LIVING WITH WHITESNAKE

Steve and I recently went away for a night, as a belated birthday celebration. We had a great time, as the pics will show. Perhaps I should have checked with Steve before I posted the bath shot, hehe!










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LAND AT LAST - FIRST STOP, SUVA, FIJI

I'm so blonde, I published these holiday posts out of order. Must have had a lot of wine at the time (for a change)

Bula! Welcome to Fiji.

The Republic of Fiji, consists of 322 formed Islands. It's one of the most populous island groups in the Pacific, with approximately 900,000 inhabitants.

For hundreds of years, Fiji was a land torn by intertribal skirmishes. As in many p arts of the Pacific, cannibalism was practised there.

The first European to sigh Fiji was Abel Tasman in 1643. Captain James Cook sighted more of the islands in 1774.

Suva is the nation's capital city and has a population of around 360,000.

Hubby and I didn't spend much time ashore. The place was too smelly, hot and crowded for KB. The locals would pop out of nowhere and try to persuade us to go with them to find 'bargains'. I swear if one more local had grabbed me by the arm and tried to sell me something, I would have hit him with my handbag. Time to go back to the safety of the ship and drink more wine, hehe!




USELESS FACT OF THE DAY - The plate washing brigade on board wash approximately 12,500 plates, 10,000 glasses (mainly mine) and 15000 items of cutlery every day.

NEXT STOP - DRAVUNI, FIJI ISLANDS

My favourite day trip during this cruise. Dravuni is one of the smallest populated islands in Fiji, with less than 200 residents. No vehicles to speak of. No department stores. No cinemas. Just white sand beaches, swaying palm trees and warm sea...heaven!

USELESS FACT OF THE DAY: During each cruise the galley prepares a wide variety of dishes. Many ingredients are used, including 5000lts of milk.

I'M OUTTA HERE...AGAIN

HELLS GATE, ROTORUA, NEW ZEALAND

The Hells Gate geothermal reserve was formed approximately 10,000 years ago as a series of geothermal eruptions when an ancient lake drained to form lakes Rotoiti and Rotorua. The removal of the water caused faulting of the rock allowing the violent escape of steam, gases and hot fluids. Hells Gate is different from the other thermal reserves in the Rotorua/Taupo area, as its heat source is only 1.5 - 2kms below the surface whereas the other thermal reserves' heat source is approximately 10+Kms under the surface. The temperature of the pools and cliffs range from 68 to 380 degrees C.







The Sulphur Crystal Valley, is covered in deposited sulphur that condenses from the geothermal stream. The blackened areas highlight a unique phenomena - spontaneous combustion which occurs when deposited sulphur reaches approx 120 degrees C from ground and sun heat, ignites then burns at 380 degrees C causing silica rocks to melt and flow like laver. In this area you can feel the heat of the earth under your feet by touching the flat rocks in the paths which are always warm to the touch. So cool, or should I say HOT!



The outline of this pool imitates that of Australia, it's shape was not man made. Well obviously because they would have made a map of New Zealand NOT Australia. Unfortunately, I couldn't get the whole pool in the photo, if I'd stepped any further back; I would have ended up in a hot pool and been a deep, fried blonde. The temperature is approx 48 degrees C, which is lukewarm when compared with the rest of the park. Ahhh, maybe that's why it's a map of Australia instead of NZ. *giggles*

Many Australians have asked where Tasmania is and although invited to make a suitable hole, the offer has yet to be taken up. Too funny!




I recommend a visit to Hells Gate if you are ever in the area. It's a short, easy walk with fascinating history. Well, according to the brochure, the walk takes 45 mins but if you are KB and have to point at everything and have blonde moments, such as touching steaming rocks and exclaiming with surprise how hot they feel, it takes much longer. I could have stayed there all day. Well worth a visit.

On another note, I have discovered one of the reasons the rest of NZ loathes Aucklanders.

Hells Gate cashier - "Which country are you from?"

KB - "Auckland, I mean NZ."


Oh, you should have seen the look she gave me. Whoops!

THE BEACH WAS PACKED...NOT!

Last time we stayed at our place at the beach, we took a detour. This is where hubby used to spend his Christmas holidays when he was a boy. A beautiful, wee town and practically deserted. It was a lovely place to visit but do you think I can remember how to spell the town's name? *slaps self*








Hubby spotted this sign which made me giggle. What's the point of having a tap if you can't drink the water?

There was a police car parked in the car park and it reminded of Dickiebo's challenge to post the most interesting pic of yourself with a policeman. Hubby dared me to drape myself all over the car so he could take a pic. I decided against it as knowing my luck, I would be arrested. Damn, wish I'd done it now. Maybe next time...when I've had a few wines.



This sign for Kuntoro Orchards makes me giggle every time we drive past it. What were they thinking?




