The Bilkeys were in top form, as usual.

We saw various parts of the Mountain whanau at Mum’s, or the zoo, or up north. All the little cousins are getting bigger and taller. Was lovely to see all of you!

We made sure to see all of Rob’s grandparents. Here’s Helen’s parents, Ten and GramBob, out for a coffee with us at the Shore Road Cafe. They’re both keeping well and still playing plenty of lawn bowls (as well as organising the competitions too).

Also, when we drove through Hamilton, we visited Alma (Barry’s Mum) with Rob’s cousins. So here’s Alma with Rob’s Uncle Bruce and all 5 of Alma’s grandchildren (Mark, Rob, John, Michael and Laura). Alma was in good spirits and telling stories, like how she was named after the street where her parents lived before they came to NZ (Alma St in St Albans, England).

With my family we walked the dogs, went to the movies, had delicious feasts. Generally, I spent as much time with my parents as possible. I miss Mum’s home-cooked meals already!

Our last night in town, we had a dinner with all of our parents and my brother (John and Jax had already gone back to Perth at this stage). It was great to catch-up properly one last time before heading back to the UK.

It was great to see everyone while we were back in NZ. We won’t be back until 2013 for another visit, we estimate. We’ve got some more travelling to do in Europe yet (there’s far too much to see). But we’ll move home sometime for certain.

If we didn’t get to see you on this trip, we’ll try for next time, eh? Just give us a buzz. Or come and couch crash in Cambridge. You’re certainly welcome.

Arohanui and keep well everyone.

Until next time,

Liz and Rob

The hill used to have one tree at the peak, but due to a chainsaw attack, the old pine tree that was there died. So now it’s nicknamed ‘None Tree Hill’. The local iwi don’t want a replacement tree planted until their Treaty of Waitangi agreement is signed. Patience until then I guess.

The 183 metre volcano was the largest and most intensively settled pa (Maori settlement) in Auckland, and was the centre of the Maori occupation during the 18th century when tribes of the region were united under the paramount chief Kiwi Tamaki. Would’ve been a sight to see.

The monument itself is on the grave of Sir John Campbell who gifted Cornwall Park to the city. He requested in his will that an obelisk be constructed to commemorate his ‘admiration for the achievements and character of the great Maori people’.

Such a great view from the top. I might be biased, but it was wonderful to see my home town laid out. In this photo below is Mt Eden (Maungawhau) on the left, then the city scape just to the right behind it and on the far right is Rangitoto in the background. What a beautiful city.

Thanks to Mum for the great walk, and a little bit of history as well.

The kids must’ve played on every playground in the whole zoo as we wandered around.

We loved the new tiger enclosure. There’s a pool right next to the glass of the enclosure and the tiger playing with a ball. Must’ve been full of food! Pretty awesome to have the tiger so close.

Feeding parrots was good fun. In other bird news, we didn’t see any kiwis in the kiwi house. Are there still kiwis in there?

The cousins looking for meerkats.

Lonely Burma at the elephant show. Hopefully she gets friends soon! Lovely to her though.

Little baboons in a row. Awesome enclosure.

A giant tortoise and a little red monkey.

Finally playing on the dragon playground – it’s still in the zoo! I thought they would’ve retired that dragons years ago…

Great to see how Auckland Zoo is developing. Note: I think it’s hugely better than London Zoo! By miles! Brilliant day out.

xx To the whanau.

Matta and Rob got straight in the boat to go fishing. You can see the tiny dot of their boat in the distance of the bay…

We weren’t having fish for dinner, though, but a big delicious home-cooked boil up with kamo, dough boys and kumara. Delicious!

It was also the first time Mum had seen the cousins since Christmas, so we brought their Christmas gifts as well.

It poured with rain most of the time we were in Rawhiti, but was lovely to see the whanau and catchup on the latest news. Thanks for having us! :)

The next afternoon, we were off to Russell to go to Rob’s cousin’s birthday. Most of the Bilkey family was there, which was awesome, and we had a great night of seafood, pizza and beer. Happy Birthday Emlyn!

The next day, we were tourists in Russell and wandered around. First, we went to the Russell Museum (very interesting but small. A mix of Maori and colonial artifacts, with some interesting historical pictures of the Bay of Islands). You couldn’t take any photos inside, so you get this:

We bought the Russel Heritage Trail guide at the museum and headed off. We went down to the Four Square, which is in the old Russell General Store. It was originally the site of a harbourmaster’s residence and office. The store was built in 1880 with sleeping quarters upstairs, reached by an outside staircase, with a single storey livingroom at the back. It still has the same pointed roof and windows from back in the day.

There was the old cannon, which used to be at the north end of Russell Beach to defend the town before Heke’s last attack. We went up into the Swordfish Club, established in 1924, and looked at all the old photos of the various large fish landed over the decades. There are records there as well for the world-famous angler Zane Grey’s catches. (Why didn’t we take photos of these things??)

