An Evening with Richard Branson

On Thursday John and I attended a star studded evening at the Viaduct Event Centre in Auckland to meet and learn a little more about Richard Branson. With more than 1000 people attending, including the Deputy Prime Minister, Rachael Hunter, Paul Henry, Dave Dobyn, to name a few.


It was a wonderful black-tie dinner with delicious food and copious amounts of wine.


Richard Branson was interviewed informally on a sofa on the stage, with a chance to ask questions and then sat at a table just across from us for the rest of the evening. They also held an auction to raise money for Outward Bound New Zealand.


A outstanding once-in-a-lifetime event, that we both thoroughly enjoyed.

Exhausted!

Two tired boys after a weekend of work!

Protecting the Strawberries

Now that my 60 strawberry plants are growing well and already producing some fruit, it was necessary to stop the pesky birds from trying to eat them, so John used his carpentry skills to erect a framework to cover the bed. Strawberry Pavlova's galore this summer!


I can still easily access them for picking but he's also made it high enough incase I decide to use the area for other crop in future years. What would I do without such a handy husband?!

Business Excellence Awards 2011

On Friday night we were given the excuse to discard the wellies and put on our black tie and evening attire for the Rotorua Business Awards 2011.






With an attendance of over 600 people in the Energy Events Centre it was quite an occasion.








I'm pleased to say that John's company won the Manufacturing award and him and his team went up to collect the trophy and certificate. John of course, wasn't phased by having to give an acceptance speech up on stage.


It was a fun night with free flowing wine, great food and came home with a prize.

Happy Birthday Mum!

It was just so wonderful to have Mum here with us in New Zealand to celebrate her birthday. We started the day with cards and pressies and then lunch up the gondolas looking down over Rotorua and the lake.









I cooked a meal in the evening so that John could be around to celebrate the day too, finishing off with cupcake birthday cake and candle.

With this being her 1st birthday in New Zealand, she's now got the excuse of hitting the terrible two's next year, that could be trouble!!

Rugby World Cup Fever!

The Rugby World Cup has hit New Zealand this 2011 and put our wonderful little country in the lime-light.

At the last minute we were very lucky to be given 2 grandstand tickets to attend the Fiji / Namibia game held in Rotorua. So yesterday, Mum and I donned our Rugby regalia and headed on down to the Stadium in the gorgeous Spring sunshine.


It was a fabulous day, getting completely swept up in the World Cup atmosphere and with the final result 49 - 20 to Fiji, brilliant!

Skiing at Whakapapa

At the last minute, John and I decided to have a weekend away skiing at our local ski field, Whakapapa in the North Island.











We left early on Saturday morning and 2 1/2 hours later we were up on the ski slope having a hot chocolate.

The weather was fantastic, clear blue skies with spectacular views down the mountain.

We booked the Skotel Alpine Resort for the night, just at the bottom of the slopes and were spoilt with a view over the Tongariro National Park from our balcony.















Sunday morning we were up early and headed back up the mountain and were 2 chair lifts up at the top restaurant by 8am. Hardly anyone on the ski slopes and tucked into a massive breakfast before making the most of the early morning skiing.







What now seems to be a tradition for us, we stopped off at Lake Taupo on the way home and hit some golf balls into the lake. Another wonderful weekend, making it all the more special as it was a last minute decision to go.