Feel more than free to follow my progress over here:

http://stateoftheasia.wordpress.com

it’s pretty much geared toward my kids, but you may get a chuckle out of it also.
Disclaimer: all images are from my phone so don’t be to harsh with the exposure critiques ok, ok.

Enjoy, and I’ll see you back in a couple of months.
Brent.

We got as far as the Sanson Amazing Maze of Maize before the first hamster gave out and needed replacing so we lost ourselves for an hour…. no, really we got so lost we had to be found by the search and rescue maze dog…. and yes, they REALLY do have a rescue dog, her name was Tish and she came and showed us the way out – this is how lost we were…

as far as the eye could see…

So with the help of Bruce (the owner) and Tish we made it out alive and were able to carry on our way up the North Island until we found TANKS! (and Milla’s Croc-amole who had stowed away in the hamsterwheel)

A little further on we stopped on the desert road, and all hopped up on chocolate, chips and sugar-flavoured beverages of our choice we blasted about on the sand… unfortunately our photography skills were negated by our hyper-activeness and they all came out blurry and showing just our feet or the sky – we had a good laugh at ourselves though – trust me.
Finally we made it to Tauranga and to Christian, Amanda, Grace and Poppy’s place, and after a wicked dinner party slept the sleep of those coming down from a sugar high…

In the morning we struggled out of bed and there was only one thing to do…. Coffees, Carcasonne and Kids on the lawn…

before we headed out and fed the cows:

Fynn drove not only the tractor by himself (while Christian fed out and I held Grace) but he also got to grips with the Quad bike, sorting the gears and everything.

Then it was off to shoot a horse….. photographically speaking of course… and now another rhyming word like…uh… morse…

I know, seems random, but I’m never one to shy-away from a challenge…. and I figured a horse will give me a little practice for when I shoot an elephant later….
It was awesome to see Poppy, and to catch up with Grace who rocks out even more now, it’s been a while since I had seen everyone and I have to say it is just brilliant getting back to Tauranga and messing about with these guys.

But, we were here for the V8 SUPERCARS! it was all about the boys…. and Sunday dawned warm and clear and we rocked the hamster-wheel over to Hamilton for the big day nice and early.
We collected our tickets, and got ready for the pitlane walk through where Fynn got to tell me all about the engines, and gearboxes and drivers and sponsors of the big cars….

Anyone who knows me well knows how I am about cars…. they get me from point A to point F and that’s about the extent of it, but by goodness did we both love the race day, we had a sweet spot on the track for the V8 ute race, where we got to see them spinning out and hitting each other, the NZ V8’s were good too, and the Suzuki swift races were funny to watch as they treated them like dodgem cars and just hit everything that moved… but the actual V8 supercars were just amazing, noisy, FAST! and BIG…. or they seemed that way anyway – We upgraded to a grandstand pass on the day because there were so many people on the course that Fynn couldn’t get close enough to the walls to see anything – best move ever, but half way through the actual race we decided we wanted to be down near the track for the speed and noise so we went down to a corner where we could watch them drift around at high speeds.
Being a photographer I figured I could use my wicked awesome skills to get killer shots of the cars for posters for Fynn…… like this….

Needless to say, my swagger was missing in action by the end of the race…. haha!
So even for not being a car person, the day was absolutely awesome, we had a blast – plain and simple.
It was up early on Monday morning as everyone went back to work and we drove the mighty Hamster-wheel south to pick up Milla from school (6 hours away in Wellington)
This time when we got to the desert road we were in a less whacked frame of mind and our Photos of us being staunch and manly-men actually turned out alright (my photo-swagger returned as well)

And then it was lunch in Bulls before stopping for a brief ‘out of the car sanity’ stop at the playground in Levin where we emulated the car of our dreams in an actual hamster-wheel….

Fynn continually ended up live this…. as did I…. haha

Then we collected Milla from Jail… uh, I mean school and we hit the beach for a while before I dropped them back to Jeanelle

It is the last time I will be seeing them for 10 weeks and they knew it so it was a very emotional farewell from them, Fynn especially, this whole weekend with just the boys was completely what we needed though, just awesome on so many counts, and a real tonic delivered for both Fynn and myself….

I can’t wait to see them both again, but before that there is a big adventure to go on and a few wee surprises for them along the way….. stay tuned!

Fynn became the official jet boat driver…

he was stoked!

….and spotter for me skiing

My best ‘blue-steel’ after falling in a … few… times…. wait – to fall in generally means you got up right?

It’s a gorgeous spot really.

The dogs were WELL played with….haha!

The rope swing over the lake of impending wetness got a work out too….

The swing bridge rocks!….. you see what I did there?? rocks…. swing bridge…. oh never mind – ha!

At the end of it all we headed home via the Lewis Pass – I always forget how cool it is through the Lewis, we always take Arthurs Pass home – but the lewis always reminds me of driving in those tree-lined tunnel-like roads on Gran Turismo…. of course I mean driving in Gran Turismo reminds me of the Lewis Pass….. only at slower speeds of course….

Anyway, we had a couple of ‘Puke’ stops…. which actually ended up being the best fun …. most (yes, ‘most’) were falsies…. so they ended up being like those trips to the doctor when you think you’re going to get checked out for your over-exuberant snoring but it just ends up being a mild check up for the kids and theres even a lolly-pop at the end!

This was one stop….

We forgot the insect repellent so here’s a tip from Milla for ‘no bites on a budget’…. wear ALL your clothes!

….again, it wasn’t cold…. there were just millions of insects!

Fynn’s photo…

…. another stop….

and then we got to Hanmer Springs…… Thermal pools…. kids…. in the rain…. absolute BLISS!

I laugh at the big heads-small body thing the water does…. there’s physics behind it all but really, science has never been that funny..

Warning, the thermal pools will turn your kids into zombies and dragons that mesmerize you and make you dizzy….. (I’m just telling you for your own good…. that’s what they said they were)

Just look at the poise, look at the power, look at the grace and skill and blinding speed….. and then that one over there *points to the one standing looking around thinking about what he’ll get from the snack bar later*, that one is Fid, my brother…..

Here he is in action…. just before he broke up the fight of the century on the ice by throwing the refs onto the pile up of fists and yelling “If I wasn’t carrying a gammy hip and dodgey ticker I’d be right in there with you boys!”