TravelStream™ news feed for member kirksabroad on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/kirksabroad en-us Copyright ©2012 TravelPod.com Sun, 22 May 2011 23:35:18 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kirksabroad/1/1297609449/tpod.html http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kirksabroad/1/1297609449/tpod.html#comment Travel Blogs http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kirksabroad/1/1297609449/tpod.html Mon, 23 May 2011 03:35:18 +0000 Seven suitcases and one guitar

Weetbix Tryathlon - Lower Hutt, New Zealand

Lower Hutt, New Zealand

The kids have just completed the Weetbix Tryathlon in the local park - a huge event for kids here in New Zealand

***Ooops! Forgot to publish this. Only 3 months late ***

]]> http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kirksabroad/1/1293571650/tpod.html http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kirksabroad/1/1293571650/tpod.html#comment Travel Blogs http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kirksabroad/1/1293571650/tpod.html Tue, 28 Dec 2010 09:03:09 +0000 Seven suitcases and one guitar

Merry Christmas: the great Wellington summer?? - Paekakariki, New Zealand

Paekakariki, New Zealand

The Christmas week has proved to be the classic Wellington unpredictable summer. Christmas Day was clear blue skies and sunshine all the way, we ended up at the beach late evening basking in the sun while the kids played with their water pistols and tested their new scooters.

Fast forward to 27th December and we headed off to the camp site at Paekakariki, an hour up the Kapiti Coast. The first night was great, a little windy, but we sat up with friends Shane and Michelle sinking a few drinks and looking forward to a week's camping. All that changed in the night as the wind and rain got progressively worse. In the end about midday today the tent, and us, gave up and we escaped home.

The tent collapsed/dismantled and secured (hopefully) from blowing away, we are going back tomorrow to check out if the holiday can go ahead. No doubt, this being Wellington, it will be amazing sunshine as though the storm never happened!

Happy New Year!




]]> http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kirksabroad/1/1291848956/tpod.html http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kirksabroad/1/1291848956/tpod.html#comment Travel Blogs http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kirksabroad/1/1291848956/tpod.html Wed, 08 Dec 2010 10:17:12 +0000 Seven suitcases and one guitar

The big Queenstown trip: bungyyyyyy - Queenstown, New Zealand

Queenstown, New Zealand

The final day was the big one; a change to do a bungy jump, form the birthplace of bungy - Kawarau bridge in Queenstown. Not the biggest bridge, but big enough and I was still jumping off a bridge with some elastic around my feet. Not something that logic says you should do.

What an adrenaline rush though! Millie is very keen to do one too, so I would definitely be keen on another try, with her this time, maybe at Taupo.

Here's the event on You Tube - fwd to the bit where I leap!

And more from the blog I did for work

A great experience all in all, a nice way to spend 4 days of work



]]> http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kirksabroad/1/1291843958/tpod.html http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kirksabroad/1/1291843958/tpod.html#comment Travel Blogs http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kirksabroad/1/1291843958/tpod.html Wed, 08 Dec 2010 09:51:10 +0000 Seven suitcases and one guitar

The big Queenstown trip day 3: adventure day - Queenstown, New Zealand

Queenstown, New Zealand

Day 3 ramped up with some adventure activities

• A trip to Coronet Peak Ski field
• Jetboat trip on Shotover River
• Helicopter trip
• Luge ride down the mountain

More stuff about the day here



]]> http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kirksabroad/1/1291840790/tpod.html http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kirksabroad/1/1291840790/tpod.html#comment Travel Blogs http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kirksabroad/1/1291840790/tpod.html Wed, 08 Dec 2010 09:09:57 +0000 Seven suitcases and one guitar

The big Queenstown trip - Arrowtown and Glow worms - Te Anau, New Zealand

Te Anau, New Zealand

Back in October, I was asked to drive the minibus for the WelTec Tourism students' trip to Queenstown and surrounding regions - thought I would finally post up the info and pictures of this trip before the Christmas one start coming in :-)
It was a great opportunity to see a part of New Zealand that I hadn't visited before. Being a tourism trip and with the tutor's contacts, every kind of adventure activity was thrown in.

Day 1

We flew down to Queenstown via Christchurch, where the minibusses were collected, then went on to the swanky Millbrook Resort where the students, on their best behaviour, were shown around. There were brilliant blue skies, which continued for the rest of the four day trip.

After that it was on to Arrowtown, a picture postcard mining settlement, turned tourist spot. The big event of the day though was the visit to the glow worm caves of Te Anau.

At this stage I am going to be lazy and link to the blog I set up for the tourism department to document the trip.



]]> http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kirksabroad/1/1291841940/tpod.html http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kirksabroad/1/1291841940/tpod.html#comment Travel Blogs http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kirksabroad/1/1291841940/tpod.html Wed, 08 Dec 2010 08:15:54 +0000 Seven suitcases and one guitar

The Big Queenstown trip day 2: Milford Sound - Milford Sound, New Zealand

Milford Sound, New Zealand

As Larry David would say, 'Pretty pretty good'

I am told it is even more spectacular on a rainy day when the waterfalls are gushing. I must say I was pretty happy with the trip on such a sunny day though.

