Dawes Family in New Zealand

RSS Feed Homepage

Articles: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Stormy Night
2007-11-14 08:00:00
The above picture is from a story in the Dominion Post - which is a Wellington Newspaper, describing the lightning striking Wellington more than 10 times in less than an hour last night.We went out onto the decking last night to try and capture it on video but only managed a short snippet before the rain started and we had to retreat indoors, but the light over the ocean was stunning and the rumbling pretty impressive.Nostalgia crept in and I started to remember the days as a child when storms would take out the electricity and I would sit with my parents around an open fire and the only light were candles, I remember often going to the bathroom carrying a candle only for it to blow out and I would panic! Today's weather has certainly shown the storm last night with gusts reaching up to 130kmh. I looked out to the ocean today and saw a huge wave burst only to realise it was in fact the Interislander ferry struggling in the rough sea! I like a good storm, don't you?
More About: Night , Stormy

Cheers!
2007-11-13 06:39:00
We had a little bit of a get together today for Jenny's birthday. You may remember the party from a few weeks back which was for Mark and Jenny's joint 40th birthday, but it is actually Jenny's birthday in a few days so we decided to get together and have a little party for her.All the usual, cake, party poppers, party hats, lots of screaming and shouting but best of all bubbly with strawberries at the bottom - so very posh! Nothing better than sipping bubbly and chatting, next time we need to get rid of those noisy kids though!! Happy Birthday Jenny from us all...

"Cruisy"
2007-11-11 05:12:00
Right now as I write this I am sat on our decking, looking over to the ocean and the mountain in the blazing sunshine. Michael is in the hammock enjoying a drink or two (see above picture) - 22 degrees and we are LOVING IT. I think we are still on the come down from Grandad being here as we have just been enjoying taking it easy. We haven't really done any trips out and just been making the most of family time together. However for me I have been catching up with some friends over the last few days and I have been spending time with Sarah, Denyse, Annemieke and Monique - jeez its been a hard week for me, ha ha! At the weekend we went for a meal at Catherine and Alastair's house, I know Catherine from Kindy, Bethany and her son Alexander were completely inseparable at Kindy, but he has now moved to morning Kindy sessions and Bethany misses him very much. So we were kindly invited round to have a wonderful meal. We enjoyed our starter with the kiddies (they also have a younger gorge...

Movember 1 Week On
2007-11-09 20:34:00
The rules of Movember are:01 You don’t talk about Movember outside of the month.02 Movember runs for 30 days. No more.03 There is to be no joining of the Mo to side burns—That’s a beard.04 There is to be no joining of the handlebars—That’s a goatie.05 A small complimentary growth under the bottom lip is allowed (aka a tickler).06 You must remain clean shaven apart from your Mo for the entire 30 days.So after week 1, here I am:We're not doing too bad on sponsorship either, as a team we've raised almost $800!
More About: Week

Wonderful Swimming, Sad Decisions
2007-11-09 07:32:00
Bethany has been swimming here in proper swimming lessons alone in the pool for 2 terms now (about 20 lessons) and is doing fantastically well. She has gained amazing confidence, gathered strength and developed listening skills to follow direction from the teacher. Literally over the last few lessons Norbert, Lydia and Bethany started the over arm swimming and they are all doing fantastic. Sadly TSW swim school is closing after 14 years and being bulldozed for a supermarket (progress eh?) and so at the end of this term that will be it. All of the swim schools in this area are full with waiting lists and its extremely unfair to stop this immense learning curve that these kids have been on. I am quite sad about it really, there maybe be enough swim schools but there are just not enough placese. For now though until we find Bethany another swim school, she will continue to swim wonderfully with her new buddies and hopefully become a little super swimmer.
More About: Swimming , Wonderful , Decisions

Mothers Unite
2007-11-07 07:56:00
--------Lady: "So, do you work"Me: "Yeah, I have a 3 year old child"Lady: "Oh, but you don't actually work?"Me: "YES, I have a 3 year old daughter who I look after on a full time basis"(Silence)Lady: "But you don't actually have a job though do you?"Me: "Yes I do have a job, but if you mean do I get up first thing in the morning, tidy my hair and face, put on smart clothes and drive for 20 minutes to an office and get a wage, then no, I don't do that, but yes I have a job".(Awkward silence)-------Sometimes meeting new people can be a complete pain in the butt. My gorgeous husband works damn hard everyday in an office, and I work damn hard at home.
More About: Mothers , Unit

