Well... since our last blog we've been very busy! I've had a few shifts working the bar on a private charter boat equipt with it's very own DJ. Dominic has been working on a local vinyard (Takatu) picking leaves and tieing back the vines. I was very disappointed when he returned from the days work empty handed!

We've spent the last two nights camping in our campervan at Tawharanui (pronounced taff-a-new-ee) Regional park. This has been very relaxed and tranquil. We idled away our time by lounging on the white stretched beaches and last night we did a short two hour ecology trek in hope of spotting a few kiwi birds. We were however too early to see them (the ranger told us this morning) as we were back to our camp for around 9pm when really we should have ben just heading out at that time. We did get to enjoy walking along the coast, seeing cute coves, exploring Kauri forests and wetland so our evening was not wasted. I say exploring Kauri forests but really it was very jungle like and as the sun was rapidly setting i sort of paniced and ran most of the way for fear of being eaten by some wild creature. Dominic later admitted that he too was pretty scared!

I, myself, am a hardened camper from years of exploring the North Yorkshire Moors with my dad so i passed this knowledge onto Dominic. On our first evening in Tawharanui we cooked burgers on the BBQ which was pretty exciting as it was our first camping expedition together. We actually ate our way through a 12 pack of burgers. To tell you the truth we sort of spoilt ourselves on this camping trip....burgers....beers....fresh fruit....mayonnaise....christmas cake. I hope Dominic doesn't think camping is always like this as we will probably just be eating tins of spaghetti with sausages in from now on!

Yesterday evening we enjoyed watching the stars. Tawharanui doesn't have any lights (nor does it have flushable toilets or showers!) so you really do have a clear sky to observe. Our van has a fab sun roof (or should i say moon roof?) which is just perfect for star gazing. Bliss. Dominic was lucky enought to see an incredibly bright shooting star fly by but i was too busy gasing to our French camping neighbour. Our van does not on the other had have a sturdy cigarrette lighter for boiling our plug in kettle. The said kettle blew the fuse once, Dom replaced it, we boiled the kettle as a test run before camping (took 20 mins to get luke warm!), got to the camp site and it blew the bloody fuse again (along with the clock and air condition....oh yeah we have air condition and it's an automatic....posh huh) so we've given up and taken the damn thing back to the shop for a refund! We'll just boil water on the gas stove from now, how it should be done.

We've experienced how tempremental the weather can be in New Zealand. We were awoke in the early hours of the morning by torrential rain battering the van. By midday the sun is blazing down and out comes the bikini! We sunbathed this morning (Christmas Eve) which was pretty strange but thoroughly enjoyable. It was, dare i say it, a little too hot!

Christmas will be strange this year as we're not spending it with the people we know and love. Plus i don't have a huge mound of prezzie to rip open in the morning so this year for the first time since i was born i may actually be able to get a proper nights sleep on Christmas eve! Dom and I aren't buying each other anything as the van was our present to each other. It would be great if i could click my fingers and be back at home celebrating with my family and watching my nephews faces as they see how many prezzies they've got but then i would want to click my fingers and be back in NZ again after boxing day. I guess you just can't have it all can you? We're spending Christmas in Auckland with Dominc's mum's cousin, Jan (and Ken) who are making us feel extremely welcome. They have lots of family coming over tomorrow for us to mingle with and they are all partial to the odd glass of vino, or three....bonus!

For the people who have been concerned about the earthquakes in Christchurch we are absolutely fine. It's terrible that they are having to clear up again whilst still clearing up from earlier in the year, it truly is devastating. We're hoping to visit there late in the new year as tourism all goes to help rebuild their city.

Hope you all have a Christmas that it 'sweet as' and a fabulous new year!