My little sister, rather enjoying her hot chocolate at the top of the Eiffel Tower.


















Doesn't really need a title, I hope!






















Nick, my dad, my big sister Amy, and my little sister Sarah all watching my nephew play soccer (bit chilly that morning).





















And here is the expert young footballer!
















My good self and my other nephew, Tom, atop Nick's dad's Land Rover, which is our vehicle while we're here. Great big tank of a thing, also discovered yesterday that it leaks (dripped directly onto my foot for the entire duration of a 2-hour drive). But good novelty value!

My whanau!
















My little sister, with the caricature Nick's brother did for the Big Do. Similar, no?


















The very attractive Moroccan man my little sister is now living with...





















French flag, French building, amazing photography!

















Sacre Coeur. Beautiful.

Murdered by my own sword; carrying home the booty (well, bottle of wine found in the taxi); and washing the Jack Sparrow off my face

Jack Sparrow and The Big J at the Jasmax Christmas Party

New clothes from other angles...


















And some lovely skiing pictures. Nice goggles Nick.

Me dyeing my hair... Scary red colour.



Prancing in new clothes!

The Big Holiday

So, we came back a week ago and, now that we've caught up with the laundry, the fatigue of being back at work, and all the e-mails we received over the week, it's time to tell y'all about our trip.

For those of you who don't know, we had a week in Vanuatu, which is a "Y-shaped archipelago of 83 islands", about 3 hours' flight north of Auckland. We spent the first night and our last two nights on the main island, Efate, in the capital, Port Vila. The middle four nights of the trip were on Tanna Island, which is a half-hour flight south of Efate. We had planned the trip together with our friends Beth and Mat, who we know from when we lived in Cambridge and they were also working and living there, but they are now living back in their home city of Sydney. They flew in much later than us on the first day, so Nick and I had our first night alone in a rather smart resort, called Breaka's Beach, swimming in the infinity pool, lazing on the beach, enjoying the open-air shower in our room, playing pool, and having a lovely meal right by the aforementioned infinity pool.

On the Sunday, after a very entertaining taxi ride to the airport, we met up with Beth and Mat and jumped onto the smaller plane to fly to Tanna. The transfer to the hotel was in the back of a Land Rover (glam), and we were then welcomed to the White Grass Ocean Resort with a drink and the most spectacular view over the reef directly outside the hotel's restaurant. After our (green, but very tasty and refreshing) welcome drink, we were shown to our 'bure' (hut), which had flowers placed on every surface imaginable, and a view straight out across the reef and the ocean. We of course dashed straight out to snorkel, making the most of the low tide, and were amazed by the warm water temperature and the fantastic array of fish and coral we saw almost straight away. The reef was amazing; it was a long (and spiky) walk out across the rocks and coral to get to an appropriate entry point, but once in and through the V-shaped gap in the reef (later to become our nemesis, as the tide was coming in as we tried to get back to land and a few scrapes were sustained - some more spectacular than others - as we were washed through - or against - the coral), there was a huge wall of coral on one side, and then a 20-or-so metre drop off and the whole of the Pacific Ocean on the other. Amazing. The water was incredibly clear, and warm.

So much of the holiday was spent snorkelling at that reef or at various holes near the resort. We saw sea snakes, sea cucumbers (one at least 70cm long, and spiky), beautiful fish, a couple of lobster, and an amazing blue starfish.

We went for a walk one day up onto the White Grass Plains, where - we had been assured - lived many a wild white horse. Well, we walked for quite some time through (and this was not in the resort information booklet) very shrubby vegetation, with us all the while regretting the decision to opt for shorts and not some kind of reinforced, bullet-proof lower body apparel. Not a blade of grass did we see the entire time, which did lead us to question the appropriateness of the area's name. Neither did we see a single white horse: two brown ones right at the very end of the walk, but weren't quite sure if they were wild or in fact were next week's dinner for the village further down the road. The most entertaining thing about the whole walk was the fascinatingly lumpy appearance of my thighs after all that scratching from the plants along the way - looked a bit like a relief map of the Plains themselves. Nice.

