Morning shift at work today, it went quite quickly and had a few laughs with Alois, he does have a good sense of humour when he is not throwing things around the kitchen. I crashed when I got home enjoying the prospect of spending the weekend with Toby. I phoned up Hilly and asked if she wanted to go to the festival with us.

Toby left me a note when I got back from work telling me it was Frida's b'day today so I went out quickly to get a card and pressie then went and wished her happy birthday. When I asked what she was doing on this splendid occasion she told me 'nothing' so we organised to go out for dinner later that evening. We went to a wonderful restaurant around the corner which was a converted house and extremely pretty. We had the best meal ever and the tastiest wine. We all enjoyed ourselves and it was really nice to do something for Frida on her b'day

Hilly came over for about 10.30am and we all bundled down to the village fete type thing. It reminded me of when my brother has his annual fete at his residence. It was a bit rainy but the sun shone through when it counted. It was to celebrate the Fruits and Veg and local things that people do around these parts, they all get together so that they can find out what is happening within the community, so it's a nice chance to get to see what local produce is being made etc. Of course I went straight to the wonderful ice-cream stand that sold kiwi flavoured ice-cream and then on to the flavoured olive oils that are proficient around here. And of course the fruit and veg stalls to try out the wonderful things they grow in abundance in NZ. I had never seen a avocado growing on a tree till a came here and loads of other stuff I had always bought from the supermarket, I see growing!!

We stayed to watch a local Maori group perform then decided to go down the pub for a game of pool, which I have to say won every game!!! I don't think Toby mentioned that in his Diary.....

Hilly was off to start her new job on Sunday so we all said goodbyes and promised to keep in touch.

Had a lovely walk out along the river and found a new path back to the house which was the excitement for the day.... I then had to go to work in the afternoon to make up for having the Monday off to go to Rotorua

I have turned into Xena Warrior Princess because of the swimming, if only it could change my arse as quickly!

On a late today so went swimming for an hour in the morning then spent a few hours reading a great book from the library - horror of course.....

I also made a few calls home to say hello and to see how my mums little party went, she had a few of our friends round for a huge chilli and trifle. She said it was great fun and loved having everyone together.

I do miss seeing my mates and family....

Got up early and went for a swim and then noticed the chair had been mended, Toby didn't mention anything........ Oh I have just read his diary so I will not say anything and see how long it takes him to say something to me about not noticing.........

It's only taken him weeks to mend the poor chair if only he could pull himself away from the computer he might be able to pick up his clothes from all over the floor and transport them to the draws as well, but I think that is asking far too much bless him.

Yoga in the morningthen went into Katikati to have a look in the Op Shop for some bargains - didn't find any. I then went to find myself a new mascara and went into a Chemist for a looksy. I found a cheapy one and nearly bought it but couldn't find anything on the tube which said it wasn't tested on animals, so I asked an assistant who was a young girl and she wasn't sure. An older lady who had overheard me asked if I was allergic to some makeup and I explained that I don't by anything tested on animals and either should anyone else....... the young assistant agreed with me but the older lady looked at me like I was completely mad!! I don't think the older generation bother with looking or worrying about stuff like that very much. As long as it's the right colour and the cheapest price......... Needless to say I walked out to go and find another shop that sold mascara. I found another place selling a popular brand name but once again it didn't have anything about not being tested on animals? so I put that back as well. I thought all makeup was now not tested on animals?

Please check before buying these things !!!

Found out from Helen that Hilly has left her job, she did one shift and decided it really wasn't for her. Hilly had told me she found the hotel extremely scary and Helen said it was pretty horrible too so I think that contributed to her decision as well. I think she is now going to do the Kiwi experience bus so she can start meeting young people and having some fun which is what she needs.

Well it's my day off today so I took Toby into work then went in and drooled over some motorbikes then went into pak 'n' save to do the darn shopping which I hate doing. The trolleys or 'trundles' as they call them are the size of a mini which means when your in the shop and going down the isles there always seems to be a hold up or que because of the darn trundles trying to squeeze past each other and of course cause someone has left theirs in the middle of the isle and walked off to get something...... after paying I then decided to go home. I popped into see Meri on the way back and she asked if we were free on the 17th to go for Sunday lunch over at Ross and Susie's which was very nice of them.

My afternoon consisted of me making a curry ready for dinner, doing all the washing and tidying up the house, taking out all the rubbish then going swimming. Gosh what a busy day! I also received a letter from the school saying thanks but no thanks for the job application, didn't want the smelly job anyway........ oh but I did want that job!!

Toby came to the cave from his days hunting to eat his food then watch TV before rolling into bed and snore all night, oh how romantic.

