Aucklsnd update

Now then all. The weeks are flying by at the moment. We can't believe its nearly October!!

The weather here is now getting warm - and they say its spring!!! god only knows how hot it will be out here in the summer! - good job Rich has a blanket of hair to protect his milky skin ! lol.

The past two weeks have been pretty good. the bowling was a good night even though we weren't very good but we still looked the part with our team T-shirts lol.

Rich's team won in the finale and guess what... yes he was on TV again!!! Its getting a joke now we can't walk down street to get some milk!!

Last week was fashion week in New Zealand with L'Oreal providing the make up etc. I got the chance to go to a fashion show with work!! It was mint. We drank champagne and got loads of freebies!! I didn't know who the people were but apparently there were a few All Blacks and some other famous people there..

At the weekend we had a day trip over to Waiheke island, which is just 30 minute boat trip from Auckland. The day was a lovely sunny day - great for what we had planned. We organised a private tour of the island which included Wine tasting at a number of Vine yards!. (We were on our way after the tasting lets put it that way!!!) We learned how the wine is made, how to taste it, how its bottled up etc. The island was beautiful with long beaches, green hills and super views over looking the Pacific. After the tour we went for a romantic dinner at the Mudbrick - a lovely restaurant in the middle of a Vine Yard. It was probably the best meal we have had since coming away!! After we decided not to have a cheese board but go on another wine tasting tour!!! Very funny because people on the tour thought we had just joined in and hadn't paid - muttering typical English!!! lol so we just toasted and smiled in their direction every time they looked at us trying to annoy them more..lol

To top off a mint day the boat we were going back on had around 8-9 dolphins swimming around us. We wanted to dive in but we didn't have any spare clothes and I didn't have my ear plug (rich's ear).. I find it a bit hard to swim with one hand and a finger in my ear. ha ha. Our camera stopped working again!! (fixed now, so the pictures were taken with a disposable - imagine how we looked in this posh restaurant winding the camera on!!)

This weekend was another busy weekend. We went out with Amy's work mates on the Friday night.. It was a big one but all paid for so we took full advantage of it! We didn't really know anyone other than Amy's mates but we soon mixed. Eight of us went to another bar and racked up a $500 bar bill in 1hr 30 mins!! thanks L'Oreal..

The next day we went sailing on an America's cup sailing boat.. Feeling hung over as ever we sailed for 3 hours around the Auckland bay and raced against another boat. The boat was huge with a sail of about 500 ( whatever that means lol) we were in teams and we had to grind up the sail, grind it down, turn direction - it was pretty cool. The angle the boat sails on is amazing. The sea is sometimes above the boat! After the race we just sailed the boat for a hour or so, each taking it in turns to steer.

That night we were meant to go to someones house warming but the whole weekend caught up with us so we decided to stay in, have a curry and hit the hay.. It took a good 2 days to get over Friday night!!

I hope everyone is all well at home. Good luck on Saturday Ben and Lucy for your wedding and I hope the weather is good.

All our love

Team RA

xxxxx

Auckland Update

kia ora,

Jika koka humo.... Oh sorry about that - just our Maori coming out, please forgive me if this happens again. soz hard!. To our calculation its been about 2 weeks since we updated the blog.

Ok, so last weekend we started our weekend adventures with a harbour lunch cruise. This just showed the whole harbour and the Hauraki gulf - the islands surrounding Auckland. It was a windy day but it kept dry which is the main thing... Since we have been here we haven't seen rain like it... its been chucking it down all the time!!! big fat rain. After the cruise we did the Auckland Harbour bridge Climb. Which basically is what it says.. we climbed the Auckland Bridge. We got to climb right to the highest point and stood between the two flags looking out at the sky line of Auckland. It was awesome.!! That night the day caught up with us so we just stayed in and watched TV.

Sunday - I went to do some coaching but it wasn't normal day - oh no. Only the bloody BBC turned up didn't they!!!They were doing a Documentary on a family moving Down Under who had a U12 girl who played footy. Anyway She ended up in my group so I was all wired up etc and filmed for 90 mins or so.... Very funny, however, this acting game isn't all its cracked up to be.They kept shouting "Cut!!" - god what now....I wonder if Bruno Brooks had this issue??, I'm trying to bloody coach here.. All good fun though and it will be screened in January in England.

Amy on the other hand met with her tree hugger friends (work mates) and did some Yoga at the gym.

During the week I went out with my work mates for a few drinks after work and rich did his coaching on the evenings, just a steady week really living the Kiwi life.

This weekend:

Amy decided to plan the weekend trip. She'd planned for us to Kayak across to the Rangitoto Volcano - an island just off Auckland Harbour. It sounded ace but what we didn't realise is that in total we covered at least 19km!!! nice one Amy.. We kayaked for 1 hour or so over the Pacific sea!!!! with Amy steering......badly. we must of doubled the distance we actually needed to cover. This plus the fact we were laughing to much made it hard work!! When we arrived at the volcano the sun was out and it was a really hot day (for winter). We moored our kayaks and walked to the summit where we had lunch with our guide. The island was mint, just covered in loads of black rock (magma) etc. It took about 1 hour or so ramble up to the the summit where we saw the crater at the top which was huge!! When we got back we found out that in the past there had been sightings of sharks around the area in the past!!

The pictures is actually the distance we Kayaked!!! How far is it you may ask.. 8 km one way.

The way back was a different kettle of fish.. The sea was more choppy and we had a head wind. We set off with waves crashing over us. It was fun at first until after about 2 hours of it we were still 2 km away from land and with both of us having a go at who's rowing the most it seemed we were doomed!!! The guide told us we were going too slow and he was cold so he towed us all the way back... god we were knackered with blisters on both hands! We eventually got back soaking wet, tired but back on speaking terms lol, what an awesome day.

That night we went out with my work mates from L'Oreal for a Japanese meal and some drinks in town, we didn't stay out for much of a late one because the next morning we were up early again. Our flatmates took us scalloping to Clark's Bay, about 30minute drive from our house. Quite a muddy bay, we thought we'd need money for ice cream, we were picturing a sandy beach and clear waters but it knee deep mud and star fish and crabs everywhere, it was pretty cool though, we had to feel with our feet for scallop shells and dive in to get them, only problem is there were none there - we only got one and even that was too small (the fisheries commission measure them before you can take them home). We were dead excited about having them on the BBQ that night so we were a bit gutted but we made up for it. We had a great night drinking wine and cooking Flounder fish on the BBQ with our flatmates, a proper summer Kiwi BBQ (well Spring), it really made us not want to leave in October......

This week there's not much planned, we're in my works bowling team on Thursday night, not sure how, but I bigged up Rich's bowling skills so everyone thinks we're going to win! he's only been a few times ha lol. Rich is at a finale with the team he coaches on Wednesday - other than that its just a normal Kiwi week for us.

ka kite ano, oops sorry here we go again (that means see you later by the way)

Hope everyone is doing well

All our love

Team RA

xxxxx