Here we are in full ski gear, in the sitting room, shortly before we both nearly collapsed with heat exhaustion (just as well we decided against the hats and gloves). Never been so pleased to get a ski boot off. I think the man that did our boot fitting maybe did know what he was talking about after all when he guaranteed that we would only need one pair of thin socks to keep our feet warm enough on the slopes.

Just in the spirit of Easter bunny jokes, thought we'd share this little gem!

We're back!

Nick and I looking lovely (and perhaps a little tipsy) after a long summer afternoon at a wine and food festival, about to catch the ferry home.

Our bedroom. That's that really. We sleep here.










And the funky Art Deco (we live in an Art Deco builiding) fireplace. Doesn't work though, more's the pity.

Our lovely new kitchen, with gas hobs and delayed-closing drawers. Nice.

Here I am, right now, writing to you!

Hello All!

So here is my happy Easter (although a little late) message. Thought it easier to put news on here as then I can post loads of photos, rather than trying to select a couple of photos only so that the e-mail is small enough to get through...

Lots has happened since many of you will have heard from us, as I am pretty poor to say the least at keeping in touch, but I will just put the main exciting things to get you all up to speed.

Most recently, we have moved house once again, this time to a place where we will hopefully stay until we leave the country. We were reasonably happy where we were before, as it was good and central, but after having had loads of people come to stay over the course of the spring and summer, we decided it was time to get a larger place. So we have moved a bit of a way out of the city to a place called Mission Bay. It's a lovely suburb, right by the beach (we can walk out of our flat and around the corner and we can see the sea, stand on the beach and look at Rangitoto, the volcanic island in the Auckland harbour), and although it's a bit further from work, we now have two bedrooms and a kitchen that's separate from the sitting room. So all in all we are very excited about the new abode. We have already had our first guests to stay and the feedback was very positive, so the way is now open for all the rest of you to flood over to Mission Bay and sample coffee by the sea and the Vic and Nick mansion!

Work is still good for both of us. Not much new to report since Christmas card-time I don't think, although not all of you got a card I don't think... So I am still working at Starship, with a caseload of PICU, rheumatology, developmental assessments on the neonatal unit, cystic fibrosis, and tertiary respiratory (respiratory care for kids with muscular dystrophy, tracheostomies etc.). So still a good variety, and it's looking as though I might get a chance to do some more interesting things in the next year or so: we're looking at producing a educational videos for parents on the NICU, and we might be organising a conference for therapists working in rheumatology. So things are looking good for me work-wise in the near future.

Nick is working at Jasmax, which is (debatably, depending on who you speak to) the biggest architecture firm in the country (well, a firm comprising architects, landscape architects, and interior designers). He's getting to work on some interesting projects, most importantly the major motorway developments around Auckland. He's enjoying work and it looks as though he's going to get to go on some interesting courses and learn about some new programmes soon, which will be good.

Pretty excitingly, we have bought our own ski gear and will be getting season passes for Mount Ruapehu this year, so we are hoping to get loads of skiing in over the winter. We have also sold our campervan and now have a much nicer and pretty speedy new car, so getting to the mountain should be a lot less traumatic.

And we have booked a holiday for May to Vanuatu, which should be fantastic. We are going to spend a few nights on the main island of Vanuatu, and then four nights on Tanna Island, where there is the most accessible live volcano in the world. So we will spend five days snorkelling, looking at wild horses, peering down into the volcano at sunset, sunbathing, and maybe (although not sure yet) trying kava - which is apparently the strongest and yet the safest type of opiate anywhere in the world. It's fermented corn I think, and is supposed to make you feel wonderfully relaxed. Will decide whether we're feeling brave enough for that one when the time comes!

I think that's good enough an update for now... Our lives in a nutshell.

Shame the photos of our flat are not that great as they were taken this evening - would be better in the daytime.

Hope you all had a good weekend and enjoyed the extra days off - we have made the most of the new flat and haven't gone away, instead have done loads of cooking, sampled several of the cafes, bars and restaurants along the Mission Bay waterfront, and bought bikes ready for cycling to work.

Loads of love as ever,

Vic and Nick. xxx