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the girls were back to school today, but jane had another week of holiday so i took today off work

we went for a walk in Wenderholme

then lunch in the cheese factory in Puhoi, before a soak in the hotpools at waiwera

it was quite hot when we were in the sheltered sun, but quite cold in the wind and shade.  it chucked it down with rain most of the rest of the day

this evening kezia’s been to swimming (the footballers of West Ham United were in the pool too)

and esther had sectional before school and big band this evening

this is a fan tail that followed us on some of our walk

esther was awake at 4am but everyone else was up a bit later

church this morning then kezia and i headed out to help get the exhibition photos in to posting boxes, but got a phone call when we were on the way to tell us they’d already finished!

jane and esther took pearl for a windy and cold walk at muriwai

i stayed at home with kezia doing various photoshopping

the young girls below are back to school tomorrow

a busy day today.  a friend asked me to help her with some product photography so i spent a bit of time this morning getting thing ready

we woke esther up at 10.30is so we could go and buy her a school coat and get jane’s birthday present

then i whizzed off to see Anna and do the photos, then i went over to help take down the photo exhibition.  i used this mandarin to angle my camera correctly to take a little time lapse video.

you can watch the little video here:  https://www.facebook.com/northshoresalon

this evening jane felt a bit sick so the rest of us watched some doctor who. she seems fine now

here’s esther.  hoorah!

work for me

jane and kez collected pearl

then did various housing things and then kezia had swimming this evening and jane and i watched some telly

and in a minute we’re off to pick up esther from the airport

update from the facebook group page earlier today:

Arrived safely in Singapore! Incredibly turbulent flight and some not feeling to flash. But we are all here!! See you soon.

she’s back after nearly a week of fun with her aunty

esther is now on her way back.  first flight is munich to singapore SQ327, second is singapore to auckland SQ281

facebook group updates (these have all been from the teachers)

Final tour update from me!
I just thought I’d fill you in on two things we have discovered while on tour:

1. The “Viennese 2-Minute Walk”. This happens when a tour guide at the Summa Cum Laude Festival (ours were Czech and Bulgarian) tells us that our next venue is a 2-minute walk away. Actually, it’s more like 15. Therefore there are exponential increases, so a 10-minute walk is more like 45.

2. The “Hungarian Surprise”. This could actually be anything at all, but it’s likely to happen at the very last minute after a great deal of waiting around and uncertainty. Therefore it could be good (i.e. “We are building your stage at dawn” actually meant that they were rigging a Western Springs style rock concert, with all the trimmings), or not so much (i.e. “You are having lunch at one of the finest restaurants in the city” actually meant another load of meat and carb but no veggies).
Everyone has developed patience and an appreciation of how others do things, and also how we do them!

—

We’re almost all checked in. Except for the last lonely timp

Here are some more photos of our zipline outing from yesterday.

Today was our last day in Rotorua. Here is a knitting Graffiti tree outside the hotel

And here is a place in a park where you can pop your feet in

Now we are back home. Dave spotted the above.

Byee

from facebook (these are all written by teachers by the way)

Update from Munich…

location of final tour dinner above

Well, after a very long day we are in a hotel again, about a 40 minute drive from the airport. We had dinner at a typical country beer house about 30m from Munich, and finished our journey at the hotel at about 10pm, some 14 hours after we left Pécs.

However, everyone is in fairly good spirits and seems prepared for the two big flights tomorrow. It’s certainly nice to be in a hotel with a bit of luxury for our last night of decent sleep before we return to our own beds – something I think everyone is looking forward to.

from just now

Final loading of our coaches! See you soon!