Nathan & Joanna's Australian Adventures

18.01 When Prince William came to town!

2010-01-19T11:30:00.004+13:00

There was a lot of excitement in Wellington for the visit of Prince William. So as we were in the area, Jo and I decided to head down to the Supreme Court to view the future King of England.

With some clever positioning between two groups of kids (one with some flowers) I managed to get into the second row. After an hour's wait under warm clear blues skies (only the third one of the summer so far) Jo joined me again after returning to work.

The Prince arrives in a Crown Limousine, and Jo gets a special wave!

Just after the Prince shook my hand, as he looks for the next one coming out at him from the crowd!

The Prince continues down the line, with the press catching every shake!

The following video was taken from One News. Look out for me at 1:03 standing in the crowd (in the yellow T) as Abby does her piece to camera, and then at 1:39 standing behind the really annoying girl in purple being interviewed.

04.12 Wellington Phoenix versus Melborune Victory

2009-12-04T20:07:00.007+13:00

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29.11 Wellington Botanical Gardens - The Rose Garden

2009-11-29T19:49:00.014+13:00

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07-08.11 Weekend on Lake Taupo

2009-11-08T15:51:00.001+13:00

Nathan & Laura installed in the boat, with rod!

Mark & Joanna hoping for a little sun & warmth!

All ready to go and waiting for a bite...

Laura snags the first catch of the day!

Lake Taupo becomes a millpond!

Joanna introduces everyone to her fishing face! Well it seemed to work, as Joanna had three bites but failed to land anything in the boat!

Two highly trained professionals! Actually that is probably a lie, as I didn't get a single bite apart from trawling some weed!

Nathan happier with the throttle in his hand rather than a rod!

Mark & Joanna doing some fishing for the evening tea!

Laura & Mark decide on a swim in the lake! Very brave!

Joanna with the catches of the day!

Laura & Nathan on the barbeque!

Time to enjoy the rewards from earlier in the day!

Delicious barbequed kiwi kai, with fresh Lake Taupo Trout!

Nathan, Joanna, Laura & Mark on Hatepe Beach

Sunsetting across Hatepe Beach

Relaxing down after a long day bobbing-about in the boat!

Lake Taupo with the snow-capped mountains in the background!

The view from Wharewaka looking towards Taupo

Beach, Boat & Sky!

Having a barbequed lunch at Wharewaka

The drive home!

The Desert Road - Joanna's hates this part of the SH 1!

07.11 Taupo Weekend - The One That Got Away!

2009-11-07T15:04:00.000+13:00

07.11 Taupo Weekend - First Catch of The Day

2009-11-07T14:49:00.002+13:00

31.10 Halloween Fun

2009-10-31T13:11:00.002+13:00

The one and only 'Compost Monster'!

The Bloody Bogan Baker and Cruella - wonder what they're cooking up?

Cat Woman & the Bogan Baker discuss the finer points of hair pieces!

Naughty Dalmatian! Cruella gets a little surprise!

The Bloody Bogan Baker with a Boner!

25.10 Labour Weekend - Joanna at Surf School

2009-10-25T14:16:00.002+13:00

23-26.10 Raglan - Labour Weekend

2009-10-23T11:33:00.006+13:00

Raglan wall mural

Nathan sitting on Ngarunui Beach

View onto Ngarunui Beach

View from the gravel road from Raglan to Bridal Veil Falls

Bridal Veil Falls

Joanna sitting near one of the many boatsheds!

The lagoons at the rear of our bach

Joanna during an evening stroll at low tide

Cooking supper outside!

View over to Raglan Lagoon

Paragliders over Ngarunui Beach

Surf School Time!

Blue sky, white puffy clouds - what else could you ask for?

Joanna standing on the board!

Joanna catching another wave, while doing an impression of Jesus!!

More reflections!

Lesson over!

Raglan town, while having a drink at the Harbour View Hotel

New Zealand's version of a Grand Design - converted silo on the wharf!

