We landed in Chicago in the evening of Inauguration Day...we braced ourselves for mahem but there was nothing going on!!! So we landed got our bags safely (phew!!) We had planned to get a cab but saw a shuttle desk and thought we would try and get to our hotel a cheaper way! The guy said if we ran we could catch him and get a ride to our hotel.....it was fine the driver was putting the bags in the back. There was only us and another guy...driving through the streets of Chicago was great...trees lit in fairy lights and the [View Full Entry]

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Finally after rearranging our flight to go through Sydney rather than Fiji we touched down in Honolulu a day later than planned but avoided getting stranded in Fiji. It was a 20 hour trip with our last flight being 10 hours but it went smoothly and Hawaii was lovely. We arrived very early in the morning but managed to check in shortly after arriving at the hostel. Dan had treated us to a studio, which gives us our own kitchen and we were lucky to have a flat screen TV with the highly addictive American cable!!! During the day we chilled [View Full Entry]

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DVD day, Goat Island 14th, 15th Browns Bay, 16th Tried to fly to Hawaii So our time in Auckland has come to an end...after our day at Piha we just lounged around and watched DVDs! Was nice to chill out and not do anything :-) Have packed so much into our trip that chill out days have been very rare so this fortnight around Auckland has been good to just go to the beach or watch DVDs.....going to beaches due to lack of funds! But they are gorgeous beaches and I don't mind spending a few hours lying there doing nothing!! [View Full Entry]

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Browns Bay, Rangitoto, Retail Therapy, Rothesay Bay & Graham's 52nd, Bay of Islands, Westgate, City, Browns Bay, Poker night and hangover Friday, DVD night, cricket, Miranda, Piha. Right guys wlecome to a whistle stop blog of all our ongoings since the New Year. We saw the New Year in in a British run pub, good times. The first day of 2009 we spent lying on the beach at Browns Bay, we're not gonna be doing that again anytime soon! I expect in the UK we would have been nursing hangovers and sat infront of the fire trying to keep warm with [View Full Entry]

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Once we'd managed to hot wire Jayn's car we were on the road early morning to Bay of Islands, only kidding of course we had permission and we filled it up with "the green one." Left the house around 8.30am with our picnic and 1st stop was Whangarei Falls - described as the Paris Hilton of waterfalls, the the most photographed falls but not the most impressive!....150km North of Auckland, 26m high. Graham and John had mentioned some famous toilets on route to Bay of Islands but didn't really take note, but we saw the signs and pulled over! It is [View Full Entry]

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Ok, this is where I have been naughty and not written my blog for a while and we are only up to the 20th December. After the Franz Josef hike we hit the road and stayed overnight in a lay by (OPPOSITE THE RAILWAY! DOH!) in Greymouth...not much there apart from the Monteiths Brewery. Getting a shower in Greymouth the next morning proved the biggest challenge ever!! The swimming baths weren't open till the afternoon, the community centre wasn't open....so last resort pluck up the courage to ask the tourist information, where can we go to get a shower?.......yes how embaressing [View Full Entry]

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Think we had the best New Years Days ever this year, we went to Browns Bay and laid in glorious sunshine. A beautiful day (thank goodness as everyone was blaming us for the downpour of rain on New Years Eve!)......we went back to Marion and Johns for dinner and played a quiz and Jayn was drinking! The quiz was good fun and probably beat Christmas Day as it was loads of people getting together and playing games what Christmas should be! We were on our lonesome last year, but I'm ready to make up for it on 25th Jan when we're [View Full Entry]

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After the attractions at Rotorua we drove to Hamilton, turned up at a YWCA...the lonely planet assured us it wasn't a convent but it was an odd hostel! Luckily they only had one single bed left and it was in the middle of nowhere too so good we moved on and found a place in the lonely planet that was actually on the main strip through town.....it was described as eyrie and it said the communal lounge might be trying for nursing home chic but we went with it...said it was clean too :-) Parked the car down a side street [View Full Entry]

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From the stables hostel in Napier we drove to Lake Taupo after doing the Art Deco tour. It was pouring with rain so hot water beach was out of the question! Around Taupo we visited the Spa Thermal Park, we had planned to do the Huka Falls Walkway but once we discovered that you could drive up to the falls and not do the 50minute (one way!) walk in the rain then there was no question about it! The Spa Thermal Park was cool, natural hot springs alongside the Waikata River (a new river that has only just been born from [View Full Entry]

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Hi all, Aren't I spoiling you all with another journal oh so soon!! :-D (started typing this on 22nd Dec...sorry for the delay in only publishing it today...4th Jan :-D) Hope you are all coping with the mad rush of Christmas at home! It is not Christmas here, no rush, no sub-zero temperatures and it doesnt even get dark to see the lights!! I'm looking forward to getting to Jayns and hopefully she'll have a tree up. Is sort of nice not having to worry but do miss it, it'll make next year extra special. Bought the turkey today, sliced from [View Full Entry]

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