17th January 2008 Last night we stopped in L0redo Motel, Kataia. This morning Sand Safaris a tour company picked us up from the motel and took us on a tour up 90 mile beach to the very North of Northland, Cape Reinga. On the way we stopped at Aupouri where we saw the different products that are made from the ancient Kauri trees. These trees are quite incredible as some of them can be up to 4,000 years old and up to 32 metres in girth. Also many of them have been dug up from the peat or swamps and are still in good condition and the wood has a lovely golden colour when sawn and polished. The most impressive feature of the workshop was a flight of stairs hewn out of the centre of one ... read more

15th January 2008 Today we hit the road and left Vernon and Annette's house to drive North. For the first time since we arrived it was a rather cloudy day but still about 21 degrees. On the way we called into Whangargi to see some kiwis but we arrived to early before it had opened. We pressed on and called into Mangakahia Road, Titoki, to see Vernon and Annette's previous property, a 660 acre dairy farm with 450 head of milking cattle. It had a very similar look to a Devon valley surrounded by rolling hills with a river running through the valley. Very suitable for a Devon lad like Vern. Carrying on further North we arrived at Pahia where we had booked a motel for the night, by this time the skies had cleared and ... read more

13 January 2008 We are now in New Zealand with Vernon and Annette Dark. They met us at the airport in Auckland and we have now set up residence in their house. It feels a bit strange being upside down on the bottom of the world, but it just could be the effects of Jet lag having travelled economy class overnight from Hong Kong to Auckland yesterday. As usual Bob is playing up but it shows how much better he is despite the awful cough! The Darks house is lovely, built by themselves on a hill to take in the magnificent views all around. Whether I can capture them on camera remains to be seen (the views not the Darks, they will be in the photos whether they like it or not!). The plants and wildlife ... read more

10th January 2008 We went around North Point on Hong Kong Island last night but quickly realised we were quite tired and after Bob had sampled the chinese equivqlent of Macdonalds at cafe de Coral we went back to our comfortable room on the 22nd floor and slept a bit. Up at 7.oclock as we were so hungry and had a liesurely breakfast of everything imaginable as we watched the chinese children scurrying to school in the rain.(It is winter here) We met Bob's scouting friend Mike Williamson for a visit to a beautiful modern reconstruction of a typical Chinese garden.. A lovely quiet oasis in a busy city. Across the road we visited the Buddist nunnery, the Wong Tai Sun Temple and gardens with many different temples and beautiful lotus flowers. After a nice lunch ... read more

Itinerary We are planning to start our jaunt on the 8th January 2008. Our first journey will be to Heathrow to catch a plane to Hong Kong here we plan to stop for two nights before arriving in Auckland, New Zealand. We plan to travel from North Island to South Island and fly out of Christchurch. From Christchurch we fly to Brisbane, Australia. We hire a car and make for the Hervey Bay, Fraser Island, Bundaberg and Gladstone. Then fly to Mackay and visit the Barrier Reef and the Whitsundays. Flying on to Cairns and driving up to Cape Tribulation taking in the Atherton Table lands and the Mossman Gorge. Fly to Darwin to visit Kakadoo National Park. Back to Brisbane to catch plane for Hobart, Tasmania. From Hobart we fly via Melbourne to Perth. From ... read more