MERRY CHRISTMAS everyone!

It is Christmas Day here with us, we are cooking Christmas lunch with all the trimmings... pigs in blankets and yorkshire puddings too (even though it's a chicken not beef that we're cooking!) it's really nice and hot here, probably 29 deg C, not a cloud in the sky and really quiet. We're going to head to the beach later to toast some marshmallows over a fire! Not exactly your average christmas day, but then it's not exactly snowing or cold here at the moment.

We went exploring on the quad bike (which Rachel's learnt to drive... off roading teaching still in progress) and David went and chopped down a tree which we decorated in paper snowflakes and our one red decoration. we've got little lights up in our room to add the christmassy feel.

Last week we were given the week off from WWOOFing as the weather (rain and lots of it) had made the jobs that needed to be done on the farm impossible to do. We decided to drive up to Gisborne (up the East Coast) which we didn't stay in very long. it seemed to be a bit of a ghetto! so we carried on up towards Opotiki. we stopped at a campsite on the way, in the middle of a massive gorge. there were other people there which was nice and had thunder and lightning that night. Not so good when you're in a tent.

We then headed up to Opotiki, a small but reasonably sized town right by the sea. We found a nice little hostel called "Central Oasis" which was run by a german couple. it was the first time we'd stayed in a hostel in a dorm since we left Auckland for the first time. We met some fun people, especially the two Italians who were job hunting. One of them, when he came over to New Zealand didn't speak a word of English, and he's done pretty well in 8 weeks! We made our way down to the beach that day, as it was really sunny. As soon as we got to the beach though, the sun went in which made it a bit chilly due to the windy day. But we had a paddle in the Pacific and walked up the beach a fair way. It was a bit bizarre as where we parked, there wasn't an ice cream van like you'd expect, but instead a cappacino van?! odd. very odd.

After our nights stay in Opotiki, we headed down through two national forests to a campsite called Sanctuary. It wasn't our first choice; we had been wanting to stay at one up the road about 15km away (next to a waterfall) , however when we arrived there was a huge Maori party going on and we thought it best not to be the only ones not getting involved. It worked out quite well though. After 8km of gravel track we came to a small campsite (for only 3 sets of campers) right next to a stream and a forest. We were the only ones there, thankfully!

We then had the long drive (62km) of gravel track to get to the next (serviced woohoo) campsite called Waikaramoana. It's on the shores of the lake Waikaramoana, a beautiful sight when driving up the long and winding roads over looking it. It's huge and so beautifully blue. The mountains around it made for great photo opportunities so we stopped a few times along the way to take some snaps. We arrived mid afternoon and were given a great spot overlooking the lake for our tent. There were so many sandflies buzzing around that we decided now would be a good time to take a dip in the lake. It was freezing. No other words. Patches were warm where it was more shallow and the sun had warmed it up, but you had to keep all your body moving or slowly become an ice cube! thankfully we dried off quickly in the sunshine. It was nice to be at a place with hot showers though, we were glad to have one by that stage.

The next day we headed back to Waimarama ready to house sit for our WWOOFing family who are now on holiday at, funnily enough, Waikaramoana! They may be back on the 27th, or 30th, we don't know yet. But it's nice being able to cook! We're looking after all the farm whilst they're gone, so that includes the pigs, sheep, cows, 4 horses (one of which has mud rash & is a moody so-and-so and David would quite happily shoot!), 14 chickens, fish, a cat called Minnie and a dog called Pippin. Quite a menagerie!

We will try to put up some photos soon, we keep trying but it seems to mess up the internet here, so we'll try in an internet cafe when we leave.

Much love to you all, have a very happy christmas and new year!!

David and Rachel xxx