Coromandel and Tsunami alerts

Last week was another intense week of work started off by doing Monday and Tuesday night shifts (really busy unit and the night person calling in sick) Luckily Wed/Thurs and Friday ended up being quite ones.

1st thing Saturday morning we headed over to the Coromandel peninsular to a nice secluded spot (not very well known) called Oputere. It was Charlie and Kieran's last weekend in NZ and we wouldn't have been anywhere else! Amazing beach, quite campsite and good company. All day Saturday was spent on the beach and in the surf, playing rugby, volleyball and surfing (as well as chillaxing) That evening we went to pick up barbeque things in Whangamata and went for a cheeky drink then headed back to the beach for the barbeque)
Had a lovely evening with barbeque, wine and beer.

Sunday we were rudely awoken at 06.30 with news that there had been a big earthquake in Chile and there could potentially be a big tsunami on the way to us. So as we quickly threw things in the car in order to get to higher land, Kieran had the sudden realisation, that him and Charlie were meant to be flying into Santiago, Chile the next day,

Adding to that, Charlie's dad had escaped earlier for an early morning walk, so there was minor panic at finding him. All turned out ok though, Charlie's Dad turned up a few minutes later unaware of anything.

That day was spent playing rugby on the field and chilling out- until around 1ish when we decided it was probably safe enough to get out of the area - Charlie and Kieran headed down to Tauranga to drop off her dad at the bus station and we headed up to Auckland.

Did a little shopping in Auckland and then Charlie and Kieran joined us for a lovely dinner before we headed back to Auckland.

(Incase you were wondering there travels have been sorted, their flights are being re-directed to Argentina instead, via Sydney for a weeks surfing while things settle down over there)

My friends are leaving :(

The last week has been spent on nights, didn't go too badly really. Unfortunately I came down with a nasty cold over the last 2 nights which made it a little miserable.

On Friday James came down to spend the weekend with us as Gemma was on nights. Unfortunately loads of our close friends are leaving us to go home or on their travels this week so the weekend was dedicated to spending some time with them and their leaving do on Saturday night.

On Saturday I felt so rotten I couldn't get out of bed till after midday. Si and James had already been out to play some tennis and when they got home they dragged me out of bed to catch some surf.

Saturday night we went out for a lovely meal with our friends followed by a very drunken night out. Really good night, probably one of the best we've had since being here!

Sunday yet again was hungover and roasting hot (quite a similar day to the week before) however, this time we decided to shake it out of us by playing tennis followed by another trip out to Raglan. Unfortunately James couldn't come to Raglan because he had a bus back to catch.

A nice weekend, nothing too exciting but good all the same - I'm on evenings all week this week which means i'm on for transports, its been a while since I went on a flight, lets hope it happens this week.

Hobbiton and Mount Maunganui

After work on Friday night, Gem and James came down to see us. Our plan was to head out to the Mount but since I was on call back till midnight on Friday night we decided to spend the evening in Hamilton.

The evening started with a lovely natter and catch up with Charlie and Kieran where Gem purchased Keiran's surfboard (as they are leaving us) for James' birthday present. Then, after James joined us we headed out to a lovely restaurant in a vineyard in Mystery Creek, unfortunately its about 10 min drive out of Hamilton but since I couldn't drink anyway thought it made sense to go then. Was a really nice evening with really good food (the photo at the top).

Saturday morning the boys got up really early to have a game of tennis while we had a a lazy morning. After checking the surf report and realising there was no surf in the Mount we decided to make a detour. The detour was to a farm in Matamata - the home of Hobbiton. Since filming is soon to start there for The Hobbit and no-one will be able to visit during that time we decided to go. Really cool, although its pretty much just a farm now with a few hobbit holes still left, they had picture boards around the place so you could make the comparisons, and a really good tour with interesting filming stories.

After hobbiton we went into Matamata for lunch before heading over to the Mount. Whilst Si and James went for a nap (Si was post-nights, James was just lazy!!) Gem and I went shopping and for a nice walk along the beach. That night we went out to a lovely fish restaurant then out for drinkies, had a great night, if only disturbed slightly by the flying missile......

Woke up Sunday after a terrible nights sleep, thats the downside of staying in hostels - woken at 5am by 2 lads coming back in, putting the fan on, snoring and tossing and turning all night (very irritating if your on the bunk on top of them!!!)

Sunday we spent the day on the beach -a really beautiful day and very very hot. Attempted to top up the tan, but in reality just got a little scorched, it was however a good way to spend a hungover day.

More work...

