Work and Play - the ultimate balancing act !?

Well IT happened!! I was offered work and I accepted ....... and then stepped into the social work sphere as a ' Community Support Worker'. Basically, working with 5 others in the support team to help 4 men aged 26-33, with varied learning disabilities, to enjoy life and live together.

I am into my 3rd week now and have had to train-up again - 1st response, autism, medication, behavioural issues and crisis prevention restraint techniques. The work is different as it is shift work, so Yvonne and I are starting to get used to not always being together during the week, including overnight 3 times a fortnight! (3 sleepover shifts)

Well the OTHER thing we mentioned in the last blog happened too! We did the river camping trip ( no, we did NOT pitch a tent on the water!! ) and the easiest thing to do is link you to the new FB page the scouts have set up:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Royal-Oak-Venturers/167633783513?ref=ts

Yvonne and I took it in turns to paddle down the Waikato - I took the first and last days and Yvonne took the 'big one' - a 30 km 6 hour marathon!! When not on the river, we were driving the Pajero/trailer down to the next campsite with all the gear - great fun and no-one capsized, even me!!

So we are now readying ourselves for a hot and beach style Christmas - the jury's out!!! ...... and then a house move in mid january. We now have house contents thanks to friends now living in Essex - we offered to buy nearly all they had and it was a simple option for them too. (Hi Gary and Trudi, if you are reading this!! It's like a furniture store in here now!! )

That's it for now - check out the kayaking pics and we'll post again near Christmas - anyone got a recipe for BBQ'd turkey?????

Love and peace

M & Y

Jenny and Gavin visit us - our first from the UK

So we are 6 months into our adventure to Aotearoa and Yvonne is into her 2nd job, this time hospital based... and loving it! Working out of 2 centres in south Auckland and a town called Pukekohe (45 mins south from home in Kohimarama in North Auckland), Yvonne now travels by train 2 days a week and car 3 days. We are in our 2nd furnished bungalow with acres of native bush as our back garden harbouring bird life including colourful Oz (introduced by accident!) Rosella's - parrots!

We have become more and more involved in scouting here and recently attended a large PR event in the central park and got a sense of the 'bigger picture' - a great day out for the whole city. We have also just started the summer tennis season and hope to play some team stuff once the captain(s) have spotted our potential!! (and my dropshots!!).

Anyway, we are just off the back of Jenny's 21st birthday visit here with Gavin - nearly 3 weeks of activity from which we all needed another holiday to recover! We started with a mountain bike ride on Waiheke Island - 27 gears and I was still walking up some of the hills!! We needed to plan our route a bit more carefully eh? We then had our week down in the mid island lakes and mountains of the Tongariro Nat Park and lakes Taupo and Rotorua. Skiing on an active volcano (Mt Ruapehu last erupted 1996) in searing sun (and melting snow!!) lakeside walks , hot geothermal pools, swimming and general lounging around in restaurants and cafes all part of fun. We finished our trip with a visit to the geysers and mudpools in geothermal areas and a final race downhill on the luge (toboggan) from the top of Mt Ngongotaha (3 graded concrete tracks, the advanced one has a jump!).
More sedately we also kayaked on the Puhoi River (30 mins north) after crossing the Auckland bridge .....and also did a beach walk.... which turned into cliff wall scrambling and quiet coves with the out-going tide lapping at our ankles in places!!
We had our first BBQ together to celebrate jenny's birthday just as they were about to leave, a 'Kiwi' end to a great holiday.

As I (Mike) write this I have had a verbal offer of work! Praise the Lord! My early foray into IFA work didn't 'feel' right and the work at CAP NZ and The Dingwall Trust here in Auckland didn't quite happen. So I await the work opportunity I am supposed to do here - perhaps this one supporting young adults with learning disability in their home (life skills etc), might be the one!
We are planning our first CAP Money course at the church we attend (Nov), a scout trip to help 'tape out' the Far North Car Rally (200kms!!) and a river camping trip in kayaks on the big Waikato River (2 nights out) - Scout Duke of Edinburgh practice.

So more on that on the next post - Christmas is coming! ....... oh ... and our lemons in the garden are ripening up!!

Bye
M & Y

3 months into our new life

G'day and kia ora,

So our time at the first house has come to an end! 3 months has gone quickly and so have the first 2 jobs we had! Yvonne's at Abano and mine at Fortifi - neither turned out to be suitable although both gave us new friends and paid the bills!
During our time in Remuera we made friends at the local Baptist Church, joined Campbell Park Tennis Club and supported local scout groups - and joined them on their winter ski trip, to Mt Ruapehu a couple of hours south.

We've now moved to house no 2; two kms up the road on the border of Mission Bay and Kohimarama, 5km's to the east of the City. The pics below are of the house - we have native bush out the back, a short drive to the coast (or 25min walk!) and a train station park and ride nearby.

We've had to buy a couple of cars - an old stationwagon( estate ) off a friend at CAP (Christians Against Poverty) who went to work for the Oz office, and a Pajero 4wd for fun! We hope to take the scouts on a trip to a 4wd park and all of us learn to handle off road skills! Its free too!

So we are hoping the cold weather has gone now and we are getting geared up for summer - a bbq is on the cards soon (got to buy one first!). Spring is definitely in the air.

Yvonne has started her new job today split between two hospitals in south Auckland and I'm awaiting news of my interview outcome later this week. Fingers crossed eh?

That's it for now - the next big event is Jenny and Gavin coming over in September which is ...awesome!!

Peace and Love