Gray Family

West Coast of South Island 2008

2009-01-05T22:40:00.000-08:00

Scenery Shots of our travels

Recent Family photo's of Kids

2009-01-05T20:23:00.000-08:00

As requested here are some photos of the kids

and one of Brendon taken at Lake Brunner (which is the west

coast of South Island).

Robyns NZ Wedding 8/11/08

2008-11-14T13:30:00.001-08:00

Robyns NZ Wedding 8/11/08

Robyn had a large wedding in May 08 in England. About 300 people attended.

This is Robyns new man! His name is David.

Officially Robyns new name is Mrs Hollingsworth. That is such a great English name! I think that the spelling of the last name is right.

I would have to say that Robyn looks Great!! on her wedding day! She must have worked really hard and lost a lot of weight! David is a rather dashing young fellow dont you think? David has an identical twin brother! Robyn was one of a twin and Janet and Brenda are also twins. Dave said he thinks triplets would be even better than twins.

Representing the old school friends present at the wedding was myself and Debbie Bunyan and Tania Sickling (nee Scott) and Jessica Ansio (not sure of her married name. from Morrinsville Intermediate school days). Trudy Spencer was invited but now lives in Australia. She did not come!

Welcome to Nathan David Gray 9th November 2007!!

2007-12-02T09:21:00.000-08:00

The Arrival of Nathan David Gray

Nathan was due on the 29th October!! he was 41 weeks, plus 3 days overdue. His birth weight was 9 pound 5 ounces. He was born in Queen Mary hospital in Dunedin. Labour was about 4 hours long with no pain relief and straight gas. Nathan decided to grace us with his presence on the 9 November. He was 2 days away from being an induced baby.Came just on time! He is doing really well and is already sleeping through the night! I have been really lucky with the baby stage, of sleeping with all three of our children.

While in the maternity unit in Balclutha the nurses were all saying how they could not believe

how the baby of Dianne does not cry!! In all there years they have never seen such a dosile baby! I was in Balclutha Maternity Unit for 5 nights and he only cried once when he was getting the pin prick test on his heel. Dad is very proud to be a father again and the kids have taken to him well. They cuddle him and give him heaps of kisses.

Caleb & Hayley's Teddy bears Picnic

2007-09-17T21:20:00.001-07:00

Those Loverly Summer Days....

We decided to go to the local park in Balclutha to have a teddy bears picnic. Was a really nice way to enjoy a very mild day for Balclutha.
It was such a great way to relate to the Children and create conversation at there level. Great to see there individual personalities shinning through!

Caleb &

2007-09-17T21:20:00.000-07:00

Those Lazy Summer Days...

Balclutha Landscape

2007-09-02T20:17:00.000-07:00

This is a typical picture of most of the landscape (actually taken on way to Gore a little way out of Balclutha) around Balclutha. Absoutely beautiful! Reminds me of the days when I was a kid being brought up on a hobby sheep farm. Rolling green hills and Aoteroa land of the 'Long White Cloud'. South Otago really does have its share of really COLD temperatures, but it can be beautiful from about September onwards and througout the summer.

Our Trip to Auckland Zoo/Kelly Tarltons June 07

2007-07-23T02:47:00.000-07:00

June Visit To North Island 2007

We visited the Zoo with Brendons parents and his sister Vanessa and daughter Hannah. We had a very action packed day. Caleb and Hayley had a lot to take in! For them it was like the picture books that we quizz them on becomming a reality. Yes that is a real Elephant...Giraffe...Monkey....Flamingo. Hayley will be 3 in March 2008 and she is at the perfect age to take to the zoo. Caleb nearly told me just about every single animal! He was very proud of himself. I would advise any of you intending taking kids to the zoo under the age of 4 to take a stroller. There is a lot of walking involved and the kids were able to last a lot longer by having a stroller.

There is something about the Zoo and children that is really special! It is not the same with out taking your children. Last time I went as an adult I found it a bit boring. This time it seemed much more fun!

We also went to Kelly Tarltons Underwater World. Yes we did decide to do the rip off theme park thing in Auckland! However I have to say that the zoo prices were not too bad! However I found the food was a RIP OFF at the cafe there!