27.09 Wellington Zoo

2009-09-27T19:40:00.011+13:00

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29.08 Nathan Going Free Range!

2009-08-28T17:32:00.001+12:00

18.05 Rakaia Gorge

2009-03-22T12:16:00.006+13:00

Day trip to the Rakaia Gorge with a stroll along the Rakaia River and a little picnic!

17.05 Highlanders vs Crusaders

2009-03-22T11:54:00.005+13:00

Our first Rugby match ever - the Highlanders verus the Crusaders! On a chilly evening we headed to the AAMI stadium in Christchurch, where queuing up for our tickets we were approached and offered FREE ones! Well, Sara was offered two to begin and once she said there were four of us another two tickets appeared! Result!!

Pre-game entertainment! The Crusaders send in the troops!!

The game in full swing!

To use the line from my favourite PaknSave advert 'Who's that' in the background? Answers on a postcard to the usual address!

06-09.05 Wellington

2009-02-22T13:30:00.000+13:00

We had arranged a reconnaissance trip to Wellington for a couple of days to see if we'd like to live & work there.

We left cold & clear Christchurch for the unpredictable weather of Wellington.

The view across Wellington Harbour to the snow-capped mountain ranges in the distance.

No trip to Wellington can be complete without a ride on the Wellington Cable Car!

A short bus ride out from the city takes you to The Hutt. This is the view of Wellington from Petone Beach.

Installation Art - Fern Ball above Civic Square.

From the Waterfront - Panoramic of Wellington City & more installation art, Solace in the Wind.

Writing this post nine months down the line, I guess you can say that we loved the feel of Wellington and what it had to offer. In fact it felt very much like a mini-Melbourne, but not quite as warm!

27.04 Day Trip to Akaroa

2008-06-18T21:29:00.000+12:00

We went for a day trip to the French settlement of Akaroa on the Banks Peninsula, just outside Christchurch.

Our journey took us through the Hilltop, where we had views over the hills and sea inlets, and a little someone poked their head through the fence!

We then stopped at Flea Bay for some pictures of the boat houses.

Once in Akaroa, we had a good wander around and enjoyed some local fish and chips before rain the came!

20.04 Diamond Harbour

2008-06-18T20:39:00.000+12:00

We had a little 'family' outing with Sara & Matt to Diamond Harbour for a picnic and a little stroll!

Digging in! Sara, Matt and myself enjoying a brew!

Look at the sky! Try and ignore the catalogue pose with the white china mug! Nice cup of tea though!

Across the bay.

Diamond Harbour. Boats moored up in the harbour. Looks quite tropical!!

18.04 New Country New Car!

2008-06-18T20:33:00.000+12:00

Some new wheels were in order to explore the new country we've decided to call home for the year! After the moderate success with the Magna, with the added benefit/feature of car camping, a wagon was always going to be the order of the day.

After much time spent trawling the classifieds on TradeMe and walking the 'strip' in Christchurch looking for the perfect wagon, we decided to look at Turners Car Auctions.

We spent pretty much a whole day working our way through the catalogue looking at some potential transport/sleeping quarters:

A Toyota Previa - ideal as all the seats fold flat to produce a bed & picnics could be enjoyed in the rain while sat in the comfort of the captain's chairs! However it smelt of wet dog & the passenger seat was broken!
A Landrover Discovery - Great 4x4 vehicle, exactly what I wanted for runs into the snowfields and along unsealed roads! Unfortunately, it just wasn't big enough to sleep in, and the V8 might have been a little thirsty too! Others included a Mitsubishi Pajero, a Mazda Capella (626), and a couple of Golf's - been there, done that!

With the plan of heading back to the auction that night, we wanted to check the cheaper end of Moorhouse Avenue. And it just so happened that there was a Subaru specialist, Crowesport, with some cars within our budget! Joanna had always wanted a Subaru for as long as I could remember, especially a blue one with gold wheels! After a test drive and a little chat with Trevor the car was ours!?

