its been a while

That it has my friends, that it has.













Anyway, an update.....

Im still happily living in New Zealand with my wonderful Joanna. In October 2008 we were blessed with the arrival of our daughter and two became three.

Jaya Harvell Phillips arrived kicking and screaming on a sunny Wednesday lunchtime. Just after 12 pm if i remember rightly. a good and healthy 6lb and 6 ozs. Jo was amazing as i knew she would be and has taken to motherhood perfectly.
We were so sure that it was a boy. so sure that we we had no names sorted for girls. Sadly Jaya was nameless for a few days whilst we decided over a short list. It was only with the visit from our great friends Esther and Jarlath that the name Jaya stood out. There is something nice about a soft irish accent reading names from a baby book.

So Jaya it is and for a middle name "Harvell" would be perfect.

Its been an amazing 15 months of parenthood so far. i would say there have been far more ups than downs but that said its hard being so far away from friends and family. The lack of support on a day to day basis is tricky , especially with me working so hard at Weta.
Jo is , as i have said, amazing and is such a good mum. Sometimes she doubts herself but all you have to do is look at this incredibly clever, kind and caring little girl and you can see that it is all passed down from her mum.
Jaya is very gentle, well most of the time ;-)
She will rub or kiss you better if asked and even though she smacks me in the face first thing in the morning it is soon followed by and "Aaaaahhhhhh... (kiss)"
Jaya loves animals (see... like her Mum) and the rabbits are a great source of entertainment. Did i say we had rabbits already? maybe not. well we have two. Dr Fleischman , named afetr the Dr from the TV show "Northern Exposure", and Beauty who is a Belguim Hare and pretty big.
They have a hutch the size of a small house just outside our back door.
More on them later im sure.




With the impending arrival of Jaya in late 2008 we decided to buy a house here in Wellington. We wanted to be able to have the house ready for jaya's arrival in the October. In June 2008 we eventually found a house just around the corner from the one we were renting on Knoll Street. Its much higher up the hill which keps us fit and the views are just amazing.
Its a five bedroom house built in the 1920's and is traditional wood weatherboard. She has great bones and we knew straight away that it was for us. Jo says she knew the moment she saw it on Trade Me in the for sale section . "Just a feeling" she said.
Well the house buying process here is alot quicker than in the uk and with in a week of seeing the house we had bought it.
I moved in while Jo was on holiday in the UK in the july of 2008. Our great buddy Carl helped me (cheers Carl) as the steps were a bit of a killer.
All was ready for when jo arrived back in to Wellington. Log burner installed, bed in , sofa in, tv and internet all hooked up. The reason for that was a week later i flew back to the Uk on my own for a visit and for a friends wedding. It was a shame that Jo and I had to have seperate holidays but things needed sorting here in NZ and it was better that Jo was resting up in the Uk. Plus all Jos family and friends got to see here heavily pregnant.



We had only a couple of months once I was back before Jaya was due to get the house sorted.
I dont think ive spent so much money in my life (apart from the odd skateboard) than i did getting all the baby and house stuff. We felt like we were going to the baby shops every weekend. to be honest it got pretty tiresome . We had to remind ourselves at least we werent house hunting anymore !!

New Arrivals Part Two

I have known Jim and Nicola for many years now. Jim is an old friend from Fleet and i meet Nicola at university where we lived together in halls. They met on one on Jims many visits to Luton . They were married last summer and I had the pleasure of being Jims best man.

On New Years Eve 2006 Felix Henry came into the the lives of Jim and Nicola. He was born at 6.23 am and weighed in at 8lb 4ozs.

I met Felix when he was only 2 days old . He was only on his first full day at home in Hackney with his Mummy and Daddy. Nicola was obviously shattered and her parents were there visiting their first grandchild.
Jim was running around after his wife and all her needs for young Felix. Unlike on my visit to Dave and Angela who had been at home for a few weeks, Jim and Nicola were very much still finding their feet. It was lovely watching them both with Felix . They both had a look of almost awe about the entire situation.

Here is Felix Henry Eyre....








Nicola has just sent me some more recent picture of what she describes as her "sunny baby." I think in these pictures he must be 8 weeks old... and a smiler !





