Dawes Family in New Zealand

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First Steps
2008-02-05 08:22:00
Little old camera headed off this morning to Auckland to have some R&R and that could take up to 3 weeks, so this is probably a fantastic time for me to do a little 'journey back in time' piece. Whilst looking through our old photos on the PC we came across this - a video of Bethany in our old house in the UK taking her first proper steps! Magical, how this made us smile....wasn't she just gorgeous?!
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Mt KauKau
2008-02-03 08:01:00
Recently we have been spending some good times with our friend Jeremy. Last week he came over for a BBQ at our new place, it was nice to have him over and of course Michael always loves the chance to have a BBQ!!So Jeremy kindly invited us to his house today and not only for a BBQ, but for a walk up Mt KauKau - probably the only place in Wellington we haven't been to yet!!We set off early so we could try and avoid the midday sun, the walk was actually a tough one (well for me!) but the others found it quite easy going, even Bethany did amazingly well. The route must have taken us just over and hour but the views on the way up were fantastic!However the track was really dry, sandy and stony and I slipped down onto my bottom! And if the embarrassment wasn't enough, I had squashed the camera that was in my back pocket and now it doesn't work. I am DEVASTATED!So with the last breaths left in our bodies we made it to the top...here are some photos from Jeremy's phone. The first is th...

He Calls It 'Work'
2008-02-01 07:30:00
One thing that has completely made me speechless (and there isn't much to do that!) is what Mr D gets up to when he is 'at work'. We have mentioned before about how you are treated with the respect you deserve here and that you are counted as a member and not just another number - and that extends beyond the actual work walls too. Michael comes home with the most wonderful tales of the days events and most of them of course include food. One day I was privileged to a morning email of 'we are just having KFC as its someones birthday' to then to a lunchtime email of 'we are having Hangi for lunch' and then later email in the afternoon of 'I have just got back from ice-creams and coffee'!! But not only as part of his working day does Mr D enjoy riding his mountain bike around Wellington but he also gets to do this: And if like today you feel like a BBQ - well just ride home with your biker workmates and do it!! Life is completely different for us now, it's fantastic. My hubby...
More About: Work , Calls

The King Of Bugz!
2008-01-31 08:19:00
My friend Dawn has just left a comment on the last post asking if we get Weta here...talk about coincidence - look what we found in the watering can this morning!! This guy was about 8 inches long!
More About: The King , King

Bugz!
2008-01-30 09:31:00
Now anyone who knows me would say I'm not the type to enjoy a bug, but they would be wrong! Since moving to our new home I have been lost every night in the wonderland that is our lush garden. It has some of the most amazing native NZ flowers, plants and trees and I am a little ashamed to say I haven't had much time for house work as I have been too busy going round the garden in awe!!So I took some snaps of the little critters. I then found a fantastic website called Landcare Research which shows you photos of the actual bug and a description of what they do etc. So here is what I found so far:This is a shell of a Chorus Cicada called the Cicada Nymphs. Looks pretty horrible but it is literally the shell, you can find these around the garden just randomly stuck to things! See below for what came out of the shell!This is a Chorus Cicada, pretty standard insect in New Zealand. This guy was really big at roughly 2 inches long, and was making the most amazing sound. The sound of summ...

Day One: Silverstream Kindergarten
2008-01-28 09:04:00
Today was the first day back for most of the kids who go to Kindy, for some it will be the normal for them and for others it was the excitement of moving to morning sessions from afternoons (meaning they are getting older). But for Bethany today was the first day of not only starting morning sessions, but also starting a new Kindergarten . I have been secretly dreading this happening for a few weeks now. Since the holidays started in December I really don't feel like I have spent much time with Bethany, we have been so busy with the house move that our special time together that we normally have everyday has been interrupted. Also, now that she has started morning Kindy means she is well on her way to starting school soon - a scary thought! At 6.55am this morning Bethany bounded into our bedroom fully dressed and ready to go, she was actually quite excited and wasn't at all interested in having breakfast. She just wanted to play with her new Spongebob Squarepants lunch back pack an...

