The view from Circular Quay. A place I had only know from song lyrics previously. “And as our ship pulled into Circular Quay I looked at the place where my legs used to be And thank Christ there was nobody waiting for me To grieve and to mourn and to pity.” Waltzing Matilda by Eric Bogle (covered by the Pogues May, 1984)

I flew to Sydney this morning morning on the 08.50 from Auckland which  arrived neatly at 08.50 ins Sydney (3hrs time difference between Auckland and Sydney). This is my first time in Sydney and I don’t know what I was expecting but I discovered that Sydney is a proper city sharing the good features of Auckland (i.e. a harbour and good climate) with the madness of London.  Continue reading →

Gillian and Hywel @ 33a The Parade. St Heliers

Gillian and Hywel Jeffreys, Ruth’s parents, are retired primary school heads. They enjoy their travel and when we made our decision to shift out to New Zealand, they were the first to book their visit with us.

They made their way to us via Dubhai, Bankock and Sydney and are not knocked sideways by jet-lag when they arrive. Having now been away for six months it’s great to see them.  Continue reading →

Korean Universities Rugby team tour to New Zealand.

So this evening I popped along to College Rifles after work for rugby training with the College Rifles Bullets (an under 85Kg grade team). On arrival I discover that training was cancelled as the Korean Universities team which is touring NZ is playing against a College Rifles select under 85Kg side. The Korean side is an unrestricted weight team.

To my further surprise, I’m told to get changed as I’ve been selected as a reserve for combine team. Happy with that given the three under 85kg squads college rifles runs.  Continue reading →