In other news...my birthday was erm interesting, definitely had it's ups and downs and one I will never forget. Not every day you turn 40, have the best party ever and are told to stay away from a friend's husband. Yikes! Well, they do say life begins at 40. Will post pics soon.

Love KB

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

OFF TO THE BEACH

Hubby, Coco and I are off to the beach. Be good and I'll C U Next Tuesday.

Love ya
xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

I'll leave you with this....

Occasionally the immature bliss of honeymoon love yields to a growing relationship between people who notice their own flaws more than those of their mates, who are troubled more by their own selfishness than by that of their spouse, and who make it a priority to become better companions. These become the truly great marriages, and they are rare.

How rare is your marriage?

-Larry Crabb-

Looks like I swallowed my quote book this week...bugga!


Later guys
Love KB
xxxxxxxxxxx

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PIGS IN SHIT

Have you heard the expression - "happy as a pig in shit"?, it describes perfectly how hubby, Coco and I feel when we are away in our caravan.


Hubby as pig in shit




Coco as pig in shit



KB as pig in shit





Actual pigs in shit






I wonder if anyone has ever used the word shit as often in a blog post as I just did here?

This has nothing to do with the above post but while I was away I learned a new word…verisimilitude… “It had the disorderly versimilitude of reality.” Scott Smith. Damn I love that line, sounds much better than “pigs in shit“! I'll go now...I think I've finally lost the plot.

Love ya
KB XXXX

GONE TO THE BEACH

I'll be out of town for a few days. Have a happy Easter, be good and I'll catch up with you soon.

Miss ya already
Love KB
xxxxxx

THREE MEN AND A BABY

I spent most of my Christmas holidays with hubby, our good friend (Andrew), his son-in-law (Nik), and Nik’s baby (Athena).

I had some beautiful pics of the wee angel but unfortunately they were lost when my camera broke. I’ve retrieved a few from hubby’s camera.

I loved having the baby with us. She took quite a shine to me and followed me around and cuddle me all the time.

I’d wake at 7am to the sound of her little hands knocking on the caravan door. “Hello, hello”, she would say as she knocked. Not so adorable when 7am is practically the middle of the night for me, hehe.

The MEN decided to buy her a paddling pool. The box read, “Easy, 5 minute assemble”. Ninety minutes later…they were still struggling.

A pilot, an artist and a business owner - three grown, very successful men standing around a tiny paddling pool, scratching their heads. Oh, I laughed until I thought my sides would burst.

They eventually figured it out and Athena and I spent many hours splashing around.

The men consoled themselves by building a fire, chopping wood and numerous other manly activities. Grunt, grunt.

F WORDS

The beautiful Whangarei Falls is one of the places we visited while on hols recently. The water falls over steep cliffs of a height of 26.3 metres. We followed a track down one side and back up the other, which took about 15 mins.



Whagarei is a Maori word; any word starting with the letters wh in Maori is pronounced as f. One of my favourite Maori words is Whakapapa....sound it out with me people... fok - a - papa. How rude. LMAO!

Followed closely by...Longest place name: Taumata-whakatangihanga-kōauau-a-Tamatea-pōkai-whenua-ki-tāna-tahu (Tamatea, the man with the big knees, who slid, climbed and swallowed mountains, known as landeater, played his flute to his loved one).


Please let me know if I have spelt any words incorrectly, Marja.

AARRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG

I had every intention of posting re holidays and Christmas today but my stupid camera has up and died on me.I had heaps of photos and a few vids too. Here's hoping hubby has a few good shots for me to use.

Happier news - I just clocked up over 100 blog posts! GO ME!!!!!!!!!!

I'll be back.

GONE TO THE BEACH

Well kidddies, it's the time of year when I must love and leave you. Christmas is almost upon us and I still have so much to do. I'll be heading to the beach on Boxing Day, hopefully the rain will stay away this time.

I wish you and your families a magical Christmas and a Happy New Year. I know some of you won't be getting presents from Santa this year because you have been very bad, hehe. Enjoy the pressies, your friends and families, eat and drink too much. If your family are anything like mine...try not to strangle the one family member who always drives you crazy.

Be good or bad. If you're gonna be bad, I want to hear all about it when I return. See you in the new year!

Lots of hugs, kisses, snogs and a few slaps. Love KB xxxxxxx

P.S I'll leave you with some pics I took last time I went to beach. There aren't many because it rained most of the time.

A ZOO WITHOUT CAGES

Spent a wonderful day out with Meg and family at the Open Zoo. Obviously, it's not completely open but as close as you can get.

We spent the whole day there, the sun was shining, we toured the zoo on a safari bus and the youngster had a ball.



Love KB
x

SHE'S A BIG SIS NOW

The way she looks out for her little sis already is adorable.

She was excited to be going to the zoo and wanted to show me how many animals she'd packed in her handbag for the journey.



Love KB
x