Pick A Memory
2008-01-26 08:01:00
Do you remember the time before Digital Camera's? You know, the time when you had to manually load a film into the camera and then after taking your snaps waiting up to a week to get them back!? We now live in the age where Bethany always asks me 'to see' after taking a photo, one day I will try to explain to her about it all but doubt she will understand! So I'm sure everyone has packs of photos laying in a cupboard not really having any attention. As you know I love my photography and so it's just a sin to me to have all those magical moments sitting alone in the dark. So we created a pin board, dug out all the old photos and had a night laughing, reminiscing and remembering some amazing times. Now they are all out for everyone to see...
More About: Memory , Pick

Fish & Chip Lunch
2008-01-24 09:57:00
Well, not exactly. But where else in the world do your colleagues at work go for a bike ride at lunch time, taking with them snorkel gear and a knife, only to come back after a swim in the harbour to catch their lunch?Today a few guys from work went out, took a swim and came back with a few fresh Paua. After being preparing and cooked in the office kitchen, it was handed out around the office. Seafood doesn't get much fresher than "20 mins ago it was swimming in the harbour!"
More About: Fish , Lunch , Chip

We Are So Lucky
2007-12-12 08:25:00
My friend Jo text me this morning to say there were some Dolphins in the bay where she lives. I have told her she always has to tell me and we will be there in a shot and so we were.We arrived just before 8am in blistering 22 degrees heat to a deserted beach and what looked like 3 pods of Dolphins in various areas. Soon the guys in the kayaks appeared and 'played' with them and not long after that the whole area was laden with people as the word must have got round! The video I took is only camera quality but you can see how close and how clear they were. I was lost for words, the emotion that comes from watching the freedom overwhelms me. Utterly amazing and we are so so lucky...
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Gefeliciteert - Again!
2007-12-12 08:08:00
Congratulations to our gorgeous friends Annemieke and Peter on the arrival of Pemma. All I can say is wow - I have just spoken with Annemieke and she is doing fantastically well already - our love and our support is here for you always...

A Christmassy Weekend - In The Sun!
2007-12-11 09:39:00
Saturday morning Jo and I teamed up and took the kids to Capital E and were transported back in time Christmas of yesteryear…into an era of Queen Victoria. We wandered into a snowy London street filled with candlelight and coal-fires, mistletoe and magic. We saw shops dripping in decorations, could smell cloves & orange in the air and we even got to peek into Scrooge’s bedroom… It was fantastic. Capital E recently did the big Halloween event which was awesome and they didn't disappoint this time either. The children ran from place to place in anticipation and the kiwi kids were in awe of the snow in the windowsills! There was just so much for us to do, we met Santa and got to sit in his sleigh, we got to make Christmas cards and use a turn of the century printing press to make festive greetings inside, and we got to make our own Christmas crackers. We even got to sing traditional carols around the pianola!!!Saturday night I ended up in town trying to have a quiet drink an...
More About: Weekend

A World Of Weather
2007-12-10 10:11:00
At exactly the same point in time 13 hours apart, this is what the north of England and Wellington looked like...
More About: Weather , World

Putting Up The Tree
2007-12-09 06:17:00
Saturday the 8th of December was when we picked our Christmas Tree . Last year we chose one from someone down the road who had literally headed up a forest and hacked some down. Feeling a little guilty about that we went and chose one from somewhere that was not only raising money for the local school but promised to replace the trees with new ones. So conscience clear this year we stuck it to the top of the car and headed off. Bethany also found a 'tree' of her own! Saturday was a dull day (albeit 22 degrees) and so the mood when putting up the tree this year felt more Christmassy. Christmas songs on, decorations out and one excited little girl meant lots of fun, especially when she decorated her own tree! I recently bought some gorgeous tree decorations from the Wildlife Sanctuary in Karori which are of various New Zealand native birds and animals. My intentions to send everyone in the UK one failed as we wanted to keep them all for ourselves!Our parents are very lucky people h...
More About: Putting

