Christmas break

So the week started with me being on relief - the nice thing about ITU relief is that if I'm not called in by 10am the rest of the day is mine to play with.

On Monday - I didn't get a call by 10am so Mum, Dad and I headed over to Rotorua for some fun and sight-seeing. They both visited Rotorua when they were over in 2004 so were keen on doing some things they hadn't done before. 1st stop was lunch which was lovely meal at the same cafe I was at when Gem gave me the news she was engaged. After that we headed over to Whakewarewawera which is a thermal village in Rotorua. Has great views of the famous geysers and very interesting story behind their lives there.
After that we headed home via zorbing. Successfully managed to get both of them in a zorb which they absolutely loved - never heard Dad giggle so much - brilliant fun!

That night we headed out for a lovely meal with Si as well (he had been stuck in work all day)

Tuesday - No call again, however I did have to be in for 12 for teaching - so after some Christmas shopping in Hamilton we grabbed some lunch and I sent Mum and Dad over to Waitomo in my car to do some caving (booked them into a black water rafting trip so they couldn't get out of it) They really really enjoyed it and another thing they wouldn't have done without me just booking it.
Tuesday night we went for some posh-nosh in Hamilton to my fav restaurant.

Wednesday - Again, no call......doing well. This time we headed over to Raglan to introduce them to my favourite surf beach. I took my surf board and Mum hired a bodyboard (Dad's back was playing up so he watched from the beach) We then went to a few of the shops for some last minute shopping.

Wednesday afternoon we drove up to Auckland to stay wit Gem and James so we could get up to our holiday destination (Russell) earlier the next day (Christmas eve)

On Christmas eve we went and did thebig food shop for Christmas - lots of seafood and meat - for Christmas the kiwi way i.e. BBQ on the beach. I decorated a little tree in the corner in vague attempts to make it a little more Christmassy (difficult when it's over 30degrees)
Gem, James and Si joined us at about 10.30pm - had a few glasses of wine and headed to bed in preparation for Christmas day.

Christmas Day
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Woken up early by Gemma excited about the day. Made us all get into our swimwear and go for an early morning swim - very good idea. Got out the water to a nice glass of bucks fizz, with cloudy bay champagne!! Had a lovely breakfast of eggs benedict then started to set up all the pressy opening on the front lawn. After an hour or so of exciting gifts (I got thoroughly spoilt - especially by Si who bought me a new ripcurl surf watch and a pair of funky special edition GHDs, my old ones recently packed in) After the presents we went over to the nicer beach where we chilled with a few beers on the beach followed by water vollleyball!
Had an amazing christmas dinner on the BBQ- about 5 courses, scallops, prawns, tuna steak, ribeye steak and christmas pudding...yum yum yum Finished the evening off with phonecalls home (wonder if people could tell we got through 10bottles of wine and 1 crate of beer.....)

Boxing day we got the ferry over to Paihia and Waitangi where the treaty between the British and the Maori was signed. Really beautiful treaty grounds and great way to learn about what happened over here. The treaty is still used as a basis to all the rights of the Maori's in NZ. We then wandered around a few of the shops while Si and James went to play in the sea. Had another great BBQ of lamb steaks with more wine.

Sunday we had a sailing trip booked for the afternoon. We sailed around the bay, about 40 islands and stopped at one. Si found a dried up dead fish on the beach and decided it would be fun to hit Gem over the head with it. Then he found another which he speared on a stick, dipped it in the water and chased Gem with - She screamed like a small child v. funny. We walked to the top of one of the islands for amazing panoramic of the bay of islands.

We headed back to Hamilton on Monday as Gem needed to prepare to start nights and we needed an early night as we were going to be getting up at 4am to start our big journey down to the south island.

See next blog (sorry these are really busy - but kinda using it as my own diary of everything I get up to aswell!)

Coromandel Peninsula 18-20th December

Sorry these are coming in really late - had a really busy couple of weeks and havent had much time to sit down and blog - all the photos are up on facebook for a video diary though. So for the update - bits at a time.

Mum and Dad spent there 1st weekend in Auckland with Gem seeing all the sights whilst Gem was at work. I spent that week doing my 1st set of nights on ITU. Very busier - much worse than the shifts in the UK but really good and I learnt loads.

For the weekend I booked the same bach in the Coromandel that I stayed at for Si's birthday - since I loved it there thought I would show the family.