We also did a boat trip with a local fisherman, called Sam. He took us right up the coast to the north of Tanna, which took about an hour, trawling for wahoo or tuna along the way (none were caught though, much to our dismay). Our destination was the Blue Cave: a cave that can only be accessed by diving down about a metre underwater. Once inside, the cave is much bigger than any of us had expected: it's about 50m in diameter, with a partially collapsed roof, which allows a stunning shaft of sunlight to shine down into the centre of the cave, illuminating the water and the marine life. It was truly stunning. The reef just outside the cave was also beautiful, so we spent an hour or two swimming around, in and out of the cave, seeing yet more amazing fish, sea snakes and the like. And to top it all off, on the journey back we saw heaps of flying fish (they really do fly, it's not just a little jump out of the water, they say above the surface for ages), and some dolphins. Not bad at all!

But the highlight of the whole holiday would have to be the trip to the volcano: Mount Yasur, the world's most accessible active volcano, and apparently the second most consistently active volcano in the world. The whole trip took nearly six hours, partly due to the several stops made along the way, but mainly due to the fact that most of the roads probably wouldn't really meet any dictionary definition of a road. Not a trip for those with a sore back - or sore anything really. Four or so hours bouncing around in the back of Land Rover (especially when sitting on the bench seats, facing sideways) tests the hardiest of bums - as well as the mettle of any travel sickness tablets (thankfully for us, Beth and Mat - the most easily travel-sick pair in the world - had partaken of some fantastically effective pills, and there were so disasters in the back).

Before reaching the volcano, we stopped at a coffee plantation. Tanna coffee is apparently recognised as some of the best coffee in the world, due to the excellent growing conditions from the volcanic soil. A pair of lovely ladies from the village gave us a tour, each clutching a small, sweet, snotty-nosed child. We learnt all about coffee, how it grows, how it's harvested, how it's dried, and then we were on our way again. Next stop was a village school, where a choir of children and teachers sang to us ("welcome to our visiting friends"), then presented us with flowers. Best birthday present I've ever had - I felt like royalty! Very sweet.

Then we drove a bit further along some even worse 'roads', steam coming out of vents in the banks, and then we arrived in the 'car park' area. Obviously we had to experience the volcano lavatory (small hut, no door, rather whiffy), and the world's only volcano postbox (photo of me posting the obligatory postcard to work duly taken), and then we walked the last 15 minutes to the top of the main crater.

The volcano was amazing! It's continuously bubbling away, spitting up bits of lava, and spurting out flames. Then every so often, there would be a huge explosion, the ground would shake under our feet, we would feel the pressure change in our ears, and lava would fly right up into the air way above our heads. It was amazing - little bit scary the first time but thereafter it was just fantastic. The sun set as we were up there, making the explosions more and more striking. Eventually, the clouds moved in and we were no longer able to see anything, so it was time to struggle back down the slopes and back to the Lannie. Back to the resort we went, all feeling rather exhausted but excited, and after a supper of delicious lobster curry, we crawled to bed and dreamed of big explosions and cute singing children.

The last two nights, but one day only, of our trip were in the capital, Port Vila, which was a bit of a come-down in contrast to the beauty and peace of Tanna. Still, it was interesting, and we really had just the right amount of time there. We explored the markets, bought a fantastic wooden mask and a few more little trinkets, had a great meal, tried a nakatambol (small fruit, hard, citrus-fruit-like skin, doesn't taste of much, wouldn't recommend it), had cocktails at a nice resort on Iririki Island in the Port Vila harbour, played a bit of Travel Scrabble, and then that was pretty much our hoiday all done. Back to reality, and less than 28-degree heat, and work, and laundry... We had a fantastic time away though, it was great to see the Aussies, I have a lovely tan, and we felt really relaxed after we got back. Would definitely recommend it as a holiday destination!

Oh, almost forgot, one of the other major highlights was seeing a turtle on the reef on our last day on Tanna. We had been told that there was one particular coral outcrop a bit further out from the main drop-off in front of the resort where the turtles tended to hang out, so we had tried a couple of times to see one, but only suceeded in getting cold, and seeing more of the same fish. So on our last morning there, we got up at 6am to catch the low tide, swam out to the turtle hangout, and were only there for a few minutes before a saw exactly what we were looking for - a huge great green turtle, which swam below us for about five minutes, not bothered by us at all. It was amazing - having missed out on seeing any turtles on our reef trip in Cairns, we were really pleased. And we then heard afterward that not many guests at the resort actually manage to see one, so we were even more pleased to have had such an exclusive experience.