Coastal Ride
2007-12-07 19:15:00
Yesterday, a big group of us from work went out for a bike ride. We usually go out on a lunch time for an hour around Wellington's coast, or up Mt Vic for some downhill fun - but this time it was a bit further.We met the Red Bull crew first, who supplied us with a few cans of drink to help us on our way.After that we set off for our ride, which was to take us the entire coast line of Wellington - approx 45Km. As you can see, Monteiths provided us with some t-shirts for the ride so we were in uniform.We stopped after about 20Km for a break, and were met by some friends from work with our supplies. The food for the team was of course a healthy steak & cheese pie and a bottle of Monteiths Summer Ale! After that, we continued on along the rugged coastline, through the gale force winds and towards our fan club waiting by the side of the road. We were met along the way by Marrisa and Bethany, who were with Annemieke and her son Norbert.That was our final rest stop, before riding up O...
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Out & About
2007-12-06 06:57:00
I've had a cracking few days. My outings to various attractions have slowed down over the last few weeks, mainly because of the huge amount of Christmas shopping and preparation, but also because we have spent a lot of time sorting everything out with our new house. So the last few days have been a fantastic break from it all. As I have said before I have never had a lot of friends, but since coming here I have made some brilliant ones, I absolutely love these guys! Monday morning we met the beautiful Sarah, Sophie and Charlotte at the Zoo. Michael took Bethany on Saturday to the opening of the new African Savannah and as all Bethany did was talk about how great it was I wanted to go see it too! The morning was lovely, the weather perfect and we had a stroll round watching the girls enjoy the joy of what the zoo had to offer. Sadly someone at the zoo didn't really do their research properly as the exhibit was literally a empty Savannah - all the animals had been separated! The poo...

Paradise
2007-12-05 08:59:00
There is nothing better than wine, seriously there isn't. But what makes wine even better? Sitting outside on our decking with a view like this on a gorgeous night....now that is paradise!
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Searching For...
2007-12-03 08:45:00
Pretty much every website on the net these days has some kind of user-tracking tool, which enables us to see who is visiting the site, where from, how long they stay on etc. We are no exception of course and we use the Google Analytics utility, free HERE if you want it.With this stuff, we can also see what brought visitors to the site, eg a link from another web page, a direct visit, or from some search results. It's the search results that give us the best entertainment however. If you type Dawes New Zealand into www.google.com and search, then click the link to follow to our page, those search key words are tracked. Some people however, search for the strangest things, and here is an example: nz motorcycle gangsnz biker gangsnz biker (see a pattern developing?)david trubridge float nz (Who is David and why does he float?)fish roller coaster wellington (The marine life have a funfair!)photo mouse on pizza (I mean, come on....)take me high dawes (erm... ok)I have to say, this...
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A Savannah, Musical Chairs & A Doctor!
2007-12-02 07:25:00
Saturday morning started with a bonding trip for Daddy and Bethany. Being members of Wellington Zoo meant we had a special invite to the grand opening of the new African Savannah which they have been working on for nearly a year now. Sounds like they had an awesome time, as they watched in the glorious morning sunshine the zebras, ostriches, antelopes and giraffe all make friends. As an extra special treat Bethany even got to feed a giraffe!! I heard the whole story from Bethany when she came home, there were very few breaths in between as she told me about how she saw other animals too and how they saw a baby chimp - but he was 'kinda ugly'! Sunday rolled around and we were excited to attend one of Bethany's little friends birthday party - Lydia was 4. There were heaps of children and they all had the most amazing fun playing, musical chairs, musical statues, pass the parcel and a treasure hunt whilst in between stuffing their faces with some yummy food and eating ice-crea...
More About: Musical , Chairs , Doctor

Remember Remember The End of Movember!
2007-11-30 06:20:00
It's been a hard month, and I mean hard! A group of us have been growing mo's and to be honest, we all look ridiculous!Here I am after a full month:Actually, that's not me - that's my Dad in the 80's! Here I am look:Whoops, no that's not my mo either - although I am in that photo! Here's the final pic:And for posterity, here's all of the Mo Bro's from work:Thank you to everyone who has sponsored me. I think I raised over $300 for a good cause! Roll on Movember 2008!