So again, bit behind on the old blogging front!
Again, not been up to much since we had our leave, mainly work, which at the moment has been pretty busy - again no more exciting transports (feel like I'm due some now, but with the next month being mainly on nights I think its unlikely I will get any)

Si and I did manage to get some time off though - just for a day and a half together, but we tried to make the most of it- after work on Wednesday we headed over to Raglan to catch some surf - although my board was still in the ding shop we still had a great time as we headed out in a group and shared boards (and it was quite good fun just having a swim) After Raglan Si and I drove up to Auckland to spend our day off there. Had a lovely evening with Gem and James and a bottle of wine, then had a lazy day wandering round Auckland and a lovely lunch on the Viaduct. That evening we had a nice barbeque and I invited one of the friends I lived with back in 2005 (Selvi) was really lovely to catch up. After dinner we had a showing of Avatar 3D in the IMAX (largest screen in NZ) was amazing - one of the best cinema experiences I've ever seen. Highly recommended!

On Fr Si and I started nights. Was really nice working the weekend together. Luckily they were pretty quite so we got to see quite alot of each other and watch a fair bit of House on DVD.

After nights I got a few days off - managed to pick up my surf board and play with it a bit, although by then the surf had died down and its remained that way ever since. Off to Mt Maunganui next weekend, lets see if we can find any surf there!

Just work

So, I know I haven't blogged for a while - this one is being post dated. Since getting back from our holidays we faced reality - and the realisation that we would a) be having to make up for our time off with extra shifts and b) that neither have any annual leave booked for the foreseeable future (well, not quite true, Si has leave booked in April, I dont).

So, although work is going really well and I am really enjoying it- I havent had the chance to go on any more exciting flights -I just seem to be on the wrong shifts. I am apparently an anti-shit magnet, and whilst the consultants I am on with and colleagues think I should be grateful of that, I kinda feel like i'm missing out on the excitement.

I have however, managed to fit in a few trips to Raglan which was great, some of it being great surf, starting to brave it out onto the bigger waves now.

So, unfortunately still no exciting trips in the near future as I am working the weekend, followed by the following weekend on nights, oh well, at least I love my job!!

Summer Holiday week off

Summer hols started with Si heading up to Whangerei on Fri night with Gem and Charlie as I had to stay in Hamilton till Sat morning as I was on call back for transports. Thought I had managed an easy night until the phone woke me at 4.30 saying that I needed to go and fetch someone from Rotorua for urgent angio for a heart attack. If it wasn't 4.30 it would have been the perfect retrieval, very stable patient and going straight to Cardiology so no paperwork for me to do on the return. I did however get to see sunrise over Rotorua in the helicopter which was pretty cool. And still managed to get in in time to get a lift up to Whangerei with Katie at 8am.

3.5 hours later we arrive at Whangerei and headed to straight to the beach to meet Gem, Si and Charlie and enjoy some surf. Unfortunately when I arrived Gem had realised she had accidentally damaged my board - surf was a little too big and strong - if just waves and sand had done that to the board Im glad she came away unscathed! We were joined later by 4 other friends from Hamilton who also were booked into the same campsite for the night and we had a lovely evening of BBQing and drinks. Sunday we headed out for a short walk and some more surfing - Oh, and Gem stood up for the first time - Yey!

After saying goodbye to the gang we headed east across the Northland peninsular to the Waipoua forest which is the home of the largest native trees in the country - the Kauri. After arriving at our campsite at 6pm we soon realised that we had passed the only place we could get food 30k back - so we backtracked beofre putting our tent up in the rain!

Monday we headed into the Kauri forest and saw the four sisters Te Matua Ngahere (father of the forest) the 2nd tallest kauri however with the biggest girth (16.41m) and Tane Mahutu (lord of the forest) the tallest kauri (17.7m) We then headed on our drive up to Ahipara - the base of the 90 mile beach.

On our drive up we passed through Hokianga, had a lovely lunch in a cafe on the water's edge - amazing views out over the sand dunes and arrived at Ahipara around 3pm. Had every intension of hitting the surf over there until we discovered that there was non..booo. Spent the afternoon sat on the beach chilling as the weather had cleared up nicely for us.

Tues we spent the day doing a big trip up to Cape Reinga, where Maori's believe is the departing place for all Maori souls heading back to the homeland and where the pacific ocean meets the tasman sea. To get there you head up along the 90 mile beach - quite cool as you can drive along it - need a 4x4 though so we went with an arranged tour. Got to sand board the enormous dunes - more like sand tobogganing. was good fun but we were hoping you go a little faster than we did (the kiddies whizz down!)

Wednesday we headed east to the Kerikeri peninsula again in search of a little surf, unfortunately found none but did manage to fit in a bit of snorkeling and found a vineyard with tastings - the most northern vineyard in NZ - also had a golfcourse and a really posh restaurant attached so we booked a meal there for the evening - a little bit nicer than the alternative which was a BBQ at the campsite. Weather was pretty rubbish the whole time we were there windy and rainy but had cleared up a bit by the next day.

