take a break

There is a definite air of excitement in our household at the moment. But it is the sort of restrained excitement that bubbles under the surface that could erupt into hysterics at any moment. The reason is, of course, is that we go on holiday this Sunday to visit Michael's brother, Bob and his wife, Tricia, in Spain. They moved there 3 years ago and have settled very well. So apart from the thrill of meeting up with some family again (first time in 2 and 1/2 years) we will also have the chance to see how they have coped with emigrating and setting up their new life.

We booked this trip 5 months ago and now with just 5 days to go last minute preparations are in overdrive. The cases have been packed and un packed at least 20 times, Michael's pile of clothes to take is bigger than mine so I'll have to do more shopping, Georgia's moaning that there's nothing in her wardrobe because everything is 'put away for holiday'. But on the whole we are pretty well organised. Just got to remember tickets, passports, money and everything else will fall into place.

Just to add a bit more pressure I needed to buy a butane gas cartridge for my cordless hair tongs so I headed to the chemist who had no idea what I was talking about, neither did Harvey Norman Electricals, Noel Leeming Appliances, Kmart or Farmers Department store. Its the usual story that shopping in New Zealand is just so much harder work than in the UK. You cant just walk into a shop and expect to get what you want, you have to put in a bit of effort. Anyway, Linda suggested Guinness Appliances which sells kitchen equipment and what do you know they knew what I was after! But they didn't have any. But they would ring me as soon as they got them in. That was 3 weeks ago. Oh well.

netball again

Its netball season again and after a year off Georgia decided to join the netball team again at her new school. New Zealand certainly takes its sport seriously and from an early age they are coached in the game. She chose to be either goal keeper or goal defence as these positions don't involve too much running about (that's my girl, good thinking). So she did well in the trials and secured her place on the B team. Over 150 girls from Georgias school alone are in a team.

On Saturday morning all the local teams get together and play a game which gives focus and point to all the practice they do during the week.

And what an event it is. You have to marvel at the organisation behind getting the teams together. They all play at Blake Park Netball centre which has 18 courts so after a quick bit of mental maths that's 20 players for each game with 5 games played on each court making at least 1800 players, plus parents, other family members, coaches, referees, managers etc it makes one big event. (This doesn't include the 5 rugby pitches next to the netball courts which hosts matches at the same time for the boys.) So about 1/2 of the local population are there. You have to take your hat off to the Kiwis when it comes to managing sporting events. Everyone knows exactly where to go and who they are playing and someone also keeps all the scores to build a league table. Its all very professional, with some hoping to be spotted as a budding Silver Fern but for many its just for fun.

Anyway, the first match has given Georgia's coach something to work on - they lost BIG TIME but they all seemed to enjoy themselves and its good exercise and if it gets Georgia out of bed on a Saturday morning that's got to be a good thing.

bloody poms

While Norman and Linda were at the shop with us the other night, we all got talking to a customer, Nigel, who regularly enjoys our pizzas. He was cursing the fact that his mobile phone was on the blink and blaming Vodafone for the problem. Norman has also had a lot of problems with Vodafone so this sparked a lively debate which led on to the general state of New Zealand. Politics, tax, big business, the social divide were all discussed.
Eventually the conversation touched on immigration. Nigel, a returning Kiwi was lamenting the fact that New Zealand has been overwhelmed by 'foreigners' and that Brits could just 'walk' into New Zealand with out any trouble from The Immigration Department. This is a popular misconception by many Pakeha (White New Zealanders of European descent). They believe that British people (or Poms) can just come to New Zealand, cream off the assets and reap the benefits of the New Zealand lifestyle. He believed that immigration just signed applications with no questions asked. Who is he kidding? Obtaining residency visas and citizen ship in New Zealand can be a daunting process; costly and sometimes very lenghthy. In fact it is easier to get into Australia. And just what are we creaming off New Zealand? It is hardly a wealthy country. We run our business and pay our taxes to enable us to enjoy the New Zealand lifestyle, no free ride expected.
I was also taken aback by Nigel's open racism towards Chinese and Indians living here and in particular 'those Middle Eastern types, who were not to be trusted'.
It is unfortunate that we have encountered this kind of thing before - we are known as the couple of Poms that own the pizza shop. He also didn't seem to mind spouting off his opinions to the five of us from England!
I wonder if he ever considered that while he was working in the UK for 5 years and Australia for 15 years that he was the 'foreigner' 'creaming off' the high wages of these countries. Probably didn't even enter his head.

