V8 and Chiefs

The week was spent in anticipation of Blake and Jen arriving - Si became like an excited child (a personality trait I'm quite used to now)
On Friday evening Jen, Blake, Joe, Kathryn and James headed over to Hamilton for the weekend. yes we were gonna squeeze all 7 in our little flat) That evening we headed over to the Chiefs match.......again a loss!! But had a really good time, the beer was flowing (probably the most I've drank at a match yet) After that the girls went back to ours to get ready for the night out whilst the boys headed for more drinks. By the time we met them they had already sank 4 jaegerbombs. Ended up being a really heavy night out - and a really good one.

Saturday we headed out to Hamilton V8 ITM400 Supercar racing where the streets of hamilton were converted into a racecourse for the weekend. The plan was to start drinking again but everyone was feeling a little bit tender. Was a really great atmosphere and had a great day - even if the sun didn't shine for us. That evening we all went out for a lovely meal together.

On Sunday Jen, Blake, Kathryn and Joe had a flight to catch to the south island, so Si, James and I headed up to Auckland for the rest of the day. I wasn't back in work till Thursday and Si wasn't in till Monday afternoon, so it was a nice opportunity to spend a bit of time with Gem and James. That afternoon we played alot of tennis but unfortunately Gem had to head off on nights so it was a relatively chilled evening.

Sky Sports

Monday to Thursday was pretty uneventful, what with being busy in work. Got another flight over to Rotorua which added to the fun a little.
On Friday night Gem and James came down as they had the day off. Went for a nice meal together before heading to the Chiefs match. Apparently we were seen on sky sports cheering on the Chiefs after their one and only try. Unfortunately another home loss. Getting quite sad now, not seen them win at home.
On Saturday, Si and I headed into work whilst Gem and James went over to Rotorua for the day to see the sights that they still hadn't seen, they got home in time for me to finish work at 4 and we went to a few pubs then had a nice takeaway and played on the wii. Unfortunately didn't finish work till 10 so only briefly got to see him.
Sunday Gem and James headed over to Raglan and we headed back into work. Pretty uneventful day - but what did I expect, working the weekend.

Black Easter

Well, last week was work work work.
The one thing I have really noticed since coming over to NZ is the amount of road carnage - not sure whether it is due to the NZ roads and lack of any real highways or whether it is the New Zealanders and their driving habits (and drinking habits).
Every long weekend the hospital awaits the trauma, and unfortunately with the Easter holiday being a 4 day weekend it is notorious.

Unfortunately, I was scheduled to work the weekend and the roads certainly delivered the trauma - with most of it being in the Waikato region. Saturday I was in work on a long day and it was crazy busy with around 8 trauma calls to ED. Sunday, however brought the chaos, with me being woken at 6.30am asking me to come into work asap to pick up a trauma patient. So my day started with a helicopter flight to Whakatane, on my return I was notified of 2 more flights - to Rotorua and Auckland. The Rotorua one got cancelled in the end which meant my next job was to take a patient with severe burns following a car explosion up to the burns centre in Auckland. Sunday was meant to be a short day but turned into another 14 hour day.
Monday saw a little of the calm after the storm - still incredibly busy, with a full unit, but less craziness.
So, according to the news, the weekend saw 11 people die on the roads - the worst in 17 years.

Sorry its not a cheery blog but its not been too much of a cheery week - on a brighter note the photos are of the views from the sky (luckily the weather was nice for flying!)

Hope everyone is well and safe
Love you all.xxx

Whakatane fun!

Unfortunately I was working the weekend after my birthday, but to make it slightly better I was only on evening shifts over the weekend so i managed to spend a bit of time with Si who was off. Saturday we just took it easy and had a lovely lie followed by a run and chilling in Hamilton. On Sunday we went over to Bridal Veil falls where there is a really impressive waterfall, then picked up fish and chips in Raglan to eat on the beach.
The week was spent doing very little, working and chilling. At the weekend I went over to see Joe and Kathryn, unfortunately I wasn't free from work till 8am on Saturday so headed over to meet them in Rotorua on Saturday lunch time. First off we went to the climbing wall, although I'm a complete amateur I really enjoyed it. After climbing we went to get some lunch at a really nice cafe before heading over to the redwoods for a spot of mountain biking. The tracks there are really good and had such a good time, after 2 hours there we were significantly knackered enough to head back to Whakatane. On route we decided to stop at a pretty lake for a bit of a swim.....so so amazing. On getting back to Whakatane we picked up some fresh fish and chips and headed back to their flat where we spent the evening sat in their hot tub with a bottle of wine.

Sunday, Joe and Kathryn had booked a trip over to Whale Island, the last chance to go that year due to permits. The weather was amazing - got to explore the island, swim in the sea and relax on the hot water beach. After we got back we went for a lovely late lunch in town, and again went back to retire to the hot pool.

At around 7ish I headed back to Hamilton to see poor old Si who was in work all weekend (and was amazing enough to lend me the car for the weekend)

My Birthday Week

This week started with excitement at being able to spend my birthday with my sis. On Monday morning Emma, Johan and myself heded up to Auckland for me to spend a few days with Gem and for them to head up to the bay of islands for the week.
After saying goodbye to them, Gem and I spent a few hours shopping in Auckland before heading back to hers to see James and his parents. That evening we had a lovely dinner of lasagne (was uber tasty, thanks G) before settling down infront of the tele.

