Tuesday, November 6, 2018

Job's a good 'un!

I was offered the teaching job in Rarotonga on Friday and duly accepted! I have had a fantastic year in the same small private school as the kids, but a few things have not worked out as expected and its time for a new adventure!

Many amazing YouTube videos have been perused by us recently and this link here is one of our favourites!
We now have a modest mountain of medical forms, passport renewals, police checks etc to complete to satisfy immigration, but should be off to the tropics mid-January... fingers crossed!

We are also drawing closer to completing the sale of our house and land. We have had many wonderful experiences there - swimming and kayaking in the pond, picking fresh fruit from the trees and rearing pork and beef... plus two healthy kids! Whilst the country life was really rewarding for a time, the constant mowing, fixing and feeding became a chore. Fortunately there are two sisters, keen and green fingered to take it on and help it mature into an even better place to be!

We had the house for almost 5 years in which time it went from:

To this:

We therefore have two months to pack up our beach toys and get rid of (or store) the rest of our accumulated gear. All our friends insist that they will visit us of course! We will be living a more simple existence there (apart from the first week where they put us up in a flash resort!), but we welcome visitors, particularly those that bring plenty of duty free and meat! 

The island is 30km in circumference and not only are we looking forward to exploring the beaches:
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But also the rain forest and mountains too:

And you can spot whales from the land for much of the year!
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Meitaki maata! (kind regards!)

Sunday, October 28, 2018

Ch-ch-ch-changes!

It's been a big week. I resigned from my role as Deputy Principal of a lovely private school in the beautiful Bay of Islands and applied for a job teaching on a small Pacific island that gets battered by cyclones on an annual basis... why not?!
Apparently whales can be watched from land several months of the year and there are not only fish, but turtles to snorkel and surf with!
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Saturday, July 14, 2018

Hook a duck, Kiwi style!

The kids played this heaps in England two years ago... The Kiwi version is a bit more basic!

Pony time!

Friday, July 13, 2018

Candyfloss time!

Magician show time!

A great show for adults and kids alike!

Wicked Weka!

We used to see heaps of these wonderful birds whilst living in the South Island, so lovely to see some here in Russell!

Rustic Russell!!

Time for a shandy!

Birdman!

I hope it's like this tomorrow when we have to jump in!

Raggin' it to Russell!!

Road trip to Russell!

We won a competition to take part in the Birdman festival in Russell. Packed up our car, said goodbye to dolphins in our bay and headed for New Zealand's first capital and pirate town!

Sunday, November 5, 2017

Rainbow Falls 🌈

Our favourite short walk!

Sunday, June 12, 2016

Mucky Macclesfield!

We've had a lovely the days here. The weather started off beautiful, but quickly got wet and stayed wet. We had bike rides, fishing and a few movies. Now it's time to move on to Bury... let's hope the weather improves!

Saturday, June 11, 2016

Cycle t'pub!

We had a jolly from our campsite in the woods to the pub in the village. Will had his first bike ride along country lanes whilst I ran alongside, with Lily in Bernie's bike seat... the reward was done delicious Cheshire ice cream!

Tuesday, May 31, 2016

Three Peaks Challenge; Day -1 Planning

Emma and I set ourselves the goal of completing the Yorkshire three peaks challenge in twelve hours.
We set off tomorrow, but first things first, we had a planning meeting - over a bottle of wine - to determine the best route, meal plan and who will sleep in the comfortable bed. 1-0 to Em. Game on!

Monday, May 30, 2016

Crabtastic!

Crabbing has been a Whitaker tradition for a few generations now, so it was lovely to introduce the kids to this Suffolk pastime. It's a far cry from catching kingfish in the Bay of Islands, but great fun was had by all... Apart from grandad who seemed a bit rusty and landed only seaweed!

Make over time!

Free face painting at Southwold pier

Friday, May 27, 2016

Back in Southwold!

It is hard to believe that this is Lily Bell's first time to Southwold. We didn't plan for a skinny dipping session, buy that's what quickly unfolded!

We walked up, got a bag of sweets and enjoyed the smells of the Adnams brewery on our way to the church Bernie and I married in, and it's fab playground. Just like the good old days

Sunday, May 22, 2016

Beer festival!

Blah