Rhodes Scholars

Hi Everyone, We are loving our expedition. The whole package has been going wonderfully well. A mini heat wave in Turkey, and now Greece takes a bit of getting used too, but we are managing well----just need to keep the liquid balance going. The old town of Rhodes got a detailed examination today----incredible to learn and saee so much all in one place---particularly the Crusaders. Off to Lindos tomorrow.

At long last Ash is starting to see that history has a great deal to offer...the layers of civilisation is incredible and the extent to which remains are being constantly uncovered is very interesting. Itis very beautiful here..I did not think there could anything more beautiful than Ephesus but now I am not sure. We have found ice-creams to be an important part of the diet...our tour has included many buffets so we have had a wonderful chance to try all the Turkish and Greek cuisine..clothes seem smaller! The heat is unbelievable..feet struggle the most but face wipes and an occasional swim and beer make it tolerable. Many fires aroune Athens. Turkey was incredibly hot..broke records for heat at this time of the year. We are so happy. Thinking of you all. Love Barb and Ash

Thanks to the emailers with their news. Cheers, Ash and Barb.

Turkey and Greece.

Hi Everyone.

We are well---even with the extreme temperatures---47 degrees seems to be the average. Really critical to keep the fluid balance up.

The civilisation layers are amazing

Hey All

Jeff here but i have kate at my side (how cute eeewwww)

Anyways she is rather sunburnt and i am rather jealous. She has heard about and laughed about the family blog and now i am introducing her to it. Kate, can we get a quote? "no, you can't have a quote" she says. Why not? "Jeff! delete it..." So anyways, she isn't corporating but luckily i can fabricate in her place. There are some delightful photos on our computer - all 589 of them! wow. Cool. Her trip sounds cool though. Intrepid journeys are the way to go.

Kate fell in love with Saigon as the best city in asia. Crowded but unlike many other cities it was also reasonably clean. She also enjoyed siam reap, bangkok and ??

Righto. I am taking off on annual leave this week to hang with her. I think we are going to head to Mt Ruapehu but maybe stop off at Taupo on the way? Haven't decided yet so the next step after i post this is wotif.

Take care eveyone. Dave is also well. He is sitting opposite me!

Jeff

Nearly there!

Hi all
Sorry about my absence on the blog. You haven't been missing out on much. I have an organic chemistry exam tomorrow and a physics exam on friday, and had a computer science exam last thursday. So I live at the library, a lot warmer than at my flat though!
We haven't been able to use the pot belly at our house cause there is something wrong with the chimney.. but 5 min ago the chimney man turned up, so that is very excting, we might light it tonight... Although getting the wood in is a boys job I feel.
Apart from that not much else is going on, I went to a cool new bar on Friday with a friend to catch up. Twas called the 'Fish and Chip Bar' quite funky and they even serve fish and chips wrapped up in newspaper.
I go home on Sunday with a friend, should be nice, taking Amy back with us too, happy family time. Am looking to buy a car when I am home, have looked down here but not too much round... Anyone know of a car I may want to buy? Manual, not too old, around 2-3 grand? Let me know... Oh and also not white preferably.
My hands get cold when I am typing so that can be it.
~ Jayne

Kates Home

Hi Everyone
Just a quick message that I am home again. Surgery went well. The surgeon was impressed by the size of the stone. Chris compared it to a small avacado stone. I'm just pleased it's all over.
Cold here today again and not much better tomorrow going by the weather forecast.
A busy weekend watching lots of sport. GO NEW ZEALAND.
Will sign off and go to bed.
Love to all
Kate

Baumt de baumt baumt

Hey Team

Tis the jeffster. I blog because I want to participate in this wee social experiment. Unfrotunately though I have little new materiaal to add.. Am living with Dave. That is nice. We cook together, we public transport together. It's very cheesy. Convenient though. My cooking is better than daves too which is a bonus.

Work is nice. We have a latte shop downstairs and the sushi available in the near vicinity is excellent. Green tea keeps the umvelt in order.

Righto, keep well everee-one.

Jeff

Great to catch up !