Kelly Tarltons was a real eye opener for the kids and has got a lot bigger that what it used to be in the 1990's which was the last time I had been there! More fish than the kids had seen in there life time. They had a really interesting public display of a man feeding a tank full of Stingray's! And of course he had to be standing right in the middle of the tank with these GIGANTIC big stingray's brushing past him on all sides and eating food out of his hands! After the Crocdille Hunter got killed by one I thought it was a bit freaky! Aparently the barb that went through the Crocidlle hunter's heart would have killed him Instantly. There would have been no suffering or delay in his death. Which is good from a humane point of view.

The Penguins in the photo above were at Kelly Tarltons.

Our Trip To Ranfurly

2007-05-21T14:49:00.000-07:00

Closing Down Farm Gear Sale

We decided to go to a clearing sale just out of Ranfurly (we ended up buying a Stallion 50 Teat calf feeder). The Scenery was an artists dream! We went way inland to Central Otago. We went through the famous Middlemarch (where all the handsome batchelors go to that famous singles dance where they are looking for a wife).

The History of the Taieri Gorge Railway:

The Taieri Gorge Railway comprises 60 km of the Otago Central Railway of the New Zealand Railways, started in 1879 and closed in 1990.

It's history is both the history of the Otago Central Railway and of the Otago Excursion Train Trust, which ran it's first excursion train on the railway in 1979 and became so succesful that they bought 60 kms of the railway when it closed in 1990, forming todays company and its operations.

The Otago Central Railway branched from the South Island Main Trunk at Wingatui, 12 kilometres south of Dunedin, and ran through Middlemarch, Ranfurly, Omakau and Alexandra to Cromwell in the heart of Central Otago, 235 kilometres from the Junction .

More recently on the Taieri Gorge Railway:

The Minister of Railways announced that the Central Otago railway line would be closed on 30 April 1990.
Simultaneously the Mayor of Dunedin announced that the City Council would buy the line through the Taieri Gorge and as far as Middlemarch provided the community raised $1 million to finance the project. This would enable the Otago Excursion Train Trust to continue to operate excursions and The Taieri Gorge Limited, which had become one of Dunedin's leading tourist attractions.
By July 1990 $1.2 million had been raised and thus the 60 km Taieri Gorge Railway became New Zealand's longest private railway. In 1995 the close relationship between the City of Dunedin and the Otago Excursion Train Trust was cemented with the formation of the Taieri Gorge Railway Limited, a Local Authority Trading Enterprise jointly owned by the City and the Trust, which now operates the Taieri Gorge Railway with assistance of the Trust's volunteer members. These days Central Otago is really famous for the cycling tracks where the train tracks used to be in the Taieri Train tracks. The scenery is breath taking. I have included a few photo's of what we encountered on the way to Ranfurly.

Catlins with Brendons Parents:

2007-05-04T14:16:00.000-07:00

Max & Marilyns Visit from North Feb 07

While Max and Marilyn were visiting us we went and saw that last part of the Catlins that we have not seen for quite a long time! I have included some photo's of what we saw! The picture of the beach actually has a seal in the middle of the photo. It was just sitting there in the water sunning itself. The cave is called Cathedrial Cove down the Catlins. You can only get to it when the tide is out. The walking track is closed otherwise. This was the first time I have actually ever done this walk. While down the Catlins on a previous occasion Brendon got to swim with some dolphins in the wild (they were circling less than a meter away from him!). They live at Suratt Bay. Aparently they only swim around this one bay and never leave it.

2007-05-03T19:50:00.000-07:00

Laurence Rodeo

We did actually experience a summer once we came back down the South Island. We went on all sorts of outings! One Saturday we went to a Rodeo at Laurence. Wow what a culture shock! It kind of reminded me of going somewhere like Texas. A lot of people had cow boy boots on and the old authentic cow boy hats! There was this little child about 4 years old actually practicing (fantising about) using a Lasoo to catch a little bull. His father was showing him the technique on a wooden bull. I would say that the Rodeo is probably something that a lot of the country folk are born into. It was definately an experience that I will never forget (almost a little to hick country for me). However after about 4 hours of watching people riding bulls you get really bored! I guess it would be different if you knew someone racing. The Rodeo had people from US, Australia, and NZ competing in the Semi finals. While there they had a couple of things for the kids to do. Here is a photo of Brendon Caleb and Hayley riding the car. That was the highlight of there day!