Thursday we succeeded in finding surf at a little place called Taupo bay on the east coast - started out in waves far too big but found a nicer spot the other end of the beach which was nice and manageable. Spent about 3 hours there before we decided to head on to our last place before the weekend. That was on a lovely beach recommended by friends - Matauri bay - a surf beach apparently, although yet again - no surf. Was a lovely spot for the evening though and enjoyed a nice walk up to a view point and a great BBQ and enjoyed some beers with the sunset (oh and Si got to fly his kite)

Friday we chilled out on the beach for the morning then headed to the bay of islands to meet Gem and James for the weekend. That night we went out for a meal to a restaurant that sells itself as a fish restaurant , although after sitting down and ordering our wine we were informed that they had run out of fish.......not impressed! Saturday we went to Kawakawa - which is the home of the oldest stone and wooden building in NZ (thought James would enjoy it, what with building being his job....but apparently with it being built in 1840 he wasn't that impressed!) but a nice place to sped the day - went to a recreated maori village and headed back via a vineyard to board the rock, a purpose built backpacker boat. and bar.

The Rock is probably the best value for money experience in NZ - They pick you up at 5pm, they then head out of the bay of islands to a nice secluded spot- on the way they attach a rubber duck to the back of the boat and hand out air rifles - free drink to the best shot - disappointed it wasnt James with his shooting skills! We were a little pissed by that point - after having started our drinking on the beach earlier with a bottle of wine bought at the vineyard. We then anchored the boat and started fishing for our dinner. I caught the 1st fish (a tiddler) and earned myself a free drink - unfortunately no fish we caught were big enough to eat, although Si will boast that not only did he catch 6 but there was also one that was so big it snapped his fishing line! That evening after our dinner of steak and salads we were put into groups for kayaking. The kayaking was incredible. The water was full of phosphorescence which sparkled like diamonds when disturbed - so so cool, we decided to ditch the kayaks and dive in amongst it - the water seemed so warm, we couldn't work out if that was because it genuinely was warm or we had really good beer jackets on. The next day we got up to a good breakfast and started the day with a snorkel trip - the most fish i've seen in 1 trip, visibility was amazing and we went out catching lots of kinna (sea urchins) to eat later. (which, although is meant to be a delicacy is really quite gross)
Rocked up back onto the dead fish beach (named after Si's shenanigans on the same beach at Chrsitmas) where we had a lovely lunch and kayak. After lunch we headed back to Paihia for our return back to Hamilton and reality.

Really good hol and unfortunately the last for a long while!

Work Work Work...and a bit of play

So the last 2 weeks I've had the chance to get really into the job. I am working lots of weekends from now on but they're pretty good fun.

Last Thursday I went on my 1st retrieval which happened to be a fixed wing (technical talk for small plane) over to the east coast (Gisborne) where I had to pick up and bring back a ventilated ICU patient. Was a pretty straight forward one for my 1st since most the work was done for me - just needed a little blood pressure control really.
Friday I worked a long day on the unit (which means you look after the unit soley and dont go on exciting trips) James came down for the weekend to play with Si so I got to join them for drinks afterwards as I wasn't in till 4pm the next day.

On Saturday we decided to go for a surf in the morning - not great conditions but really fun all the same - love being out in the surf, there are pretty strong rips at the moment though so gotta be careful. At 4pm I headed into work and all seemed to be pretty calm until at 8pm I got called to head down to Taranaki (down the west coast) to pick up a guy who'd rogered his arm and needed urgent surgery - and the only surgeon they had that could sort it was away on his holidays. Was a beautiful flight down the coast at sunset in the helicopter - so bizarre, tourists pay hundreds for that flight and I get paid to do it!

Sunday we went to play some morning tennis pre-work then a pretty uneventful shift - until my evenings call back...was home for 20mins, just enough time to get into my PJs and skype the folks when I got a call hauling me back into work to prepare for a flight to Taupo. Really hairy trip - not only did we have time contraints (a weather front was coming in and the pilot was really eager to be out the sky by 2am) but the patient was REALLY sick and the emergency dept in Taupo had actually made things worse with their input - they would have been better leaving her how the ambulance had - probably the sickest patient I have ever looked after by myself! (they survived and we're discharged the next day!)

Monday I had off, so after catching a few hours sleep katie and I headed up to Auckland to watch some of the Heineken open tennis. Really good, got to see Ferrero and Ferrer play (although both out now!)
Had a lovely evening with Gem - helped her put together her new BBQ and christen it.

The rest of the week has been pretty uneventful - no further flights or excitement (unless one comes in tonight!)

Off up North for the week tomorrow for some beach fun - I know it's not long since we had time off but after this it'll be ages since we're off again.