Hello again, We are now in Rotorua, hoping to go Zorbing and see some mud pools...... Yesterday Ellie and I had a surf lesson with Beaver from Salt Spray Surf School (www.ohopebeach.com ) and it was fantastic... well worth the $100.00 it was meant to be a 2 hour lesson but we were out in the surf for a good hour and a half (after 1 hour on the beach going through safety stuff and getting kitted up), both me and Ellie managed to get up on the boards!!!! And fall in lots!!!!! We got certificates at the end to allow [View Full Entry]

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Hello Ellie here but daddy is doing the typing. Aisha didn't want to go in the cave but she loved the glow worm caves and wanted to go in again. did you know that there are four stages of the glow worm. don't remember the first stage, the next is the lava then the pupa and lastly the fly. The cycle is 12 months and the are lava for 9 month. This is the bit when the hang threads from the roof of the cave to catch flys and stuff like spiders. The use the waste from what they eat to [View Full Entry]

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We had a mini money crisis then realised that we were using the wrong exchange rate. All ok now. We arrived in Russell via the ferry, which Ellie loved, and tried a couple of places which were all rubbish or too expensive. We stopped at the commodores lodge as a last resort before going to stay somewhere else. Fantastic place and cheap for $135 a night in a one bedroom unit. We liked it so much we have stayed an extra night. Our first night we had fish (Hoki) and chips and no puddings. Had to put that bit in for [View Full Entry]

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We drove up from Aukland the day after our arrival and stayed in a place called Kaitia. W stayed at the Wayfarer motel. Our host, Dave, was very helpful. We left in the morning to go up to Cape Reinga. We were told it was 112km's away and would take a couple of hours. The last 21km's are gravel and that we should take it slowly. We have a 2 litre focus. We want our Chrysler back as the focus feels so small and underpowered. The trip up as we were told took 2 hours. A couple of times we stopped [View Full Entry]

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Hello again, We have arrived in New Zealand after a very long bumpy flight from LA. We met some great people waiting for the flight, 2 of which gave us a guide book, the other gave us loads of advice on routes and places to stay... Thank you whoever you were.... It makes a huge difference to be in an English speaking country where they actually speak English..... In America we were continously having to correct ourselves as the Americans would look at us as if were speaking another language... I know it drove Russ up the wall, WATER is has [View Full Entry]

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Hello All!!! Russ has told (aloud) me to do this blog... I did have to threaten him with another day in Disney!!!! Well we met my Dad in Santa Monica as Russ said. He was jet lagged so we had an early one... We got up early next day and hit Santa Monica, Great place but I found it disturbing the amount of homeless, my Dad said they are allowed as they can have a good life on the beach, they fish off the pier, and weathers great, as long as they are not seen to be begging they are tolerated. [View Full Entry]

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We left San Francisco early with bagels, cream cheese, strawberry jam and orange juice. We were going to LA to meet Chloe's father in Santa Monica. We hadn't told the kids that we were planning to meet him. The first part of the journey was on highway 101 and freeway down to route 1 and big sur. The first 60 miles is incredibly twisty over the side of cliffs and should not, in my opinion, be attempted by the faint hearted Don't get me wrong it is a very good experience but it it close to the cliffs edge and it [View Full Entry]

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We arrived in the early afternoon and found a motel straight away. We are starting to get quite good at getting rooms. I went in to the office and told the guy that we wanted to stay two night and didn't want to pay more than $100 a night. He complained like mad saying that he could charge $170 for a room on a friday. I just kept quiet and he eventually relented and said ok. It wasn't the best place to stay but for $200 we wern't going to complain. We unpacked and the walked down to the fishermans wharf. [View Full Entry]

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I was knackered from the full day of buffoonery and Harley riding so our start was a little subdued. Before we start on the rest of our trip I would like to take this opportunity to say an enormous thank you to our wonderful hosts in Seattle. Who I must say bent over backwards to make us feel welcome and accommadate us. They did far more for us than we could ever expect, disrupting their everyday lives to support and encourage us on the first step of this intrepid journey. I don't think we could ever repay the kindness shown to [View Full Entry]

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The original plan was to hire a harley and then I would ride wolf's bike and he the Hire bike. Well as with all well laid plans things change. When we arrived at the harley dealership there was an open day and things were starting to get busy. We waited for the guy doing the hire bikes by having a wander around looking at the bikes discussing options for wolfs bike with the sales guy's. You know how it is when you go to bike dealerships. We filled out the forms and were then escorted outside to check the bike for [View Full Entry]

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