I’m Back!

It’s been just over two weeks but it feels like so much longer.

Our flight to Rotorua for Xmas was at 6.50am and I woke at 6.59am…hmmm not a great start! I set the alarm on my phone but forgot to press the ON….duh! We managed to book another flight for 11.20am so it worked out well and we had a relaxing morning in the end.

Rotorua was SO hot…I thought I was going to melt! In fact after two days I was ready to come home because I didn’t think I would survive the heat. It’s amazing how different the weather can be considering we’re really not that far away from each other (in the big scale of things!)

Christmas day was awesome – very relaxed, mega amounts of food and a few wines…spending time catching up with family…..and avoiding the harsh rays.

Boxing day was relaxing too and we decided to head over to Waihi Beach about 6pm to catch up with friends. We had a great night with Lynn & Steve and went for a walk along the beach in the morning before heading off to Whakatane for the Whanau (family) Touch Tournament (Touch Rugby).

This is a yearly event and Arthur’s family have won this on a regular basis for many years. The older ones are now stepping aside to let the young ones take the lead roles and it’s amazing the talent that this family has.

Lisa and I didn’t stay for the whole day – we went into town and had a look around the shops – trying hard to stick to the ones with air conditioning as the hot weather was still taking it’s toll on these Southern chicks…(weather report from home was that it was cold and horrible for 90% of the time we were away…)

Arthur had a pre reunion meeting the next day so the girls went to the beach while I caught up on washing, then we all had a swim in the pool at the motel which was awesome…finally refreshed and ready to face the 5 day reunion on the marae.

I’ll try not to bore you too much about the next 5 days except to say that all the things I was dreading the most, were my favourite things!

Day 1 was the trip around, learning the history of the family and where they came from, plus visiting the cemeteries etc. It was awesome and Williams commentary on the bus was hugely informative. It was hilarious listening to the aunties and uncles as they reminisced on days gone by. I even came back with a few stories to tell Arthur that he didn’t know about his family. We met Arthur in town near the end and had a few drinks in the sun at one of the local bars…it wasn’t long before we were joined by all of his brothers and some of his nieces and nephews so it was the perfect way to finish the tour.

Day 2 We had two unveilings – ….it was also my birthday and my group was on kitchen duties – which meant that I had to get up at 5.45am to have a shower so that I could be in the kitchen at 6am to start breakfast…hmmm Happy Birthday to me!!! LOL

I did get Happy Birthday sung to me during breakfast which was really nice and a good break from the chores ahead. It’s all hands on deck while you are at the reunion and with over 150 people, it really has to be.

We did go out for New Years Eve though and had a brilliant night – 3 generations celebrating together – then the young ones took off to town, the older ones went home, and we foolishly went on to another house and didn’t get home until 4.30am (let it be noted here that the ‘young ones’ got home earlier than their parents – hmmm – seemed like fun at the time). Not such a good thing for us though  when once again, breakfast was at some crazy hour like 7.00am – ummm pass on that one….eating is over rated!

The 1st Jan was Bowls day – and I have to say that I have never met such a competitive family as this one…EVERYTHING they do is a competition! …and its pretty funny to watch from the sidelines! I was the photographer, so I spent most of my time recording the events and didn’t take part in the competition.

Bowls is another annual event…teams of 3 – playing off against each other until they reach the semi finals and then the big final. There is a trophy at stake – the Harry Merito Memorial Trophy. (which is one of Arthur’s beloved uncles)

The next day was the Sports Day – and yes – if you didn’t realise this by now – the family is BIG on sports. It was hilarious to watch the competition once again with teams splitting into their ‘working’ groups and making their way around the circuit of different events. The main event was the Tug of War – and to see the teams compete in this was an honour….there was not one team that competed that did not put their heart and soul into this. (and the photos are amazing). Lisa and Ashleigh took on an official role this day with both of them running one of the events. Even they were stunned by the competiveness with everyone trying to work out what score they had to beat and how they could best achieve this.

What amazed me was that the minute the sports events were finished – the kids – and lots of the adults were out playing scrag and cricket. Then after a BBQ tea and prize giving, it was off to the pool for yet another competitive game or two.

This was the final night so it was only fitting that our working groups got together and\ did skits for entertainment. This was another event I was dreading and I had hoped to use the ‘official photographer” card once more, but unfortunately, my team was over that excuse. We were first up and did an awesome couple of skits and thought we totally had the competition in the bag. But, true to form – as each group came on and did their thing, it was obvious that everyone had put a lot of time and effort into their acts. Even after such a long day, it was awesome to watch every one with groups of all ages, come out and perform for the rest of the family. A truly fitting end to an awesome 5 days.

A sad farewell followed the next morning as we said our goodbyes and took off to Rotorua so the girls could catch their flight home. Arthur listened quietly as the girls and I talked non stop about our favourite things over the past few days. Considering that the 3 of us were dreading the reunion and it had felt like our whole time was planned out for us, we enjoyed it so much and wouldn’t have changed a thing.

We spent the next couple of nights in Rotorua, catching up on sleep and generally just relaxing before heading off for two nights in Hamilton to catch up with friends and then on to Auckland for a couple of nights with Tracy and Walter and their adorable family. Very relaxing, lots of catching up and the perfect end to our holiday.

Reality struck as we hit Dunedin. Temperature has dropped somewhat and rain off and on all evening. Lisa and Chase stayed for tea and we’ve had a good catch up. Apart from the weather, it’s good to be home.

Now I have to spend the next week burning over 2000 photo’s to DVD’s to send out to everyone. Between a few of us, we have managed to get an awesome selection of photos and memories to capture the reunion and I’m sure a lot of them will be treasured for a long time to come.

Above is the group shot and then below that are the generation pictures starting with the 3rd Generation (middle left) 4th Generation (middle right), 5th Generation (bottom left) and 6th Generation (bottom right)

I’m hoping this week to get on to some designing again after such a long break. First priority is to burn the photos to DVD and then I will get onto a new kit – or some new products of some kind.

I will have to go into work at some stage, even though we don’t officially start back until the 18th. Its a good time for us to get some bits and pieces sorted before everyone starts back.

In the meantime – thank you for your patience. Here are another couple of papers from my Mystic Magic Paper Set

Download here

Download here

Don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter – I’m going to send out the first edition soon.

I hope you all had a great christmas and a Happy New Year to you all!