of you who are visiting us will definitely get taken to Cafe Bastille!

Alan also took me horseriding for my birthday - I never thought I'd get Petal on a horse it has to be said (no photos sadly!) but we had a really great time trekking through the hills outside Wellington with fantastic views.

We also went to see the rugby last week - Lions play Wellington. Johnny played - hurrah! Other than that, fairly clueless sadly. But managed to cheer in the right places so don't think I was too disgraced.

Our big news though is that we are in proud possession of a campervan which arrived on Tuesday(thanks to the valiant efforts of Guy in Auckland!). So the Extreme Eatons were on the open road at the weekend. (Campervan has been christened Max as apparently I'm Paddy. Sigh...) Drove North to Lake Taupo. We were a little concerned at the weather (peed it down on the way there) but we were staying next to a complex of thermal pools so we managed to get some relaxing in on arrival. Van is also very comfy as Alan can attest to...

The weather cleared up on Sunday and it was a glorious day. Saw great views of Lake Taupo...

And Mount Ruapehu...

And Mount Ngauruhoe...

And the Kahu scenic reserve...

We miss you all but we're having a fantastic time.

Will put some more photos on soon.

All our love
Christie and Alan.
xx

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