group photo on walk around Hanmer

Fran and Jax


















Fran and Rich...


...the common theme here?.........

Then we headed inland to Hanmer Springs for some chill-out time in the hot springs/thermal pools. Great set up as the kids can play on the water slides whilst the 'grown-ups' cogitate and muse in the hot pools!

Dolphins, dolphins and more dolphins!! Oh and Jax keeping Maeve warm...

Everyone togged up in 10mm of neoprene and headed off to see in search of the "ellusive" dusky dolphins.

The "not-so-ellusive" dusky dolphins appeared, many groups of tens of dolphins cruised past; some bemused, some amused and some very amusing!
We would jump in and swim amongst them until they swam off then we would all get back onboard and follow the dolphins and jump in again. Lots of fun, an amazing experience and incredibly tiring.

Kaikoura, a beautiful little fishing town that has become famous for it's whale and dolphin watching due to the presence of a very deep canyon off the coast that is very rich in whale and dolphin tucker!

No, not family member! We headed off down to Kaikoura on the East coast of the South Island, stopping off to see a very smelly seal colony. Definitely not the ideal pet!

New Years' Eve and we throw a little "do", Auld Lang thingy got done on my newly seeded grass! The kids spend most of the evening in the pool but still do a special midnight jump..

Fran does her "Bo Derek"(and board) impression not wanting to be outdone by Rich!!

December 30th 2007 Fran, Rich, Ruaridh and Maeve arrive from the depths of the UK winter to sample the delights of NZ. Three weeks of fun and frollicks in the balmy NZ summer! A trip to a nearby beach (Mowhanau) complete with black sands, warm sea and playful waves...

Silhouette of Ollie in the surf and Rich doing his "man from atlantis" impression!

Late December and the kids break up for Christmas andwe prepare for the big day! The house is starting to look like it might really be finished one day. Difficult to make it look Christmassy(sic) when the temperature is mid twenties and the sun doesn't go down til after nine. Not sure we will ever get used to Christmas up-side-down!

Then came October.......on the Friday before a long weekend I get a call at work to tell us that our house is on fire!! An "electrical error" caused a fire in the roof space above Ollies' bedroom which prompted many and varied emotions and the start of an interesting period of living out of a suitcase again and then moving back in accompanied by a host of workmen, all over again. Moved back in the day Simms and Tracy arrive from the UK to stay for a few days on a whirlwind trip around NZ followed closely by Nain and Pops Paine for three weeks. Awaiting pics to post so just imagine.....................................................................

Alex, having managed to stay out of a plaster cast for more than six weeks, enters the Wanganui Open tennis competition. Even ignoring his previous injuries he performs well and enjoys the experience, sets him up for the summer season and more comps.

Tana Umaga (retired All Blacks capt) visits Wangaz to promote his autobiography, apparently Brian O'Driscoll was a bit of a jessie on the Lions tour!!

Ollie gives it a go on the rails and gets some"air", freestyle champ next year?

This is the video I tried to download six months ago but failed, managed this time!!

A lousey ski season, late snow brought a decent amount of snow but bad weather prevailed when we could go up the mountain and good weather accompanied school sports and work commitments!! All the same we had a few days during the winter school holidays and Jennie caught the boarding bug! Taught by yours truly, next season she can get rid of all the bad habits that I have passed on!!

a mere four months has passed since I last caressed the keyboard, the tail end of 2007 proved to be interesting to say the least. So to save Kieth struggling with the words I'll liberally intersperse a fair smattering of photographic representations of our recent history......