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