Caleb got a bit bored of the Rodeo and saw a motorbike and he just climbed up on in and started turning the key! Typical Caleb. The guy who owned it let him sit on it for a while and then we had to drag him off screaming as he did not want to get off! I think the guy wanted to go and do something else. This guy his wife died and he sold everything brought a bike and he is travelling NZ on the bike shown in the photo. He has a little box on the back where he puts his little dog! Aparantly the Dog makes a great travelling companion. I kind of feel like that guy on 'Intrepid Journeys' on TVNZ channel 1. All the things that we are experiening down here are new! And we do meet some really interesting people along the way!

2007-05-02T15:15:00.000-07:00

Our Summer Holiday Up North Island

In January we came up to the North Island to experience a summer! We had not had any summer prior to leaving the South Island. We stayed for a total of 10 days. My highlight of my trip up North was our boat trip to Kawau Island. We took Max and Marilyn's boat. Here are a few photos of what is on Kawau Island! Really stunning views and one of my favourate places to visit!

THE HISTORIC HOUSE

The Kawau Island Historic Reserve was created to protect Mansion House, Sir George Grey’s former home, and the gardens and landscape he created. There are peacocks running around on this English style lawn and gardens. There are also Wekas foraging around every where on the Island especially around the historic house. Another interesting bit of news about the guy that owned the house:

SIR GEORGE GRAY - Prime Minister Of New Zealand

Born 1812, Lisbon, Portugal
Died 1898, London, aged 86
Premier 13 October 1877-8 October 1879
Grey was born in Lisbon Portugal in 1812. He was educated at Guilford Surrey, and in 1826 entered Sandhurst, where he gained his ensingency in the 83rd Foot.
After some time working with his regiment in Glasgow and then Ireland, Grey entered the senior department of the Royal Military College, where he excelled and gained his captaincy. Grey spent some time in Australia, while he was there he was leader of two expeditions in Western Australia 1837-39, Resident at King George's Sound Albany Western Australia 1839, and Governor of South Australia 1841. However intelligence from New Zealand indicated that the current administration there was not successful. The Colonial Office alarmed at the tension between the natives and whites, turned to Grey. He landed at Auckland on 18 November 1845, and immediately headed for the Bay of Islands and on 1 January 1848 assumed office as Governor-in-chief of New Zealand. During that year he was knighted.
Grey rapidly acquired great mana with the Maori, and even had a command of the language. In 1853 he visited many of the Pacific Island, and arrived in South Africa early 1854 to assume the governorship of Cape Colony together with the high commissioner-ship of South Africa.
When Grey set foot again in New Zealand he found a very unhappy conflict between two races, he again became Governor of New Zealand from 1861 to 1868. On 24 March 1875 he was elected both as MP for Auckland City West and Superintendent of the Auckland Province, both positions he held for a year. Grey later became MP for Thames, in 1876, and on the defeat of Atkinson, 13 October 1877, he formed a ministry ad Premier. His ministry got into difficulties over land tax and a commercial crisis. He carried on for a few weeks after being defeated, then asked for a dissolution. Grey was now suffering from ill health and he retired from politics in 1890, leaving for Australia. On returning to New Zealand a deputation requested him to contest the Newton seat, to which he was elected unopposed. In December 1893 Grey was again elected for Auckland City, and kept the position until retiring due to failing health on a visit to England.
Grey died in London on 20 September 1898, two weeks after the death of his wife.

Gabriels Gully, Lawrence

2006-12-30T00:13:00.000-08:00

Gabriel's Gully

In 1861 Gabriel Read discovered Gold not far from Lawrence. By September there were 6,000 minners camped at Gabriels Gully just out from Lawrence. In 1862 Lawrence had grown to a population of 11,472 - more than double that of Dunedin at that time. It has a really interesting history and is a really awesome little place! We settled in a very picturesque setting beside a small pond (at Gabriels Gully) to have lunch. Absolutely beautiful!