Other than all our holiday news, there's not much else to report really. Weather's getting pretty chilly, especially in the mornings, so getting out of bed and on the bike every morning just before 6.30 is trickier by the day, but we are trying to focus on the fact that cold weather only means skiing is getting closer, so that's good news!

So, hope all is well for you all, and probably next time I update this will be with some photos of snow and skiing. Hooray!

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

Hello again!

Nick and I have finally got around to doing something more adventurous with our weekends than sampling every restaurant in Auckland, so here I am to tell you all about it.

Two weeks ago we went to Rotorua, AKA the smelliest town in NZ. Not in a Hull kind of way; Rotorua's stench can in fact be blamed on whatever it is under the ground that causes geothermal activity. It's an amazing place, as you go through the town, there's steam coming out of the ground left, right and centre, and hot water just pouring out of public taps!

Nick and I spent both nights (bravely) in the van: the first night was more than a little chilly, with a thick ice coating the entire inside of the vehicle when we woke up, which, although dramatic at the time, was actually more of a problem once it started to warm up a bit and the dripping began! Flooding averted, we made our way to Hell's Gate, where George Bernard Shaw went a few years back and threw a bit of a hissy fit as he said it reminded him too much of what he had been told might await him in the afterlife if he were a naughty boy, and wished he'd never gone (not sure why he got so upset as he was an atheist). Nick and I didn't get so upset about it, and instead were extremely impressed with the lunar-type landscape, the sulphur deposits, bubbling mud and boiling water pools. Didn't jump in, as many of the hot pools there were over 120 degrees C (they can reach that due to the high mineral content). We did however, pay for the privilege of having a hot mud bath and a soak in a mineral pool under more controlled circumstances, which was very luxurious, helped by the fact that the weather was so cold and one felt particularly smug!

We also had a little wander down by the lake, and watched a boat/plane taking off (another of Nick's lifetime desires fulfilled), and then found a lovely little campsite, where we managed to park about 2 metres from the lake shore, and practiced our wildlife photography with a somewhat stroppy family of black swans. The campsite had a hot pool, which was actually too hot to sit in for more than about 30 seconds at a time. So after about half an hour of hopping in and out of said pool, we raced back to the van to retain as much heat as possible, and had a much warmer night!

In the morning we had another lovely hot bath, then followed somewhat disappointingly by a shower as rubbish as the bath was hot. We then went and had the most amusing couple of hours we have had in ages - at 'the Luge'. This is a NZ first: basically, it consists of a concrete track down a hill, that you ride down on a small plastic three-wheeled go-cart, the speed of which is controlled by pushing the handles forward or backward. Pretty tricky to describe adequately, but suffice to say that you can go extremely fast, with your control of the vehicle being most affected by the amount you laugh on the way down! They have ski resort-style chairlift that takes you back up to the top of the run, with clever little hooks underneath that take the carts back up to the top too. Very well run, but more importantly a great giggle.

After a massive lunch to replace all the energy lost from the laughter, we trugged back up to Auckland again, feeling rather pleased to have had such a great weekend.

And then this weekend, we went skiing finally! Having been meaning to do it for weeks, and having had to put it off due to too much snow/no accommodation/being too tired after starting new job etc, we just went for it this weekend (having survived in the van in Rotorua, we decided to brave it at Ruapehu). And we had a great time! It's a pretty long way there from Auckland at van-pace, as in about six hours' drive in total, but definitely worth it. After driving most of the way on Friday night, and an early start on Saturday, we managed to get onto the slopes by 9, and skied right through until 4.30. We were shattered at the end of the day, and are now feeling rather sore, but were really pleased to have gone. The snow was not bad, quite a good amount of powder, but some icy patches. The runs were quite narrow in places, and it was pretty busy, so altogether the NZ skiing scene really doesn't have much on Europe, but to be able to pop to Mordor to ski for a day is something you can't sniff at! So we are hoping to get down there once or twice more before the end of the seasson.