Huge congratulations to Jim and Nicola on the arrival of Felix. How things change...
in the space of two years, two of my great mates have got married and had babies. !!Good work boys and i post these pictures with all the love and admiration in the world to you both.xx

New Arrivals Part One

I thought it was time to update you on the news of some of my friends back in the UK.
First up, Mr and Mrs David Bishop.. ( Dave and Angela)... now i know that this is a bit late but better late than never...

On the 7th of October 2006 Angela and Dave welcomed Tiana Grace into the world. She was born at 2.20pm and weighed in at a healthy 9lb 7 ozs.! Ouch !

I was able to get to Meet Grace and before i left for New Zealand. She seemed to enjoy the play mat that i had bought round for her and i hope that it still continues to entertain her.
It was amazing to see Dave and Angela with their new arrival. They had been home with her for a few weeks and they just looked so comfortable and relaxed.
Dave seemed so happy with all his family around him, his girls and all the cats ! (three of them!)

anyway... massive congratulations to the Bishops .

Heres' Tiana .....

Home again , Home again.

Ahh , home for christmas . I dont really want to say much but just show some pictures and hope that they sum up what it was like. Needless to say it was well worth the trip and i wouldn't have missed it for the world.
Joanna picked me up from the airport and after a few days with her in Mudeford Christmas itself was spent at home in Fleet.






On Boxing Day we would normally play footie. Dave Bishops birthday falls on that day and its always been good to celebrate his birthday with a kickabout. In recent years numbers have dropped as we have grown and moved away. Bishop himself has more on his mind at the moment but more on that later !

This year we decided to play golf instead. It was a chilly and brisk boxing day and Dad, Gary... sorry .... "Tiger", Paul and I slice and hacked our way around Bowenhurst Golf Course!!

On the last hole Paul needed a putt to win. The Cheerleaders had just arrived(MUm and Lisa) and just as Paul was about to take the putt Mum decided it was a good time to start chanting " HEY YA< HAY YA < HAY YA"...

i think the following picture answers any questions of " so did Paul sink the putt or not....

"Driving Home for Christmas"

When i used to live in London with Jim and Bishop the drive home to Fleet was always something that i looked forward too. We would normally get a lift from Jims sister Beth .Through the driving rain to the melody of Christmas songs we would wind our way to Fleet and The Oatsheaf pub.

Ahhh heady days which today feel a lifetime ago.. !

Traveling home to Fleet from New Zealand is a different ball game altogether! First its takes ages and second there was no Christmas music... in fact there was nothing at all as the damn back seat TV on my lovely Quantas flight didn't work... ALL THE WAY HOME !!!

What i went back to....



I was by the window seat and the seat next to was empty. In the isle seat was an old lady from Wales who had been to her brothers birthday in NZ. She said that it was going to be her last trip home. She was born and bred in NZ and now lived in Wales. She didn't mind that the tv wasn't working as she was spending the flight knitting... she knitted enough scarf to wrap everyone on the entire bloody plane !!

The lack of TV bothered me for a while but i read a book instead and finished it by the time we reached the fog of London!. If any one needs a good flight read then i can recommend Gene Wilder's Autobiography called "Kiss me Like a Stranger." Very funny.



As the flight descended through the thick fog in London ( god knows how the pilot knew where he was going!) the "coming home for Christmas" feeling really kicked in.
I was to see Jo, My mum and Dad, my brothers and my little sister... All my friends... even though i had only been away six weeks it was quite an emotional feeling.
Jo greeted me at the airport and the first English accent i heard as i got of the plane was an Indian man yelling "F@*K off " down the terminal corridor....... ahhh welcome home.....

We drove through the fog back to Fleet with the Christmas tunes playing on the radio .
I couldn't help raise as Smile and well -up a bit when i heard the first few notes of Jona Lewie's "Stop The Cavalry"......

Dub a dub a dum dum
Dub a dub a dum
Dub a dum dum dub a dub
Dub a dub a dum
Dub a dub a dum dum
Dub a dub a dum
Dub a dum dum dub a dub
Dub a dub a dum
Wish I was at home for Christmas.....

Visitors In the Bay

Building up to Christmas work was pretty slow. Its summer over here and everyone goes on their summer holidays and takes about 6 weeks of work! not me.. i only had 2 weeks planned off and that included nearly five days travel! (losing a day in the process!)

