Summer Lovin

so it seems like summer has come to Northland - we have had some beautiful days this week but in saying that i just remembered the rain we also had this week, but anyway the last couple days have been sunny and warm and we took full advantage this weekend.

today we went out to a beach about 25 mins drive out of town and had a wonderful day. david loved swimming with mom and fishing with dad.

pictures speak for themselves - enjoy
!!

kiwi life

we found our lovely lil' house after looking at a not-so-good few others - in our search we encountered curtains that had been made out of the ugliest pieces of material ever designed that had been matched with even more hedious carpets, houses that where so small that our camping stuff would not have even fitted in, some with no garden, some with gardens at 90 degrees and then when saw 5 Kokich Crescent - it was perfect, a lovely flat garden at the back with a a great deck and braai - essential - and 3 good sized bedrooms, with neutral carpets and ok-ish curtains, shiny wooden floors and a HUGE kitchen with LOADS of cupboard space and 3 bedrooms so a guest room ready and waiting for the first visitor - this was it !! we loved it ! we have no furniture of course, but have managed due to the kindness of friends and strangers.




it is in a great neighbourhood with lots of kids - they adore david and include him in most their games. They just wonder into the house (no locked/closed doors here) , eat our fruit, ride david's bike and then take him next door to play on the "jumpoline" - that's Noodlelese for trampoline - as is airplanecopter (helicopter) and the Noisy (vacuum cleaner).
i have also befriended my neighbour - a young mum with a 9 month old & a 6 year old - who is from Pietermaritzburg - yup we come half way round the world and my NBF is from SA !!


The Car - the car is a Ford Explorer XLT - 4litre V6 - Executive which just means if there is something to do you do it with an electronic button !! It's a cool car, we can't drive it faster than 50kms / hour for most part but it's a beauty, oh, its automatic too !! I do like the car but i think deon loves it more :)

the shops are all good - the quality is superb and the choice amazing - it's exciting and interesting trying new products and being able to buy fresh live mussels in the supermarket for $2.50 for about a dozen is mind blowing !




david and i go to a playcentre a couple days a week, he really loves it - it's like a nursery school but the mums or dads stay with the kids, drink coffee and chat.
otherwise, life is good - we are waiting with anticipation for the arrival of the container, it arrived in auckland at the beginning of the week and are hoping it clears customs with as little hassle as possible and gets delivered to us soonest - gosh i miss my couch and our bed and all my kitchen stuff and my big fluffy towels and my dishwasher and my washing machine and my warm winter boots and my - oh ok, i will stop whining now and end with a couple of some lovely pics for your enjoyment !

places we have been and things we have seen

new zealand really is a beautiful country and whangarei has it's highlights, we have been to and seen a few of them so far.


first we visited Ocean Beach - which is about a 20mins drive from whangarei thru beautiful farm land and rolling green hills - it is a large stretch of beach with beautiful white sand and warmish water, ok, so the weather was not the best but there was NOBODY else on the beach ! David loved splashing in the water and playing in the sand !



then we went to a fair that was held at one of the local schools on a saturday. there always seems to be something on, from farmer's markets to craft markets. it was really nice, with families milling around, kids playing mini golf, tombola, coconut throw, helicopter & quad bike rides, jumping castle (guess who spent a good couple $'s on that ?), and stalls selling everything from boerewors (there are LOTS of SouthAfricans here) to indian curry. we got to white elephant (?) sale early and managed to get 3 bowls and 3 tupperwares all for $5 - what a baaargan, mate !


this last weekend we went to the famous whangarei falls - they are just in one of the suburbs, about 10 minute drive from our house, and just beautiful. we did a walk down to the base and david climbed down & up every step from top to bottom and back up again ! he and deon found some ducks and he was mesmerised by them and watched them for about half an hour and then when we had to go all he could say was "more duck - more duck" !




we also took a drive up to a lookout called Parihaka which has a view over the whole city.
in my attempt at a panaramic view, you can see the lagoon really well and get an idea of the size of the city from up here.

did i mention that it is november and it is NOT WARM ! i am not complaining but come on, it's NOVEMBER and it's COLD !


Apparently i offended some readers with comments in my previous post, my apologies, hel ;)

next post will be about practical things: car, house, neighbours, shops etc

have a good week all
love

the flights

ok, so you all want detail, so you gonna get it
when david and i left South Africa 2 weeks ago tantrums, traumas and tears where all had at the airport in joberg with granny-mum and rusty and then after an hour wait on the runway due to somebody changing their mind and not boarding after checking in and some other issue of inefficiency that really irritated the Aussie Pilot on our Qantus flight we eventually took off for Sydney after 7pm on Friday night. David was juuust getting a little niggly by the time we took off and we where all pleased to see dinner being served soon after the 30 mins of turbulence was over ..... note to parents of toddlers : order a kiddies meal when booking tickets, it comes before the main meal is served so you can feed little one before you eat and the noodle loved the smiley face hash brown ! i only tell you this as i did not order the kiddies meal as i did not even know about it but the extremely friendy and efficient Qantus flight crew thoughfully gave me a spare one and told me i should have ordered one ......

