Thursday 27 October 2005

New things...

2 new things to report - we have finally posted a tour of the house, although the qulity isn't amazing.
We have also posted some new photos which you can look at in the appropriate section!!! Enjoy
Paul & Laura xxx

Wednesday 26 October 2005

Heads and shoulders.....

Rich forwarded this link to me; it is very funny!!!

Sunset


I LOVE New Zealand; Last night after dinner, Laura & I decided to take a drive out to the west coast to watch the sun go down - it was so amazing! We drove out to Bethells again, which is fast turning into a regular, and we spent a couple of hours there. We walked up and down the beach and took in a breath taking sunset whilst talking life and me taking loads of photos (they'll be posted tonight)

We were thinking back to our honeymoon in Devon; We observed lots of guys heading down to Bantham beach at the end of their working days, and we both said how much we would love to be able to drive to the beach at the end of a hard days work. Funnily enough, Sheffield never provided us with an opportunity even remotely like that!

Well, we are living that dream now!!! It is so amazing to head out to the beach at 7pm and it still be warm enough to go barefoot! We are looking forward to a long summer with plenty of surfing after work, plenty of BBQs on the beach, and lots of time spent out doors! It's only spring time here, and already we love it SO much.

So watch out for the photos from last night, and also our weekend with Dan & Emma - theyll be coming very soon.

Catching Up


This weekend we had our first staying guests!! Dan & Emma visited us on route to Christchurch where they will be living for the next couple of years or so. We had a fantastic time with them, although was not keen on the 7am pick up from the airport on Saturday morning; I think i was more worn out than the weary travellers!

So on Saturday, in our best efforts to keep the guys awake we headed into the center of Auckland and took a walk up and down Queen Street - we went up the Sky Tower which was a lot of fun; we hadn't been up during the day so was awesome to see the views from the top.

In the afternoon we took a drive down to Mission Bay for the legendary Movenpick ice cream followed by a walk down to St Heliers for a drink in Kahve - the rest of the day and evening we all spent recovering and were in bed at the early time of 8:30!!!

On Sunday I did church as usual in the morning which was interesting - we had a talk about drug proofing teanage children; something I'm not quite sure i'm ready for!!! We had our lunch with Rich & Kath, and then took a walk through the beautiful domain before heading back to church to lead worship again.

Monday was labour day which meant the first day off of the summer; along with a large crowd we headed off to Bethells Beach at 11 am; It was a stunning day, and we all enjoyed lounging on the beach, playing touch rugby and swimming in the surf, although we did get told off for not swimming even remotely near the flags!!!

On monday evening, we celebrated our day on the beach by eating fish and chips on the wall at Mission Bay, followed by a showing of The Last Samurai at our house - I love that film, and it was filmed about 4 hours away from us hear, so extra support is needed!

Dan & Emma left yesterday morning sadly, but we had a really great time with them here - we loved sharing our house with them, and will no doubt see them again soon; plenty of reasons for us to now go and visit christchurch!

Thursday 13 October 2005

It's Friday....

Well, we've made it through another week, and have woken on our day off to the news that Laura's parents have booked their flights to see us. They come on the 15th Feb and will be staying for a month.

Our 1st staying guests arrive though next Saturday; we're really excited to have Dan & Emma coming to stay for a couple of days, on their way to Christchurch.

So we've been totally exhausted this week - were not really sure why, but it has been. I put it down to the clocks changing 2 weeks ago!!!

We're both off today though, so will get a good chance to have a couple of long sleeps! I'm excited, as today I'm having a new PA system fitted at the church.

Later on today we'll see if we can put a little video tour together for your amusement.

Enough of me; hope to hear from you all soon

Monday 10 October 2005

A night in!

We've had a great weekend having coffee, meals, and fun with friend etc, however Monday has come around ever so quickly again- is it just me or everyone, but I find Monday nights are always the ones where I'm unbelievably tired? I think the end of the week should be like that but its always on a Monday!

Anyway, work is going well and I'm bonding well with Stella and Holly, however today they got me good by vomiting all over me and doing a massive poo, so bit that it leaks out of the nappy all the way down the legs-maybe they feel comfortable in my care!

I'm very excited to have a night in to myself tonight, Paul is at a planning meeting and I was meant to be at another meeting but I decided last minute that a night in alone was more important for my health and sanity! I'm almost fully over my sore throat/chest/ear thing I had last week; thanks for everyone who prayed.

Tuesday 4 October 2005

Illness!!!

Well, laura hasn't been too well at all the last couple of days; She is fighting off a throat infection and it's pretty much knocked her out - she has been slogging on with work regardless though, and is looking forward to the weekend (which starts tomorrow afternoon :-)

I'm praying for her speedy recovery, and it seems to be working to an extent!!! Please have a little prayer for her if you get a moment.

Well this morning i was reflecting on how lucky we are to live over here. Each morning i walk to work with a fantastic view across the sea to Rangitoto island; it really is stunning especially when the sun makes an appearance, which it generally does!

Monday 3 October 2005

What if....

I got thinking today.... what if I had loads of money and could buy loads of things to help me along with my song writing, what would i buy?

Apple Powerbook G4 (17 inch model)
Logic Pro 7 Software
Propellerhead Reason Software
Absynth 3 Software
Rode NT1000 microphone
Apple iPod
Korg Triton Keyboard

So, if you have a few thousand pounds/dollars spare, and want to help me out please let me know!! Alternatively if you know anyone that has fair amounts of excess money that they need to shed, please let them know what i need!!! I'm still praying for miracles!!!

Saturday 1 October 2005

An unexpected blessing

Received our electricity bill in the post this morning and it had a letter accompanying it; it reads:

Dear AECT Beneficiary

The Auckland Energy Consumer Trust (AECT) is pleased to advise that your power account has been credited with your share of dividend income received by the Trust as the majority shareholder of Vector Ltd. The distribution is being made to customers connected to Vector's electricity network within Auckland City, Manakau City and parts of the papakura District on 21 August 2005.

So credited with $180 to our electricity account was a fantastic bonus; that should pay for our power for a couple of months now!!! Doesn't God move in fantastic ways!!!!

Bethells Beach & More


Yesterday we went to the most beautiful beach. Bethells is about 45 minutes druve outside of Auckland on the west coast. It is truly stunning place. It was a reasonably sunny day, so we were able to spend a fair amount of time lying on the beach in our shorts and Ts just basking in the hot sun.

The beach was probably 1km long, and i can honestly say there were probably no more than 10 people on the whole beach. There was one surfer out making the most of some fairly choppy surf which was fun to watch.

At one end of the beach is a huge cave - we walked into it thinking it was just a small entrance, but turned out to be a huge cavern, it was very grand and made us feel very small. Sadly our digital camera batteries had died so was unable to take pics.

Last night we had a lovely fish and chip meal with our friends Kim & Bruce, and watched The Notebook; we were both very moved by the film, it really is great - i reccomend it to anyone who has half an emotional side!!

The film made me feel very lucky to be married to Laura; It is so amazing for us to be on this adventure together; I love her SO much and wouldn't want anyone else here with me.

So, tonight the clocks go forward 1 hour which will make the time difference 12 hours between here and UK. I believe that in a few weeks time the English clocks will change making the time difference 13 hours. It's all going to be very confusing over the coming few weeks.