Big Bangs In Wellington City
2007-11-06 10:16:00
Last night we were kindly invited to spend the special fireworks night with our good friends Denyse and Tony who have an amazing house in Brooklyn. We arrived nice and early so the children could play together and so we could stand out on the deck and stand in awe at the view.We met another couple at the party and they had a gorgeous little boy called Sam. It was cute to see the children all playing happily together. Pizzas arrived for our tea and we stuffed ourselves silly before going outside and setting off some of our own fireworks and we all enjoyed some sparkler action!The harbour was an amazing view, we watched as others set of fireworks, a ferry and a container ship left and watched as at least 50 private boats gathered to get the best view.At 9pm we all stood with baited breath and stunningly we watched a helicopter fly over the harbour and released some flares letting us know that the fireworks were about to start. And amazing they were, the display was just brilliant...
More About: City , Wellington

Bah Humbug?
2007-11-05 21:42:00
Christmas is a funny old time of the year now, living in NZ changes everything about it. Last year we embraced everything and we thoroughly enjoyed everything, especially having Christmas morning on the beach in the sunshine! However one thing that does spoil it a little is having to get everyone's gifts bought, wrapped, packed and shipped by November 10th! Right now the sun is blazing and sitting wrapping Christmas presents seems really odd. But one good side to it is no last minute panics! Last year I put Christmas songs on and tried to get 'in the mood' but it just wasn't happening! We spend just over $300 on postage costs alone last year so we have had to make some changes this year, however it hasn't stopped our living room looking like this...So for all of you who receive Christmas presents this year, remember the loving amount of effort that went into it all, and remember that it cut into our BBQ time!

Bonfire Spectacular!
2007-11-04 06:27:00
Wow, last night we had the most amazing night, one of the best since being here. We were invited to attend a bonfire party at one of Michael's work mates houses. On the way we called in to collect Monique and Jeremy who were coming too. We had a quick cuppa, then a quick stock up of food and fireworks at the local supermarket and we were off! It was only a 20 minute drive up the road but scenery and the climate change was amazing. Rolling hills appeared and it became warmer. Monique and Jeremy entertained Bethany in the back of the car and we arrived full of high spirits. Chris (who's party it was) lives in this gorgeous country home. Fields around him for miles, trees, birds and oh, cow pat!There were so many things to do, Chris and family have an amazing home, so much fun. The older children all suited up and headed off to play paint ball in this home made field of tree stumps and hiding places. In the meantime the younger ones played in the fort, on the swings, in the sand pit,...
More About: Spectacular

Getting In Right At Last
2007-11-02 06:24:00
One thing I have been blessed with here in our new life is the ease of meeting new people, now whether that's just because I have a small child or because of my shining personality I will not know!!But I must admit I have developed a large range of new friends, and every one of them brings new things into my life. They all seem to have a purpose and be able to help me and teach me on my life journey. As you know Bethany has been attending swimming lessons for quite some time now, and as all us attending parents we sit on the side along with the other attending parents. Through this I have met and made friends with two lovely ladies. One is called Annemieke who is Dutch and the other Louise who is a Kiwi. Annemieke has a gorgeous little boy called Norbert (who I have mentioned before in a previous post) and expecting (currently 8 months pregnant) and Louise has three children, two older and one precious little girl called Lydia. As it is that we sit on the pool together every week b...

Movember Is Upon Us
2007-11-01 06:38:00
Back at the end of July I had a few drinks and agreed to take part in Movember. Today is day 1, and it wasn't the easiest. I haven't actually been clean shaven in about 5 years, in fact, I wasn't even clean shaven on our wedding day! The idea behind Movember is to raise awareness and money for the Prostate Cancer Foundation of New Zealand, so a group of us at work are have a competition.As I don't usually shave with anything other than hair clippers, I don't actually own any normal shaving implements. So at 6am this morning, there I was using Marrisa's Wild Berry scented shaving foam and one of her pink Bic razors. Nice eh?So no doubt pics will follow on a weekly basis, as I become less like me - and more like some gringo! Oh and if you want to donate or sponsor me, click the link HERE (registration number 103702 if required)

