Waihi weekend

Of course our weekend at Waihi wasn't just about the men slogging it out. We stayed in a log house somewhere in the hinterland between Waihi town and Waihi beach.

It came with fire place, hot tub and a variety of farm animals to amuse the kids.






The creek down the back of the property was a fun place for the kids to try kyaking. Garth was the only one who dared get in the water and this was the only place to get some reprieve from the sandflies–the only problem being the water was so bloody cold.

Adventure racing

Visionstream put a team together for the inaugural NZ Anaconda Adventure Race held in Waihi last weekend. Garth, Rick, Hilton and Andrew (aka Steve) put in a sterling effort to take out 2nd place in the corporate category. Here's how it looked from the sideline...

Andrew was first up with the swim leg. We all know he's a swimmer not a runner, so the run between laps almost killed him! Fortunately for the team, his competitive streak shone through and after a good effort, he came out of the water in 4th place.


Garth almost had to tackle Andrew to get the bib and chip from him.


And he's off for 14km paddle! Anyone who knows Garth knows that's a walk in the park for this adventure-man.


Hilton takes the baton and steps out for the 14km run.


Sadly, the photographer (me) did not see the exchange from Hilton to Rick. Rick zig-zagged and loop-de-looped his way through the 27km mountain bike track. As they say, there is no rest for the wicked and Rick must be very wicked indeed. After he got off his bike he then had to put on his running shoes for the final leg–a 2km team run around the old gold mine to the finish line.


Subdued encouragement from the support crew!


Finished at last–a hard earned thirst!

A good brew

At long last! The old Sunbeam has been packed away and pushed to the back of the kitchen cupboard. I'm not sure why really, but we may need to drag it out and take it on holidays with us as the new machine is probably a bit too big to lug around. After a bit of tweeking, it delivers a good brew. Grinding and brewing at the press of a button!

The resurrection

Stella and Zoe were very proud to show off the kite they made with their Dad from Christmas wrapping paper. Think about it–birth, death and resurrection all rolled into one!

Happy Easter

Today's itenerary has taken us up to Caloundra to visit Brad, Ruth, Stella and Zoe. We also got to meet Max, their new dog.

Ruth had organised for the kids to decorate some boiled eggs which was a great Easter activity and was much more appealing to the kids than going to church (not that they were actually given that as an option).

A work of art

Greeting Ozlings. Here we are back for our first visit since the move to NZ. The girls and I came over a week ahead of Steve and the past week has been mainly about the kids catching up with friends and family. It has been a pretty manic few days but I'm not allowed to say that in front of some people as apparently I have no idea of the real meaning of 'manic'.


We had a great day with Sarah-next-door and her kids at GoMA the other day experiencing the the Asia Pacific Triennial exhibition. I am always amazed at how talented some people are. Highlights for the kids were the thread room, the geometric software, the silhouettes, and the pixel-ated crystal elk. How wonderful to have all of this showcased in such an amazing gallery which is available to everyone to experience for FREE!




Sarah took so many fantastic photos with her snazzy camera. She holds sole copyright for the following photos.

Girls' weekend

Last weekend Steve was away at the Masters Long Course National Championships in Invercargill so we decided to have a girls' weekend. Actually, it wasn't really a decision, it's just the way it was so we decided to make the most of it.

Saturday got off to a rather dull start as I spent the best part of the day sorting through Ava's room. It doesn't seem to matter how many times I do it, her room always seems to overflow with 'stuff'. We managed to put together a bag to donate to the school fair and reorganise her room. It will be interesting to see how long it stays that way–I give it a week. As I said, that took the best part of the day and it was 3 o'clock by the time we got out of the house.

We headed to the Chelsea Estate Heritage Park which is the site of the Chelsea Sugar Refinery. We had been there once before when Steve did a swim across the harbour finishing at the refinery. We went for a walk and a scoot, and fed the ducks (and eels). That filled in a few hours–it was a pleasant afternoon.

On the way back home the girls were in good spirit and wanted to go out for dinner. We took a vote and decided on pizza which was really a no-brainer. We had a few laughs and shared some interesting conversations about the meaning of 'gay' (it really is amazing how much they know!) and wacky aunts. When posed with the question of which one of them was going to be the wacky aunt when they grew up, Ruby and Eadie were quick to nominate Ava "because she's always doing crazy stuff". Ava seemed OK with the decision because the idea of having her own kids seemed way too painful!

On Sunday we went to see Alice in Wonderland. I won't spoil it for you if you haven't seen it already, but I do recommend it. There were only a few scary bits. After the movie we did a wee spot of shopping then headed home for a nana nap.

Steve got home about 5.30pm after a weekend of atrocious weather in Invercargill but he managed to win four golds so it was all worthwhile.