I need to get up off my backside now and go and make some supper. We have another good week ahead of us (apart from weather-wise - we have just seen the forecast and it is for even more heavy rain this week), with a Ladysmith Black Mambazo concert on Wednesday, and then our friend from Palmerston North (7 hours south of here) coming to stay for the weekend. Cocktails at the Hilton are on the agenda I think!

Hope all is well in the UK (and elsewhere) and undoubtedly anyone who is reading this in enjoying better weather than us currently...

Lots of love,

Vic and Nick. xxx

Job news!

Hello all!

I wonder if anyone is actually still looking at this... Probably not - I wouldn't blame you for not bothering, with the poor effort I have been putting into updating it!

Anyway, we have more news to add now, which is what has prompted me into getting down to writing. All of you in the UK will be enjoying the beautiful weather, whereas here we are rolling into winter and things are getting chillier all the time! Actually, saying that, we had a really really cold June (coldest since 1925), but it has now warmed up considerably, and was in fact just above 20 degrees yesterday! Crazy for 'the middle of winter'. Still, the evenings are chilly and, with nowhere in NZ having central heating, the flat is very damp. So much so that we did in fact manage to sprout a mushroom in the bathroom two weeks ago - bit of excitement but overall not really a good sign!

On a more positive note (and moving away from our domestic fungal issues), I have a new job. I worked for a total of eight weeks at Waitakere Hospital (in west Auckland), doing the joyous task that is elderly rehab, but have now found new and far more satisfying employment at the Starship Hospital, right in the centre of Auckland. If nothing else it's far more convenient - I start work half an hour earlier than I did at Waitakere, but get an extra half an hour in bed, and get home from work earlier than I even finished work out West! In addition to that, which in itself was a reason to change jobs ($160 a month better off with not having to buy bus passes), I am actually doing a paediatric job now! Finally!

I am working in the country's only children's hospital, and my caseload is respiratory patients on the wards, as well as running the rheumatology clinic, doing neurodevelopmental assessments on the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, and also covering the mental health and eating disorder unit. So a pretty varied workload, and much of it totally new to me. The team there seems great and really supportive, so I think I will really learn quickly and very much enjoy what I will be doing. And the social side of things seems good - we went out for drinks on Friday after work, had lunch out today, will have breakfast out tomorrow and a meal out on Friday night! So obviously the bus pass money will be going all on social activities, but I know where I'd rather be spending those dollars...

So that really is the big news. I am feeling very pleased with myself to have got the job there, and even more pleased that the team seems to be people I am looking forward to getting to know. Most of them are actually British, so finally I have found a group of people who understand my humour! My sarcasm (along with my stethoscope) has been set free again!

Nick however still has not found anything in the Landscape Architecture field (forgive the pun), but is temping for a goverment organisation, doing filing. Not the best use of his skills but he does say his alphabet is getting much much better! He is still very much on the lookout for a LA job, and is hoping that something will come up very soon.

I have put on a couple of pictures of the penguins at 'Kelly Tarlton's Antarctic Adventure', where we went for my birthday. It is the most fantastic place - they have a moving walkway which travels along a tunnel through a tank full of fish, rays, sharks etc. They also have a huge open tank full of immense stingrays - some about 2m across. But, the crowning glory of the whole thing is the simulated Antarctic Landscape that has a colony of Gentoo and King penguins living in it! You travel around the outside of said icy landscape in what is essentially a large metal box, and get within about a metre of some of the birds. It was beyond amazing! Loved it. Will go back many times before we leave the country, without a doubt.

Think that's pretty much our news in a nutshell.

Enjoy the penguin piccies!

Lots of love to you all,

Vic and Nick.

xxx

And more penguins. Think yourselves lucky that I haven't put any more pictures on here - I took hundreds. And a few more after that.

This is how close we were, and this is how many penguins there were! How brilliant is that?!

The bedroom - complete with 'his and hers' wardrobe areas! Nice.

Living area from two angles - on the far left of the second photo you can see the bedroom door. As there is no bedroom window, the walls do not go right up to the ceiling - odd, but it does the trick for letting light in. These Kiwis can be cleverer than they sound! There's a small balcony behind the curtains you see and another opposite where I am sitting - lucky us being on the end as it means we have two al-fresco areas!

Our lovely spanky white bathroom - great shower.