Nugget Point

2006-12-30T00:04:00.000-08:00

NUGGET POINT (CATLINS)

We decided to take Natalie to nugget point and show her the amazing views! Hayley is not really fast enough at walking yet so I lugged her along in the backpack. Each time I go back to Nugget Point it still takes my breath away! The photo's say it all!

Taieri River Gray Boat Cruise

2006-12-29T23:58:00.000-08:00

TAIERI RIVER

I have one of my really great friends Natalie staying with us at the moment and we decided to go down the Taieri River in our boat. This is the first time that we have been down the river ourselves and we all enjoyed it very much! We packed a picnic lunch and ate it while floating down the Taieri River. This is the second time since we have lived down the South Island that we have been out in our boat.

2006-12-08T16:57:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas Everybody!

Well as another year comes to an end in a few weeks we would like to wish all of you an awesome Christmas and New Year. We have had a very busy year, with the shift to the South Island and settling into a new community. I can say that we are now settled here now. The children and I are both actively involved in kindy and playcentre. Caleb is doing really well and spends a lot of his time SINGING!! He walks around with a microphone and pretends to sing like this guy does in our church. I have a feeling that Caleb (later on in life) is going to be involved in music to some degree. Caleb is a very intellectual little fellow who always needs challenging. His favourite thing is playing outside in the sandpit. Hayley is a very easy going child who runs everywhere! (which involves a lot of falling over!). Hayley has a lot of initive beyond her years and is constantly suprising me with her intelligence. This year I was finding things a bit too busy and the quality of the office work was slipping as a result. We now have a lady called Liz coming in once a week on a Monday to look after Caleb and Hayley. That way I can have some time to myself and also get some uninterrupted work done!
Brendon has found this year to be one of the busiest of his life! Brendon is now starting to feel a bit more rested and enjoying being a bit less under constant pressure every day due to lazy employee's. We have 2 ok employees in our employment currently.
Brendon is really enjoying being the Tourist any time he has the chance for some time off! Makes awesome family time!

This week our playcentre went to a local business in Balclutha and all the children made their own decorations and hung them on the tree. After that we made our way up to the old peoples home in Balclutha and sang Christmas songs to the old ladies. As you can imagine all the children were quite a hit with the old people! I have include a few photos of this trip...

Clutha River Mouth

2006-12-08T16:33:00.000-08:00

Gray Family
One windy gail force Saturday we decided to go on a family outing despite the weather and discover some more unchatered territory. We decided to go to the rivermouth of the Clutha River about 10 min drive from the house. I have included some photos of this trip. The walk was 20 minutes each way and well worth the walk as you can see by the photo's. While we were at the beach part in the photo where Brendon is standing we had on of the WORST sand storms that I have ever been in! The kids were screaming with pain as the sand was hitting there faces. We managed to find a sheltered place for a picnic. We actually had a really great outing that day despite all the reasons why we should not have enjoyed the day. After all it is about being in each others company that is the best part!

Catlins Scenery Photos

2006-11-09T19:12:00.000-08:00

BEAUTIFUL CATLINS!!

I really believe that we live in one of the most beautiful parts on New Zealand. We have a world class Tourist attraction only 30 min Drive away. The wildlife down Phere is amazing....Penguins, Seals, Beautiful birds that I have never seen. There is so much to take in with the beauty of South Otago. I have included a few scenery shots of the Catlins.

PHOTO WITH SEAGULLS IN IT:

Nugget Point an absolute attraction in the Catlins!
There is a light house on the furtherst point that you can
see in the photo. The views from this light house are
stunning! If you bring binoculars you can see Seals bobbing
up and down in the open sea & playing on the rocks with there
babies, colony's of rare South Island birds, Penguins.