Here's some pics from the Sounds and along the way.



]]> http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kirksabroad/1/1286651867/tpod.html http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kirksabroad/1/1286651867/tpod.html#comment Travel Blogs http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kirksabroad/1/1286651867/tpod.html Sat, 09 Oct 2010 06:43:06 +0000 Seven suitcases and one guitar

Japanese food and New Zealand walks - Lower Hutt, New Zealand

Lower Hutt, New Zealand

We all went out to celebrate Ann's birthday to a local Japanese restaurant Ichiban teppanyaki recently. what a great experience and good fun. They prepare the food in front of you so it s really fresh and put on a real show sending flames up in the air and chopping the food up. when it got to the rice stage the chef threw each of us a bowl of rice which we had to catch in another bowl. dylan looked terrified of dropping it... I think we all did in fact.

For Millie, Helen and Ann it was then off to the World of Wearable Arts show in Wellington, which is a real extravaganza of OTT, unusual and theatrical clothes. Dylan and I kicked stones by the river and went home.

A couple of weekends ago we all went out for a fairly long walk with some friends, kids in tow, but they turned out to be the most energetic of us all. We went to the start of the Belmont hills at the foot of KoroKoro working our way up to the old dam. A bit of excitement at the top ensued when after feeding the ducks some bread half of the ducklings ended up disappearing down the dam after being dive bombed by another duck - never to be seen again we thought. The kids went off in search of them and amazingly managed to rescue 6 (amazing because only 5 went down the dam). I don't think the mother duck was too impressed.

]]> http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kirksabroad/1/1284842992/tpod.html http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kirksabroad/1/1284842992/tpod.html#comment Travel Blogs http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kirksabroad/1/1284842992/tpod.html Sat, 18 Sep 2010 09:03:11 +0000 Seven suitcases and one guitar

End of season awards - Petone, Lower Hutt, New Zealand

Petone, Lower Hutt, New Zealand

The winter sports have finished and time for a little breather for a few weeks before the kids jump into the summer sports. Millie will be doing hockey and Dylan has signed up for cricket.

Today was Dylan's awards ceremony where I had to get up and say a few words about how well the team has done. All good fun, I've enjoyed coaching the kids and seeing how they have progressed and enjoyed playing as a team.

Note Nanny Ann in one of the pictures below, she arrived from the UK today - especially for the awards ceremony :-)

]]> http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kirksabroad/1/1281878517/tpod.html http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kirksabroad/1/1281878517/tpod.html#comment Travel Blogs http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kirksabroad/1/1281878517/tpod.html Sun, 15 Aug 2010 01:58:26 +0000 Seven suitcases and one guitar

Birthday time - Alicetown. Lower hutt, New Zealand

Alicetown. Lower hutt, New Zealand

Ages since I have been on here with any news. Kids birthdays seem a reasonable excuse for posting something though. And Millie is 10! Who would have thunk it?

Dylan's birthday was first up in July, which we spent having a party at the local football club where he plays and I coach - Petone We hired the hall and the club rooms and let them charge around playing football and assorted other games, followed by pizzas and cake, then rounded off by battering a pinata football to death. It seemed pretty successful and a good idea for a party for a bunch of energetic boys (most of whom had been to another party earlier in the day and still had energy to burn. All of the pictures we took are at this link.

Millie's birthday was an altogether more theatrical affair. 1950's themed Cadillac Diner was the venue and of course '50's dress up was the theme. I blame Grease! I think Helen was expecting more from an experience point of view, but I reckon she has been spoilt by depictions of the 50's and diners in the movies - maybe something like Jack Rabbit Slim's in Pulp Fiction. There were no Buddy Holly look-a-likes or dancing waitresses, but this is Lower Hutt after all, not LA. The place was done out really well and the food was good. The kids especially liked being picked up by the diner's owner in a pink Cadillac and driven around before getting dropped off. The other pictures are at this link

]]> http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kirksabroad/1/1275231217/tpod.html http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kirksabroad/1/1275231217/tpod.html#comment Travel Blogs http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kirksabroad/1/1275231217/tpod.html Sun, 30 May 2010 03:39:45 +0000 Seven suitcases and one guitar

Chasing waterfalls - Korokoro, New Zealand

Korokoro, New Zealand

Helen's away in Blenheim, Millie's on a sleepover, so Dylan and I were kicking around on a quiet Sunday. We'd exhausted playing Star Wars with his Lego, so as this was the first day for 8 days that it wasn't chucking it down, we decided to go for a walk at nearby Percy's reserve.

Armed with some food and Dylan's spudgun and a fresh spud for ammo off we went. One of the great things about living here is the easy access to such
nice outdoor places. This took us 5 mins to drive to The last time I had visited was when my parents were over and one track in particular got the better of us, the waterfall track, as the path had eroded quite badly. This time however it seems like the council have been hard at work repairing, widening and strengthening it with stones and steps. After stopping for Dylan to 'feed' some ducks courtesy of his spudgun we set off and it proved to be a great little walk now if you have kids in tow.

On the way back Dylan also took some time out to get as muddy as possible sliding down a soggy embankment.


]]>