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

The end of the road and back to work!

We did the south island and what an island! We travelled alot but we made our appointment to stay with our friends Pete and Elaine (and Nick) by the friday. On the way we saw amazing stuff - gorges with snow/ice flow rivers in them, glaciers up close and massive forests. We visited old mining towns, found a real ale brew pub in Christchurch and a brewery in Dunedin. On our visit to Queenstown, Pete took us for an off road 4x4 drive through Skippers Canyon - a test for the Nissan X-trail and for Yvonne's nerve. Narrow mountain tracks with precipitous drops on one side. All good though thanks to Pete's competent off road skills.

The trip back to Christchurch was through lowlands and the flight to Auckland was sooooo simple! Christchurch is a placid city with a historic tramway and a relaxed feel. It was one of the places we thought we could could consider in the future.

Since we got back to Auckland (16/5) we have prepared for work and both of us started on the 25th. We have settled into the house we rented from the Cook family (touring Europe) and were blessed when they let us use their car and for me, Adrian Cook's golfclubs and shoes!!

We have met new friends and have joined a tennis club and are in the north at a town called Whangarei (pronounced " fongeray") where we have arranged to meet a few scout leaders on a trip to help with the local leg of an international car rally (South Pacific Region).

We hope to put some more photos on facebook and on here asap.

G'day!

M & Y

new island new experience

off the ferry decided to turn right not left and headed to the Abel Tasman National park, now I know why it is a rain forest but the experience was great boat ride and walk , saw seals.
we headed south east to wine country and better weather hopefully. visited the famous Cloudy Bay winery free tastings as well.
On to Kaikoura to whale watch saw 2 and albatross fantastic,we then headed west across the mountains to Hamner Spings, an Alpine village, just beatiful!
down to the west coast where the tranzalpine express terminates and south to glacier country
Walked to the Franz Joseph glacier , see picture on facebook.
The Sun is out now and we are off to walk to Fox Glacier.
Then it is mountains all the way as we head south via Mount Cook ,down to south lands, to visit friends Pete Elaine and Nick thier son
nmore new experiences to come Yvonne bungy jumping[ no!]

We've come to the end of the North Island!

So that's nearly that then. The bottom of the North- Wellington - beckons and it's been fun. We've been up volcanos, in hot geothermal pools, cycling around vineyards and on deserted beaches .... on foot and in the motorhome! So what with the 2 return trip s back to Auckland ( one for visa delivery and one for house rent / my - Mike's - job interview) it's beeen eventful. The motorhome style of living has been a great new way to get around and we have had the option to stay in motel rooms too in towns (most camper parks are on the outskirts as you would expect).

Highlights - cycle route wine tasting in the Hawkes bay region - Napier - visited 3 wineries and a walk to the Huka Falls on a perfect day.

We hope to catch the ferry on Wed and head off.... in some direction. Mountains and whale watching are on the agenda and some unexpected stuff too we guess.

Let the touring begin!

So thats the worky bit done (ish) ! Yvonne has a start date of 25/5 and I have a couple of 'irons in the fire'. We had a quiet day today (Good friday) in the Auckland Domain (Central Park) and had a look around the museum and watched a Maori warrior/dance group explain part of their culture. We are packed now and ready to go and plan to head north via sub-tropical forests to the beaches and sights of the Bay of Islands. Dune surfing may be one of the highlights!

Our internet access will be a little more intermittant now ( not been good anyway!) so will post again...... sometime!

Its the weekend and beyond

It's been a sunny week here in paradise! We've done the volcano island(Rangitoto) and ferry trip to the other side of the bay - the views from anywhere are stunning!

Yvonne has had her meeting for work and she is just waiting for a contract to be couriered over! If she signs it, we are then into the real estate market this week before we drive off for 5 weeks in our motorhome (see www.wildernessmotorhomes.co.nz). We hope to make the most of the 'indian summer' and travel north to the Bay of Islands area and visit tropical rainforests on route! We will then be coming back via Auckland ( do any businessy bits) and off to the vineyards (Coromandel) and volcanic activity (Rotorua).

We feel at home already as we sense that NZ is part UK (language, customs etc), part western city and with a mediteranean climate! It's just a great ' vibe'!

We're off to the harbour again to book tickets to another (big) island, Waiheke, whilst the fair weather holds and we might even bask in the sun and have some dinner (1kg of mussels for $10 =£4!!) Must go it's happy hour soon (it's happy hour every hour here!!).

Love n Peace

M & Y
xx

Hi all

Today's the day! We are off at 9.30pm tonight and fly for 24 hours via Singapore and Sydney- no stop offs though this time. It's been an emotional time wrapping up things here which finalised with all our family in touch over dinner on our last evening in Princes Street (for a while anyway). In touch, in that family in Yorkshire and Mark in Canada were chatting via 3-way Skype to our house full of 9 family and closeest friends. 13 people talking into 3 computers was a bit surreal!!

We will be out of communication probably until Thurs this week, but we then hope to l;ocate web facilities in the city near our apartment (Quest on Eden - Auckland). So be patient if you want to contact us.

We have our skype phone no. 02032867560(local call rate) which has an ansaphone for when we are not online (phone to computer link - free t/fer to NZ)

So back to final bits and pieces (like a trip to the bank to t/fer money to our BNZ a/c!!) and off via Cambridge (drop Jenny our daughter off) to Terminal 4.

NZ here we come - brace yourselves NZ!!

Mike & Yvonne

10 days to go!

Hi. Well the news is that Yvonne now has a job offer (rehab physio' in Auckland) and we were able to arrange and undergo our immigration medicals/X-rays within 24 hours! God is good!
We are still in the middle of clearing the house contents to a minimum ready to let it out from 1/4 - proving to be the ultimate spring clean!
We will be staying at the 'Quest on Eden' Apartments in central Auckland for the first 10 days(up to Good Friday), and then plan to travel for 2/3 weeks around the North Island ( motorhome and car) ending up in Wellington for a short stay. Work start dates and visa issues will dictate our plan from then on - back to Auckland / more touring perhaps.
Anyway, that's it for now - back to loose ends!

M & Y

In the beginning..................

This is the start of the adventure! We are 't' minus 26 days and the detailed planning has started. We are getting ready to rent out 'Palm Villa' - 26 years in the house is a lot of stuff to clear out!!
So many trips to the recycling centre and charity shops are happening; Mark is leaving for Canada next week (11th) and he too is having a clear out!

So it's onwards and upwards and planning our main 'leaving work and UK' party this saturday. Hope the weather is good to us so we can cook outside.