Another day off today so got up early and went swimming then had a nice relaxing day tending to my plants and reading my book. I made some lunch and proceeded to stab myself in the hand with a kitchen knife. Not a slice of a cut, oh no a proper stab which I had to pull out!!

Well OK it wasn't so dramatic but it bled like a bastard so I stuck on loads of plasters which didn't help and then made some dinner for Toby.

An early shift, oh goodie goodie how I do love getting up at 5.30..... not

It's fine once I get into work though and just work my little socks off all shift then I met Toby out on the road whilst walking back from work he was just driving back from the shops after buying me a bag of fish and chips...... bless him and then I noticed the most beautiful orchid sat on the front seat which he had also bought me!!! now how many men go out and buy there girls chips and orchids in one day?? I am a lucky girl.

I fell on the couch when I got back home. We didn't do anything all afternoon and we both were going stir crazy by the evening, Toby hadn't been out of the house all day but had managed to eat half a loaf of bread for b'fast so he is not doing very well on his diet at the mo...

Another early shift which went well and when I got home Toby was out somewhere so I had a cuppa and chilled out for an hour feeling relieved to have the early shifts over and done with for a few days. Toby came home telling me about his little trip out and then we settled down for the evening once again watching crap TV. I remember I time when we were going weeks and weeks without watching the damn thing and I swore I didn't want to get into watching one ever again. It would be quite liberating to chuck the thing out but then what would we do every night????

On a late shift today so went for my early morning swim which I found was a lot easier than the last few times. Just caught up with some overdue emails and wrote some diary for the rest of the day then trudged of to work.

Got up early for my usual swimming routine then did my usual crap for the day before my shift at work

might have........

It was very hot today so after my swimming session I went and sat in the garden in the shade for a couple of hours reading but then started getting very bad headache and felt a little sick. Went to work but suffered from a migrane or something.

Didn't go into work this morning as I still felt bad so just flopped around for a while before doing some meditation in the garden which was wonderful. I didn't do much for the rest of the day just waited for Toby to get home.

Well we had a bit of a lie in then we both went down to the pool for an hour which was good. We then did our own thing for the rest of the day.

Well I played on the computer for a while then we headed down to Meri's and Grahams before we all headed down to Ross and Sue's house for a BBQ. Unfortunately the weather wasn't so good but it was still good fun and after a bit another couple came over and we all sat down to eat. I didn't eat very much which isn't like me ? I then walked up to the Paddock with Sue and let all the 250cows out to walk down to the milking shed. Toby and I then scooted off to have a look at some Pigs then walked into the milking shed to see how it was all done. Toby had seen it all before but I had never seen a cow being milked in real life and it was really interesting, I even touched some cow boobies! We then sat down on the grass for a bit looking at the now blue sky and listening to the birds, when Toby threw a dry cow pat at my head!!

Swimming in the morning then i'm sure i must have done something interesting in the day time, have no idea.........

Went swimming then came home got changed and went out on the bike for a couple of hours, it was a wonderful morning and I stopped to talk to a lovely old lady who seemed to know all about the couple of English people who lived at Freda's house......... small village! Anyway I carried on my little outing before realising it's against the law to ride without an helmet so I cycled home pretty darn quick!

Went to work later on

Had my Yoga lesson today with the added bonus of seeing her cats new babies which were 4 days old, she only had 2 which was a very small litter but they were the most adorable kittens ever.

Just did the usual stuff for the rest of the day before going to work. I was orientating again which meant because of 4 hands instead of my 2, we finished early.

Well it's a day off today so I did my usual swimming session then came home and cleaned the house which was really exciting.....

I had a hair appointment in the afternoon so I walked down an hour earlier just for a look around, the weather was absolutely fantastic. It was the hottest day since we had got here so I went and sat down on a bench in the shade of a lovely tree just watching the world go by when all of bloody second the loudest alarm started going off above my head. I was sat right next to the fire station and also right next to the siren that calls all the surrounding volunteer firemen and women. I have mentioned before when the alarm goes off in the night it sounds just like the war siren and is extremely eerie..... Anyway this thing was blasting in my ear and then al these men of different ages started running out of, shops, banks, dentists etc all running across the road stopping traffic and running into the station, Then some cars were screaming up the main road with hazards blinking and weaving in between cars, screeching to a halt in front of the station. They even left the car doors open on some of them and just ran to get themselves onto the fire truck. Within minutes of the siren going off, 2 trucks and a mini van were on the road off to the accident and then all was quiet again. It was like something out of a film and it made me realise what a bloody fantastic job these people did, driving a tractor one minute then rescuing people the next. It comes with living in a small community all these people work together and all know each other, it's very new to me.

