Fun with Friends

Having Paul and Laura over has been a perfect excuse to do some fun things (not that we really need an excuse). I have really enjoyed having some blokey company and managed to go out to see The Bourne Ultimatum with the boys. Paul and I also found this great place to play golf in the centre of town. It had amazing simulated golf courses so we can now claim to have played Pebble Beach (a famous US golf course) in Auckland..crazy!
The 2 other highlights were a day trip to Piha Beach and a great 8th wedding anniversary/farewell to P and L meal at the top of the Sky Tower. The fun thing about dining in the Sky Tower is that the restaurant is revolving.....well some may call it fun.. but others might say it does provoke a sense of low grade nausea especially if you're really hungry! Despite this it was a great evening. Comedy of the night was watching the girls (Kath, Laura and Rosie) try to fit a whole glass into their mouth! We waved goodbye to Paul and Laura the next day..very sad ...particularly for Matilda who for some reason found Paul's magic tricks vaguely entertainly! The old money behind the ears gag is always a winner!

Gym

There are many things that NZ does very well. Coffee is one of them but another great Kiwi attribute is it's devotion to an active life. So many sporting pursuits are much more affordable (and better equipped!)in New Zealand and that is why we have signed Harry and Matilda up to go to Gym lessons.
Unfortunately, I have never actually been to see the children at their lessons because I am at work, but by all accounts it is something pretty special! Rose has drafted in the help of a new friend called Rachel to supervise the children during the sessions. She also took the opportunity to take Paul and Laura (O not KS) while they were here and managed to get some fun action shots. Matilda, in particular, loves it and has shown some real talent. This is definitely from the KS side of the gene pool since I could only just do a rolly poley (not sure of the spelling!)!

Paul and Laura Visit NZ!

Paul and Laura Oxley (not Kingsley-Smith!) have been staying with us for the past 3 weeks which has been an absolute blast (quite literally for Paul having ate something dodgy in Bangkok!). We enjoyed showing them the sites in Auckland for their first week before they set off for the Coromandel Peninsula and Rotorua.
We really did have a lot of fun but the highlight of the trip had to be a 4 day break in Turangi (next to Lake Taupo). We went down with Rich and Kath to meet up wih the Oxley's and enjoy a bit more of the North Island. The main reason for heading down to Turangi was its proximity to Mount Ruapehu and the snow!
On the first day we trekked down to Ohakune. The weather wasn't exactly ideal but we still managed to do a bit of sledging despite the freezing winds. The next day, however, we went to Whakapapa (the Maori "Wh" is essentially a "F".. and ..as you can imagine there was great hilarity with this word especially when Matilda and Harry decided to have a go at pronoucing it!). Anyway, we had an absolutely stunning day up Whakapapa (excuse the pun)...the weather was great and the company not too bad either. Harry and Matilda spent time sledging with Paul and Laura which gave Rosie and me the opportunity to ski together. We always vowed to go skiing together before children but failed so this was a bit of a dream. We were a bit rusty to start with but soon remembered the basics. We both thought to ourselves..this is why we came to New Zealand!
Another bonus at Whakapapa was that the children were allowed to go on the chair lifts..great fun.