How good to catch up on all the Christchurch news this weekend!
Am most glorious day here in Nelson, no wind, no clouds and....no kids at home!! Ooppps, the last part wasn't meant to sound like the great part......but it was very quiet!! Time outside on the deck, reading, chatting, having coffee from 9.30 until about 2....it was just a glorious day, sun has gone now, it's chilly, but the roast is on and dinner will not be 'til about 7.45 as Tim has basketball practice from 6 til then.
Tracey is out at Rabbit Island jet skiing.....no doubt she will be freezing cold by now!! Tim has been out at friends farm for the weekend.
Are we going to see some formal photos posted on the blog???? You've seen Tim at rugby, well i sorted put the batteries and here is Tracey at netball! She has just shot a goal, she has GA on her bib...her team won on Saturday!

Good Luck to Ashley and Barbara, am sure they will have a great time!
Good Luck to Kathleen who goes under the surgeon's knife on Tuesday, we will all be thinking of you! Am sure the family will rally round with lots of jobs being done for you!

I will be in Auckland later in the year Jeff and Davey, so will also look forward to catching up....am there with 9 of us from several schools in our area from 2 - 5 October...ages away!

We are looking forward to Amy coming home on Tuesday.....the naked bus.com seems like a cheap journey, hope is goes well Amy!!

Holidays for those of us working hard ion the filed of education in two weeks. Jayne and Amy will be home at various times and we are also looking forward to having Willie's brother Phillip and His wife Sue from Rotorua staying from 6 -10th and also Matt, our nephew, who is being well looked after by Jayne and Amz in Christchurch will be here at some stage. with is parents i think!

Am enjoying a wee glass of Merlot while dinner is cooking....am meant to be creating some graphs showing trends and patterns in student learning so best I get back to it!

Love to all
Janice

A Cool Sunday Afternoon

Hi Everyone

This is my first time blogging on Family Happenings 4. It took me a long time to get past the resident censor here. i have it bookmarked now.

It has been a cool and wettish weekend here, and one of the few weekends that haven't been covered up with things to do for band. We are pracitising for National competitions that are going to be held on the north shore 4th to 8th of July.
Jeff and Dave we would love to catch up with you when we are there. Kate, Brigette and Chris are in Auckland from 3rd July , until 8th. We are there without band on tuesday night. We will even have transport of our own.

Jeff it's great you are logistics, we are having major problems getting our percussion gear to Auckland. It used to be that percussion for a brass Band consisted of a bass drum and side drum (bring back the good old days) - now we have 4 tympany drum, vibes, marimbas, concet bass drum ... just kidding.

Ash and Barb have a great holiday. It certainly will be warmer in Turkey than here. Denmark will be changeable - could be like winter or summer.
Congratulations on the appointment Ash , Brian Smith from MWH told me the other day at band , but i was able to tell him that I'd already found out on the blog.

Jayne has just started a job - we saw her last weekend. She was sheltering from the cold.

It was Brigettes' formal last week , Kate and Chris were permitted to go to pre dinner drinks with her. (Unlike George, where he made me drop him off 300m from the destination in case somebody saw me! ) . I was even allowed to take photos with some of her friends in them.
We met parents that we hadn't seen since primary school, and a parent whose husband worked for James Bull before the 17 yo daughter was born.

Brigette is away working this afternoon. Kate has just dropped here off at Hoyts Riccarton.
George is doing downhill biking with one of his friends.

Kate is watching friend green tomatoes, and I'm meant to be organising a Locksmiths meeting in Rotorua in July.

Kate is having a gall stone and gall bladder out on Tuesday, and then is off to see Ron and Fay the following week. Chris saw some grab a seats on Air New Zealand for $39.00 each way.


Chris

Mum!? What are you doing to the poor cat? I guess he'll just have to wait until Jayne and I get home to get properly taken care of!
Christchurch is going well, its mighty cold though, but just a couple of days until I go home for a week or so then back down here for netball and then back up again for another week and a half. I have my one (and only!) exam on Monday so am busily preparing for that which should be fun times... hmmm. But there is only one which makes life a touch eaiser (there are some advantages to doing a law degree with full year papers!) Other than that things are ticking along.
I'm very jealous of Ash and Barbara off on their exciting trip... I just keep promising myself it will happen one day... but have a great time and keep us posted!
Anyway, things to learn...
Take care everyone,
Amy

Pets of the world united in pain!