After that excitement I went up to the hairdressers and had my hair cut by somebody else who didn't know anything about curly hair. She didn't know how to dry it, even tried combing when it was dry which turned it into a frizzy mess, do hairdressers just train on straight hair?

I walked home and just let myself in when ole Toby Jones came home with some shopping so we put that away then just dossed in the evening.

Another day off so I went swimming again and then on another bike ride with my now new helmet that Toby bought from the 'Warehouse' felt a bit of a dork but so did everyone else so who cares.

Up early for my morning shift with Rita. Everything went OK and I didn't make that many cock ups for a change.

Went to bed early ready for another exciting day at work.

Another wonderful day at work........

Toby rang Sally on her mobile as she had sent us her new number and said she was in the vicinity. We were like a couple of kids talking on the phone, all giggly and so excited about seeing each other again. She was now with a man called Adam who sounded very nice and they were trying to find a campervan to buy together and as soon as they had done that they were coming to find us!

Fandabbydosey

Swimming

Toby had the car so I went for a bike ride down by the river and through the town for a little bit before going home and renovating my lamp........

Yes it now looks worse.

Swimming in the morning then work in the afternoon

Yoga session in the morning and a chance to see how the kittens were getting on. I then did my usual stuff I do in the day before going to work.

Went swimming early then took Toby into work as I wanted to buy a double quilt for the spare room. We had a text message from Sally asking us to ring which I did and found out she was coming down to see us that ay day!! fantastic!!!!!!

I had arranged to have lunch with Toby so said I would meet her back at the house at about 2ish. I rushed around in the morning getting some bits and pieces and found a double quilt which was just in time!

I then had a quick lunch with my man then drove home ready to tidy up a bit....... \it must have been the quickest tidy up ever and I even had time to wash Bertie before getting a call from Sally saying she was ready to come over. We then Established she was still in Rotorua as she thought we lived there... dafty. She had to tell poor Adam that they had to drive all the way back here again as they had been down this way already! I had to go to work so I left the key under a pot and then watched out of the window at work waiting to see there red van go past. I was really excited so when I saw the van and them waving like mad, I ran out of the the Resthome back to my house. I gave them both a hug and a big kiss before running back to work.

When I got home (early) they were all out down the pub so I just waited for them to get home. The lovely Adam cooked dinner for us all but I don't like eating that late so I didn't have any, I did have some red wine though! in fact I bit too much.......

We all got a bit merry and had a good laugh before heading for bed.

Woke up at 5am with the most painful period pains ever imaginable so just stayed up and went to work......... it was just awful I was in so much pain that I kept feeling faint and vomiting it was so bad. I took a huge amount of pills and just carried on working as best I could even though I couldn't even stand up straight......... only a woman could carry on like that eh!

I felt better by lunch time, thank god so by 2pm I ran back home to see that gang. I then had a shower and we drove into Tauranga to meet up with Toby from work. We went and bought some cinema tickets to see 'Harry Potter' then went down to the water front where they had the reverse bungy. Sally and Adam went first, Sally didn't want to do it and after watching them get hurled into the air I didn't either! they said it was really good so I couldn't look like a chicken in front of them...... We both got strapped in and the pod was turned on it's back facing the sky ready for take off. It flew into the sky very smoothly and we didn't even feel it until it got to the top and we were facing the floor. It was then my stomach left me whilst my body hurtled down to the ground......... it was fantastic and we bounced up and down for a few times before being lowered to the ground. We all watched the video ( Click here to view video (768 kb)) and decided to buy them both, I haggled with the bloke to sell them to us cheap which he did. Sally and Adam bough our's for us which was kind then we traipsed off to the pub for a few drinks before going to watch Harry Potter.

This was definitely better than the first film and we all really enjoyed it. It was then a few drinks back home before bed.

We all had a lie in then all did our morning bits and bobs, then packed all our stuff ready for a night away camping. We packed up Bertie and they packed up Spog and we convoyed up to Hot water Beach. It took a couple of hours to get there driving through the most wonderful countryside. We found the beach and a campsite so we paid our nights keep and set up our tent. It was then a afternoon of drinking playing cards and laughing until we were crying. We had a stroll down the beach early on in the day and had paddled in a already dug hole in the sand, couldn't believe how hot the water was coming out of the ground. A few meters away you had the very cold sea but could sit on the beach in very hot water!! All because of the volcanic activity underground of course...

We had a great day and evening and we slept very well in the tent listening to the sea.

NEW ZEALAND DEC 2002 >