Happy Halloween!
2007-10-31 08:20:00
I love living in Wellington, every event is made to feel special and individual, everyone is happy, smiling and content in each others company no matter the event. It's just fantastic! Starting our day today Bethany and I went to our good friends house to see Denyse, Beth and Maddie. We had a lovely morning, with the girls playing so fantastically together. I have never seen Bethany get on so well and so calmly with another child. We had a lovely morning and the have the most amazing view from their deck (which of course I had to take a photo of!).This morning we were also excited to watch my gorgeous friend Monique on the Good Morning show. Monique is an actress and a children's entertainer, along with her friend Paul they are Zappo and Zappolina. I am so excited for her as she has utterly amazing talent. The TV show was to promote the fact they were doing a show tonight at Capital E for Halloween at the Medieval Madness. I was so excited and Bethany was really excited to see her...
More About: Happy , Allo

A Little Experimentation Type Thing
2007-10-28 07:57:00
When I was younger (a lot younger) I built myself a house out of Lego. This house had a garden, and in that garden was a perfect lawn of grass. Well, it wasn't grass, it was cress.Now that we've bought Bethany some Lego, I thought we'd build a house and do the same thing. A trip to Palmers Garden Centre meant we stocked up on the cress seeds, and after destroying the current plastic creations to reclaim the blocks, we got started.Now my building experience isn't much, but I'm probably more qualified than the guy who started our house extension a few years back! After about 10 mins we had a house, a garden and we were ready!All that was left was to sow the seeds and water them a bit more. So after 24 hours we have a few shoots starting to come through, and in a week we should be able to mow it!
More About: Type , Thing

The Last Few Days...
2007-10-27 07:57:00
So as you know from the previous post Grandad Dawes has now left for his home in the UK. Its been amazing having here, we have had the best time not only with him but enjoying all Wellington has to offer. So we will go back in time a little and update you on what Grandad did for his last few days here...Tuesday was pretty much 'business as usual' as I had Megan here with us. So we decided to use the hot but very windy morning with a walk around the area. We started with the walk around the block which heads up the road and down some crazy steps at the other side. The view over to our house is a fantastic one.As we were down that end of the street we decided to take a walk around to view a 'metal paradise'. A sculpture artist called Carl Gifford (known as the artist 'Carlucci') has created some of the most amazing sculptures from anything the land has to offer. We spent some time down here viewing the work, but to be honest we didn't stay very long as a busy road and two smal...
More About: Days , The Last

Farewell...
2007-10-26 10:20:00
It's been a sad night, Grandad has left to return home to the UK...Difficult clock watching. Sad silent moments. Awkward eye contact. Difficult questions from Bethany. Long drive to the airport. Emotional farewell drinks. Strong tight cuddles. Tears. Heart broken tears. The excitement from having family here never eases, but the pain from having to let them go will always be there and will always consume. An update to follow on the last few days, but for tonight we raise our glasses to having the chance to create some fantastically amazing memories with Grandad Dawes...
More About: Farewell , Fare , Well

I'm Not A Girl, Not Yet A Woman
2007-10-24 10:01:00
So I'm at that stage now where I am still happy with my age (I turned 28) but that increasing decent towards 30 is now closing in on me and it gives me plenty to reflect upon and to think about. Its been a crazy old 28 years, some things I have survived pretty well and some things not so good, but I believe this is my essence, all this stuff makes me who I am today. The title for this post is actually the words of a very famous singer, and its funny that right now they couldn't sum up my feelings any better. The path of life is, and can be, a strange one and although I have learned so much, there is still another life to learn.So it was a good day, I was sooooo spoilt! I got heaps of presents and cards and felt the international love travel across the vast ocean. My kiwi friends made an amazing amount of effort for me too which I appreciate immensely. Jo surprised me with a wonderful cake which she made herself, it said 'Happy 1st Kiwi Birthday' on it, and although it is my seco...
More About: Girl , Woman , A Woman , T A G

90 Minutes
2007-10-24 08:51:00
Wellington has something no other city in NZ seems to have, and that is a professional football team. Wellington Phoenix are in the Hyundai A League and play against 7 other teams from Australia. I took my Dad along on Sunday to see them take on top of league Central Coast Mariners.The game was very Sunday-league standard, and you can tell that it's not the national sport, but it was still a great day out. We had chips and beers, and spent the afternoon with 10,500 others in the hot sun.For a new team, the supporters were pretty dedicated and sung throughout the entire game, even when they went down 2-1 in injury time to a sloppy mistake. I'm not sure if I'd be as excited at a Phoenix game in the same way I was when I was a regular at Hartlepool United, but it was definitely a good day out and I'd go again.
More About: Minutes , Utes