Poor Toddy and we can add poor Hokey Pokey to the list. Thanks to the two pure white cats that have moved in across the road we have one wounded cat to contend with...and we are trying to be the vets....so far successfully!! Hokey Pokes has had a huge wound under his left ear and when I carefully trimmed the fur from around it last week before applying a general...for humans ...antibiotic cream, he moved his head quickly and I nicked his ear with the scissors!! It did bleed for a bit, I was a bit concerned and I certainly wasn't his best friend for a day or so!! Just yesterday when we were feeling pleased with out vet skills he has yet another wound, quite minor by comparison so here's hoping the salt water bathing, antibiotic cream and TLC work!

A glorious day here today...... little time to enjoy it but it certainly is good to get out and soak up the sunshine!

Warmest wishes
Janice

in the wars...

Poor old Toddy - I told him to floss after finishing off my cups of milo, all that sugar and chocolate cant have been good for his teeth.

hope your'e well on the way to improvement now mum! you'll need your energy for all that galavanting around europe you young gadabout you.

I went to the Dunkley's great craft show (or something-a-rather) on Sunday. I was just meandering around the fudge and rubber stamp stalls when Lo! and Behold! if i didn't run into the Waffle Hut! It'd travelled all the way from sunny Timaru on its nationwide craft-show tour. The supreme waffle extraordinaire was delighted to learn that I used to gorge myself on his tasty waffles in the summer sun in the mighty Caroline Bay Carnival.

ok ok so i have no interesting stories!
back to work
dave

Timaru Today

Hi Everyone,

We hope you are all well, and that all the travelling is going great. Jean should be in Scotland today, and John is probably in North Canterbury.

We are really looking fwd to our trip, with only 7 sleeps to go. Most jobs seem to have been done----only need to collect tickets, buy some more money, take dogs to the kennels, and get on the plane.

I returned from Invercargill last night to find Barbara most unwell with Sinus troubles, and she has been in bed all day today. Hopefully the new antibiotics will kick in tonight.

Toddy has had a tooth root abscess and has had 2 teeth removed today.

Ashley is well!!!!.

Cheers, Ashley and Barbara.

.....reporting in from Nelson........

Like the rest of the South Island we have spent the day indoors, wrapped in winter woollies! The sun managed to slink out from behind the cloud cover for a whole hour, no where near long enough to warm us up. Yesterday was pretty much the same and we all ventured out for various sports matches,,,,Brrrrr, the wind whistled everywhere, even the players looked cold at times! Here is Tim's rugby game....he's the one at the back of the lineout with his hands on his hips, Tracey's netball photo is meant to be here to but a flat battery ended that photo shoot!! Better luck next weekend!
Congratulations Ashley on being elected President of the National Executive of Local Government Engineers, no doubt that will entail some extra travel and meetings during the year ahead. Well done, am sure you will enjoy the role!
As I type away here Willie is winging his way back to Nelson from Whangarei, where he has had the weekend with is family celebrating his dad's 85th birthday...a real milestone considering his poor health over the last few years.
Good luck Ashley and Barbara for your exciting adventure next week........ sounds like you are in for a wonderful time and certainly the temperatures will be vastly different!
We had a quiet Queen's Birthday weekend but did get a few things done around the house and garden ready for the winter. My freesias are up and the daffodils are poking their heads through the soil. The cammelias are looking great at present. Mum and Dad were here for the weekend as they were playing bowls.
We had an enjoyable few hours at the Founders Book Fair on Sunday morning. It ewas wet and cold and a good place to be. It is an annual event with a huge hall absolutely filled with tables and tables of books. The fair runs for two weeks...a book lovers delight! We found a few goodies in amongst the wide variety for sale.
Amy is home next week after her only exam on Monday. She's found an extremely cheap bus fare...$1 Chch to Nelson on "The Naked Bus.com" Seven hours to get here but at a $1 and travelling with a friend it won't be all bad! She returns the same way 10 days later!
Warm wishes to all
Janice

Back online...

Hello!
Sorry I've been slack on the blogs of late, email access has been a prob with my former flatties taking our connection with them. But, never fear I have the dial-up working and my ancient laptop on (you know it’s old when the spell-checker doesn't recognise 'internet' and 'e-mail').