Commercial Breakdown
2007-11-29 04:59:00
Spend an hour listening to commercial radio, or watching commercial TV you'll see NZ is a little bit more relaxed about what it broadcasts. The radio on an afternoon has plenty of words that most UK DJ's would be taken off-air for, and to be honest, it's quite funny. TV is the same too, and some of the TV ads that have been on recently have been great. The humour level is definitely more to our taste!This is ice cream advert is a classic, and hopefully - the budgie smugglers will never be back in fashion!This one's an example of words that generally don't make it onto British TV!Funnily enough, I played this game a long time before seeing it here. But if you haven't seen it before, beware the spoon!The ads for Franks juices are exactly that - frank.Some of the ads on TV here show the breathtaking scenery and the haunting music, but we'll save those for another day!
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Look What We Bought....!
2007-11-27 06:46:00
So we did it - on Sunday we bought our first New Zealand home!!! The last few weeks have been pretty busy. We have been here, there and everywhere viewing houses and we had resigned ourselves to leaving it till the new year, as we didn't find anything we liked. Every home we saw was different and some very nice (with swimming pools!), but there was just something 'not quite right'. Anyway, we decided this house was the last one we were going to look at. It's about 20 minutes outside the city in a gorgeous place called Silverstream. We had so far been heading up the coast looking in the Kapiti area and not really considered going 'in land' - however, good job we did!We went on Saturday and fell completely in love with it. Here are some pictures and for more pictures you can view the photo tour by clicking here. It's all on one level, has 3 bedrooms and is open plan living. It's surrounded by the most amazing landscaped private gardens and decking, double garage (which has a ...

Down To 7 Lives
2007-11-26 06:01:00
If Bethany was a cat she would now only have 7 lives left. You may remember the story from a while back when she hid from me and I not only lost the plot but it was the first time Bethany faced strong punishment. Today Bethany lost her 8th life.Every Monday and Tuesday I have Bethany and another little girl to look after, and normally they play where I can see them or in the play room which is on the same floor of the house but out of sight. Over the last few weeks the two girls have been rather mischievous, with painting things not meant to be painted and ripping posters off the wall and tearing them up into tiny pieces.However today beats all that. We were downstairs looking for some books to read and the phone rang, I left them to choose books. It was a call from one of my friends in the UK and 10 minutes must have passed before I realised I hadn't heard anything from them. I ended the call and I went downstairs and was faced with the absolute horror of two girls, body lotions, ...
More About: Lives

Long Distant Love...
2007-11-24 10:27:00
My gorgeous best friend gets married to her man today. I breaks my heart to miss it, it really does. It's been over a year since we looked into each others eyes, a year since I knew what she was thinking and a year since we last held each other close. I miss her more than ever. A few of our nearest and dearest friends (Mark and Sarah, Jo and Pete) recently were married and the pain we felt from missing those special days will stay with us forever.Please send out all your love to the most amazing cople, have a fantastic wedding day, doubt I will sleep tonight for thinking of you and your special day but I just want you to know I love you both, and you will always be in my heart and with me despite the distance.Congratulations....xx
More About: Love , Long

A Good Eye
2007-11-22 01:35:00
New Zealand is a stunning country, and because of that I have developed a keen interest in photography. We don't have a flash camera so my shots are pretty standard, but I am currently compiling some of my best photos soon which I will unleash on you all soon! I met up with my gorgeous friend Sarah this morning who is always snap happy and takes some amazing photos. Her positive vibes and feedback on my photos is always welcome, and her photos are inspirational, natural and she has such a good eye for a fantastic picture. She took these whilst we were out having lunch - they are great. I really just wanted to share these as I thought they were amazing, and its always lovely to see photos from another persons perspective. I am in awe of anyone with big lens (oo er!) and just love the fact it's not hard to find something amazing to take stunning pictures of here. It seems however everyone you meet is a amateur turning pro - and good on them!
More About: Good

