Weekend Wonderland!

We have a new playground - the stunning Bay of Islands where I've spent the last 3 weekends free-diving for fish and shell fish with a new friend who happens to have an awesome boat!

We got up at silly o'clock and headed out on the water not long after the sun had come up and as we motored out through the network of bays and islands, we had to slow down for a pod of about 30 bottlenose dolphins which swam straight towards us whilst putting on an acrobatic display (all but the last picture is taken from Google images as I never remember a camera!)We saw dozens of fish the first weekend we went out, hundreds the second and thousands this time - no exaggeration. We spent over 4 hours in the water and I'm getting better at staying down longer each dive. We were accompanied by an experienced diver who stays under for a minute or more each time and went to depths I could not see despite the good clarity.

I shot a few fish for the dinner table - beautiful Pink Maomao (both in looks and taste)And some equally pretty and delicious Blue Maomao (bizarrely no relative of the pink species!)After one dive we noticed a certain 6-foot bronze whaler shark following us and it later fed on the fish guts we threw overboard. It was also quite beautiful and its amazing to think that these must pass by us all the time without us realizing... including bigger ones!A few funky blue penguins were also after a good feed in the plentiful watersAnd look at the one that didn't get away! Its a Kingfish and my friend shot it, not me! It is a relatively small example of a common fish that is the main quarry for many a fisherman in these parts. It tasted delicious - we smoked some and had Kingfish pie the other night which I highly recommend!

Will is jabbering away heaps and getting close to walking - he just needs the confidence to take those first steps. His favourite words are Bum, Ooooh and Muma and Dada gets a reasonable use too!

Bernie is doing an ace job as Mum and house wife and is loving the new bread maker we got through the insurance company - Will and I are loving the many wonderful products that keep being churned out of the kitchen in general - I'm off to eat Cape Gooseberry Cheesecake - Ooooh as Will would say!

Love to all,

CBW x

On the up!

We are all becoming more and more settled in the Bay of Islands thanks to our New Year's resolution - to go to the beach as much as we can!

There are hundreds of beaches, bays and rocks to explore and we have begun in earnest. The past two weekends have been spent free-diving looking for crayfish, shell food and spearfishing food for the table. We have made friends with some awesome people - many of whom have boats which makes for even more possibilities. The sea is almost always flat and visibility is really good. Last weekend I swam with hundreds of powder-puff blue fish and an arar of other colourful fish - a few larger grey ones ended up on our dinner plates too!

Will and Bernie come out on the boat or hang out on a beach - roughing it as you can see!

Our boy continues to develop fast and is talking, pointing and moving more and more each day.

On Tuesday night, a lady from work took us out on her 33-foot yacht for the evening - a couple of us dived for mussels before boarding for fine wine and food in a secluded bay. Will loved it - pointing at birds and islands, before going below deck to open al of the cupboards - heaven!

I cooked the mussels and have never tasted such creamy flesh on them before - they're not exactly small either:

We had cherry-picked the smaller ones as they get tougher when they are much bigger than this!

Hopefully we'll get out again this weekend - life's a beach!

CBW x

New camera!

I have a brand new camera now - thanks to the burglars... plus a new laptop, TV, sound system etc - it feels like Xmas in our house at the moment - but we would rather have not gone through this horrid process.

I have been taking more pictures of Will and Bernie than ever before - Will is a little more happy to post copious pictures of him online - he definitely plays to the camera!

Bath time is play time and he loves brushing his teeth - in between smiles!
That gummy smile is reminiscent of me circa 1986...

He managed to walk whilst pushing a box along the floor yesterday - completely of his own invention! He has accelerated his development considerably in recent weeks and fights sleep some nights as he wants to climb and play continuously - more challenging for Bernie now I'm back at school too.

I have some home work to do this weekend and had to pass up a diving trip to the Poor Knight's Islands (regularly voted in the top 10 places to dive in the world) and we have a St Valentine's party on Sunday with new friends - let the good times roll!

Love to all,

CBW xxx

Kerikeri - so nice, they named it twice...

We both miss Nelson heaps, but the above slogan - coined by a tourist a few years ago - is fitting for this gorgeous part of the country. It is home to the oldest building in the country - not far from where we live: The sea comes right up to the building in an inlet and there is a nice cafe and walks all around:
Will is developing increasingly fast - climbing up onto his feet at every given opportunity and talking / shouting at cars, birds, dogs and many other random things he sees. He loves to watch birds and mutilate insects:

We eat all our meals out here:

I've been keeping up with one of my new year's resolutions - hitting the beach much more often - it aint too shabby here!

Will is getting a taste for the odd ice cream:

And I've gone all arty...

Pic-nic time

How cute?!

In colour too!

I have began running again and always do the same ugly, boring route, along a crystal clear river, through native bush and ending up at this eye-sore... life's tough!

You can cheat and drive / walk to it too - unfortunately I cant push Will in his buggy through the forest so we drove on this occasion.

Its 29 meters high and called Rainbow Falls due to the rainbows created when the sun's out - hard to picture unfortunately - you'll just have to come and visit!

Going arty again...

As is Will with his creative eating! We have always let him feed himself and despite this picture, he is getting less messy... honest!

