Rick, Nicky and Claire in NZ

Unsurprisingly, it has been a busy week. Nicky and Claire were both working on Monday and Tuesday, so it fell to me to be Izzy's (Claire's school friend visiting from the UK) tour guide. On Monday we went west to Bethalls. It is the first time I have been to one of the "black beaches" in the summer, and the sand was as hot as I expected. I had not expected the tide to be in and wadding through the stream to get us over to O'Neills got us both a little wet! However, we largely dried out while eating our picnic lunch. On our way back we stopped at the Fairy Falls, a gentle series of waterfalls. The walk to the bottom of the falls takes about 35 mins and goes down 61 sets of stairs. Coming back up takes a little longer. Then we called into the Arataki visitor centre to admire the view, before collecting Claire from work. On Tuesday morning I had to go and do a little Mac work, but once I returned Izzy and I set out on the souvenir trail so she could buy gifts to take...

Sorry it has taken me awhile to get round to doing this, but here are some photos from Claire's party.

I could say that with Christmas approaching it has been another busy week, but it has not been entirely Christmas related. Claire and Izzy "did" Kelly Tarltons and Mission Bay on Monday. On Tuesday Claire was back at work and I took Izzy into town for her to join a Contiki tour of the North Island (taking in the Bay of Islands and Rotorua). She returned this evening, tired but having had a wonderful time. On Tuesday evening, Claire had her works Christmas do at Gengis Khan in New Lynn which went well. On Wednesday evening we hosted Nicky's Church Life Group social here, putting my BBQ skills to the test for the first time this season. I used a type of charcoal which I haven't tried before and it worked very well so I was pleased and relieved. I can still remember the problems I had last summer not only getting the BBQ to light, but getting the fire-lighters to light! Anyway, Wednesday evening was good (I did home made burgers). Friday lunchtime was Nicky's turn fo...

It has been an action packed week. Chris Howes was still with us on Monday and had the day out with Nicky. They started off going to the library in Ranui, and then onto morning tea with friends from church, popped into the Waitakere Ranges visitor centre, and then had the afternoon in Devonport. The weather was great and they had an excellent day. On Tuesday morning Nicky took Chris to the airport to catch her flight to Australia. We she got back I took her down to the railway station so she could go to work and then Claire and I went off to Newmarket to continue the search for 21st jewellery. This was reasonably positive but we didn't find the "drop dead gorgeous" item so finished the trip with gelato. Wednesday was back to the airport to collect Izzy Mullins, a school friend of Claire's from the UK who is visiting us for a couple of weeks. The weather was hot and sunny to welcome Izzy. In the evening they went off to Ponsonby to fire lasers at each other with a bunc...

It has been a busy week, with us all being back at work. Nicky has done her usual 40 hours at Ranui Library, Claire has been doing extra hours at Whitcoulls as the Christmas rush begins, I have had a reasonable amount of Mac work. Claire and I also also spent some time shopping for her 21st birthday present this week. The family is clubbing together for a piece of jewellery. We haven't found anything "just right" yet because Claire would prefer to having something which is "just right" as opposed to compromising in order to get something before next Friday. Yesterday we were joined by Chris Howe, a friend of Nicky's from the UK who is visiting family in Australia and NZ. We had our local Santa parade yesterday, and after watching this Nicky and Chris went for walk and found a group of harpists playing by the beach. Today they have been to the Botanic Gardens while Claire and I have been relaxing and doing domestic tasks. Chris, the giant texting bunny and Ni...