david watched a couple minutes of bob the builder and then had a spoonful of stopayne to wash his supper down and by 8pm he was stretched out over 2 seats (very nice man moved) and thus he stayed until breakfast time. Me, on the other hand did not sleep, the large Maori guy in front pushed his seat all the way back and diabetic Pomie lady behind kept on getting up to go to the loo, therefore pushing my seat and this was not condusive to much sleep so i watched a bad romcom and then tossed and turned and moaned and groaned for a most the night.
landing in sydney was very exciting and just being in Oz made things seem a little more real and chatting to nat & deon on real time was great ! thankfully the wait in sydney was not too long as we had arrived late due to the late departure out of ORT so before we knew it, it was time to board the new plane to NZ. The Noodle was really so well behaved and a little star, he befriended a little Indian girl and was telling her "babba-babba airplane in fly in sky" even tho she was probably 10 years old ! the flight to auckland was quite empty and a bit weird.... we took off at about 5pm Aussie time and then we where served supper, flew from bright sunshine into night darkness and landed in Auckland after 10pm. The Kiwi Qantus staff where actually much more helpful and friendlier than their Aussie counterparts so can you imagine how nice they where :))
so we landed in auckland, it was raining and cold but SO ABSOLUTELY AMAZING to be in the same country again as Deon - sms'ing madly to him - we got thru passport control with no problem - not a question asked and she did not even want to see my return ticket ...... and so we go thru to collect our luggage...... and then after waiting for a looong time only my suitcase and the car seat had come thru - david's suitcase and his pram not anywhere to be seen ... david's pram was suppossed to be given back to me in sydney but it never materialised and i was told it had gone straight to auckland so a red flag was raised in my cynical little brain already. I told the very helpful people at baggage services my problem and they very cleverly could see on the computer that the pram was indeed still in sydney but could not trace the noodle's suitcase. it was nearly midnight - i just wanted to get out and see deon so i gave them deon's cell phone number and told them to call me when they found it.
and then we walked into the arrivals hall and there was deon .....
ok, i am tired, you are bored and if you really read all the way thru all this crap you really should get a life
more to follow soon - promise
love and miss you all
R, D & dj

Kia Ora

We are here - in this beautiful, wonderful country, together, as a family again.
the noodle and i landed late saturday night after a great flight, a breeze thru passport control, a hassle with some lost luggage and the best sight in the world, Deon tapping me on my shoulder as we walked into the arrivals hall !!



a quick list of what we have done thus far:
Sat night : stayed in hotel at Auckland Airport
Sun AM: traced lost luggage
Sun Midday: did some shopping at Warehouse (as it was David's bag that was missing he needed some clean, warm clothes and it was cold and raining)
Sun Midday: food shopping at FoodTown
Sun Midday: started journey to Whangarei - busy roads, slow speed limit, quite a lot of traffic but lovely scenery and such a lot to take in...
Sun Lunchtime: stopped at picnic spot for an al fresco lunch on the side of the road surrounded by native bush and the famous silver fern - beautiful ! I Love this Place !

Sun arvi : arrived in Whangarei - a lovely town with quiet streets and pretty suburbs
Sun arvi : checked into fancy hotel near the water
Sun arvi : walked along the town basin / wharf - looked at all the lovely boats, wandered around the little shops, noodle played in the park (clean, safe and full of other kids) and had an ice cream cone - did i mention how much i love this place !
Sun eve : had the best fish & chips i have ever eaten for an early supper
Sun eve: Noodle falls asleep in record time .25 secs :)
Sun night: asleep by 8pm - think the jet-lag might has set in....
Mon AM: Air New Zealand delivers lost luggage to friends' house - no-one was home so they just left the bags round the back of the house - did i mention i love this place !
Mon midday : checked into Motel Sierra - our home for the week until we find a house to rent

Mon Lunch : braai at Marnitz's (friends Deon stayed with) - great day - good food, good chats and the kids all played like long-lost pals
Mon eve: quick grocery shop at Pak 'n Save - what choice & quality - did i mention i love this place !
Tomorrow we start house hunting, finding a way to get our unaccompanied bag from auckland to Whangarei, buy a local sim card for me and see more of this beautiful town that is now our home !!
Deon's passport should be delivered with that elusive (but now approved) 2 year work permit in it and he starts work on Wednesday !!
DID I MENTION I LOVE THIS PLACE !!

We Start Saying Good-bye

We started our good-byes where i was born and bred, in good 'ol PE.
We flew there with "Zu" & "Bumpa" (My Dad and Sue) and stayed with my brother Mike and his two lovely daughters, Donna & Kayla. Other cousin, Maya was there too and David was fawned over by his girl cousins like he was a prince.
It was also Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year) so we put on a big spread and had lots of other family & friends to join in the celebration.









Mike took us all for a drive to Jeffrey's Bay so the big boy cousins could have a surf and the girl cousins could do some shopping at the Billabong Factory shop and the littlest cousin had a ball on the beach there. My sister, Tammy and I also had a great day with all the kids at the Boardwalk and on Hobie Beach where David discovered the joys of the warm Indian Ocean.

I loved being back at places from my youth and was so pleased to be able to spend the time with my family before leaving.
The past couple weeks in Cape Town has also been really special with friends and family finally realising that we are leaving SOON so lots of braai's, dinners and lunches been happening !
Last Tuesday SVL arrived to start packing the container.... i was comletely blown away by their professionalism, dedication and friendliness - nothing was a problem (and believe you me, there where a few....) and they had our house packed and wrapped and the container sealed by midday Wednesday - next time we see anything that is in there will be Whangarei - yah !!