Happy Birthday Rissa
2007-10-23 10:36:00
October 23rd is a day for your diary if you don't have it already. It is of course Marrisa's birthday. So to Marrisa, I hope you have a fantastic day, lots of love from me and Bethany.Happy Birthday Rissa!
More About: Happy Birthday

Busy Few Days
2007-10-22 09:37:00
We have had a busy few days, going here, there and everywhere. It's strange that Steve has been here for over a week now, sadly the time has flown like it always does when we have guests. Not to let that worry us we made sure we spent the last few days making the most of what Wellington has to offer. Friday we all trundled along to watch Bethany at her swimming lessons, which she was fantastic at as always. It still amazed me that at 3 she goes into the pool by herself! Afterwards we emerged to blazing sunshine so we headed to Makara Beach. The walk there is always so phenomenal. Crystal clear sea, beautiful blue skies and utterly amazing views towards the South Island (after one heck of a hike!) made for a fantastic afternoon. Saturday was quieter. Poor little Bethany wasn't too well as she must have caught what myself and Michael had. So Michael took Steve over the road to our nature reserve where they had a walk. The afternoon was filled with showing Steve the hum-drum of our n...
More About: Days , Busy

My Lord, The Chavs Are Coming!
2007-10-22 09:20:00
Michael received the most hilarious card for his birthday, it is something which we have joked about for so long now, joked in the fact we haven't seen one in over 13 months.Well that was until today - there was one in Te Papa. Unmistakable fake Burberry cap, tracksuit, swagger and cigarette behind the ear made today our first official chav spotting day!
More About: Lord

Doing The Tourist Thing
2007-10-18 10:58:00
Grandad Steve is well and truly settled, he even muttered his first 'eh?' (pronounced 'ay?') after a sentence today!! So it's been a busy few days, which is only natural considering the amount of things to do. I haven't been too well sadly so have had a few miserable days but have been there trying to enjoy the fun as much as I could! Wednesday morning Michael took Grandad and Bethany out to our most favourite beach, they have a brilliant time in the amazing sunshine at the red rocks beach along from Owhiro Bay.On the afternoon I managed to pull myself together and we headed off to the city, we parked at the Lady Norwood Rose Gardens and took a stroll around. We headed into the Begonia House and were utterly amazed by the stunning plants and the fact so much work is done here everyday to keep this place so amazing beautiful. It was then time for a coffee (and an ice-cream for madam!) and we were then on our way again. We wandered down through the Bolton Street Memorial Park(r...
More About: Thing , Tourist , Doing

Happy Birthday Michael!
2007-10-16 09:31:00
Yep today is someones birthday, I wont say how old he is, but when Bethany is asked she says '10' - I think he is happy with that!!We started the day with some present opening (thank you everyone!) and then went out for breakfast at The Bach. The weather was just stunning this morning, at 9.30am we got to sit outside and soak up the amazing views whilst eating a yummy breakfast. Typically though the weather changed on the way to our next destination, so much so that we had to go buy Bethany a coat and hat, whilst we played Pirate Adventure Mini Golf!! It was brilliant fun, despite the cold wind and the threat of rain, we all had a fab time. The course was brilliant and Bethany was so excited to putt the balls over and over again. Steve didn't play fair of course and beat his own son by 10 points on his birthday!! Sheesh! Tonight Michael and Steve headed to town for some drinks and they have just arrived back with a gorgeous Chinese meal to enjoy.Happy Birthday Mr D, well done on ...
More About: Happy Birthday

80's Throwbacks!
2007-10-15 11:06:00
We had such a brilliant night on Saturday night, we celebrated Mark and Jenny's joint 40th birthday party with an 80's fancy dress night. I can't really give you anymore of an explanation that what the photos can (and I am sorry but there are sooooo many!), lets just say we had a really good time, we certainly made the most of the free drinks, and I won a 'best female' award!!!And then the wig swapping started!! And then Helen Dawes made an entrance.....! (Ha ha, sorry Helen, it scares me more than you!).Cheers!! A fantastically fun, well needed night of fun had by all...

