Yeah.......have managed to finish the painting, all done, over, finito, its only taken a year but finally.....you cant guess at how relieved I am and the place looks really good. The final part had to be done using a giant boom lift that could be driven around the place and I than able to get to all the places that couldnt be taken care of with a ladder, or as I done some of the lodge roof, hanging from a rope.
So now we are all set for summer, right now all we need is some sun, overcast and wet at the moment but not for much longer and we will be back into it.

July School Holiday

Here we are in the middle of winter and things haven't slowed down much, we have been kept busy with a really good deal in the Motel which is 2 nights for $150.00, basically half price which is great if you want to get away for a couple of days without breaking the budget.
Speaking of getting away we managed some family time down at Turoa ski field for a week which was great fun, a few hadn't skied before but by the end of the week were blazing down the hill no problem so a great time was had by everyone....definately have to do it again.
Not all the time was spent on the mountain though, we had a couple of days where the weather wasnt so kind so we went or a bit of a wander around some of the tracks they have near Ohakune, its amazing how you can go there so often but not really see the place for what it is, an amazing amount of interesting history surrounds the area and is well worth a look. Of particular interest was the old route between Auckland and Wellington that cut through the central plateau, the old coach rd near Ohakune is a track well worth a visit part of which comes out at the new viaduct which is right beside the old one that you can still walk across, also never dissapointing is visiting the army museum in Waiouru. Plus to top the history lesson off the memorial to those who lost their lives in the Tangiwai rail disaster.

How time flies, April since the Beach Hop and half the year is gone already. Its still been pretty much all go here, have managed to get the units looking good with the refurbishment complete, its great....

A very cool event was the annual Police surfing competition, held in Raglan this year, the mecca for surfing and true to west coast style it was big!..but great fun and it is not often you have Manu Bay to surf with only three others out. Everyone had a ball with enough size on the second day to have a jet ski out helping keep everyone safe and make life a bit easier in the paddling stakes.

here is just a small portion of the cars coming past for the cruise over to Onemana, there were hundreds of them. A few of the school kids got time off to come and watch the parade which was great for them with most of the noise being from the kids rather than the cars.
The weather was perfect for the whole week which made it another very sucessful event, next year is the 10th so should be a big one, if you want to see more checkout www.beachhop.co.nz

Cordula from Germany giving us the thumbs up!!, had a great week doing Harley tours and surfing....

Danyelle after mountain biking parakiwai track

Mo Bros...

falls at the end of parakiwai track

Cordula surfing for the first time

Prize giving at the annual Police surf comp Whangamata,

Some photos from the 19th annual HOG rally in Wellington this year

Diving,fishing working on a boat for a couple of weeks out from Whakatane, the photo of the prop shows how clear the water was, 2nd is a shark caught nearby the same day we were diving under the boat and a shot of White Island....great spot.

Just before the big raft trip down the Rangitaiki river......

Another day another river, this is the kaituna falls near Rotorua, great fun!!...

well been a while since I updated this so here you go, we are just in the middle of "Beach Hop' and will have some pics from that soon, anyway here are some photos of what we have been up to over the past couple of months.