Decided on Friday night to open a few of the christmas pressies early since we decided they would be really good to have that weekend. James and I both got snorkel kits and Si a volleyball and net.

Spent Saturday on Cathedral cove beach, jumping off rocks, playing with the bat and ball and rugby ball (when Si wrecked his foot - took a nice chunk out of his toe), did the snorkel trail at Gemstone beach (marine reserve with buoys set up with information on them as you swim along) and then went back to the bach opened a few beers and set up the volleyball court on the beach. (Si, Mum and Me V James, Gem and Dad).......Guess who won!
Had a lovely BBQ and plenty more beers that evening.

Sunday, while cleaning the bach ready to leave we got an urgent phone call from my brother to tell us that he and Claire were now engaged- very exciting, but it also means that within about 2 months both of my siblings are engaged - think Si is feeling the pressure..... After cleaning the bach we headed to the other end of cooks beach and swam out to a little cave that you can climb up the walls of the cave and jump in - also pretty good snorkelling - although an unsuccessful trip as Si lost his snorkel and James broke his fins (luckily managed to blag to the shop that they must have been faulty.)
Sunday afternoon we went to hot water beach where we hired spades and dug ourselves holes in the beach so we could sit in hot springs. That evening Mum and Dad headed back with us for a week in Hamilton (and surrounding areas) I was set to be on relief (where i'm on short notice call back for sickness) so it was fingers crossed for a quiet week....

Mum and Dad arrive

Blog for 15/12/09

Sorry I forgot to blog - was very busy, what with Mum and Dad arriving and my first week as an ITU reg.

The week was spent mainly in induction - learning all the basics and the things about the unit that are different to the ITU I've worked in before (basically, being a tertiary referral centre we take everything, so lots of new things to learn)

Worked my 1st 2 shifts on the Thurs and Fri and they were pretty uneventful really, no helicopter retrievals and nothing terribly exciting on the unit (I did however attend 4 cardiac arrest calls on Fri afternoon)

At the weekend I spent Sat doing some christmas shopping in Raglan after hitting the surf of course! Surf was rubbish though so didn't last very long in it before giving up. Niamh did have a lovely dinner date together though before going out for a few drinks (poor old Si was working the weekend)

Sunday I headed up to Auckland to meet Mum and Dad at the airport. Went up via Gem's and did some christmas shopping with James (Gem was working the weekend 2) before they arrived. I stayed Sunday night and Gem cooked an amazing meal for us.

Monday I spent the morning with Mum and Dad in Auckland, more christmas shopping and a really lovely lunch on the viaduct before heading back down to Hamilton to have a quick sleep before starting nights!

Hawke's Bay

Si and I had Friday off so we decided to head over to Hawkes Bay to see Napier and sample the local produce!

We arrived at about 2pm and quickly found a campsite and erected the tent. From there we headed into Napier to see what it has to offer. Got a quick bite to eat, played more crazy golf (I won..AGAIN) then went out for a drive around the local area and a little walk before heading back into Napier for some dinner.

Saturday we awoke to rain, not ideal when heading out for a bike tour of the vineyards. Unfortunately Si must have caught some vomiting bug as he couldn't even keep water down - again, not ideal!. He did however want to try to come so we headed out on our bikes. Luckily the rain stopped just in time to enjoy the day. The 1st stop (at 10.30am) was a cider house and brewery. I ordered the sample tray (£5 for 6 1/2 pints!!!) Si tried a sip of the alcoholic ginger beer and left me drinking the rest - solo! After that we headed out to a boutique vineyard where they had some AMAZING wine. Si joined in the tasting this time after realising that although he couldn't keep water down, alcohol seemed to go down quite well! The wine tour continued till about 5pm after which we realised we spent over $300 in wine. Oh well, it was REALLY nice (or was it just that we were a bit pissed!)

Sunday we decided (a little crazily) to get up at 7.30 to watch the All Blacks v Barbarians replay (the match was played at 3am so we didn't bother getting up for that) After the match we packed up the tent and headed to the coast in search of surf. Found some surf - bit average but had a good time anyway. Back to Napier for lunch then headed home around 5pm.

This week I have started my 1st week as an ITU reg. Had 2 days of induction, where I was shown around the helicopter, warned not to wear nylon as when it burns it sticks to you, told that if the helicopter lands on the sea it goes upside down and you have to kick the windows out....... and when it is necessary to crack someones chest open.
So, sounds like this run will be a breeze!!