Erm ..... well ....... the second half was ok.

Look at the excitement on his face, like a kid waiting for fireworks to go off. It breaks my heart to think of the tragedy that happened shortly after this picture was taken.









So to the highlights, errrrmmmm, well there was a haka :

Ireland held thier own for around 15 minutes, well they weren't quite as bad as the rest of the time.
I have photographic evidence of them with the ball:

And unfortunately it went down hill about 1 minute after the previous picture. An over the top decision by the referee - I mean, one of the knees to the head didn't even connect with the right person. Rugby is a physical game after all.

I took a few more pictures but it's all quite depressing so maybe you just want to stop reading.

11 Weeks and 5 days.

I'm now BORED of being pregnant - anyone who says they enjoy it is lying.

Nelson

We finally made it to Nelson - thank you Burkes for the birthday present!

This is the best way to travel - it's nearly like having your own personal plane. I could have reached out and flicked the pilots ear, probably not a good idea mid-flight though.

Pictures of the flight over the Wellington and the Marlborough Sounds, unfortunately it was a bit cloudy but it was still very impressive.

Nelson and the hotel. We were quite lazy and ate in the hotel one night, and the bar over the road the next!

We did manage to make it to the Saturday craft market though, and also WOW. For some reason we seem to spend a little bit of every holiday criticising some art, I bet you didn't realise we were so cultured.

A southerly storm hits Wellington!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vc5hr8NzGXs&feature=player_embedded

One reason to have a cat

I have found three of these spiders in the house - thankfully all dead. I really wouldn't like to wake up with one on my head. I can get used to all the other weird creepy crawlies but spiders are just not right.

UPDATE :
Mike just pointed out that most of you won't know what size a Kiwi 50c coin is - it's roughly the same size as a euro 50c. 

Also I emailed the New Zealand national Museum  - Te Papa - to ask them what it was. They replied within 15 minutes  - how great is that! I'm so impressed that I forgive the incorrect spelling of my name.

Dear Megan,
My guess is that it's something like these:
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/163/406509783_3d18fdea6a.jpg
http://www.findaspider.org.au/find/spiders/images/525A10.jpg

I suspect you have Hemicloea rogenhoferi, also known as the flattened
bark spider or the chink spider (as it likes to live in chinks, cracks,
crevices etc). It's an Australian species that's been in NZ for quite
some years. It is not known to be dangerous to people. While they have
some superficial resemblance to Avondale spiders, they're from a
different family and don't get nearly as big. Also, unlike the Avondale
spider, Hemicloea is quite widespread in NZ.

Regards,

Phil Sirvid
Entomology Section
Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa

Sorry if you've found all of this Natural History boring, but let's face it, I'm a bit of a nerd.

First pictures of Burkey Junior

Hello magazine have been hassling me for an exclusive deal, but I thought to myself "what need have I for a million dolllars". So here are the first shots, from outside and inside the womb.

I think he is going to take after Mike when it comes to food. When I told Mike the other day that there was nothing for desert the baby kicked me!

Happy Birthday to us, Happy Birthday to us, Happy Birthday to uuuussss, Happy Birthday to us.

Not much to say really, just that we are OLD now and as these pictures show we like food and silly games.