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!)

North Island Mission Stage 2

On the Saturday evening we found a motel in a place called Kati Kati. After pretty much no sleep the night before we crashed out and looked forward to a day of driving on the Sunday and most importantly driving during the day so that we could see the countryside!!

On the left is a map of the North Island of New Zealand (click for a larger Version).
The red line is the route we took on Highway 1 North, past Lake Taupo and up to Auckland.

We travelled back eastwards via the bay of Plenty and Kati Kati is about where the "B" of Bay is!
We headed East along the coast after stopping in a place called Te Puke(pronounced "Tee-pook-ay") for breakfast. We Drove through the most amazing gorges and forests with roads that just twisted and winded for ages. They were really fast flowing roads and with Ricky Jervais and Karl Pilkinton on the ipod for company we racked up thye miles.
The landscape changed so rapidly. The thing that struck me most was the various types of trees all amoungst each other. There were pine forests with decidious trees together with Palms trees! It was like the enviroment couldn't make up its mind!
You felt that at some point a dinosaur would come wandering out of the trees.

All that you may have seen and heard of the landscape inNew Zealand is true. All the back drops on Lord Of The Rings really are how New Zealand is. The Mountains and the Valleys, the sheep, and there are LOADS of sheep ( steady Matt...! plenty to go round!!!!) the forests and the views are all just breath taking.
I know for a fact that we will head this way again. It has a feel of Canada to it in some parts and then it feels like a greener version of Australia in others.
If you have thought at some point that you may visit NZ and drive around for a month... do it. Its a very special place.


As we headed South back towards Lake Taupo we stopped of at a Maori village near Rotorua.
The area all around Rotorua has loads of natural hot springs. Towers of hot steam coming from the ground are dotted all over the place.

"Rotorua is a smallish city on the shores of Lake Rotorua. The surrounding areas are a geothermal wonderland, with geysers, boiling mud pools, and steaming craters - accompanied by the pervasive smell of sulphur. Rotorua is also a showcase of Maori cultural activities, a centre of tourism and a place of extraordinary natural beauty."

It is a beautiful location thats for sure. Saying that though there is one thing that strikes you as soon as you get anywhere near..."the pervasive smell of sulphur" !!!
Basically ... rotten eggs...! bad ones at that !
You do get used to it but it does make you cough to start with. My eyes started watering but strangley i got used to it quicker than Tim did (?)
We wandered around an old Maori village where the Maori still live and work. The kids were all playing in the hot water of the river while all the tourists threw money into the water for them to dive for.
In the middle of the village the pools are very hot and there are massive amounts of steam that you cant even see through! Now remember that this same steam is sulphur (eggs) and you have some kind of idea what it may be like to walk through a baking hot cloud of stinking steam!

I beautiful place with really friendly people but out 1 hour there was long enough.
Onward South we went!

North Island Mission

With the house sorted and my time at the hotel drawing to a close the next thing to do was buy a car . As most of you know im a VW driver back in the UK. (oh how i miss that car!) So my mision was to spend a weekend looking at Beetles and see if i could find a decent one.
I found a mechanic in Wellington by the name of Lane. Great bloke who seems to do work on VW 's as a hobby rather than a business. He just seems to be doing the "hobby" all the time. a great contact to make even if he does like his later water-cooled models more!!

