Auckland and the Sky Tower

We spent a day in the city of Auckland, walking around in the sunshine, browsing through the shops, re-telling stories over cups of freshly brewed coffee and home baked Fejoia & Ginger muffins - oh, it's a hard life! It was 23 degrees outside yet it's supposed to be autumn, we were walking around in T-shirts and enjoying the sun...

We also went to the Sky Tower, a magnificient structure which is the tallest in the southern hemisphere and a striking feature of the Auckland skyline. Here are a few photos of the Sky Tower from a distance and also looking up from below. Josh loved standing against the tall panes of glass to look out over Auckland spread out far below. Looking down through glass panels in the floor at the traffic, the buses and lorries look quite small, as do the tops of the skyscrapers!!

Visitors

We have had visitors to come and stay with us during April. Manda's Mum (aka Anne/Nanna) and Aunt Julia arrived in Auckland a couple of weeks ago, followed by Manda's brother Matt, who arrived from Thailand on Monday 2nd April.
It's been fun sh0wing them all around our local area. They have already been off travelling around the central region of the North Island and are due to be driving up North to the Bay of Islands for 3-4 days.

More puppy photos

The first photo is of Buster lying down by the breakfast bar stools in the kitchen.

The second photo is of a very tired Buster taking a rest inbetween dashing around the entire house at a hundred miles per hour! He's lying down in the study having placed himself with a prime view through the doorway of the living room, so he can jump up and intercept any boys that happen to be walking by...

Buster & Josh

Here's a lovely photo of Josh with Buster - his new little friend. It's lovely having a puppy around the house, everyone is helping to train him and he's a fast learner. More photos to follow...







Dave and Buster having fun, he's certainly a little wriggly bundle (and so is the puppy!).

Buster is very fluffy and cute, he loves lots of cuddles and is always pleased to see us. He's gorgeous...

Sorry !!!!! A Blog By Josh Capstick

We are all sorry that we haven't been able to write to all of you we have all been busy !!!! So an update of our life in New Zealand. In two weeks we are getting a golden labradoodle puppy and we are calling him Buster , he has a fleece coat and looks more like a labrador than a poodle but has curly and messy fur, he is so adorable !!! We have got many toys and stuff for him like a bed and a blanket, a food bowl and a water bowl and squeaky toys and a ball. A little about our house, we have bought new bookcases and CD racks so we have unpacked quite a lot and we have nearly got rid of all our BOXES !!!!! The weather has been quite different this week because we had a big storm and the wind was very loud, about 120kms per hour, there was a lot of rain for 3 days. My school is really fun, i have my one on one lessons with my drama teacher on monday and wednesday, i have my group drama lessons on tuesday and on thursday, every morning apart from wednesday we have a 20 mins drama lesson which is fun we play games and stuff. In art is fun but can be boring but the best part is we are aloud our I-Pods in class. In english we have spelling tests every friday which i do kinda good on !!! In maths we are doing rubbish algebra, in science we are do chemistry !!! in history we are researching about a song by billy joel called "We didn't start the fire" which is fun !!! i can't remember what we are doing in geography !!!! i hope you are all missing us becacuse we are missing you !!!!!!! lots of love josh xxxxxxx

New School Uniforms - Wednesday 7th February

Ben will be going to Orewa College on Wednesday 7th February to enroll and choose the subjects he hopes to study in Sixth Form. Everyone has to study English, Maths and Science, his preferences are; History, Classical Studies (Ancient History), Media Studies, New Zealand Studies, Drama & Theatre Arts, Information & Communication Management and Social Studies (Sociology). We'll get him to write a blog post to let you know which options/subject he chooses to study and what Orewa College life is like being in the Sixth Form there, in comparison to John Hampden Grammar School.

Both boys are quite pleased that they get to wear T-shirt, shorts and sandals for their school uniforms, it's all quite relaxed over here, so no ties, long sleeved shirts or blazers!!

Josh will be going to the Corelli Academy of Performing Arts on Wednesday 7th February. He will be studying a full academic curriculum of IGCSE subjects in addition to; voice production, theatre skills, improvisation and mime, characterisation & accents, musical theatre physical training and building a classical repertoire. He will enjoy the one-to-one acting technique coaching with opportunities to join in lunchtime and evening performances each week. He's very excited at this amazing opportunity and we look forward to hearing about it from him. We'll get him to write a blog post to let you know how he's getting on.

Summer Holidays Ending Soon

Dan and Ben have been enjoying the occasional game of tennis during the summer holidays ... but that will be coming to an end soon. Plus, no more boring lying around for Josh, waiting for the tennis match to finish so that they can all head off for the beach, which is where Josh would prefer to be any day. He must have been a dolphin in a previous life, as he just can't seem to stay away from the water, plus he has a rather devilish sense of fun - splashing anyone who comes within a few metres of him! Finally the kids will be going back to school in New Zealand on 7th and 8th February. It will be a nasty shock to their systems having to get up before 11am !! Embarrasing photos of the two younger boys in school uniforms to follow ...