He obviously doesn't believe me either! Notice his top tooth - the one next to it is now on its way through to make it no. 4

Pointing and clapping are his two favourit e triecks - after shouting at things!

Our little Hammer is glad to see West Ham at the top of the Championship...

Opito Bay is our closest beach and we already love it - Bobby is allowed to run and swim there which is a rarity in this part of the country due to the large populations of Kiwi that live here - most places a no-dog zones - we can hear them from our bedroom some nights! Will loves the beach too:

Although he isn't brave enough to compete with Bobby yet!

Bobby and I spend ages chasing his ball - I win the sprints, but I'm ashamed to say that I get beaten for stamina these days and call it quits before Bobby Dazzler!

We have finally recieved all of our belongings minus what was stolen - new electrical gear to arrive this week hopefully - 6 weeks without TV has been quite good - done heaps of gardenning, reading books and reading the Times for world news... oh gosh, I'm turning into my Dad! We are looking forward to having the Whits and Wakefields with us in April - hopefully they will finally realise that they can live the dream too and book a one-way ticket in 2013... here's dreaming!

Love to all,

CBW xxx

The long trip north!

We left our beloved Nelson on Thursday 22nd December and spent our final night in the South Island on a 126 acre section of bush overlooking the beautiful Marlborough Sounds. Our large station wagon was packed to the rafters as we took the ferry across the Cook Straight to Wellington. We were sad to say goodbye to the place we called home for 3 and a half years, but looked forward to the adventures ahead up north.

We stayed in a nice hotel (for the first time ever as Bernie pointed out in shock when we turned up somewhere decent for a change!) north of Wellington and enjoyed a spa bath outside with a bottle of wine when Will was sound asleep (we had the baby monitor on - no neglecting our little lad!).

We continued north to the Tron - Hamilton, a city away from the coast, which is host to our dearest Down Under family members - Paul, Shirley and son Bradley.

Will and Bradley quickly got acquainted and enjoyed cooling off in the pool:

On Xmas day Shirley's Mum Lesley, sister Hazel and daughter Karmen joined us for festive celebrations, food and general great fun! Karmen was very helpful openning presents - Will needed the most help!


Bradly loved viewing pictures of himself opening presents - reliving the moment!

We had chicken, ham and much much more in the shade of the blistering sun

Will's favourite present was his first set of wheels / ball pit - he was static... I mean ecstatic...

He particularly loved Shirley's bubbles too

We spent 5 days in the Tron and had great times, went shopping, walking, moved fridges in and out of the house, fitted rear shock absorbers onto our car so it doesn't bottom out each time we go over a pebble... and had a really lovely time together with our family. We then headed north and spent 2 nights with friends who were generous in letting us stay in a very comfortable converted woodshed next to their house, 20 meter swimming pool and 52 hectares of land by the beach.

New Years was spent with friends from Nelson near some beautiful lakes - for once a New Year's party that wasn't expensive, stressful or an anti-climax.

We then headed up to the Kauri tree forests which have trees as old as 1,200 years and are huge pillars of timber that earlier settlers used to butcher (and even more sadly burnt) in their thousands for a few quid... those still standing are immense and well worth staring at in awe for a few hours.

We eventually got to our new house in Kerikeri on Jan 3rd and were finally welcomed with clear blue skies, after having showers and rain for most of our travels. We already feel very settled and comfortable in this spacious rental property and welcome visitors this year as we have 4 bedrooms and a groovy house nestled in the Bay of Islands - one of NZ's real treasures.

We headed up the coast to one of the many many awesome beaches and took Will swimming in the sea for the first time.

He found it fun at first, but freaked out a little when the surf picked up.... he did get completely submerged by one wave that caught me out, but he quickly calmed down and will be all the better for it I'm sure...

As you can see, he quickly regained his cool composure...

So we chilled out and made Bobby work up a good sweat And some more...

Before Bobby and I had a big swim together chasing his toy.... happy days!

The climate is sub-tropical up here so we eat breakfast, lunch and dinner outside. We get more rain here than Nelson, but have a lovely covered porch by a fish pond where we can eat come rain or shine.

We have begun exploring the area and I had the most beautiful run of my life yesterday - I'm not going to bore you with a description, you'll just have to come and run it with me when you visit! Bernie is presently at the farmers market in town with Bobby whilst I surf and will sleeps.

Will finally got his first tooth for Xmas (just after actually) and is talking heaps - Dog, Dadda, Muma, Woof and Bird are his most commonly used words (in order of frequency) and he imitates a lot of other words we say already. He also sings to himself a lot which is beautiful to listen to!

It has been so lovely spending so much time together and we have become an even tighter unit for it. We have moved north so that I have a permanent job and Bernie wont have to give up Will until she and he are both ready to do so. We have the immediate Whitaker family visiting this April and Paul and Shirley are now only down the road (4.5 hours down the road but much closer than before!) so we will get to see a lot more of them too which is a massive bonus.

I still have three weeks off before I begin my school induction - 3 days on the marae (traditional Maori community area), so plenty more time to settle in and have a look around.

Here's wishing you all a happy, healthy and crisis free 2012...
Love from Chris, Bernie and William Whitaker (plus Bobby Dazzler) x