Loo's new car and Molly's first dip.

Loo had enough of the Dolly, the Mazda and so it was off to the car showroom for a replacement. This is what she chose. It's going to have a pink respray first though!

Life at the Mount continues to be good. Molly is due to start school next week. She will have to do until the end of term in primary, but that is easy to take when you get to pop down to the beach for games!

I've been training on night-fill and stocktake for the last 7 nights so it is good to get out and about in between.
Yesterday we went for a stroll around the Mount and saw this rare Kumatakawupapamoaeikatata bird. No, I made that up, there isn't such a bird with that long a name, it's actually called a Kumatakawupapamoaeiki! No that was a lie, I have no idea what it is, but it looked cool!

Round on the Maunganui Beach side, the sun was still out.

Molly was overjoyed as it meant she could go onto the beach.

Luckily, Loo bought her wetsuit in her capacious Cath Kidston!

This meant that within seconds she was turned from mild mannered Molly to...........

SURFER DUDETTE!

...turning cartwheels.

Now all she needs is a surfboard for some credibility!

Watch out for the forthcoming remake of "BayWatch", featuring Molly Balding, with special guest stars, Kevin Baldihof and Loomela Balderson.

Watch out for those tight abs and bouncing bosom! (This will be after we abstain from alcohol for the next 12 months and visit the gym daily and have the surgery!)

Hope to speak to as many people as possible on UK Saturday evening.

Bye for now.

Four seasons in one weekend away.

We left Tauranga on Friday afternoon in squally rain and travelled across country to Lake Taupo.

We learned why so many people have 4X4 cars on the way down, as the Mazda Dolmio really struggled driving up and down the hills in the driving rain. It's a great little runaround town car, and we can fit more luggage in the boot than the beetle and lotus combined, but "Dolly" will definitely have to be supplemented with something a bit meatier in a couple of weeks time.

We stopped off in Taupo town and ran through the rain to the "Indian Experience". Not a Bollywood theme park, but it was a good Indian meal.

We found the Bach after a dark and rainy trip round some very winding roads and settled in for the night. (A Bach is a Kiwi holiday home and started out as the shortened version of "Batchelor Pad", as they were originally used for fishing and hunting lads weekends)

Loo, Molly and I arranged that we would get up early if the weather improved and watch the sunrise over Lake Taupo.

You can see how beautiful the sunrise was. This is a Tui bird sitting in a tree high above the lake.

These are Loo and Molly, still fast asleep at 10:30, dreaming of Primark!

When they eventually awoke, we continued on our trip southwards, passing through the Tongariro National Park on the Desert Highway. This is the main route from Auckland, the biggest city in NZ,  7 hours drive, down to Wellington, the Capital City. So I guess it fulfils a similar function to the M1. See below for some pictures of M1-type scenery!

These are volcanoes.

It was a little chilly and you can see the girls required a little extra head protection. The gleam signifies that I am made of hardier stuff!

We finally arrived in Levin in the late afternoon and enjoyed a lovely evening with Gary, Audrey and Zoe Collins who emigrated to NZ eight years ago. The last time Loo met them was at our Wedding! She was a little more restrained in her alcohol consumption last night, so let's hope she remembers more this time!

I'll just end with a couple more pictures of the beautiful Lake Taupo sunrise and say Bore Da to the day in Levin.

Kevin.