Christ Church was the highlight of the Heritage Trail. With its old graveyard and musketball holes in the wall of the church, it certainly has character. It’s the oldest existing church in New Zealand, built in 1836. Wonderful.

On our way out of Russell, we drove up Maiki Hill to see the famous Flagstaff. The original flagstaff was felled 4 times by Hone Heke between 1844-5. The present flagstaff was erected as a peace offering in 1857 and named Whakakotahitanga (Being at one with the Queen). On 12 days of the year, the Maori Confederated Tribes flag of 1834 is flown.

The final site to see (in the pouring rain) on our way back to Auckland was the Kawakawa public toilets. Yep. Some loos. For those in the know, they are of course the Hundertwasser toilets. Freidrich Hundertwasser, a world renowned Austrian artist, ecologist and architect, designed the toilets for his adopted home of Kawakawa. They are impressive, with colourful columns of stacked pots and different coloured glass bottles, tiles, shapes and corners all the way through. If you’ve never been, you should go and use these loos. No cement grey seats here, not at all.

Rawhiti and Russell, thanks for having us. Was wonderful to see you both again. Arohanui to our whanau and hope to see you all again soon.

xx

The little museum at the Buried Village was very interesting because of all of the photographs. The Pink and White Terraces ones were great. Back in the day, tourists visited the terraces for bathing, and some would record their trip, like in the photographs below. It was fantastic to see these images and how marvellous the terraces were before they were blown to smithereens by Mt Tarawera exploding in 1886.

The buried village was called Te Wairoa and it was literally buried in the 1886 eruption of Mt Tarawera. Volcanic ash preserved many of the buildings and other features of the village and visitors today can get a rare insight into 19th-century NZ life.

These are the remnants of a blacksmith’s workshop, where the dirt walls around were where the original building walls were.

This is a recreated whare (house). The little stone stove down the bottom left was  the key clue that this was once a home.

This was a stone pataka (storehouse). It was rare for pataka to be made of stone. It would’ve been used to store potatoes and kumara crops.

These are the remains of the Rotomahana Hotel, a Victorian establishment which would’ve accommodated visitors from around the world. It was here that arrangements were made for their journeys to the Pink and White Terraces. You can still see some floorboards from the hotel jutting up.

The other nice thing about The Buried Village is the surrounding grounds. It’s just really beautiful NZ nature.

Beautiful. Thanks Buried Village!

John being dragged by his niece Olivia. Awesome.

The front 9 are from the Gavin bach. Wonderful wonderful hot pools.

The baches at Lake Tarawera have a couple of competitions the baches hold every New Years. We always enjoy the croquet and pentaque ones.

The petanque competition is also called C*cks in Frocks (ie all the boys wear dresses). Rob and Pam won the competition!

Though winning the petanque competition was one highlight for Rob, the other was catching his first trout after 7 years of fishing at Lake Tarawera. We reckon the hat did it.

We were also treated to a fire dancing show by one of Jacqui’s brother’s friends. Brilliant.

A fantastic few days. Thanks so much for having us Gavin whanau! It’s always fun. :)

But first, there was a Hen’s party. The start of our day was learning to lawn bowl from Rob’s grandpa, GramBob. Don’t you love Prue’s dress? It was full of ruffles!

No photos from the rest of the day, but it involved a drawing class, a great Thai dinner and heading out on the town! Though my jetlag meant I didn’t make it to that last part. But it was a fantastic fun day! No photos from the boys day – though apparently Eric wore a dress almost as nice as Prue’s. :)

The wedding itself was beautiful. Eric and Prue got married at Parnell Rose Gardens under a huge pohutakawa tree. Jacqui and Prue’s sister Mary were bridesmaids. Thanks to Sandie for these photos!

Prue was walked in by her Mum, Kathy, and her brother.

The ceremony was settled at the base of the pohutakawa, with the branches wrapping around. Wonderful location. (P.S. John was Eric’s bestman and looked very handsome. No picture evidence here though – sorry John!)

And then they were Mr and Mrs Stoneham! And rose petals did fall!

The reception was a brilliant party rounding off a fantastic day. Great speeches, great drinks, great music makes for a great night! Well done guys!

The day after the wedding, we were off to Pauanui for New Years. A cyclone meant that it poured and poured and blew and blew the whole time we were there, though. We didn’t go outside except to get between the baches where we were staying. Regardless, it was a great crowd though, so a great couple of days!

Big ups to JD and Abra for hosting us! Happy New Year!

We had a lovely 3 course meal which Helen ( Liz’s mum ) made – a salmon salad, roast turkey and trifle dessert. NOM NOM.

Christmas day we headed up to Snells beach for the Bilkey Family Christmas.

Firstly, we went straight out to get some scallops for the big feast.

Once we got back the party had started. It gets more extravagant/eccentric each year, but the neighbors haven’t complained… yet.

Mum had got everyone a costume, which ranged from Santa suits to red sacks! And the alcohol flowed.

The next day we work up early and went out for a fish.

