We dragged ourselves away from the creature comforts of Louise's accomodation and headed for the South Island via the ferry to Picton. We got the coach from there to Nelson and made plans for our epic journey along the Abel Tasman coastal track Great Walk. [View Full Entry]

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Hi Guys We've been staying with Louise for 4 days and we're off early in the morning to catch the ferry to Picton on the South Island. Managed to arrange training every night so the gi's have been out of the bag! Lisa has been here too so the gals have been my own private harem tee hee Enjoy the pics...... [View Full Entry]

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Hi all, we have nicely recovered from our epic crossing of the Tongariro pass on Saturday. We took it nice and easy on Sunday with just a hint of walking, along the Tongariro river, see first pictures. On Monday we made our way down south towards Wellington where we met up with Louise, Gabe, Pete and Lisa who's still visiting from the UK. We went for a wee excursion in Eastbourne yesterday, across the bay from Wellington, more pictures. For the aiki people, Louise organised training every night, starting in her dojo on the beach on Monday night, then last night [View Full Entry]

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Hi all, here we are in Turangi, chilling out after our epic journey across the Tongariro Crossing. It took us just under 7 hours and awesome views we had! Pictures will tell you more than words! Enjoy! Celine and Scott [View Full Entry]

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Dear all, some more great time was had here in New Zealand, especially since the weather has changed for the better. From the Bay of Islands and its gorgeous endless beaches, impressive kauri trees (and rain) we moved to the Coromandel peninsula with more gorgeous beaches, more kauri trees and sunny weather, what more to ask for! We first headed through Thames and up the West side of the peninsula before crossing to the East coast, over mountains, past ragged ridges and along tortuous roads. First stop - see pictures, Rapaura gardens and waterfall. Still a bit wet but great stop [View Full Entry]

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Woke up this morning in torrential rain, which unrelented for the whole day, not a great start...Had planned to go up 90 mile beach to Cape Reinga, but in the rain, all beaches look the same...So instead we walked through a rainforest of kauri trees - the second biggest in the wold after sequoias - and the only two things missing in this dark rain-drenched jungle were pythons and crocodiles, not that we're complaining...The kauri are mighty elegant trees that climb straight up and have huge trunks, very impressive, see the photos. The big plus of it pissing it down is [View Full Entry]

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Ahh, holidays! here we are in New Zealand for 7 weeks of intense relaxing and discovery...We started with Auckland where we landed on Wednesday 13th October. We stayed in a campsite by the beach for the first 2 days (Takapuna), in NorthShore, with Rangitoto island volcano greeting us every morning across the waters of the Hauraki gulf. The sunshine also made an appearance for our walks along the beach, nice part of Auckland! We then caught up with my friends Neville and Loretta who live in Northcote and they showed us around - Mount Eden and One Tree Hill in Auckland. [View Full Entry]

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pictures from the tournament. [View Full Entry]

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