5th March 2007
No, I've not been slack, if you read the diving pages you'll see that I have been updating stuff........so, what "stuff" is there to update here? Summer has been pretty good really so far, we've had visitors from Blightly, Mother out Law - again (always welcome....) Stephen and Lynn with Adam, and Paul and Ian are due out this week. It's always great to get visitors, especially as the time you spend with them is all quality time and they're away from work and on holiday. We had another trip to Kaikoura, watched dolphins from the beach and then saw two sperm whales, and took the guys up the coast to see a seal colony, so close you have to be careful to not step on them!
We've been to see "Snow Patrol' live, got to follow these UK bands if they make the effort to come 15000 miles haven't you....
We've just had a great weekend on Waiheke island, we've been here almost two years and figured it was just lazy to have not been there yet....managed to eat and drink at three wineries in two days, swim in the Ocean and sample a cafe, not a bad effort, oh, and chill in the private hot tub. Title page photo was from Te Whai Winery on Sat night.
What else has been 'appening then? Easter 2007 - two year's in and all's still well.
I finally qualified for my Private Pilot's Licence to fly egg whisks around the skies, after all, it was one of the reasons to come here in the first place wasn't it, I can organise city scenic flights when you visit - for a fee and some beers of course, we do actually get good beer here! We spent Easter Saturday buzzing around the city and waving at tourists in the sky tower - Wendy was my first passenger, and she didn't chunder - result.
I've also qualified as a DiveMaster and a Master Scuba Diver, the first means that I can actually paid to guide and supervise people, if the Ice Cream thing goes to crap that is, but that the people can sue me if I cock it up - not as though I ever mess anything up, the second just means that I can do loads of different stuff under the water! yeah loads......mmmmmm , the more diving and qualifications you do, the more you realise that it's a great way to spend any left over money every month! I have a rebreather introduction and ocean use diving day in three weeks, that's just starting on the obscene level of spending money to play with fishy friends, oh well, you can't take it with you can you.... www.apdiving.com
Banana Car....as Wendy calls it - I like to think of it as my midlife crisis without actually buying the Porsche.....as I need money for the rebreather! which is also Yellow as it happens.
Living in the a city, and a city with sod all in the way of public transport, everyone drives, so there's a traffic problem, I just couldn't justify sitting there in my station wagon (estate car if you don't speak Kiwi) all by myself and using loads of fuel to go nowhere - so I decided to downsize, and, as we're here for a while, buy new and have no warranty issues for a few years, and the fact that the car is two thirds of the UK price, I thought "why not, and thank you Bowyers!" I also chose something with a high resale value. So I bought a 130 Bhp Go Cart......with a tow bar on the back for the bikes and a 24 hour test drive to drive over to my dive buddies to ensure we could fit two sets of kit in it, I've even tried a Rebreather in the boot - perfick......Who needs practical? It's all about FUN.
I've had to change the number plate too - so I'm now a DUU instead of DAG.....sorry about the endless jokes, well, ending.
Biking......
As there's a real shortage of mountain biking land in the city, on account of the fact that it's all been built on or is being built on...I have mostly been riding my piece of Italian artwork, otherwise known as my feather weight road bike, all good whilst the weather's been dry and warm, we'll see what Winter brings, only been knocked off it once by the appalling Auckland drivers, also completed my second Triathlon last weekend, a 0700 start on the beach, much respect to Slap who does lots of them for fun.....fun wasn't the first word passing my lips at 0700 as I ran into the Ocean for my swim. Now we're just spending Easter just chilling out and catching up with friends - yes we do have some! If some of you think that the stuff written here is the same as that in my newsletter - you'd be right, don't think I'd write things twice do you?