Gidday Mate!

Gidday folks - hope all is well in NZ - hear there is a lot of rain in the BOP. Well our journey in our camper van has come to an end. We had a fantasic time in it but we are all pleased to be somewhere with a bit of room.
We had a grea tour around the Bundaberg Rum Factory - thought the kids might have got a bit bored but they really enjoyed it - didn't realise the Australian Government took 2/3rds of the money made from the rum in taxes. It was interesting to see how small the bottling plant was for the amount of rum made. We had tastings mmm yum - Green with envy are we Gary!!??!!We then went to the Ginger Beer Barrel to taste all their products and to look at their interactive display which the kids enjoyed and a laser type show that James kept trying to see where the man had disappeared to. Onwards then to the Town of 1770 where we stayed in a site that was right on the beach - saw our first kookaburra here - more excitement! Needed Callum to verfify that thats what it was - our little wildlife warrior. The sand was beautiful and white but no time here to swim as tide was out when we were in! Next morning up at 6am (which isn't hard when you are in bed at 7pm lol) to get the boat out to Lady Musgrave Island which is a protected island with no inhabitants. We were ferryed out to the boat and went straight to the top so that we could sit in the wind - wasn't just wind we were struck with but all advised to put rain coats on as well - when I got off I was saturated even with the raincoat. Woo hoo what a trip - it was rough as - Bec and Phil both sick - I wasn't prepared to leave my seat as I knew that would be the end of it lol. The staff were great - they had there eyes on everyone as it is a regular occurance on the way out. 90 minutes later we arrived at the reef - as we came in we saw a mantra ray. We docked onto the poontoon and we were in the first group to go over to the island - there is only birds there - lots of nests for muttonbirds. The turtles nest there in the season unfortunately they only had 15 turtles nest this year but the previous year there was 200 of them - they think they knew that there was bad weather coming. It was then back to the boat for lunch and then a trip out on the semi submarine - we saw turtles and lots of reef fish - then it was out for snorkling. Bec enjoyed swimming but the rest of us enjoyed the snorkling and seeing all the reef fish - particularly the angel fish. The trip back was so bad but still quite swayey (if there is such a word lol)

Happy Faces - Underwater World - Mooloolaba

A new breed of Fish - The Great Scared Callum

Family Shot - Australia Zoo - Beerwah

Were Here!

Well today is Thursday 8 May. Its 7.10pm and we are all feeling like heading off to bed! Its been a couple of busy days. Headed off to Auckland on Monday and caught up with Rachel and Nick - had tea out at their place in Waiuku. Up early on Tuesday to get the plane it left at 6.40 in the morning. We had a good flight although Bec was a bit bored. Callum got a fright as the plane did a side step. We hit Brisbane and got a taxi out to the Campervan depot where we had a couple of hours wait - the good thing was thou that they decided to upgrade us to the Maui Sprite instead of the Britz one so Phil is driving around in a Mercedes Engine, Maui Sombero Van! He is so enjoying it. Once we got the camper we drove out on to the Bruce Highway then onto Steve Irwin Way - we passed the Australia Zoo and on to Colundra where we went to the Supermarket and Kings Beach. The kids had their first swim in Australian waters - they enjoyed it and seemed to appreciate the break. We went back to the Glasshouse Mountains Camping Ground and stayed there for the night. The next morning Bec and I found a Green Tree Frog in the bathroon and got chatting to another lady who showed us another two of them above the showers. Great excitement as there was a race for the first one of us to see an animal that we had not seen in NZ. Onwards to Australia Zoo where Callum had been wanting to go for a couple of years. What a place to get up close to the animals. The koalas were very sleepy lol. Nic held the koala for the photo - it was very stinky. Bec enjoyed feeding the kangaroos and we all fed the elephants. We then watched the show in the Crocoseum which was a great showcase for wildlife conservation and education. Bec wasn't well and we went back for lunch - while Nic and Bec stayed back at the camper, Bec had a sleep, Phil and the boys went and looked around the rest of the park. Bec and Nic went back out but didn't manage to see the whole place - its quite big. We all had our photo taken with a snake and it was the first time that we had touched one. This was the highlight of the day for both Callum and James. We left there all walked out and tired. Headed to Mooloolaba which was only about 20 km away. And stayed in a camping ground right across from Underwater World which we visited today. The had a really cool car aquarium called A Fish called Honda. Great place but didn't have a lot of the fish on signs so you didn't really know what you were looking at. Nic had a good fall outside on the road here and is nursing a nice sore knee and jarred body. Travelled on to Bundaberg which took around 3.5 hours - which was about 1 hour less than everyone had told us. There is a lot of sugar cane grown in this area. We are off to the Bundaberg Rum Distillery tomorrow and Ginger Beer Factory then on to Town of 1770. Kids have been really good and everyone is enjoying the holiday so far.
Hope all is well in New Zealand!
Love Nic, Phil, James, Callum and Rebecca

Happy National Scrapbook Day

Happy National Scrapbook Day - I didn't do any scrapping but hope others out there did! Busy getting packed etc for the holiday. I got an early Mothers Day Card from Rebecca - she had made it at Grandmas while the kids were away. Its gorgeous!
Nicki

Best laid plans

Well the best laid plans often don't work out and this week has been one of them. I was going to HB this weekend to pick up the kids from mum and dads - where they were having the best of times - going to the movies, building go-carts, building huts and cooking over a camp fire, walking to the shop each morning to get pop his paper, Callum went and helped with the catering of funerals and made himself some money, ANZAC day parade, putt putt golf games, hot chick, chinese, Mcdonalds Whew I couldn't keep up with all they were doing. Phils nana had a stroke on Wednesday so Phil and I shot down to HB that night and saw here then and then took the kids to see her early on Thursday morning then shot home again as Phil had animals arriving back to the farm at 1pm and he needed to be there for them. So we brought the kids back home with us. They are also sick - Bec has had a viral infection in her eyes and they look so sore but are healing well now and James has tonsillitis - took him to the Dr last night to get him better for Monday. Callum is feeling a bit out of sorts now too. Phil is strung out as he trys to get all the last minute things done before Monday - YES MONDAY - MONDAY - MONDAY - we are OFF OFF OFF - YAY we are so looking forward to this trip it is so needed and wanted! Can't wait!

