Festive Season Part 1

It's been a while since I last wrote so this post will be fast paced and action packed!

I spent the weekend before Christmas learning to surf with a colleague from work four of his Irish mates at a place called Raglan, the weather was perfect and the waves were about 2-3 feet high and perfect for learning on. After standing up on the first attempt things went a bit down hill for a while before getting the hang of it half an hour later. We all had a great time and returned to the beach on Christmas eve morning to rent a few boards and spend the morning in the sunshine surfing some more. Alas nobody told the ocean this and I think even ants would have struggled to catch a wave.

The remainder of Christmas eve and Christmas day were spent with my long time friend Evelien and her family in Hamilton in the central North Island. They live only half an hour from Raglan so we went back and did a spot of kayaking on Christmas day, by this time the weather had turned to custard and we kayaked in the pouring rain! It wasn't cold though and was quite refreshing. Christmas day didn't really feel like Christmas, perhaps it was the weather or not being around family or perhaps the lack of Christmas decorations in NZ but Evelien's family did a great job of making sure I enjoyed myself. In the evening I drove back up to Auckland and got the house ready for the impending arrival of the family!

Luckily all my flatmates were away for the bulk of the Christmas holidays so we had the house to ourselves which was a god send. We spent boxing day relaxing and exchanging gifts (thank you for all my pressies!) after lunch I spent the afternoon bullying the family into staying awake till a reasonable hour by taking them for drives and walks around town.

The following day, Dad went sailing on his Americas Cup Yacht experience that Ruth and I got him for his birthday and I took Mum and Ruth to the Chocolate Boutique! I've got to dash out now but I'll post some more writing and pics soon!