Christmas Eve Shift

Life's a Beach!

Christmas eve shift is traditionally very busy, with lots of drunk people to arrest down in the heart of Union Street.

This year has been slightly different! I was crewed with Scottish Jimmy and we were the only two working at Mangere station. It was lovely weather, so we decided to go for a drive around the coast. We had a few pictures around Howick beach and then decided to head back to the station. There were no jobs for us to do, so we shut the station three hours early! Not quite the same as Plymouth!

Pukekohe Swimming club Christmas club night

Charlie in the lead on the backstroke



On Sunday 16th December we went to Charlie's swimming club Christmas party. Charlie competed in four races and won three races and came third in the fourth race.


Charlie at the finish line after the freestyle race

Charlie got PB's in all four races and was rewarded with winners ribbons. The races were followed by a barbeque and cakes.

Charlie with his winners rbbons

Putting up the Christmas tree and Decorations

Yesterday we put up our Christmas tree and decorations. It was a totally bizarre feeling to be decorating the tree in temperatures near 28 degrees celsius!

We have put two mini trees outside, but we can't put the lights on until about 2130 hrs, when it gets dark!

We are planning on having a barbeque on Christmas day. It is just too hot for a traditional roast dinner.

I have managed to get a couple of weeks off work over Christmas and the new year, so we are planning to head north with the camping gear. There is a Police association campsite at a place called Stanmore Bay, about three hours drive north. We can get a good rate and the site is right next to the beach.

All of our photographs are now on http://www.flickr.com/ if you fancy logging on and looking at them. We will still be updating our blog regularly.

Graham's Beach

Graham's Beach

Last weekend we went exploring along the cost and found Graham's beach. It is about a forty minute drive from our house and is a really quiet little beach ( We had the beach to ourselves!) There are barbeques set up and the sea is really traquil. It was really nice to just relax on the beach with no-one else about.

A Day At Pukekohe Raceway

On Sunday we spent the day at the Pukekohe raceway. It cost us $40 to get in (£15) for a full day of racing. There was a variety of cars, with Super mini's, Formula first, Porche's, Super saloons, super sedan's and Muscle cars.

Lunchtime entertainment!

The track is about a fifteen minute walk from our house. There is also a drag racing track near us. We will be visiting there soon.

One of the Nitro funny cars


Charlie with his new car!

Our First Barbeque

The BBQ gets its first Kiwi outing


On Saturday 1st December we had our first Kiwi barbeque. The weather is starting to get really good now and it is usually around 25 degrees Celsius during the day. It just feels so weird to be sat in shorts and T-shirts in December!

Hayley with her Veggie nosh

Lord Muck!

A nice cold beer to wsh down the burgers

A Trip To Karioitahi Beach

On the cliffs above the beach

Last week we went exploring on the West coast. We visited a beach called Karioitahi and it is about 25Km from our house. the west coast is characterised by big surf and rugged coastline. The beaches are also black sand as opposed to the East coast, where the sea is a lot more tranquil and the coastline more gentle.