So here it is, our 1996 Subaru Legacy GT (B-Spec) wagon, Lexie - Joanna's choice! It has a 2.0L twin-turbo (sequential) motor, which we thought would help us see the all of the country in the short time that we have here. The wheels & the suspension (Bilstein) are factory options, the exhaust perhaps isn't. Try and find a vehicle without a 4 inch exhaust in New Zealand?! I haven't been in a car this stiffly sprung since I was in a Ferrari 348! It certainly shows you where your wobbly bits are!

Crowesport provided us with a 3 month warranty on the car (included in the price), which was just as well, as the cooling system had a bit of a leak (did have to write a list of issues for the problem to be solved finally) & the rear washer spent a lot of time dribbling! We won't talk about the front washers!? Trevor & Linda were very understanding though.

Having had the rear washer sorted out I noticed that water was dripping on our boot cover. So I took a jug of water out and had a look around, it was at this point that I noticed that the rubbers for the washer pipes had not been put back. So I fitted them properly, closed the boot and went to pour the water only to hear the car lock itself! Hmm, I could clearly see the keys on the boot floor!?! Our immobiliser has a special feature that locks the doors if the car is open for a certian amount of time! I called a locksmith who took 3 minutes and 80 bucks and reunited me with the keys again! Lesson learnt!!

31.03 Christchurch & The Port Hills

2008-06-18T20:22:00.000+12:00

Our first few days in Christchurch were spent getting ourselves orientated and settled in, along with looking after Mog!

After a bit of a late arrival, Joanna relaxes down and is joined by Mog, the house cat!

Surprise! Surprise! Nathan having a cup and a TRAM in the background!

Looking back over Christchurch and the Canterbury Plains, from then Sign of the Kiwi.

The view from the Summit Road looking over Rapaki Bay!

Christchurch & the Plains!

23.03 Easter Sunday Big Day Out

2008-06-17T19:39:00.000+12:00

A slightly earlier start was had on Easter morning, as the easter bunny had delivered a large number of eggs and someone was very excited! It wasn't me by the way!! In fact, there were so many eggs that Gracie started on hers at breakfast time!

Then it was time for the Mystery Tour & Picnic organised by Deidre and driven by Roger.

What better is there to transport ten people on a mystery tour?! An orderly queue forms as people find their seats in the maxi-taxi, luckily the meter didn't start until we started moving!

The first stop on our tour was at the Warrego Vineyard for a quick tasting/tea/coffee, a toilet stop & a bit of a run around!

Spring Bluff was our destination to de-camp and tuck into the delicious picnic! Although the station itself isn't in use, the track is. To prove this a massive goods train came through!

Everyone having a relaxing time at Spring Bluff! Mean while the meter is still running...

From Spring Bluff we headed to Toowoomba, for some spectacular views!

The clouds close in on Toowoomba, and our mystery tour!

Arden is looking quite innocent here, but unknown to his Pops (Roger) he's just created a diversion so the rest of us can escape from the $800 fare!! Cheers Arden!! Poor Rog, he's still trawling for these passengers through CCTV! Best of luck though, lets hope that you get those mongrels!

Wow! That brought a happy end to thirteen months of living / working / travelling in Australia and what a great way to conclude by spending our last week with the Coys!! We had such a brilliant time! Find our post about the move from Austrailia to New Zealand here!

22.03 Dockside Comedy Bar

2008-06-17T19:31:00.000+12:00

Sam & Dan very kindly treated us to some adult time (as paper cuts were increasing at an alarming rate) at the Dockside Comedy Club in Brisbane! Sam thought it would be a great idea to pipe up after the compere had asked a question to the floor, which resulted in references about me being posh(?!) & english for most the night! Sam did say that it was better that way than saying we were from Melbourne!?

It was a superb night and we had a lot of fun! And thank you Dix for the lift to & from the Club!

21.03 Good Friday on the Gold Coast

2008-06-17T19:21:00.000+12:00

So from Melbourne we flew to Brisbane to spend our final week in Australia with Sam, Dan, Adren & Grace!

