Hi everyone .... Two updates in a week …………… well it has rained most of the week so its nice to be able to catch up on things ...

A few people asked what the little bandits have been upto of late , so here is an update on the twosome …

Reece is coming to the end of his first football season with Bay Olympic - he's a had a great time so far and appears to like it. Got a bit of a competitive streak it would seem ......

with the end of football it will be back to the swimming lessons, more walks in the bush (we have hardly done any of that lately ) and possibly Kung Fu (mothers idea before you ask ….). All in all he is having a great time of things ....

Sian is developing her own individual nature at the moment …. Apart from being a little socialite going to more “princess” parties than I can count she seems to spend most her time either riding her bike or trying on clothes. The latest request is to take up roller skating ….Not so sure about the that just yet but once she sets her mind to something she generally sticks to it, so we will see ….

Forever the helper , she is currently moonlighting as a fruit picker as you can see in the movie clip…we got enough fruit off the tree to set up a stall (little note - watch til the end of clip and you will see what happens when little boys spend too much time looking at the camera and not enough time looking where they are going !)

Anyway … cheerio for now …early night to night as its up at 4am for the first Liverpool game of the season … come on you Reds

:) P

Hi everyone .... Been we while I know , so a couple of blogs in quick succession me thinks .... first up winter fun ...just got back from a little trip 4 1/2 hrs down the road to Ruapheu last week .....

Most people think of Queenstown and Wanaka when it comes to skiing in NZ - they are the best places to go but if you only have limited time and you want to do it relatively cheaply then the North Island at Turoa and Whakapapa (hope I spelt it right )...is great. Not many places you can ski next to a live volcano ( it only had its last major eruption in 1995 ...)

Just check the weather forecasts before you head down there .... I was lucky and got great weather .....

I was lucky enough to stay in a bit of an iconic hotel in NZ - the Chateau - its all a bit like stepping back in time to the 40's / 50"s - ballrooms , plush furniture and big lounges with roaring fires ..... the bit I like is that its only 10 mins from the slopes , so no 30- 45 min drives from the nearest towns ....

Anyway ..hopefully if I'm lucky I will be back down there in 2-3 weeks ...

ta ta for now

Phil

Superheros and Cycling !

Hi everyone

Sian wanted me to share with you what she has been up to over the last few weeks .... a bit of theme going on as you will see ....cycling and superheros.....

Here are a few vid clips taken in and around home. Rain or shine Sian is out on the bike. Won't be long before those stabilisers come off ... I think there is a littlebit of competition going on with the big brother going on ...








Superheros has also been bit of theme of late ... Sean is Superman , Sian is Miss Incredible !!



okey dokes , hope you like the clips .will send a more general update soon

take care

:) Phil ( & Sian)

May already !!

Hi Everyone , feels like we have been lying low for a while …so thought a little update was well overdue :)

I hadn’t realised how long it had been (January !) , so I will just dip in with a few highlights and make little mention of the swine flu which seems to have hit mass hysteria levels down here… we are now the first (and only) country to offer Tamilflu over the counter with no need of a pescription....

So .... the big highlight for March was Sian turning 3 yrs old … we had a party at home which always seems to work well and Sian donned her “Good Witch” outfit and cast some spells on her brother … she invited a few friends over to get loaded on cake and goodies … all in all a very enjoyable day ….

Before we knew it we were conscious that Autumn was soon to be upon us, Deb booked a surprise trip down to Papamoa for 4 days - bliss …. Its only 2 ½ hrs drive from Auckland and the kids love it . It was stunning weather for the full stay , so we made the most of the beach and the pool - Reece and Sian had a ball …..

Onto other news .... Reece and Dad have now both signed terms for football clubs (we do officially call it football down here after years of calling it soccer ! … please ) - surprisingly didn’t see the news on the backpages of the daily papers … the laugh is we have signed for rival teams a bit like one signing for Everton and one signing for Liverpool….. So its Reece for Bay Olypmic and Dad for Waitakere City ….Footy is huge here - Bay Olympic has 15 teams at the 7 year age group alone so they all play each other in their own league ….