Fun First Days For Grandad
2007-10-15 08:27:00
No sooner had Grandad 's feet touched ground we had him whisked away to see some of the local sights. With the weather being as it is in Welly this time of year we pretty much just have to decide on the morning what we are going to do. Saturday morning the weather was windy but crystal clear, so after a BBQ breakfast we headed up to the Brooklyn Wind Turbine. The views were amazing and we had a wonderful windy experience! We then headed up to collect our fancy dress costumes and afterwards to stopped off at Petone and took a stroll along the beach and into The Settlers Museum. We have been a few times already but its always a welcome stop off as its a wonderfully interesting place. We then took a little drive around the coast to Eastbourne and stopped off at a gorgeous little beach cafe for a coffee and ice creams. Sunday was another beautiful day, after breakfast we headed off to the Owhiro Bay School Fair, the walk down through Owhiro is always a nice one. Michael going all native...
More About: Days

Grandad's Here!
2007-10-12 10:06:00
With a wet and soggy landing, Grandad Steve has finally made it to NZ! Of course Bethany hasn't been up since 5.15am with her fairy dress on ready to go, she didn't create a 'Grandy, Grandad Steve is coming' song and she never told us to hurry up on the way to the airport! Grandad Steve seemed pretty unaltered by the long flight, it's been 13 months since we have seen each other but it really seems like it was only yesterday. He has settled in well already, played Bethany some nursery rhymes on the guitar and is still up and awake at 9pm and playing Wii bowling!! Such a trooper! We are looking forward to the next few days, it's going to be fantastic and with the wonderful sunset by the end of the day we are full of high spirits for the weather to be just as amazing whilst he is here...

Catching Up
2007-10-10 10:10:00
Well as you all know from the previous post things have been a bit rough here for us lately. I just want to say a HUGE thank you to all our amazing friends who have emailed, text, called and left comments on the blog for your love and support, you have no idea how much that means to us to know you care. I also want to thank my nearest friends here, Susan, Jo, Joan and Jenny, your flowers were overwhelming and your support has been truly brilliant, I am so lucky to have you. So I thought I would try and write an update with whats been going on over the last week. We really haven't done a lot and I have preferred to spend my days at home trying to take it easy and deal with it all. Last Thursday was the day we received the final news on our pregnancy, it was also the day I started to miscarry properly and since then I haven't really been on top form. Friday I decided I needed some fresh air and I took Bethany to get her hair cut. She now has a lovely curly bob, the ragged mullet was...

Sad News
2007-10-07 22:06:00
Well you may have noticed that I haven't done much posting lately, there is in fact a reason behind this. Sadly baby number 2 didn't make it. Its been a long few weeks of hope, fear and the unknown, I will explain what has happened. On week 10 I started to have some bleeding, nothing major and it was agreed between myself and my midwife that it was probably just breakthrough bleeding. But after 5 days I was still bleeding, and I just didn't feel 'right'. We were booked in for a scan and on week 11 we saw the pictures of a baby sac but with no baby inside, it was explained to us that we had suffered what is known medically as a Blighted Ovum. Basically I was at an 11 week gestation but the baby sac had stopped growing at 5 weeks due to having no baby. From what we can understand, there was either never no baby or there was but it was reabsorbed into the body for whatever reason. It can then take up to 7 weeks for the body to realise.So for 11 weeks my body and brain has felt 'p...
More About: News

Our New Website
2007-10-07 06:00:00
Notice the difference? No? Ok, take a look at the address bar. Seen it now? Yes. Good.When we looked at buying our private plate, we were surprised that Dawes was available. It was just as much a surpise that the domain www.dawes.co.nz was also available - so as you do, we had to have it. It's still the same blog, the same content, and the same people, just with an easier name to type when you want to view it. One day a private plate and website, tomorrow the world!
More About: Website

My Dad
2007-10-06 22:12:00
He is my inspiration and my light in life, he guides me in ways he doesn't realise and his past actions help me to determine what is right to do. He has amazing words of wisdom and a wonderful love for life. He's a crazy man and we share the same sense of humour, we are both very stubborn and we both have zero patience levels! He makes me laugh, he makes me smile, but most of all he makes me feel loved. All of the qualities that make him an brilliant man and a unbelievable Dad.Happy Birthday Dad, you really are one in a billion....

What's In Your Fridge?
2007-10-05 06:58:00
At work there is a fridge for the usuals: milk, butter, bread, last nights leftovers for lunch etc. We do of course have a separate fridge - the Coke fridge. The Coke fridge contains the following:Stella ArtoisSteinlagerTuiSpeightsDB Export GoldOh yeah - and a few cans of coke too.Friday drinks are part of the institution at work, and it's good to spend a couple of hours after clocking out relaxing and talking about anything other than the recent systems upgrades, over a nice cold stubby.
More About: Fridge