New Toys!

Neal has a new toy - and nowhere in the house is safe from the lens of the camera! Here are a few first piccies.

Dad and Moira are here at the moment - had great fun at the Midleton farmers markets, so many yummy cheeses, veggies and traditional Irish soda breads - think it may become my local saturday morning hangout!

Live to Ride

Hi guys!

Excitement here in Cork today - it is SNOWING!!!! Well.... snow showers that melt on the ground.... but it is still snowing!

So to celebrate this I am launching my new ski video - Live to Ride - a bit of fun to keep us occupied until the next ski trip! You can see it on our photo site - click on our photos.

2007 is off to a start -Neal has a new camera so look out for lots of arty shots and I am making murmurings about a marathon in June!

Hope all is well - and a question to all kiwis - when the moon is in a crescent shape is it on the left or the right side of the moon shadow??? We cant work it out!

Ham and Turkeys

Hello Team! Happy New Year to All!!

We have just arrived back in Cork to start the adventures of 2007. Christmas was spent in London with John and Kaetlyn and my parentals flew over for a surprise visit which was awesome. The holiday started with a traditional trip to midnight mass - but in Westminster Abbey - it was a beautiful (Neal will say LONG) mass and the choir was fantastic. Christmas day dawned rather cloudy - but we were not worried tucked up inside with turkey, ham and the equivalent of a swiss chocolate factory. Dad and Moira brought some good kiwi wine and bubbles...missed the barbie though!

I think I have become rather obsessed with Christmas ham...yes rather strange. Maybe it was after carefully selecting my green ham, and then having to carry it over to London from Cork - glad there is no real customs!! I then had to ask butchers and anyone possible how on earth you cook a green - ie raw ham - the answer is....boil it for about 20min per lb!!! Yum Yum Yum!

We spent the rest of the week pottering about London and counting how many Aussies we saw on the train. I must say that London is a pretty cool city - bustling and happening. We perused the shops, fought the masses in the Harrods sale (silly, silly idea), played with the squirrels in Hyde Park, looked for the Queen in Buckingham Palace with Dad and Moira and watched people fall over ice skating under the Tower of London!

Another highlight was dinner with Mark and Sarah and their two gorgeous monkeys (kiddies!) Mia and Zac, and Emma and her fiance Mark ( Mark 1 and 2!). The kids were heaps of fun, full of beans and smiles!

And on the New Years and Neal's Birthday - always a party. We cruised down to Barnstaple, Devon in our Eco - half battery- car to stay with Mark's sister Robyn, who I also know from med school. We saw Stonehenge through the sleeting rain enroute and marvelled at the cute thatched roof villages. Devon was cool - awesome wild beaches and mammoth rolling surf - I walmost wanted to get out there despite the arctic temperatures. Spent NY eve out for dinner and then onto drinks at Robyn's. It was great also to catch up with Chris Hewison and his girlfriend Alison - a buddy for Tauranga - look forward to seeing you back in the NZ Hewison!

Now back to work. Planning out trips already - with skiing and America's Cup in the not to far off future. I cannot believe how quickly the last year has gone - and all the things we have done this year - just crazy! And as for NY resolutions - well.........

Christmas Madness!

Only 15 days till Christmas. Cork has turned into a spectacular night light show - all the streets are lines with stars and lights! People are bustling about doing crazy Christmas shopping, and the hospitals are starting to fill up with wee grannies!

We are of to London Christmas eve to stay with John and Kaetlyn - and learn how to cook turkery! I am quite excited about glazing my first ham!

Hope everyone is enjoying the lead up to Christmas, enjoy those summer barbies!

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Raining Cats and Dogs!!

Just to let you know that we are now stuck into the Irish weather - its absolutely lashing down outside! And its 130km/hr winds!! Point of note - when in Ireland invest in a sturdy umbrella! Hope you are all enjoying the sunshine down under.

Team America (+ John) hit town!

Hi Team! We are just relaxing and recovering from a great weekend of fun, mojitos and drunken airbeds!

Neal's best friend John and his girlfriend Kaetlyn flew over for a weekend escape from the bustle of London. With them they brought the American contingent of Julie and Danni. We had loads of fun out for American burgers, cocktails and local djs. Love the accents!

Had a ball the next night at a kiwi owned bar in town - "bru" bar - funny to be in a bar where everyone talks like you - rare in Ireland where we are getting used to "thirty three and a third" and "you kno like...i'm after like..". Always good to watch the All Blacks trample all over yet another team!

Otherwise work is going well. I am staring down the gauntlet of a december of night shifts, and Neal is looking forward to those delightful Christmas shoppers!! Bring on Christmas!!!

Wintery Cork

Hi Team!

We have just returned from 8 weeks and 10,000km driving around Europe. What an amazing time - we visited France, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Croatia, Hungary and Italy - we saw unreal sights, enjoyed the history and delighted in the food ( well Liesse did anyway!). We were lucky to have Neal's parents David and Sandra with us in the green golf for the trip, many fun and special memories!

Our highlights of the trip would have to be Berlin - the contrast of old, modern and recent raw and brutal history was phenomenal, Budapest - simply beautiful, Plitvic Lakes in Croatia - sparkling emerald lakes and drinking wine in the Loire Valley, France. Neal loved fulfilling his lifetime dream of being a rally car driver on the Amalfi Coast, Italy as well as the German Autobahn! Liesse made bee lines for any markets, local food joints and mountains!

We were stoked to catch up with a few familiar faces on the trip. We met my (Liesse's) parents in Vienna to soak up Mozart and the sights which was neat. Then caught up with Tuckie and Jang-Ho in Croatia for champagne and seafood!

And now back to reality in Cork. Temperatures have plummeted and Christmas lights are up in the streets - quite exciting really! The wind trainers and bikes are set up in the lounge and bottles of french red wine are waiting to be tasted!