One evening after work i took a long drive home around Moa Point and round the bays. I stopped and took these lovely picture of the Escort and noticed a load of cars parked up in the next bay. There were also allot of people on the rocks looking out to sea!

"Dolphins" i thought , and headed to join them.


on arrival out on these rock i was greeted with an amazing sight....

not dolphins but Orcas !!

There were around 6 or 8 Orcas in total. MOst were quite young and near to the shore with the adults out to sea doing alot of tail slapping.
Apparently the tail slapping sends the fish towards the shore for the young to feed on...
It was amazing to watch the swim by and breach the water. The only thing was that they swam so fast and were underwater for such a long time it was really hard to keep up with them. I decided to jump in the car and head to another vantage point and watch them again. Annoyingly i didn't have my binoculars but i did have my camera.....





I followed them for around 2 hours along the coast of Wellington. Stopping in the car and watching them swim by.
Absolutely amazing sight. something you really don't see every day at all.
At one point i was able to get ahead of them and out on to a pier than stood only 4 ft above the water. I ran down the pier and as i approached the end i meet a German couple who asked if everything was ok as I was running ?
I exclaimed that there were orcas in the bay and as we all turned around four Orcas surfaced right by the pier and then dived underneath to re-surface again on the other side!
I was so excited telling the German couple that in true form i missed the moment with the camera ... i did get this which gives you some idea of how close they were ...




All in all a pretty amazing journey home from work. Not something that you would see on the tube in london...
Oh how i miss that tube!


with kind permission here are a few pictures from Micheal Lanzensberger from Weta who was watching the Orcas too. ( he just had a decent camera with him.! Thanks MIcheal!)

Island Bay and a Custard Cream

Righty right everyone!

I hope all are well?

I know its been ages since i updated this blog but good old Google decided to updated the blogs and got me all confused. Its taken a long 6 weeks to get it all sorted out and get access back to this blog!! So apologies and i will try and catch up as quick as i can....

Lots has gone on since i last posted ... I moved into my lovely house in Island bay in the secong week of December after a short two weeks at " Hotel Hey!!" My friend Tim Hey was kind enough to put me up for the two weeks between the Duxton and Island bay.And i must say what a wonderful hotel it was and very cheap!! I did ask Weta for an extention in the Presidential Suite but for some reason they said no ! Strange that one !!

so heres the house...
Such a lovely place to live.. all the rear doors windows open out onto the deck and make the place feel massive.
A big kitchen to cook in... im sure Joanna and I will be very happy living here





I only had ten days from moving into the house before i was due to fly home again ! Nice .. get on that god for saken plane for another 30 odd hours. Saying that i knew that i would have the reward of seeing all the family and of course JO when i returned. It had felt like a long time since i had seen anyone. ( just iover a month to be exact !!)

One important thing i had to do before then was get myself some transport...
ive already told you all about the fun i was having searching for a beetle with no joy. Well i had decided that if i saw a car that i liked i would just get it. 3000 dollars was the top money and i was on the look out.!
That very same day, december the 9th or something i walked into the car park at work and saw a car that i LOVED !!

"WOW " thats amazing , i remember saying... the reply i recived was " ITS FOR SALE DAVE !!"
ten minutes later i was test driving it and the next day i drove it home.
here she is ...
Matt at work calls it the Custard Cream.. and you can see why !





For those who dont already know.... shes a 1980 Ford Escort Mk2. 1.3l with a vinyl roof ! NICE !
The car is so very straight and in amazing condition. no repairs and dings anywhere, a real collectors piece..(if you like this sort of thing!)
the only problem is ... wait for it... due to a lack of compression in the engine she struggles a bit on the old hills. ! I discovered this on my first triamphant return home and as i came up the steep hill to the house and was pre-paring the hard right into the garage she gave up and scremmed "NNNNOOOOOOOOOOOO....HILL...................TOOO.............STEEP.........!!!!" and promptly begain rolling backwards.!
Since then i have to go the long way round to come DOWN the hill and do a left into the garage! works every time now. Bless her !




You have got to LOVE that interior!
(your legs do stick to it on a sunny day though!)