Speaking of the former flatties, the couple we were living with moved out a couple of weeks back. Jeff will be taking their place in the flat soon for a couple of months until he gets settled in his new job and they (Jeff and Kate) decide what they wish to do re travel, accomodation, etc.

Have been catching up with Jeff a bit of late, he's been waiting for his stuff to arrive in AKL from Palmy for a couple of weeks now and is getting sick of the lonely apartment as you can imagine. Hopefully his stuff will arrive on Sat so he can move in.

I spent Queen's Birthday weekend at Kuaotunu Beach (North of Whitianga) with 12 mates from Knox. It really was heavenly. We even had amazing weather. I fully recommend to anyone wishing to get away to book a bach online, so easy and relatively cheap. We got a bach that sleeps upto 18 for $180 per night. Perfect.

Mary's high on life at the mo, she was working out at East Tamaki (miles away from Central Akl) for her first rotation at Lion Nathan, but as of couple of weeks ago has started at the Newmarket site (stone's throw away from home) in the innovation team. She's lovin the new role, marketing and designing new bevvies, etc. On her first week they sent her to a 3 day conference (pub crawl), think she's only just starting to recover. She's also started her legal profs course (online) for which she has her first assessment on Saturday. haha I say.

OK i'm starvin.

See you in the soup, when the peas grow :)
Dave

And may all the world sing....

Hi there! It is a stunning day here again today. The weather has been magnificent over the last fortnight..down to a cotton shirt during the day. First real frost [and a good one ] this morning but this is a small price to pay compared with the beautiful sunrises and the snow on the mountains gleaming in our view. Saturday was damp and awful but surprisingly the perfect 'winter' weather has returned.

The silly thing is that we have both had a nasty cold and flu so maybe it is the cold that kills the bugs. Ashley has the garden looking great for this time of the year. He light-prunned the roses a few weeks ago and they have rewarded us with another round of beautiful flowers and even more growth. We are hoping the grass stops growing soon so that we do not have to get it mowed before we leave. [we do remember a similar warm spell last year that came to an abrupt end with a dramatic snowfall!]

Ash leaves for Invercargill tomorrow night as he has a big executive meeting just after lunch on Wednesday. He will be elected President of the National Executive of Local Government Engineers so he will have a big few days until he returns home on Sunday night. Sadly I cannot go with him as I have already taken some leave for the trip away. Our Principal is still on sick leave with a brain tumour and so the staff is taking the strain. On Wednesday Night I have PTA interviews officially from 7-9 but mine start at 6.30-9.30 and then a waitng list...due to 3 senior English classes. I have already had many interviews last Friday.

Ash and i went to Waimate on Saturday afternoon so that I could deliver some pre-made food for dad [casseroles, mince, scones etc] and to check mum and her bags. She was highly organised and had made very good decisions about her gear. She travels to ChCh today and flies out to Singapore tomorrow. She and 2 other women are joining a bus tour to go around the British Isles; they have about a week or so in London and then join a second tour down the Continent as far as Italy, France, Austria , Switzerland etc. it is quite a plucky move considering she has only been as far as Australia previously. Dad is planning a mini trip to see his brother and sister in between his community committments.

We are looking forward to seeing the next week thru as hassle-free as possible. I hope Ash manages to get South and back without encountering nasty weather.

We are both getting very excited about our trip. We have been reading up on Istanbul..we have booked an extra 2 days there as the culture sounds amazing. We hope to stand at the point where Asia mets Europe and spend time visiting the amazing mosques, harem, bazaar, palaces etc. It will be a culture shock for us. It seems we have to get Hep A vaccinations this week and take heed of the travel advisary! I am more concerned about the possibilty of an earthquake or heatstroke.!!

It will be lovely to see Brian and Hella and family. Hopefully we can celebrate his 50th birtday a little earlier. It is a long way from Athens to Bilund but will be good to see everyone again and the dear wee village they live in.

Thankyou for the freesias. They have been planted and yesterday we discovered more bulbs in our shed so I guess they will go in this pm. It is a big bucketfull from all the pots we had when we shifted...they certainly have multiplied.

Hopefully everyone has had a good Queens Birthday. Jeff in a flat yet? David..did you get to the Coast? Kathleen..when is surgery? Kate is currently in Veitnam/Cambodia.
Time for lunch!! Hope to hear from you soon. Barbara and Ashley xxx