Deb now knows what the term, “football widow” means on a Saturday :)

Still with a sporty theme - I finally, after all these months managed to complete my first ocean swim a couple of weeks ago ,,,, I had trained for one before xmas but got ill 3 days before so this time I was ready. The good news is I finished in a respectable 1hr 10mins and towards the middle of the pack - a record 1280 swimmers turned out for King of the Bays. … all I could think about for the whole swim was to make sure I got out of the water and didn't pass out out in front of a crowd of 2000 people watching on the beach! got to admit it , I have now been bitten by the swimming bug on this one , so intend to do a couple more later in the year …. Target is to get under 1 hr ….

That's it for now ... otherwise I find these little blogs sit in "draft" for ever . I will leave you with a little news clip that is a couple of months old but still good and looks at the ill fated attempt of 2 would be escapees from a local new Zealand courthouse ……. brainless is the only word that comes to mind.



Cheerio’s for now ...will try to better at keeping in touch in the months ahead ....

Phil

We will leave the update on Debs suspected broken ankle and dislocated rotator cuff injury for later ….. We are just coming to terms with this …. and will also hopefully will be able to confirm some dates for my trip to the UK ..:)

Happy Birthday !!!!

Hi there Grandma !!!!


Just wanted to wish you a wonderful birthday , from way down under on Waitangi Day .....









Lots of love and speak to you soon

Reece & Sian xxxx

Big Day Out Special

Hi there everyone .... This little blog is dedicated to the weekend and the Big Day Out at Mt Smart Stadium in Auckland - so no piccies of the little uns this time around although they did protest at not being able to come - "we're big enough to see the Prodigy dad !" - not bad for a 6 yr old - hmm ... let me think that one through again ...

Well the weather was there for us, the 40,000 who turned out were in great spirits and the line up was more varied than I could recall for years. The scene was set for what would turn out to be one of the best BDO events for years ….

Here’s a few snippets I took from the day and some little awards that I came up with ….. Things did get a bit more blurry as the as the day unfolded, so bear with me if some of it sounds a bit vague :)

First band up I saw was a new one for me “An Emerald City”, who took to the stage with their all seeing eye in tow - see what I mean. An Auckland 6 piece as the programme stated (glad they told me) felt very Celtic / Hippie to me ..would never of guessed they hailed from NZ shores … very infectious… A wonderful start and it wasn’t even mid-day.














So, where to now ..... I moseyed on over to the Green stage to catch Salford’s favourite garage pop duo of the moment - the Ting Tings . Katie White was in fine voice - :“This is our first gig in New Zealand” received very warm applause. A tight 45 min set with very energetic renditions of "Shut Up and Let Me Go" and “That’s not my name” capped things off a treat. Should be interesting to see what they come up with next after such a great 1st Album …. The North West of England did themselves proud.













Moving on. Ok..1st award up for the Biggest Surprise of the Day …and this goes to Pendulum. 3.30pm slot on the main stage isn't exactly what you would call a prime position ..... what happened will go down as a Big day Out "Remember when" moment ..... the crowd was the biggest of the whole day beating the headline acts that came later, 1000's of sun drenched fans punching the air and stretching all the way back to the hill at the other end of the stadium (I was there, sat in the beer area! - great spectacle - pretty good beer as well) ... I have never seen it like that before . Seems that the idea of dance anthems with live musicians is a bit of the trend this year ...and it works.










Here's a snippet to give you a birds eye view of the proceedings - can you spot the tribute to The Prodigy?? - more of which to come ....

After the energy of Pendulum , TV on the Radio really had a hard act to follow - they accounted for themselves rather well. Just couldn't help but thinking how much better they would have been if they had been on one of the smaller stages - would have had far more impact me thinks ... anyway time for a change so it was off my backside and over to the Boiler room to catch Zane Lowe who many of you would know as a Top Radio 1 DJ - + he is from Auckland, so he was playing to his home crowd if you like. Not bad ...particularly liked the mix of "smells like teen spirit" by Nirvanna ..... showing my age yet ?:)

It was the next act , Simian Mobile Disco that I was most looking foward to and they didn't dissapoint - "The Hustler" was one of my favourite tracks of 2008. As you can see lots of blue and smoke :)

They were also responsible for the ringing I still have going on in my ears - couple of moments when I thought this is a bit much (then again more signs of old age?)