The following morning I was awoken by a big birthday cuddle from Gem before she headed off to work. Since it was her birthday, her very nice collegues at work lt her escape by about 10.30 and she headed back to be with me. We opened our pressies together (with EJ on skype) she got me a lovely pandora bracelet with some kiwi charms on and a jumper, a top and some books, I got her a waterproof watch. Afterwards we headed out to sky tower for our lovely birthday lunch. We had an amazing 2 course meal with wine at the revolving restaurant up skytower, although the weather wasn't the best we still had a really nice lunch with awesome views over Auckland. After lunch we did a little more shopping and Gem got me another surfing charm for my bracelet.
That evening we opened more pressies from Mum and Dad and Karen and Ian followed by a lovely meal arranged and treated to by James.

The following morning I headed back to Hamilton for my birthday celebrations with my friends. We headed out to Raglan for a surfing afternoon/evening followed by a meal. Had such a nice evening and got spoilt rotten by my friends.

Since then I have been in work and after months I finally got to go on another helicopter transport - this time to Thames on the coromandel - B.E.A.utiful flight!

All in all, a pretty good week

Weekend with the Swedes

This weekend our friends Emma and Johan (from Sweden) came to visit us. They have been traveling for about 3 months now and have been in New Zealand for the last 2 weeks, their trips have taken them from Sweden to South Africa, East coast of Australia and now New Zealand, with Fiji, the cook islands and LA still to come (REALLY REALLY jealous, wish I could have 4 months off to travel)

They arrived on Friday afternoon after Gemma picked them up from Auckland and took them to Raglan for the day, unfortunately it rained in Raglan but was sunny in Hamilton so maybe they should have avoided the beach. Work was really really busy that day for me so I didn't get off until 6, however, it was nice getting home and seeing them before heading out to the rugby. After putting the barbeque on and getting changed into my new Chiefs top I got a phone call from work asking me to come back into help out, at that point I got on the phone to my boss and explained the situation who very kindly let me off so we headed out to the rugby guiltily!

The rugby was really good atmosphere and Emma and Johan enjoyed it despite not knowing any of the rules, after the rugby we went back to ours to wait for Si to finish work. That night we just spent the evening chatting and catching up.

Saturday we got up early to head over to Rotorua for the day for some tourist stuff for Emma and Johan, went to Wai-O-Tapu thermal wonderland which was a really good geothermal park with bubbling hot pools, geysers and champagne pools, so so cool. After that we went and hunted out some natural hot pools. Found some in a secluded river where ther was a whole river that was thermally heated with a small swimming area and waterfall. Big one on the recommended itinerary for visitors. Next on the list was zorbing and swooping, which as usual provided great entertainment. That evening we headed out for a lovely meal followed by bowling, followed by few drinkies at home with the wii then eventually headed into town, to end our night very drunkely at around 4am.

Sunday saw the king of all hangovers - when I got up at 10 I swear I was still really pissed, then the hangover hit. Decided the best way to try and cure this was to head to the beach. Weather was lovely and surf was average but my hangover was cured.
On the way home from Raglan we stopped by at an art gallery and the owner was nice enough to give Emma and Johan and me and Si a free art print. That evening we had a nice meal on the BBQ and settled down to a movie.

Carnival at Kiwi Festival

This weekend marked the last of the nights (for a few weeks at least anyway!)
After having a nice lazy Friday afternoon trying to catch up with sleep, Si and I decided to head out to the rugby too watch the Chiefs 1st home match in the super 14s, unfortunately it was also their 1st loss. After a stunning start with 3 tries in the 1st 15 mins (unconverted) they then fell apart and lost 23-18 big disappointment, and they still showed their faces in our drinking establishment after - the shame!!!
After a heavy night (without Si, as he was working the next day) I got up Sat morning to head over to Tauranga to see Will and Zoe. After spending lunchtime/ afternoon on the beach in the baking sun we headed over to Carnival at kiwi festival which is a music festival with Kiwi bands such as Tahuna breaks, Matakana sound machine and Kora. Really good evening, and the sun shone despite forecasts of rain, a few beers later and lots of dancing we headed back to Will and Zoes for the night where Will decided to cook us our breakfast a few hours early as we were STARVING!
Sunday morning Will awoke us with a cup of tea (think this was his bartering tool to get us out and into the surf) Had a good hour or to in the water before our hunger caught up with us. Had a lovely brunch on the Mount followed by more surf! Unfortunately Niamh's car decided to stop working so we decided Niamh might just have to call in sick in the morning (maybe my persuasion - all the Kiwi's do and she was only on relief), I was lucky to be off anyway.

After 10mins we had Niamh's car working again but she was so enthusiastic about calling in sick we decided to stay anyway. That night we had a lovely BBQ at Will and Zoes and settled down a little tired in front of the tele with a nice glass of wine.

This morning, Will had to go to work so Zoe, Niamh and I headed back to the beach - the beach is literally across the road, you can see the sea from there apartment - its AMAZING!!

Zoe sat and read her book while Niamh and I hit the surf again!

What a great weekend, shame I'm back in Hamilton (make me think about moving to the coast!)
Out round to a friends tonight for takeaway and DVD, with another day off tomorrow to hit the Surf with Si (he's not in till 4)

What a life.......