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THE HALLIDAY'S NEWS 2000

Greetings,

This has been a quiet year for us but a good one.

Holidays and Trips

New Year

We started the year with a trip to Taupo, Ngaruawahia and Rotorua ending in Hawke’s Bay to see our friends in Hastings. We spent some time with our friends Sue and Zoe. We also went to Splash Planet, a water theme park with big slides which we all enjoyed. While in the Bay we also spent some time with Peter (an ex-colleague of Ian’s) and Ros, his wife, at Te Awanga Beach. It was very enjoyable and relaxing.

Rotorua

The weekend of Viv’s birthday we went up to Rotorua. Ian had a Toastmasters meeting there, but Viv and the boys were just there to have fun. We went to see Hell’s Gate which is a quite spectacular thermal area, we watched the Water Organ and we went swimming at The Polynesian Pools and also in some natural springs in a river close to where Ian was staying.

Back to the UK

Viv and Christopher went back to the UK to see the family. On the way there we spent a day at Universal Studios in Los Angeles where we particularly enjoyed the Jurassic Park Ride. While staying with Viv’s parents we went on the Mersey Ferry and on a visit to Chester Zoo. We also spent some time with family and spent an evening with Angela, Bob and Ben which was great.
On the way home we spent three days at Disneyland which was fantastic. Christopher’s favourite ride was Space Mountain, we also enjoyed many other rides including Splash Mountain and the Matterhorn.

Meanwhile

Ian, David and Matthew made the best of it in New Zealand, spending some time at museums and cinemas in Wellington, before travelling by train up to Auckland to visit some favourite places. We went to Rainbow’s End, a theme park which is exciting by New Zealand standards but not by world standards. Once again we climbed Rangitoto, a volcanic island in the Hauraki Gulf. The boys also saw films on the huge IMAX screen for the first time. (Ian and Viv first experienced this in Baltimore way back in 1988.) If we learned anything from our trip, it is this: don’t take long distance trains in New Zealand.

Birthdays

Christopher turned six this year and he had a birthday party with four of his friends at home. He had a Pokémon birthday cake and we played lots of games including a big treasure hunt with clues hidden all over the house.

June and July saw the rest of the birthdays, with Matthew’s being the first of these. For his birthday we went to McDonalds and then to the cinema to see the movie Dinosaur, two of his friends came with us. Matthew’s birthday present was a big tiger called Tom. Ian had a group of friends round for pizza on his birthday and then flew to Auckland for a Toastmasters event the following morning. For David’s birthday, we went ten-pin bowling at Petone Bowl with some friends.

Toastmasters

Ian and Viv continued their association with Toastmasters International. Ian completed his year as Area Governor for the Wellington breakfast clubs for which he was recognised as “Select Distinguished”. For the year 2000-2001, both of us are Vice Presidents in different clubs and set for another successful year.

National Bank

Ian is still working at the National Bank of New Zealand (owned by Lloyds TSB) but left the I.T. department just before the end of last year and now works in Credit Risk Management. This has been a significant change of direction and a huge learning experience, but overall I have no regrets at the move into “the Business”.

Church

By now we have become well established at St John’s Church in Trentham, Upper Hutt. Ian is a member of the Parish vestry (church council) and Diocesan Synod representative.
David reads the lesson at least as often as his parents, and his very highly regarded when he does so. In November, he read at the Civic Service when the church floodlights were officially switched on by the Mayor.
Viv spends most of the weekends producing the church newsletter, a thankless task if ever there was one.

School

David is just finishing his final year at Primary School. During the year, he (and Viv) went to school camp in the Marlborough Sounds (between the North and South Islands).
David and Matthew both took part in the “Peaks to Plains” performance in central Wellington and in the “Artsplash” concert, also in Wellington.
Christopher will be playing a cat in the school concert next week. He certainly has enough role models here to be able to do it well! Matthew will be playing an ant, while David has been chosen to sing a solo of “Paddy works on the Railway”.

Sport

David and Matthew have represented the school at swimming and athletics. During the winter they played hockey, while as summer starts they have again started to play softball (David), cricket (Matthew) and T-ball (Christopher).

Wishing you all a very merry Christmas and a Happy New Year for 2001.

We hope to hear from you or see you soon.

With love from

Ian, Viv, David, Matthew and Christopher

Contact

As ever, you can contact us in a variety of ways.

Mail

P O Box 5472,
Wellington,
New Zealand

WWW

http://baptism.co.nz

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