Friday 25 October 2013

Councillor Gash

NO...not me!! :) 
Jeff decided it was time he did his bit for the community and decided to stand for council. Elections are held every three years in New Zealand for districts to select who they feel will best represent the community and work in the best interests of that district. In the South Waikato this year there were 16 nominations for councillors and only 6 positions available. After a few weeks of campaigning (attending public meetings and putting signs up around the district) the public voted. Well, 40% of them did! :(  Not the best turnout for such an important decision but I guess now the other 60% cannot complain about what goes on if they don't like it. You can't complain if you don't vote!!  

Finally on Oct 12 the results were in...and to our utmost surprise Jeff was the highest polling candidate! Wow, very humbling. A week after the results were announced it was time for the first council meeting and the swearing in process to take place. Olivia and I went along for a look and below are some photos of Jeff making his declaration.


The council staff performing a waiata (song) during the ceremony



The Mayor being sworn in


Jeff making his declaration



Jeff signing away the next three years of his life!


Congratulations, Councillor Gash



First day on the job... look at all that reading material!!


So, well done to my wonderful husband - I am very proud of you! I just hope there will be some minutes left in his day for us??!! But it is what he wants to do so I say "Good on you, darling-you'll do a great job!"
Now, let the fun begin...

Wednesday 23 October 2013

Cougar Chaser

News flash!!! There are cougars in Cougar Park Mountain bike trails!

Well, there were on Sunday 20th October when the local mountain bike club held their first event in a long time...the Cougar Chaser. Riders could enter either 30 km, 20 km or a 5 km ride and Jeff and Olivia decided to do the 5 km event together. The 5 km was set up as a 'family fun' ride so the kids were encouraged to look out for 'cougars' in the park (well, paper pictures of them!) Each rider who found one received a large block of chocolate and much to Olivia's delight she spotted one!! Plus she had the added bonus of being the first girl home so received a certificate for her effort.


Olivia, all set for her event (well, she will be once she puts her helmet on!) 



Waiting for the start...



This is what they were looking for...



On the start line...Olivia and Jeff to the right of the photo after the smaller kids



The end result...well worth the effort! Good on you, Olivia, well done!

She now has her sights set on another local event in early November-The Taniwha, which consists of many different options including both running/walking events and mountain biking. Olivia has signed up for the 21 km mountain bike ride-go Olivia!!

Wednesday 16 October 2013

Term 4 has begun...

Wow, the school holidays have finished and we are into term 4...it will be Christmas before we know it!

The holidays were fairly quiet but still flew by so fast...at least it seemed that way for me. Briar had the busiest holiday of all as she had it all organised from day one. She was off to Aunty Lacreice and Uncle Vaughan's for a few days then to Nana and Gramps before heading over to the beach for a holiday with Nana and Grandad! Whew...welcome back home Briar...nice of you to join us again! :)

Olivia spent a fun-filled week with Nana and Gramps at the farm with Caitlin and I going over for a weekend to catch up with them too. It was wonderful to spend some time with them while they are home.

Caitlin's holiday highlight was right at the end when she got to go to her first ever concert! Yep, 1D was playing in Auckland and her roommate from hostel had invited her to go with her...cue lots of squealing and hugging and laughing etc! :) Of course it was the busiest weekend we had in a long time but luckily for her Aunty Lacreice and Uncle Vaughan came to the rescue and took them up to the concert and by all accounts EVERYONE had a great night! (Glad you enjoyed the Italian dinner Creise!!)  :) A HUGE thank you for helping the girls out as they would not have been able to get there otherwise.

Jeff and I had a Sportsworld conference to attend and it was great-I hadn't been able to get to the last couple so it was great to catch up with familiar faces and meet new members to the group. Jeff stood down as chairman of the Board and a presentation was made to him-he is now the owner of a spiffy new dress watch! We stayed at the Ibis Hotel and had wonderful meals there with great views of the Waikato River just out the window.
On the Saturday night before conference Jeff and I took the opportunity to find a Turkish restaurant as it is our favourite type of food. After walking half the length of Victoria Street we turned into Hood Street almost ready to give up when we stumbled upon "Paasha"...OMG...SERIOUSLY good Turkish food!! Do check it out if you are in Hamilton and like Turkish food-it was absolutely divine and we will most certainly be back.

The other BIG news for us all is the fact that Jeff is now a councillor!! Yep, local body politics...here he comes. The voting closed on Saturday 12th Oct at 12 noon and by 2pm he had the phone call he was waiting for ...elected onto council AND...the highest polling candidate! WOW, huge support from locals which was very humbling. Now the hard work begin which he is looking forward to.  Straight after the phone call we headed up to Hamilton for the conference so didn't talk much about it with the girls but they obviously decided it was a big deal (which it is!) and we came home on Monday afternoon to this welcome...

 
Thanks girls-we both laughed out loud when we saw it!
So...that is what we have been up to lately...hope you enjoyed the update!