A Year in Photos - Part 1 of 2

Wow - that was a quick 12 months. And I'm a month late in saying that... Here are a few photo highlights of our first year. Some pretty pictures, some milestones and some guest appearances. Enjoy!

Arrival in Auckland - sum total of our belongings!

We both got jobs! Happy night of dancing round our room to celebrate

The mighty All Blacks

First Tiki Tour in Carrie the Van,
cuddling L&P - world famous in New Zealand

Hanging around in Auckland's regional parks

Spring has sprung 

The beautiful beach at Tawharanui Regional Park

Took a couple of months... but finally found somewhere with yummy cheese

Labour Day Weekend and Art Deco Napier

Best way to spend the bank holiday weekend - wine tasting!

Creepiest campsite ever

Auckland Half Marathon - Tick!

And now the triathlon training commences

Looked who popped in for a visit!

A long way from home

Candle lit dinner (and drinks)...

Sand surfing = radical!

It's triathlon time!

Very happy to be nearing completion on our first triathlon!

So handy around the house

Cathedral Cove - a beautiful spot on our Coromandel bike tour

Made it to the top!

Indoor cycling - what have we become???

Ok, so we've not changed too much

Carrie's backyard

Home (for now)

A Proper Winter

As the UK basks in the heatwave, Sarah and I have been suffering for a very different reason. The winter in Auckland isn't cold enough - how miserable is that?! I've introduced several blog entries with a dubious reason for a trip away, and this one's no different. To cure winter homesickness we needed some proper cold, days of skiing, mulled wine and lots of good food. Five days in Queenstown were prescribed.

It worked. Here are the highlights!

Jumping on the early morning flight from Auckland, we were out the door of Queenstown Airport in less than two hours and soon exploring the lake shores. Last time we were here was the middle of Summer and roasting. A wee bit different this time round...

Lake Wakatipu with The Remarkables behind

Before we came across sporting gold, and a good replacement for our favourite summer campsite game (frisbee beer hoopla) it's frisbee golf! With 18 holes and some of the drives over 150m it kept us occupied for a while. Especially Sarah.

Teeing off

For par!

All with the most amazing view in the background...

The Remarkables (skiing on Day 2!)

After getting pretty cold and tired, it was time to head to our accommodation. Not the best place we've ever stayed, but not that bad - Pinewood Lodge had a bit of a party reputation and our bedroom backed onto the biggest communal kitchen on site. So we woke up to kitchen carnage every morning... warmly reminiscent of Goodricke C Block!

It's what radiators are for, right?

Day 2 starts, I excitedly jump out of bed for our first day of skiing! Fitted for our boots, skis and the like the previous day, we hobble on down to the bus stop and catch the mother of all bus/trucks to the top of the mountains, snaking our way up through the snow. I've not been skiing since I was 14 (just a bit of snowboarding since then) and it was Sarah's first ever time. So we hit the beginners slopes and magic carpets to begin with.  Check out the view!

Sarah learning on Coronet Peak

The views were stunning, and the weather perfect, but bloody cold!

The view from Coronet towards the Remarkables

After a morning together going through the basics, I soon had my snow feet back so upgraded my pass at lunch to a Big Boys ski lift pass. No more magic carpets for me, heading up the peaks looking for more amazing views into the Southern Alps. I decided to stay on piste for now though... The runs were incredible, with fresh powder all the way down. Happy times!

Maybe tomorrow...

Meanwhile Sarah had a lesson with a pro, who taught the key skill of how to stop and slow down. This one's a speed demon.

4 intact limbs? Check.

And what do you do after skiing? Apres ski. Funny that, isn't it? TO THE PUB!

The beer wench

And cheese fondue of course...

Who loves cheese?

After a beer, cheese and ski exhaustion coma - we were up and off to the Remarkables on an even crazier bus-truck to the top of the mountains. Equally stunning weather, wide and empty slopes and views that beat the previous day:

Now she's getting the hang of it!

And here are those views:

Love it.

But the days go too quickly and the sun soon sets on the slopes...