Bonding with the children. Gracie looks on as I prepare a paper aeroplane (single handed) for Arden!

Good Friday was spent with the Coy's & Leach's on the Gold Coast!

17-19.03 Last of Melbourne

2008-06-17T19:00:00.000+12:00

Our last two days in Melbourne were spent sorting the final bits out & chilling out. We spent a couple of hours taking some bits to the municipal tip, which was a bit of a mission to get to on the public transport system! We spent a little time in and around the City enjoying cafe culture and the brilliant weather!

And when we weren't in the City or in the apartment, then we could probably be found relaxing in the pool or hot-tub! We had an early start to content with on the 19th March for our flight to Brisbane with 85kg of luggage! Read the story here.

16.03 Melbourne Grand Prix is GO!

2008-06-17T18:00:00.000+12:00

Sunday: Race Day! The previous three days had been absolute scorchers, and there was going to be no let up on this day either, with another high close to 40°C! from our grandstand seats we watched the support races and then the build up to the race itself.

An important part to the race is the Drivers Photo! The offical one was taken from Crash.net, as I wasn't allowed to take my own!

Lewis Hamilton on Pole, as the engineers ensure that the car is ready for the race ahead!

The Grid Girls line up at the front of the Grid!

It wouldn't be a complete Australian Grand Prix without the Qantas fly-past!

The 2008 Australian Grand Prix is GO! Animated picture of the start as Lewis Hamilton leads the way.

Another animated picture! Nick Heidfeld leaves the pits, but watch the big screen as you see Timo Glock a have a bit of a moment, and park his slightly lightened Toyota at the side of the circuit! Definitely time for the Safety Car to come out!

Lewis Hamilton crosses the line to win the 2008 Australian Grand Prix!

Podium celebrations as Hamilton, Heidfeld and Rosberg spray the Champagne!

Oh, who's that with the classic farmers tan?!

Thumbs up to a great race and weekend, and possibly a 'thank goodness that's over, we can now get back to the packing'! Now just two full days left in Melbourne...

15.03 Melbourne Grand Prix Qualifying

2008-06-16T22:12:00.000+12:00

Saturday: Time to see what the pecking order is after a winter of development and testing! No surprises really, as McLaren, Ferrari & BMW fight it out between them!

Joanna trackside at Turn 15 watching the action!

BMW, Mclaren & Honda! A bit of camera trickery happening here, as the panoramic mode is used to take three seperate photos that are stitched together to make one!

14.03 Melbourne Grand Prix Practise

2008-06-16T22:05:00.000+12:00

Friday Practise: The first proper run for the Formula 1 cars around the Albert Park circuit. There is also a good chance of bumping into drivers and collecting autograhs, if you're into that kind of thing!?

Come race day this would be the view we'd get of the build up, the start and the race!

The day I became a bit of an autograph tart! After seeing only a couple of V8 Supercar races during the year I had a fair idea who was who. So my first autograph was from Craig Lowndes, from Team Vodafone. The V8 Supercar drivers are very approachable, in fact Jamie Whincup (Craig's team mate) nearly ran me over while doing wheelies on a mountain bike in the V8 Supercar Paddock!

The V8 Supercars on the starting Grid for Race 1 of the Manufacturer's Challenge - Ford versus Holden!

This was the closest I got to getting an autograph from Kimi. All the other drivers had been on stage for 20 minutes or so, but McLaren & Ferrari felt that 10 minutes would be enough to satisfy everyone! It's at times like this that you realise that they're not really here for the fans! However, I got a few signatures from the drivers of BMW Sauber, Williams, & Renualt (no show for Alonso - I would have booed him though!).

My GP survival kit included: a hat, sun-cream, a radio, ear plugs, my ticket, a circuit map, a flag & the signed programme!

You can see from the photos that it's pretty difficult to take decent photos without having the fencing feature!

If, like me, you leave the circuit alone there is a good chance that one of these cards may be thrust into your hand as you fight your way to the tram back to the City! Unfortunately Joanna had cooked a lovely meal and I couldn't go out that night!