Gore Animal Reservation

2006-11-06T23:27:00.000-08:00

Playcentre Trip to animal reservation in Gore:

Caleb, Hayley and I can now say that we have been to the worlds most Southern Zoo! About 20 of us from playcentre hired a bus and travelled to Gore. We made a bit of a day of it and decided to take the kids to the tempered pools also. Gore is really doing a lot better for themselves than last time I went to visit. They have a brand new complex with a tempered pool and next door as a part of the same building is a Ice Skating Ring. We had a bit of fun at the animal reservation as it started Pouring down with rain not long after we started looking around. Caleb and Hayley and myself were dressed in Summer clothing and were completely drenched (the weather is really changeable in between pockets of Southland)! I took the Children inside to change them into there spare change of warmer clothes that I brought for them and there shoes. No sooner had I finished and all the children and parents were on the way back to the bus. We missed out on seeing over half of the Animal Reservation! Oh well I can always come back another day to visit! I have included some photos of what we saw there. When we were going around feeding the animals some bread, every animal is in competition with each other to see who can bang on or climb there fence the loudest to be the first one to get the feed! We thought that the Pony was doing a good job as you can see in the photo it is banging the fence with its feet. Caleb is looking quite shocked at what the Pony is doing. I nearly fell over backwards when I saw Wallabies! That is the last animal that you would expect to find at the worlds Southern most Zoo!

Gray Family

2006-10-13T15:36:00.000-07:00

Gray Family

We have had some awesome weather over the past 3 weeks. Sunny and clear blue skies and hardly any rain! That is minus the last two days with 160 km per hour winds and Bush fires near Dunedin. I have posted some more photo's of what we have been up to lately.
Caleb & Hayley and I went to there favourate park in Balclutha last weekend as they are now both at the age where they love playing on the slides, swings etc..
When we went to the park the local plunket comittee was having a picnic. They had all the kids and were giving out Balloons. And of course Caleb had to go over and literally stalk and stare at the lady who was giving out the baloons untill she offered him one! I always try to go on a family outing on a Saturday. At the park they have a awesome play ground and lots of Bird Averies. They also have a pond and tame ducks to feed. The children love to feed the Ducks! We are slowly settling in down here. Now that calving time is nearly finished we may be able to have more family days with Dad present for the first time since the beginning of July. I am really enjoying Playcentre with the children and the socialising aspect of seeing other adults.
I have been helping Brendon on the farm lately and I feel like it is the best thing that I ever did. I finally feel useful to someone (Brendon that is). As most of you will know I have been battling Depression since Hayley was born. I believe that the change of shifting down the South Island has helped me out of the depression, but I would have to give all Glory to the Lord Jesus Christ for bringing me back to life (for helping me get my mind, confidence and motivation back). I have been feeling a lot better and doing a lot more since comming down here. Getting out on the farm was the best thing that I have done to increase my self confidence and help me to realise that I am just as capable as the next person at doing anything that I set my mind to. Including little things that I struggled with before....e.g. The thought (I am not joking) of mowing the lawns....going back out on the farm to work again for longer periods of time (for the first time since before Caleb was born)....
Brendon has found himself really busy since arriving in Balclutha on the 31/5/06. We have HEAPS more responsibility here than we did up in Waiuku. We feed 560 cows on this stuff called Kale from 31/5/06 untill August. They are given small amounts to graze each day and you have to shift fences on about 3 different runoffs. At least we will know what to expect next year!

I have included a photo of our house so that you all know what our house looks like. I have also put in a photo of Caleb and Hayley's own sandpit on the back lawn. They spend hours playing in it! Well better go get the cows in for Brendon now! Cheers untill next time!

Introduction

2006-10-05T19:21:00.000-07:00

Introduction: GRAY BLOG

Welcome to our blog. Since we live so far away from the North Island now, we thought that we would set up this blog, so that you can check in on us once in a while to see what we have been up to and also how fast Caleb and Hayley are growing every day! We are hoping to pop up to the North Island for our summer holiday some time in Feb, all going well.
We welcome a visit from any of our family and friends as there is always a spare room! & foldout beds for the children.

Where we are located (for those of you who are not quite sure):

Near Balclutha, South Otago
Balclutha is 1 hour from Dunedin and 30 minutes drive to Dunedin Airport and about 11/2 hours from Invercargill.

I will have some more photos to follow. Here is one of Caleb and Hayley. They keep scrapping over this bike so I decided to put both of them on it so that the screaming MINE tantrums would stop! It became an instant hit as you can see with there smiles on there faces!