Angus Jo Ailsa

Kia Ora! This is ridiculous - 8 months later and I finally remember to write this up! Oh well, here goes..not sure how much I'll remember now! I think we spent about a week and a half in total at my Mum & Dad's new house in Kincraig in what is now the Cairngorm National Park. Its a cracking house in a wonderful area that has come to mean a lot to me over the years since we started holidaying there as kids. The first visit was pre-Christmas for a few days and it was at this time that we were visited by my dad's sisters, Winnie and Dorothy and my cousin Alison and it was great to see all of them. Jo-Ann , Ailsa and I took a few strolls ab out the place which ... read more

Kia Ora and a very happy new year to all - just the 4 and a half months too late! Well, I started to add the photos for this blog in January and here we are in April and I'm finally getting round to finishing this one off. Before I get onto Hong Kong, here's our new contact details having moved house in Feb: 121 Creswick Terrace Northland Wellington 6012 New Zealand +64(0)4 475 7439 Ailsa is doing great - now on solid food with predictable effect on the nappies - less messy than before but much more powerful on the nose! So, onto the blog - we had a 4 week trip to Scotland via Hong Kong and a wee stop in Singapore on the way back and it took us a while to thaw ... read more

G'day cobbers, This almost certainly the last blog before the arrival of Galloway jnr (due 16th September!) so be prepared for less exciting blogs with photos from travels - it'll be mostly baby snaps and tales of puke, poo and lack of sleep from now on! Anyway, just a quickie on a couple of recent trips across the ditch to Aus. I work for the Bank of New Zealand, which is part of the National Australia Bank (NAB) Group so as my project required NAB involvement (don't ask it's complicated and technical), I tragically had to drag myself over there with a colleague to meet with some people there to smooth our path to project success. I had 2 days work on the Thursday & Friday and stayed with Louise & Damien Towers (some of you ... read more

Howdy all.....I’ll pick where I left of which was leaving Wanaka-ka-ka in Buzz and heading Queenstown, NZ’s adventure capital. Queenstown sits on the shores of the majestic lightning bolt shaped Lake Wakatipu in Central Otago and is about a 50 minute drive from Wanaka if you take the hilly but direct route through the Cardona Valley like we did. After parking up at the Creeksyde Top 10 Holiday Park (apparently the world’s first Green Globe environmentally certified holiday park!), we took the gondola up to Bob’s Peak where we enjoyed the classic postcard views over the town, The Remarkables mountain range and across Lake Wakatipu. The Remarkables featured quite regularly as a backdrop in the Lord of The Rings films and they are one of only two ranges on the planet that run directly north ... read more

Now where were we..? Oh, yes...t'was the day after the Sevens and the boys were on a road trip or should I say a river trip. We were heading up north to canoe down the Whanganui River. After rehydrating and generally getting in shapes for the journey, we stocked up on supplies and began the 5 hour drive. I took McLellan (aka Radar as per last blog) in our Golf and Morrison (aka Padre) and Johnston (Klinger) hooned it up the road in the Padre's Audi - German cars to the fore and we were in the urban sprawl of National Park in no time. NP is actually more of a small gathering of hotels/hostels, bars and a few houses about a half hour drive from the Whakapapa ski fields on the north eastern slopes ... read more