Easter? We've only just had Christmas!

Time really does fly by faster as you get older! Sister Kris has been and gone and the house once again has gone quiet - will probably stay that way now heading into winter. Last week Leenie went on a girlie roadtrip to Rotorua with Dot, Kris and Mum - we are all still talking and had a bloody good time. Lots of laughs and nattering like old chooks (some of us older than others!). The girls went up in Dots car, stayed at Rydges and just about suffocated with the heat and pong for the few days! We really dont remember Rotorua being that blimin smelly or hot! hehe. Had a lovely dinner with Rema and Ray and the following day had a catch up with Cousin Miranda and her new baby boy. Below is breakfast at a cute wee motel restaurant on Fenton St, nice basic food and good prices - we like that! :)

We went to Tirau for the day, wandered around all the lovely little arty craft shops, had lunch and then came back to Rotorua for a drive over to the Blue and Green Lakes. There's a really well layed out look-out between the two lakes - only problem was ... the trees had grown so high, you couldnt see anything! *doh*

On our way back to Taupo (a breakfast stop!) Dot took us to the Aratiatia Rapids - about 70kms south of Rotorua on the main road. The water from below the Huka falls is released by automated floodgates on a regular basis (four times a day) and is an amazing sight to see! The canyon rapidly fills up with water over a 10 minute period and flows for about 30 minutes before the floodgates are closed again. The photo's dont do it justice, you really need to stop and watch!

Before the water is released ....

The same place 10 minutes later!

We got home safe and sound. Managed to knacker mum - she moseyed off pretty quickly to get some rest - obviously not used to the three of us yahooing and carrying on for 72 hours!

Easter was pretty tame. Good Friday was spent painting the front of the house - Bill and Craig working on the outside, Leenie in the garage painting the shutters - 8 of the buggers!

We've changed the colour scheme, the house is still white - instead of the shutters being forest green they are now a stone colour - very trendy! Must take an after photo *note to self*

Saturday was shopping and a bit of a knees up on Saturday night at the club. Sunday was a sleep in and recovery kind of day in preparation for the Rock2Wgtn concert that night! We caught the train into town along with 20,000 other bogans *grin* and rocked the night away to Poison, Whitesnake and Ozzy Osbourne. Was pretty good, the Weta Workshop Dragon was fantastic - had green lasers shooting out of its eyes and made an awesome show around the stadium. We didnt get home until 1:00am!

Monday was up early again and this time Leenie and Bill went for a 2 hr motorbike ride around the Bay's. Craig's back has still been giving him some jip so he decided not to aggravate anything. The weather was fabulous this past weekend. Typical, Leenie packs away most of her summer wardrobe and now the latest reports are summer will be here until May! Definately shouldnt complain about that one.

Leenie has a new boss at work - had a two and a half hour intro meeting with him on Tuesday - nice welcome back to work after 10 days off! NOT!

Had to make note that while Leenie has clocked up 1,200 kms on her new motorbike, Craig has clocked up 10,000kms on his harley ... pretty impressive stuff. We'll be clocking up a few more kms this coming weekend - escorting Captain Hurricane around town again (keep an eye on the telly - we will get on the field one day!) and then heading up to Levin for a poker run on Saturday.

Whew - been busy. Feel it too. Time for bed.

Our 1st Poker Run Together

A poker run is where you all start from a venue with a base card, Leenie had an Ace, Craig had a 9. You also get instructions about your next destination. We then carried on to various other locations and picked up a card from each. The final destination is when the best hand receives a prize. Needless to say, neither of us got a brass razzoo ... but we had a bloody good day out!

Start point - Wellington Motorcycles

1st stop, look out on Wainuiomata Hill.

2nd stop - Cafe @ top of Rimutaka Hill.

3rd stop - top of Paekakariki Hill - gorgeous day over there - bloody windy though.

Last stop - Chicago Bar - Queens Wharf.

About 100 bikes. Was fun and games leaving - Leenie's bike has a radio frequency immobiliser alarm which was in deadspot at Chicago Bar. Two options - push the bike 50mtrs down the road or use the super duper override system. After about 7 attempts we actually got the override system to work after setting off the alarm to the amusement of our fellow riders! ... Guess we all need to learn something sooner or later eh?

Leenie has clocked up 1,000 kms on her bike already!

Bikes have just been washed and put away and now its time to relax with a bbq dinner and a drink!

Halfway through March?!!??!??

naaaaaaaa it cant be ... well not quite anyway!

We've had a busy last couple of weeks. Last week in particular was a bit dodgy for us. Craig managed to pulled a muscle in his back on Monday morning pulling his jeans on - so he was laid up for a couple of days. Leenie managed to pick up one of those nasty gastro bugs going around and at 5:00am one morning passed out while on the loo and managed to face plant the bathroom floor - a quick trip to the Dr's confirmed she wasnt concussed or suffering from anything really nasty. She had a nice reminder though - black eye, fat lip, grazed chin and a couple of bumps on the noggin - bloody hillarious looking back on it now we suppose!!! We both managed to make it to work on the Wednesday and then Craig put his back out totally and we had him at the vet's (physio) on Thursday morning and laid up again on Friday.

While all this is going on we had the pleasure of the company of Jana from Brisbane for a few days, quickly followed by Pete and Helena from the UK. Had a really busy weekend with the family, Chinese at our place on Friday night, going out into town on Saturday night, to Bill and Raynors Sunday night and bbq dinner here Monday night. So its been all on around here!

Craig, Leenie, Helena, Pete, Carol and Brett @ Nicolini's Restaurant.

The house has gone quiet again, we've been in bed by 9:00pm each night but its only temporary and things will change again tomorrow night when Kris arrives from Brissie. She's here for a couple of weeks and we are planning a girlie road trip (3 sisters and Mum) to Rotorua for a few days - its either going to be bloody good fun or we'll be ready to rip each other to pieces by the end of it! hehe Craig seems quite happy to fend for himself and the dogs for a few days - man chops on the bbq is already in the planning!

Trude the Suzuki was put on a transporter and sent to her new home in Gore today. Leenie is a little sad. Craig is pleased to have a little bit more room in the garage again!