Mark & Gill » Other news

Off again soon

Gill — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 03:59:54 +0000

Well, a year of hard work and planning since our last trip has allowed us to be off on another adventure again soon (20 sleeps to go!!). We’ve got the bug… this time, we will spending most of our time in Europe. A once-over lightly to some extent with quick visits to 10 countries courtesy of a Trafalgar tour and then some time in Malta, Italy and France. (see our itinerary page and travel map – click on the index tabs).

As for the family- Andrew, who had time in Ireland and Canada earlier this year, will keep the home fires burning for us, looking after house and dog. We’ll be catching up with Matt and Kat at St Paul’s Bay in Malta in mid- September, after the bus tour- we might need a rest by then. Matt and Kat plan to be in Dublin for at least another year and are enjoying their OE (very briefly home in NZ for a visit last April).

And- Chris arrived back in NZ from Canada (Whistler) after 20 months away a few weeks ago. His girlfriend Rachel (from Cambridge, Ontario) came back with him and they are currently planning further travels in NZ and then time in Oz.

We need to travel to keep up with the kids!! After October though, Mark and I will be keen to host visitors to our shores – Dawn and Jim your beds are booked from the 14th!

Coasters

Gill — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 22:38:43 +0000

We can now say we have experienced a bit of life as “Coasters” ie. on the west coast- South Island NZ! Impressions – diverse, laidback, very little traffic in comparison to home, few people, big sandflies, beautiful scenery-coastal formations, stony beaches, rainforest, mountains and rivers. An enjoyable week exploring a region we have not visited for quite some time individually or together. We enjoyed the varied rugged scenery, walks in the bush, a wine tour, and some fine seafood! Mark is particularly keen to return with more time to kyack and tramp in Abel Tasman National Park and Gill will need to get into training for that trip! A memorable visit for Gill this time was visiting the Denniston Incline (coal mining – historical site) having read novels based on this area. See our trip photos.

Another Family Wedding

Gill — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 09:06:45 +0000

Christchurch NZ this time for KC (Kerryn) and Nic’s wedding on Jan 26th, 2008. Another fine day with a gentle breeze. The bride and bridesmaids arrived on time (in Audis), looking splendid! KC’s strapless white gown with blue v-shaped insert at the back was beautifully co-ordinated with the bridesmaids electric blue (XR8 blue!) dresses and the mens’ ties. The white and orange calla lilies carried by the bride and bridemaids respectively added a dramatic touch. (see photos)

The reception was at Langdale Winery just out of Christchurch – a gorgeous garden setting where we enjoyed drinks and nibbles prior to a sit-down dinner- yum! The speeches were highly entertaining and a family highlight was the presentation to my Dad (KC’s grandfather) of a very spiffy little jacket. This fashionable number was in recogition of Dad’s declaration some months previously to KC that he had found just the right fashion statement that he could wear to her wedding! (He should not joke with us!!)

The newlyweds honeymooned in Tonga.

A Family Wedding

Gill — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 04:06:37 +0000

This last weekend (24th Nov) in Katikati we celebrated the wedding of our “adopted” daughter – Gill’s niece Adelle who has lived with us for the last year or so. She came to stay for 2 weeks and stayed for 67! Adelle moved to Hamilton to work at Deloitte and to be near her boyfriend Josh who became her fiance in January 07.

With 2 of our 3 sons now living overseas for an unknown period it has been great to have a daughter in the house. Delz (and Josh) have been home more than our other son Andrew who sleeps downstairs! We will see who misses who the most!

The wedding was great – click the photos tab above to see our gallery. The bride looked beautiful in a strapless white silk gown – boned and ruched with beading and diamantes clustered along the right-hand side seam. The bridesmaids wore pale apple green A-line style dresses with narrow pink sashes under the bust and the ladies all carried bright pink gerberas.

The groom and his men scrubbed up well too with matching apple green ties and pink gerbera buttonholes! The page boy, nephew Frazer, was very cute and he carried the rings (secretly) in a miniature tool belt under his suit. (Josh is a builder.)

The father-of-the-bride made it down the aisle in an admirable fashion on his crutches – avoiding the bride’s train and getting to the pew just in time for a rest.

The reception venue in Tauranga overlooked the marina – a lovely dinner and superb sunset (great for photos) was followed by an evening of dancing thoroughly enjoyed by all including Gill’s Dad. It was great to have nearly all the family there and to have “telegrams” from Matt and Kat in Dublin and Chris in Whistler – Matt and Chris were actually snowboarding together in Whistler! (see photos on Matt’s blog www.mattandkatbrown.com)

On Sunday we had a family BBQ at Waihi Beach and the newly-weds arrived to open their presents prior to honeymooning in Rarotonga.

September in Melbourne

Gill — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 19:59:45 +0000

It was cold but the company was warm! We’ve just enjoyed a brief 4 days in Melbourne. We spent 3 nights with Gwen and Merv who are experiencing Ozzie life on a teacher exchange for a year. From their “new place” at Frankston we journeyed around the Mornington Peninsula about an hours drive from the CBD. The peninsula curves around one side of Port Phillip Bay. Our guides and chauffers showed off and impressed us with their “new” local knowledge – we checked out the views (from Oliver’s Hill, Arthur’s Seat, and Cape Schanck), villages, “hinterland hamlets”, surf beaches with their charmingly quaint little beach huts and met the pelicans. Gwen and I managed to squeeze in some shopping and I purchased one wedding outfit- one to go!! It was great to catch up and natter throughout the weekend and Merv tried his best to educates us on the mysteries of the AFL which seems to rather dominate the sports scene – go the All Blacks!!

We also stayed a night with friends David and Wendy (also avid AFL fans). They are working for Wycliffe where the offices are based at Kangaroo Ground – a trip there on our way to the airport proved to be true to name and we saw mums and joey’s and others too!

Melbourne is currently experiencing a severe water shortage and the landscape is rather parched and thirsty – a shower of rain on our last morning certainly made David and Wendy’s garden glisten but NZ looks very very green in comparison.