smells and senses

Of all the bodies senses, its the sense of smell that can send distant memories rushing to your mind the most. Last Sunday was cold and damp and as soon as Georgia stepped out of the door she said 'oh it smells like England.' Walking through the wooded area at Maketu the other day the whiff of wild garlic and damp earth propels us back to the river banks of the Wear in Durham.

Over the summer months when the air was hot and dry here it almost smelled Mediterranean but for the lack of that strange drainy smell that you get at Spanish resorts.

When you think about it though, the cold and damp reminds us where we lived in England and the heat and dry remind us of great holidays abroad....

Considering we are fast approaching winter here in New Zealand and temperatures in the Bay are still around 13 - 16 degrees, plus the sun shines most days, I feel quite happy to enjoy the memories of the cold and damp stimulated by smells and not actually experience it!

Hamilton Zoo

As it is the school holidays again we decided to visit Hamilton Zoo.

It's quite a small zoo but set out very nicely in picturesque grounds and keeps you occupied for a good couple of hours. We did seem to spend quite a lot of time peering into cages that didn't have anything in them but the chimpanzee house is very entertaining and you get a good view of inside their enclosure.
The zoo has 2 large tigers who looked at us with total disdain as only felines can. This one stared straight at us and you can almost hear it thinking 'I could rip you to pieces in one go, if I could be bothered"
The giraffes are the definite stars of the show, they really are huge elegant creatures.
After heckling the rhinos for a while we decided to move off when the calf started to make a meal of its mothers' droppings - nice. We then headed for the cafe for a very good coffee and walnut cake.
Hamilton town is the 4th biggest town in New Zealand (I think!) and has a very good museum which we had a browse round. Of course we managed to get lost and ended up riding in a lift which was for staff only but we were eventually politely pointed in the right direction by a very helpful lady.
Anyway, the Maori carvings in the museum are excellent.
On the outskirts of town there are some great looking garden walks with sculptures and exhibits to look at but as it started to rain we decided to head home but will definitely return sometime.

Another birthday

April seems to be a month of birthdays. Our friend Norman turned 21 again last week so we invited him and Linda round to ours for a meal and a few drinkies. We went into town for a couple of pre dinner drinks first then wandered back home for the meal. Of course we all ate far too much and probably drank too much (well one glass of wine for me nowadays is too much!) but the chat was good! Normans philosophy on life is happiness must come first and if you have happy positive thoughts then happy positive things will happen to you and you will achieve all the things you desire in life health wise and wealth wise. He is a great believer in the motto "what goes around, comes around' That is a very good outlook on life and one which we should all adhere to. He also believes that a Turbo Bentley parked on his drive would assist in these happy thoughts. Well, maybe next year Norman!

Testing your self

It has been very sad reading the tragic stories of the 6 teenagers and their teacher who drowned on a school camp here last week. They were out on a trek with a qualified instructor, and part of this trek involved climbing down a ravine then walking through a shallow river. But the weather was so bad that the river swelled to a raging torrent within minutes and they were swept away over a dam and drowned.
What another pointless waste of life! Whoever is to blame for the event doesn't answer the question why? Not why did it have to happen but why were they led down a wet slippery ravine, risking their lives for fun?
Some people would say that it is character building to take risks and achieve tough goals which is true up to a point, but surely you don't have to put yourself in unnecessary danger to do this.
When I was at school I don't remember ever doing anything so dangerous that I could drown in a swollen river or slip down a 100 metre ravine in an attempt to feel challenged. Our Geography field trips were about walking up hills and locating land features and enjoying the thrill of being away from home. The feeling of independence at that age was character building enough for me.