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Latest news and lots of it! Page 1

What can we say? Yet again we have to apologise for the lack of activity on the web site. We have been really busy and have lots and lots of photographs for you since the last entry. The biggest problem is knowing where to start. The fact that we are going to open with some photos from Christmas and details of our New Year trip to Sydney just goes to show how long it has been. We hope that this newsletter goes some way to bringing you up to date with everything.

At the end of last November Mel's mum and brother came out to stay with us, our first visitors in the new house. Paul stayed for two months and Fran for three and a half. While they were here we got up to lots of different things. We had a fairly shocking December,

weather-wise, which wasn't a great welcome for our guests but we made up for it later. We spent a few long weekends around and about the North Island - Napier, Rotorua and New Plymouth. In Napier, the weather let us down a little on one day but on the other day we managed to find a wonderful winery (Mission Estate) for Fran to keep her alcohol levels at the required level. We also experienced an earthquake! In good old Rotorua, we managed to get a bit of adventure in with a trip to the Agrodome for Zorbing, Swoop and the Agrojet. Carl managed to escape being thrown off a crane at 4G's somehow, something about it only taking 3 people and he would hold the cameras, nicely side-stepped. Click here for the photos.

We spent our first Christmas at home with bubbly in the spa, opening presents in the sunshine, and bbq for Christmas dinner and then headed over to Sydney to experience the famous New Year fireworks.

We spent the afternoon and evening just up from the Opera House and had a great view of the fireworks from the bridge and the barges. There were about 50,000 spectators just in the area where we were so getting there in good time and securing a good spot were critical. Definitely a great experience, we would recommend it to anyone who gets the opportunity to get over there. Big thanks to Kate and Adrian for putting up with us. Click here for the photos.

Before we headed back to New Zealand we had a couple more treats in store in Sydney. It was our friend Kate's birthday (we will refrain from giving away how old in order that she can retain some dignity) and her hubby Adrian had hired a catamaran for the day so we all went for a sail in the harbour. It was a fantastic day and we all went for a swim off the boat and jumped off the cliff side (well some people did, some remained safely on the boat with beer/wine in hand (the smart ones!). Click here for the photos.

Due to the amount of information we have to post, we have split the newsletter into a few pages. Click on the arrows to go to the next page. >>>