Hello. Just so you have some vague idea of what Sam, Leen and Dave are up to, here's what we've been doing in the last few days. It's a lot of fun. They are all exactly the same as they are online, only cooler, because now they're RIGHT HERE.

Dave got here a day before Sam and Leen, who were delayed by snow in Boston. Dave and I went to North Head the first day, which is a really cool hill full of tunnels and caves and old guns and things like that. Sam and Leen got here the next day and we went out to some of the West Coast beaches through the Waitakere Ranges.

The day after that, we drove down to Waitomo Caves and went on a four hour cave tubing trip, which was cool, and didn't *quite* kill them, but I think they liked it. After that, we went to Rotorua. For the next two days we did Rotorua things, which included boiling acid lakes and other geothermal sights, bird watching, screaming down a mountain at high speeds on a little go-kart thingy, going horse trekking, and some other things. It didn't *quite* kill them, but I think they liked it. The day after that we came home and spent a day watching videos and generally talking and laughing.

Last night we had a Coastguard training night which we weren't allowed to miss, so Sam and Leen and Dave came along too.

We've done a lot of other things too, but those are the main ones. In another few days we're off to the Coromandel Peninsula for another "away" trip.

Brunnen-"and that's what we've been doing"G