So i did some digging and i organised to see three beetles over the course of the weekend. all pre 1957 Oval windows and all in various conditions. All based in and around Auckland which is about a 7 hour drive from Wellington !(yeah Right!)
Tim and I set off after work on the friday night and headed north. The roads are a pleasure to drive on , especially in a nice fast hire car! As soon as you leave Wellington you join a motorway. Now most people wiill see in their minds eye the M25 or M1 ... nothing like that.. these are traffic free roads with beautiful mountains on either side. Much nicer driving conditions!
Pretty soon the motorway becomes a one lane fast flowing road that has passing lanes every few KM. You twist and wind through the countryside and along the coastal road as you head Northwards.
Im not sure who told us it was a 7 hour drive. They lied because it took us over 9 hours and we didn't stop on the way exept to refuel! As i got dark Tim and I decided to press on as we were both still very awake and thought it would be a good idea to try and make it to Auckland that night(bad decision right Tim !)
At one point we realised that the stars were really bright. We felt like we were very high up in comparasion to all the valley driving that we had been doing. We stopped and got out of the car and with no artificial light at all we were greeted by the most stunning star-filled sky!
It was pretty amazing!
Constalations that you know and recognise were super bright and the band that is the Milky Way was so clear it was amazing!(Tim says i use that word too often?)
The last 3 or 4 hours drive was done by Tim(thanks mate) and i had a kip ! Who says im like my Dad ??

Auckland is a strange place and not what i expected at all. There is one motorway that runs through the centre of the city and you have to drive if you want to go anywhere. Its a confusing place with little or no sign posts once you leave that lovely motorway.
We found an area with loads of motels but they were all full.! Completely full ! After a short while we realised why... U2 had been playing a concert just down the road and as a result.. yep we could find no where to stay !

Tim said he knew a place out of town and had stayed there before. It was now nearing 4am as we headed NOrth again. We found the area he had previously visited but the story was the same. We ended up sleeping in the car by the beach ! It wasn't too bad but i cant say either of us slept very well. All part of the adventure though i say!

The following morning ( well i say morning ... it was about 3 hours later !!) we headed of to see car number one. Now i wont go into details about the three cars as i will send all of you (except maybe E and Damon) to sleep!
All of them needed work done. One was in top condition but drove really badly, one was in need of work but the guy wanted too much for it, and the last one.. well the less said about that the better!! It had been "restored" a few years ago and one quick look under the carpets at the heater channels made me nearly faint. What was welded must have been done by a blind man or a four year old!! The guy wanted 10000nz dollars (3500 uk) for it !!

Two hopes mate !

Home..

Calling home is something you have to time well. You either get hold of people as they are off to bed and are tired. Or you get hold of them in the morning when they are waking up.
I called Mum and Dad last night to say hi and to see how it was all going.


A small amount of panic rose as I ask Dad " Hows things?" and the reply was a paused..." we're ok..."
"We're fine."
I knew straight away something had happened.

They had been to a family friends wedding and Mum had had another seizure.

Dad explained that Mum had felt a bit odd(no change there then!!!) after looking towards the flashing lights at the wedding disco. Mum said that she wasn't feeling great and needed to get away from the lights. A wise move ther i think!
They were escorted to a room and on the bed , in a controlled enviroment, Mum had a seizure. In comparasion to the other seizures that Mum has had this one was very minor. Thats great news as the drugs to counter act the seizures must be working. Mum came around within ten minutes , knew who and where she was and what had happened.
The ambulance arrived quickly and Mum was discharged after a short while and they then drove back to Fleet and the security of their own bed.
It sounds as if once again Dad has been the tower of strength and a rock for Mum in all this. The outward calmness and positive thinking that he projects can omly be good for all involved , especially Mum. Good work Dad and you know that we are all here for you should you need it.
Mum was up and about the next day and they even made it to Linda and Graham Hix's sunday lunch! A not to be missed occasion so im told as Linda is a Whizz in the kitchen! The fact that they were able to go there the very next day raises a smile on my face and should re-assure everyone that epilepsy is an illness that can be controlled and doesn't have to disrupt the everyday patterns of normal life.
Im so glad you are feeling better Mum and i cant wait to see you at Christmas.

Flashing lights have got to be one of the most common causes of an epileptic fit or seizure for people who have no or little knowledge on the subject. Like me !
I have been reading alot about epilepsy and in particular the connection it has with occuring post-operation.
For a general overview this site has been very helpful.

http://www.epilepsy.com/101/ep101_symptom.html

It talks about how sufferers can feel before a seizure occurs. How they can sense its arrival.
What brings them on and how they can be treated. An informative read and i reccomend it to all.