March highlights

To celebrate both Simon and Huihana’s Birthdays, the weekend of 1^st to 3^rd June consisted of a road trip for six to the Coromandel.  

Simon and I in a 2-man tent, the Piper’s in their family-sized tent and the Kellas’s sleeping, once more, in Colin the Dodge Station wagon:

Working hard digging a hole!

We were treated to glorious weather and joined the throngs of people digging a hole in the sand at hot Water Beach.  Lots of card playing, drinking and eating was, naturally, enjoyed by all!

Worth it!

Busy old day on Hot water Beach

Not much water heading down the Hunua Falls

6^th to 10^th March we had a visitor staying.  Nick is a friend of Simon’s from his paintballing days who is one of only a few people in the world who can claim to make a living through paintballing, these days by putting on training days, test-driving newly released equipment and sponsorship deals.  It was the first time I’d met Nick, but he was very easy going, friendly and happy for me to keep him entertained whilst Simon was at work, with a tramp in the Hunuas with my volunteer group on the Wednesday. 

Nick was keen to explore the unique food and drink available, so we tested as many new foodstuffs as possible before finding a delicious sushi bar in Pukekohe (left). 

Sheep escapee

We abandoned Nick for the evening on Thursday 7^th March as it was time for Simon’s Birthday present treat – seeing Alice in Chains in concert in the City.  Finally, Nick had his training day which just happened to be at the paintball centre at Spookers, only 15-minutes away from ours.  Nick got involved in a typical Kiwi adventure when one of the neighbour’s sheep escaped onto the Hurrell’s land and we rounded it up to put it back to safety (right).

It would be remiss of me to fail to mention an extremely sombre event that struck New Zealand on 15^th March, the Christchurch shooting.  I was working on the phones at the time I first heard about it on the radio. In fact, I had only recently been talking with an SPCA Officer in Christchurch right near the park and the mosques where the atrocities happened.  I was, and still am, quite surprised with myself just how hard it hit me.  I was very emotional.  I can only put it down to the fact that New Zealand feels so safe.  Having lived near London where terrorist attacks are, sadly, expected from time to time, we have felt so safe here, being a world away and in such an isolated position.  I guess I hoped it was the kind of thing that would never happen here.  As the facts were revealed, it was clearly a relief to Kiwis, who are so proud of their friendly, safe reputation, that the perpetrator was an Aussie!  Thank goodness it wasn’t one of ‘us’.

Kia Kaha means 'Stay strong'

A horrific day and the trigger for rapidly changing gun laws within the country.  What was not surprising was the way in which the country came together to offer each other, and especially the Muslim community, support and aid in the aftermath.  

I was surprised when this came up on Facebook when I opened the app next day... feeling guilty about live streaming footage of the massacre perhaps??!