Get your walking shoes on, as it was back over to the main stage to see the pride of Sheffield (No, not Sheffield United) but the Artic Monkeys .... who, I've got to be honest just didn't do it for me today. Trying several new songs is never a good idea when the majority of the audience will more than likely just have a general appreciation of you - do the odd one or leave it to your own tour. As a result they took a while to settle down and get aquainted - things certainly picked up though when the favourites got an airing ..... all in all not convinced they have got the sound it takes to command the main stage. ah well.....

I always thought of Auckland crowds as pretty straight - had to re assess my views a wee bit based on the fashionistas that turned out today. Particularly liked the fella dressed as a green giraffe and loved the guy that looked straight out of easy rider (see below) - on second thoughts I reckon he dresses like this every day - great if you can get away with it ….BTW - the T-shirt he had on was Elmo from Sesame street.












It all went so fast . So to the finale …. There was lots of talk before the day about whether or not Neil Young belonged at the Big Day Out - as it happened all the doubters where wrong and it proved a bit of masterstroke by the organisers. I’m not a big fan myself and didn’t catch the whole thing but what I did see was brilliant …. “Rocking In the Free World” and the Beatles cover “ A Day in the life” was a fitting end to the show on the main stage…..
















Right next door in the Boiler Room it couldn’t have been more different ….. Apparently the crowd was 20-30 deep outside the big top tent all craning their necks to get a glimpse of the commotion coming from inside ……we were sweltering about 25m from the stage - all to witness 1997/98 revisited - The Prodigy reborn , Keith Flint mad as ever and the noise just went through you - yes, they played Firestarter and we all sang along .... it was all a bit mental really and left me hanging out for the trip home ..... thoroughly tired out.....














So to round up, all in all a fantastic day - best $125 I will spend all year ……. No trouble to speak of as well , really nice crowd as these things go .... Looking forward to next year already !!

Hope u enjoyed the read ....... :) P

Hi everyone ……… Hope your 2009 is starting well !!

Couldn’t believe the last update was way back in November ….

The Hughes household has been pretty active over the last few months ..new year sort of crept up on us really … it all started in November when mum and dad made their second trip of the year down under (very impressive….) chasing the sun. I had set the scene that it would be chucking down with rain, albeit cold and blustery ; totally wrong on my part - summer came early ….













A mammoth 24hr + trip all the way from the UK and no sooner had they arrived at Auckland airport then a few days later I had us on a plane down to Queenstown in the South Island (Sian, Reece and Debs left holding the fort)…. It was well worth it. Had never been before - don’t know why I left it so long ..its up there in the top places we have been to anywhere in the world …I know dad was impressed. I'd also forgotten what a lord of the rings fan I was, scenes were filmed all around this area … actually became a bit of a “ you know that scene from x was filmed here “ nerd - all good fun though.






























To top it all the All blacks were staying in our hotel … so I think mum and dad had a few stories to take back. Strange in a way as their presence was low key compared to the mania when Beckham came to town ..!! Sir David and his LA Galaxy played an exhibition game in Auckland vs an Oceania all stars team. The standard of the teams was a bit questionable - certainly wouldn’t want to watch the Galaxy week in week out - tactics are dead simple …get the ball , give it Beckham !! It was great fun though …..

Xmas and New year was spent split between Auckland , Papamoa and Rotorua - a bit of variety from City to Beach to geysers & mud pools ! Reece and Sian had a blast - think we have a budding boogie boarder in our midst….my job is just making sure I keep up and hoping Deb doesn’t freak when Reece catches the big ones - not easy …





































No January update would be the same without reference to the annual biggest music event to hit NZ - the Big day out …. a real mix this year …a few new bands to check out but it’s the headlining Neil Young that’s got the tongues wagging !! Should shift the age of the crowd up a few decades at any road to make me feel more at home :) Personally I’m looking forward to the Ting Tings and the Prodigy ….















Anyway wanted to keep it relatively brief ….have a great start of the year ……

:) P - a final word from the xmas Angel - Happy new year !!!