Colours on the Alps

But hey - back on the apres ski again. Sarah had a craving for mulled wine, didn't take us long to sniff some out...

Cheers ears

Day 4. Wake up. More skiing. Loving the routine. But where's the sun gone? And how come on the chairlift I can't even see the chair in front of me? Minor details to the kiwis and the slopes stay open. Whilst Sarah snowploughed the easier slopes into flatness, I popped on to the top of the mountain to find out what -14degC looks like.

This is what -14 looks like.

After nearly going off the side of the piste several times, and managing to come to a stop whilst going straight down a slope due to the gusts of headwind - it was time to call it a day and head out for our final night (after finishing our drinks cabinet we stocked on the first night, of course!)

happy days

And we'd saved the Queenstown legend of FergBurger until last, man it didn't disappoint. Huge, meaty and juicy. Yum. I plumped for the Big Al, of course!

A big burger for a little lady

And that was the end of our trip! Such a different adventure to the last time we were in Queenstown, but so much fun. I'm sure we'll see you again soon QT!

Heading back to warmer climes

A day at the office...

As if 5 days a week (plus the odd evening) isn't enough, I had the inspirational idea that our Sunday this week should be spent in the Kaipatiki Local Board area of Auckland. Since April, I have been Senior Advisor to this particular Local Board, one of 21 across the Auckland region, which together with a central 'Governing Body' forms the largest Local Authority in the Southern Hemisphere. Exciting stuff (some of you) might say with a hint of sarcasm. Well yes, working in local government has never been the sexiest of professions, but in Auckland - local government (and the Local Boards in particular) really are making a difference for their local communities. Mine being the best in this regard obviously.

The Kaipatiki area is on Auckland's North Shore only about 15 minutes by car from our flat (sadly it's a bit longer to get to work during the week by bus) and includes a number of suburban areas, some inner harbour beaches and most importantly lots and lots of native NZ bush in the form of numerous parks and reserves dotted about the place.

Matt and I decided the best way to get my research done would be to run as many of these as possible. So we set off from under the Harbour Bridge at Stokes Point/Onewa Pa, and headed up through Little Shoal Bay Reserve, Le Roys Bush, Birkenhead War Memorial Park, Eskdale Reserve, Kauri Park, Kauri Point Centennial Park and Chatswood Reserve, Chelsea Heritage Park and back to Little Shoal Bay Reserve and the Harbour Bridge (with a wee stop for roast beef and all the trimmings (inc. beer) at the Northcote Tavern!) About 25km in total and two and a half hours of running and scrambling up and down paths, through lush forest, along beaches (and a little bit of road to connect it altogether!). Absolutely beautiful and fully illustrated to me why (a) there have been a few complaints recently about signs pointing the wrong way in the reserves and (b) what a cool city we live in to have all this just on our doorstep.

Matt telling me to hurry up!

Basking in the sun

Not a bad view

Well deserved pint (OK - not quite a pint -
and they call themselves a British pub?!)

$15 roast beef dinner. Rude not to.

City of Ales

Some of you will remember that back in London, a highlight of our summer was our annual visit to the CAMRA Great British Beer Festival in Earl's Court. Living in NZ has meant that we are now missing the festival two years running. There was a beer shaped empty space in our lives which needed filling.

Not to worry - the longer we spend in NZ the more we are realising that the craft beer scene over here is on the up, to the extent that they have beer festivals here too! A bit of googling later and we landed on City of Ales as the festival of choice.

What would the wrong reasons be?

Having spent an enjoyable evening with my British colleague Hannah and her husband Jody a few weeks before (made very enjoyable by our realisation that in Hannah and Jody we had definitely found beer drinking kindred spirits) we invited them along. Pen and paper ready for tasting notes, food and beers chilling back in the flat for all of us afterwards and we were sorted for a fantastic Saturday. A great time was had by all - thanks to Hannah and Jody for agreeing to feature in the blog - roll on the next beery afternoon spent together!

First drink, already merry!

Yummy lunch included in the entry

Little ladies getting served

Matt's ingenious way of freeing up both hands
for making the all important tasting notes

Couldn't not do a Nick VM special shot!