Friday 3 January 2014

It's been a while. . .

Hi everyone,

Our apologies for the length of time since our last post. We thought we better get our act together and start posting again. There is a lot to catch up on so we are going to give you small chunks at a time! Below is a taste of what we got up to in April/May. Lots has happened since then and it was nice, when making the video, to look back at all the fun we've had while travelling.

We are currently living in Greendale, just outside Christchurch and are settling in nicely to life here. We both have good jobs and have found a church we both enjoy. Thank you to everyone who has and continues to remember us in prayer, we are constantly seeing answers to prayer and are so grateful to have a God who travels along with us and before us!

We hope you enjoy the video . . . .more videos to follow (If we ever get around to making them!!). . . .


 

Monday 6 May 2013

Skydive in paradise

Hey everyone!

We just couldn't wait to share our skydive experience with you so here's the vids!
Enjoy the flapping faces and flaring nostrils!

P.S Steve Woods. . .We skydived over Isengard and Lothlorien!!

 

Sunday 14 April 2013

Down down down


Over the past month we have been making our way south, stayed at a few wwoof hosts and done some camping. We are currently relaxing with Ben and Jenni in Wellington. . . the only people we have met both in NI and NZ! We'll be on the ferry to the South Island tomorrow to start a whole new adventure.

A lot has happened which would take me a long time to catch you up on so I'll just let the video do the talking. . . . (Hopefully this one won't breech copyright)

(Thanks to Ben and Jenni for letting us use their wifi!!)


Thursday 14 March 2013

Mousehunt!

As promised, this is the video which should have come before the most recent upload.

Tuesday 5 March 2013

Middle Earth

Hi Everyone,

We haven't had much internet access the past wee while so we have two videos for the past two weeks. We are currently in an internet cafe and it takes a while for the videos to upload, so we've put the most recent up and then hopefully we will get the one from before that up soon, (it's pretty exciting!). I think videos will start to slow down now as I'm sure people are sick of them and we just don't have the time to put them together every week any more. So it'll prob be every couple of weeks or month.

Anyway, we've done a good bit of camping over the past few weeks and it's been great. New Zealand is really geared for campers! We have been staying in a lot of DOC (Department of Conservation) sites which are cheap and cheerful starting at $6 a night. They are usually in great locations which means you generally have to drive a bit off the beaten track to get there. Facilities vary from site to site depending on what you pay, it could go from just toilets and a tap to a full kitchen and a power source for the van. We have also met some cool people along the way which is what camping is all about!

So far we have gone from Auckland and driven around the Corommandel Penninsula and then right up to the top of the North Island (via east coast) to Cape Reinga and then back down to Auckland again (via west coast). We stayed in Warkworth (Just north of Auckland) for a few days on a duck farm and then headed south and we are now in Rotorua (pretty smelly). There are some really beautiful beaches in Northland and I'm glad we made the decision to go up rather than just head south and missing out on it.

We are currently wwoofing with Gerry and Sally in Rotorua, helping out at their new cottage. We're hoping to see some geothermal wonderment while we are here and then hopefully head to Taupo and see what's going on there.

Enjoy the vid. . .

Thursday 21 February 2013

A lot of oranges go a little way!

Hey everyone, 

Sorry for the delay in uploading the video. This is what we got up to last week (Sunday 10th-Sunday 17th). We are now on the road in Papa Smurf and heading North to explore the Northland area. We do plan to do a weeks woofing with a family on a farm while up there to get a few nights kip in a decent bed and some nice meals (hopefully!)

 Hope you enjoy our lastest episode of bears upsidedown adventure. We know we are certainly having a great time.
 

Sunday 10 February 2013

Welcome to the family Papa Smurf

So another week is over us in NZ, can't believe we have only been here two weeks, so much has happened it feels like longer!

We are coming to the end of our stay with Ron and Cath, they have been really good to us and we have been really grateful for their help. On Wednesday we will be moving slightly south east to another woof host. They are only about half an hour away from where we are at the moment. We will stay with them a week and then hopefully start making our way north.

As you will see from the video we have finally got ourselves a camper (with character!). His name is Papa Smurf and he is 30 years old and interesting to drive. He runs on LPG which I had never heard of before and Geoff has never driven before so it gets more and more interesting! Hopefully we will not find ourselves run out of gas in the middle of nowhere!

We went to Papakura Baptist on Sunday which was great. It was a good service and the people were incredibly friendly, we ended up with a few numbers which may come in handy!

Anyway, We are looking forward to what is coming next on our adventure. . .

(apologies for some of the sound quality. Just strain your ears!)

Sunday 3 February 2013

Hey everyone!

This is a little taster of what we have been up to on our first week in NZ! We hope to post a video on a weekly basis but it may not always be possible depending on where we are staying and internet connection. . . so be patient!

We are starting to settle in with our first woofing hosts Ron and Cath. They have been very welcoming and incredibly helpful as we try to get things sorted out like our bank account, a vehicle and various other things. We will hopefully pick up a campervan in the next week or so which means we will have a bit more freedom and can start to get our travel on!

Enjoy the video. . . .

Saturday 26 January 2013

Saying Goodbye

It's been two weeks of saying goodbye, packing up and moving on. Although it's hard we know we have friends and family who love us and will be supporting us along the way. We are so grateful to those who have been helping us out whether practically or prayerfully and your continual prayerful support is greatly appreciated.

Saturday 12th Jan saw us jiving into the night with family and friends who may not be the best dancers in the world but at least they have enthusiasm! Thanks to everyone who made it along and made it such a good send off! That night started off two weeks of hard work and many nights of dining out! It was a hard slog getting everything packed up and out of the house but we got there in the end and now any belongings we have left are nicely packed in boxes and sitting tight in mum and dad's roofspace. And so later today we head to Dublin whether we are ready for it or not. Only God knows what the future will bring. . . .