Piccie of santa from the parade we went to on Sunday.. We are having a spell of lovely weather this week - 19/23 degrees - which is really great after last week's rain and wind. So we are very enthusiastic about planning our trip over xmas and new year. We are heading to Masterton this weekend, which is south of the North Island to see Katie a friend of mine from school. its an eight hr drive through the desert road..

We have another journey planned on the first week of Steve's holiday - on the 9th Dec we are heading to the Bay of Islands and ninety mile beach - cant wait! Hopefully, we will miss the hoardes of people which descend on the area over xmas as most schools dont finish for another three weeks. It is also the place where the Treaty of Waitangi was signed - which is the document by which the Maori and The british crown signed an agreement... Its a big deal over here and court battles are still going on to redress the wrongs in the document ( ...from what I can gather - I prob have it all wrong - but can give an update once we have visited the historical site)

Steve and I played the NZ lottery game "The Big Wednesday" last night and sad to say, we didnt win! I thought given that the population is smaller we might stand a better chance, but no luck. We did bump into Andy Mackay and his girlfirend Alana though in mission bay - as he was buyng his ticket. They were off for a run along the beach - we waved to them from the bar! Mission bay - which is a short walk from our flat is one of those posing places in Auckland - people arrive in their cars and set off on their rollerblades and kite surfs and then head out to the numerous cafes and restaurants to hang out late evening. So its a place where we are bound to bump into someone we know ( all five people) on any given day.

Well,will post some piccies of Masterton on our return.
L x