New addition

Phils sister and brother in law Karen and Gary had a gorgeous wee girl on 16 April - she is just the daintiest thing with a cheeky glow in her eyes. Well done to both of you!

SENZ08

Well I've got my three day pass to SENZ! Heather, Colleen and I are all going and I can't wait for a weekend of scrapping, chatting and shopping! We're also going to the crop night and the dinner. Anyone else out there going?

Excited

Well I'm getting excited! This time next week we will be waking up with the anticipation of traveling to Auckland for a long awaited trip to Australia. On Tuesday 6 may we fly out at 6.40am to Brisbane and have 1 week touring the Sunshine Coast in a Camper van then 1 week at the Gold Coast. While over there we have tickets to Australia Zoo, Underwater World, Australian Outback Spectacular, Warner Bros Movie World, Dreamworld and White Water World. Yep we'll do all the theme parks - not going to visit Sea World thou as have heard that after visiting the other two - Australia Zoo and Underwater World that Sea World isn't as good. Soooo I have brought new rechargeable batteries for the camera - as it has been sluggish to take photos - so am hoping that this is what was needed. Also brought a gorilla pod (tripod) so that we can all be in the photos at some stage - if I can drag Phil into them! Have borrowed mum and dads digital video camera and also brought a underwater camera for our visit to here www.lmcruises.com.au its a 35mm camera that is encased in a plastic casing - quite airtight as you can hear a little poof as you open it. I got some extra films for it so that the kids can use to take some pics from their perspective. The kids are really looking forward to their trip - the last time they were in a plane was when Bec was a baby and we were living in the South Island. The last time I was in one was the same time and the boys had gone on a separate plane to me (with their grandparents) and it was when the Ansett strikes were on and I ended up going on what they called the Crayfish Plane which was an old old felt really old DC3 plane that was used to fly cargo/crayfish etc over to the Chatams and I sat their with Bec on my knee she was only a few months old and (a) wondered if it was going to get off the ground (b) was going to land at the other end! I was on one of my never ending diets and when morning tea came round and it was a lamington or some sweet cake I thought I'm gonna eat this cos it might be my last! But it did get off the runway and we did land at our destination safely although it rattled and made a lot of noise as it went (and I still didn't lose the weight!) Anyway I'm packed, the kids stuff is packed, Phil is packed so all I need now is to go and pick the kids up this weekend - we have had a week without them and I'm missing them. Then come Monday its OFF!!!

Another Digital Page

Heres another layout I did. Its another digital one. What I like about the digital scrapping is I did this in bed when I couldn't sleep lol!

Mothers Day CD

A couple of years ago I made a number of these CD Cards for a Mother's Day Breakfast that we had at a family gathering.

With the little pressie that all the mums got.

All lined up in a row!
Took a while to make!

Front of Card

Back of Card

Some digital scrapping

I did this one on the computer a while ago.

Right!

Ok so I've changed the colour and template of the blog - just so you know that I'm coming back lol. Been away awhile but I'll be back later today I hope - if I don't end up scrapping and then if I do I'll come back with a layout or two lol.
Nicki

An update

Well here I am with an update. Have been lurking around but not feeling like blogging. Phil has had his op for his knee and we thought that it would be a 'quickie' unfortunately when he came too the piece of cartilidge was too big to be sucked up the sucker so they had to cut it open. Just means its a bit more intrusive and a bit longer to heal. But he is well on the way to recovery now. We have had news that Dad has a tumour in his bowel. We've all been a bit weepy. We all thought it was just polyps and when he went into to be checked the came across the tumour, after the visit to the specialist he had a big bleed and collasped at home - luckily Jo was there and rang the ambulance - we thought he had gone - but dad being the fighter he is soon came round once he had some of the juice that the IVs had in them. He needs to have it all removed and has his op on 27 March. We had some good news thou that it isn't in his lymph glands and hasn't traveled. Thanks to God and lots of praying I'm sure. We did have some good news of our own. We entered into the Dairy Industry Awards in the BOP region this year and won a merit award for Dairy NZ Human Resource Management.
Nicki

2 new layouts and my new scrapbook friend!

These two layouts have been done from sketches - the Grandma one is a Becky Fleck round one http://www.pagemaps.com/ the second one is for a challenge over at Scrapbook Essentials http://www.scrapbookessentials.co.nz/ . Its nice to be getting a bit of scrapping time!

Take a look a my new scrapbook friend - he Phil's work dog Chief whos getting a bit soft on it!

Next two words

Emilys next two words are a YOW - our own word - who my friend chose for me and it was HOUSEWORK lol those who know me know that it is not a favorite of mine! And then the next one is BALANCE - i've written a little bit of what these things mean to me on the back of the cards but have shared with you just the front. The balance one has painting on it and then using a tissue picture I cut around the girl then separated the layers on the tissue and podged each separate tissue onto the paint. Getting a bit out there for me lol - I did like the painting process so have painted another page ready for another of Emily's challenges lol. The words on Housework are done on my Cuttlebug so are the flowers. Hope you have had a good weekend.
Nicki