We caught a few, but that wouldn’t have mattered as it was a lovely day anyway.

And I’ll leave you with the memory of John being slapped in the face by a fish.

( He didn’t really)

I had been to Vancouver once before when I was 14 for an overnight stopover, so didn’t see too much of the city (at least, not that I remember). So, I was exploring the city with fresh eyes. Rob hadn’t been to Canada before, and kept chuckling at the Canadian accents. Good fun all round.

Vancouver has this brilliant park – Stanley Park – at the end of town. It’s 1,000 acres of evergreen trees surrounded by water on 3 sides. The park is a hive of activity – playgrounds, a fun train, a (closed) First Peoples village, a Christmas lights park and much more.

The key attraction for me about Stanley Park was its collection of Totem Poles. In the 1920s and 30s, the Park Board purchased several totem poles from various aboriginal peoples. Several of the original poles had been carved as early as the late 1880s but time plus the elements took their toll over the ensuing decades. All the totems (except one) were sent to various museums for future preservation and new ones commissioned or loaned to the Park Board between 1986 and 1992.

I thought they were amazing.

Like our Maori carvings, they tell stories and represent both real and mythical figures. I was very impressed by the symbolism of the Canadian First Peoples, and the well maintained state of the totem poles. Beautiful.

After wandering round the park, we bused back into town for lunch. The blogosphere (yes, that’s a word) had told me about some mad foodieness in Vancouver. One thing is poutine – french fries covered in gravy and squeaky cheese curds. I had insisted we try some with dinner the night before, and wasn’t impressed. Tasty, yes. Heavy, very much so. We didn’t finish the bowl.

The other foodstuff I’d heard about was Japadogs – Japanese flavoured hot dogs. This, we had to try.

We ordered 2 hotdogs – a Terimayo and a Tonkatsu. The Terimayo was a normal hotdog with mayonnaise and shredded seaweed sprinkled all over. The Tonkatsu one had a piece of fried crumbed pork covered in shredded onion and mayonnaise. Both were delicious and certainly an interesting twist on the standard hotdog story.

We wandered down to Granville Island, which has a huge food market and plenty of shops and stalls. It also has a little brewery – Granville Island brewery. We ordered a selection of beers for tastings – highlights were the honey lager and the chocolate stout.

And then we went out to the airport, which ended up being a sight to see! There is an amazing bronze statue in the departures area called The Jade Canoe which was done by a famous First Peoples artist called Bill Reid. It was spectacular.

The statue is of an ancient Haida dugout canoe bearing 13 supernatural creatures which are escaping a disaster that occurred at Haida Gwaii. I really loved the individual figures and the First Peoples representations of different creatures. Such an amazing artwork to have in an airport. I was so impressed.

The bear holding a cub

The Mouse Woman and the Beaver

The Ancient Reluctant Conscript

The departures lounge after security is also a sight to behold. The area is meant to be relaxing and tranquil, flowing around a dry river with another stunning statue at one end and a beautiful aquarium at the other. I can see why this airport always ends up in the top 10 airports in the world. Wonderful.

Based on what we saw in Vancouver in 24 hours, we’ll definitely go back again for a longer time in the future. I want to see the Museum of Anthropology, the Greater Vancouver Zoo and the Capilano Suspension Bridge. Also, if we came back in the summer, we could see the Klahowya Village in Stanley Park as well. Next time, next time.

Now, onto New Zealand…

Stage 1: Picking the Sloes

Well, before you actually pick the sloes, you have to walk a long way to the sloe bushes through very English farm land.

Sloe bushes are fairly unremarkable and typically line farmer’s fields. The sloes themselves look like blueberries.

However, note from my expression below – they do not taste like blueberries…

We asked how many sloes we would need for sloe gin. The answer was – as many as you can pick before sunset. So, we picked sloes for about 4 hours and filled many plastic bags.

Hands grubby and cold, and all the bushes within range quite thoroughly picked, it was time to head back to Richard’s for stage 2 – mixing the sloe gin.

Stage 2: Mixing the Sloe Gin

We picked about 7 kgs of sloes – a massive haul considering how tiny the sloes are.

Now, the ratios. Ricahrd typically goes for 1 kg of sloes + 1 kg of sugar + 1 litre of gin/vodka/white rum

We took home a 1 litre flagon which had a standard mix of sloes + white sugar + gin. Richard mixed up a few variations for his flagons, including using brown sugar instead of white and trying different types of gin.

Stage 3: Shake and Wait

Once the flagons are full, you need to give them a good shake everyday for a few months. Yea, a bit of effort. Patience is definitely required to make sloe gin.

(Also, this is Rob’s mid-Movember mo below. He raised £40 for the cause! And I raised £30 for putting up with it. :D )

Then you’ll get syrupy tasty sweet Sloe Gin. Here’s one of Richard’s from last year. You can still see the sloes in the bottle. And its pretty darn yummy.

We’ll let you know how our one turns out in a few months. :)