Road Rash
2007-11-21 05:36:00
"A lesson learned the hard way, is a lesson you won't forget" © Michael Dawes 2007.Now if you're an avid reader of F3NZ, you'll have seen this on there already, but for those who aren't, here's the grizzly details: It had to happen. After a few months of successful mountain biking, I had my 1st major off. I'm not the 1st in our group (4th actually) so I guess it was just a matter of time.It was the usual "happened so quick I didn't have time to react" situation. I'd known I'd needed some new tyres on the bike for a while, because the front tyre wall is weak and it keeps slipping on the rim. Anyway, for one reason or another I never actually got round to getting any. After jumping off a kerb approaching Oriental Parade, the tyre wall gave way, the rubber jumped off the rim and I went over the bars, scraping along the tarmac.My first reaction was to get off the road, and a kind lady stopped her car to see if I was ok. I think she actually stopped because I almost went into h...
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Sunburn!!
2007-11-20 09:14:00
The last few days have been utterly amazing weather wise. We keep talking about the fact this time last year we fed up with the crappy weather and wondered if we had done the right thing moving to NZ! Adverts on the TV and radio are now telling us to 'slop, slap and wrap' as summer is here - and so it is. Today was just gorgeous and I took the girls to the beach in Island Bay. It's a beautiful curved beach that has lovely golden sand and a small tide as boats moor out in the bay. I packed a picnic and we were off, first stop was the play area but they lost enthusiasm in it and wanted to go to the beach. So off we went calling at the car first to leave socks and shoes and walk to the beach bare foot (yeah you can do that here!). We had a lovely time, simple honest pleasure in nature and I loved the fact I could lay out and watch two cute girls run, sing and dance freely in the beautiful day...
More About: Burn , Sunburn

Santa Parade In November!
2007-11-18 08:32:00
In blistering heat (22 degrees) we lined the streets with thousands of other people to watch the Santa Parade , and it did not disappoint. We went last year, which was our first year, and were in total awe of the fantastic floats, wonderful shows and the immense sunshine.Bethany just loved everything about it, she has been talking about this for a week now, every night asking if we are going to see Santa in the morning!Obviously I took heaps of pictures, but here are some of the best ones...Bethany's favourite was the Little Einsteins rocket, and not only because that's her favourite show, but because she got to wave to Tony, Denyse, Madi and Beth who were inside the car pulling it!! At the end Santa rode down with his reindeer in front. He actually waved down to Bethany and she was so excited. Because of that she is convinced she is getting all she has asked for this year. It's a strange old affair to have the Santa Parade in November , but even more so in the blazing sunshine. W...

Gefeliciteert!
2007-11-17 21:30:00
Bethany's little buddy Norbert had his 4th Birthday party yesterday. The above means 'Congratulations' in Dutch which I had to ask Annemieke to translate for me so I hope it is right! The party was lovely, and Annemieke and her husband Peter did amazingly well, especially Annemieke who is nearly 9 months pregnant looked radiant and had everything and all the children fully under control!I picked up Louise and Lydia and they came with us to the party, Louise also said that she had never seen such a relaxed and content bunch of children! The children had their faces painted, played, had a lovely picnic lunch, and they all became creative and made a fantastic picture frames. If that wasn't enough there was a huge box of dressing up clothes for the children wear, they had a brilliant time.Time for cake and Norbert had happy birthday sung in English and Dutch, so clever that he is multilingual at 3 years old! The party flew over and we left happy and amazed at such a well run party! ...

Movember 2 Weeks On
2007-11-16 08:36:00
It's been a long 2 weeks as far growing a mo goes. I hate shaving, I think I mentioned that before. So here I am, 2 weeks into Mo-ville!I have nothing against cops, but I hate looking like one, and especially not one from the 1980's!
More About: Weeks

Track & Trace
2007-11-15 07:42:00
We've all ordered stuff from the internet and been sent some track & trace information. It's useful to see where your package is, who signed for it and what time. We used to have a postman that would sign all recorded delivery letters himself, then stuff them through the door as he knew in my student days I'd be hungover and not wanting to get up to answer the door. He only knew that because we drank in the same pub.On a much larger scale, we have now been sent the container number that contains all of our possessions. It's currently sitting on a Maersk container ship in Southampton, and leaves on 16th November. According to the schedule we've been sent, the sailing should go a little bit like this:Leave Southampton on 16th November, bound for Singapore on or around the 4th December.Sit around like an idle student in Singapore until 6th December, where it leaves bound for Auckland.Arriving in Auckland on or around 18th December, the container then goes through Customs &...
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