Rotorua Ekiden

Somehow, I managed to get roped into participating in the Rotorua Ekiden. Esentially it is a marathon relay around the beautiful Lake Rotorua. Our office entered three teams of six, two running and one walking. Thankfully I was on the walking team.

So, togged out in a pair of my fathers size ten trainers with two pairs of socks on to ensure a snug fit, of i went at 7.30am to meet up with my team mates. Only to find I had the 8.1km leg with a continous 2km gradient to overcome. Bloody lovely.

But overcome I did, in a suitably impressive time of 1hr and 9 mins. Not bad for an ageing 35 year old!

Photos of the day are still being digitally enhanced, but will be posted at a later date. Official photos of the day will be available on the Ekiden website, link above, soon also.

Best thing was the BBQ after at my bosses amazing house, that is for sale, and we could afford if our house in the UK would fu**ing sell. Oh, and the cool reebok t-shirt and medal. Yes, a medal. Whoever said that i wouldn't amount to anything!!!!!!!

life in NZ so far.

It has been a long time since my last post, so this will be the mother of posts

We have been here for about 3 weeks now. The first was taken up with silly things, like getting IRD numbers (NI numbers), bank accounts etc. Once that was all done, we paid a visit to my new office, APR Architects. we washed our 'new' car, for those interested it is a Mitsubishi RVR, 2.4litre, permanent 4WD, automatic thing. Actually it is really good.

We also have my dad's camper van. This is 'my' car for the time being, or until i can afford my mitsubishi Evo 5.

We are living in my Mum and Dad's house for the next year. It is lovely, clean, relatively warm and cosy but best of all, BIG. The boys have their own bedrooms, which is fantastic. Our bedroom is the size the two large bedrooms in our old house, which is still for sale if you have a spare £150,000.

What have we been doing, I hear you ask, mainly shopping. There is stuff that everyone needs.

Harvey needed a new bike, we all needed things like shoes and stuff. We bought the kids tons of toys. The house needed bits and pieces, things that make it feel a little more homely.

And what else? Fun stuff, like visiting the local lakefront, where there was a gypsy market, quad bikes to ride, planes to see. But most important was a trip to the LUGE. This is the best ride in the world! Firstly you travel up the mountain in a gondola, then speed down it on a tea tray then travel back up on a chair lift.

And most importantly this week, Ellis started school. He is now fully enroled at Ngongotaha Primary School. And in two weeks Harvey starts at kindergarten.

And just for my Mum, a picture of some flowers in her garden that she never see's bloom because she is never in the country.

That is about it for now, I promise i will update more regularly now.

Thank you to everyone who has emailed in the last three weeks, we miss you all loads, keep in contact and start saving your money. You are all welcome to visit anytime.