SorgardtJansson

So I wanted to stop at a Winery on our way down to Wellington the lady at the B&B in Naiper recommended Martinborough which is a 2 hour drive northwest of Wellington. We arrived in the afternoon and had a couple of hours before all wineries closed. So we quickly put the tent up and rented bikes and off we went managed three different wineries and after that we had to go for dinner. They have lovely wine here however after the 15th wine it’s difficult to know what the wine actually taste of. I think it’s the same when you are going into a perfume shop and smell different perfumes, after a while you can’t feel the difference. Anyway we had a really good time and we love Martinborough if you ever visit NZ go ... read more

After a day in Auckland we went to Rotorua, there is a lot of geothermal activity in and around Rotorua. We went to a place called Hells Gate which was named by an English guy who said that because of the hot springs and the acidic pools it must be very close to Hell hence the name. Many of the pools has a ph level of 5 and below and the temperature range of 30ᵒC to 120ᵒC. We saw a black mud volcano as well as other boiling pools and a hot waterfall. After walking around in the park in the rain we were quite cold and went into the spa for our mud bath. It was very nice because you had a private mud bath after the mud bath we went into the hot springs ... read more

Left Albury on Wednesday morning heading for Melbourne. John drove down and our first stop was Glenrowan. We looked at the place where Ned Kelly was captured and then we had a bit of lunch then continued down to Melbourne. Melbourne is a nice city reminds me a bit about Gothenburg with Bourke Street , their main street, leading up to the Parliament house. It looks a bit of Avenyn leading to Poseidon. But then of course they have trams so feels a bit like home. On Wednesday afternoon we went for a stroll down to Federation Square and along Yarra River to the Crown which is a casino. In the evening we started off with German beer at John’s favourite place and then Chinese dinner. On Thursday we continued on our theme for this week, ... read more

Arrived on Saturday evening in Sydney we went for a walk to Darling Harbour and had supper. Sunday was a busy day, first we did the Bridge climb which included climbing to the top of Sydney Harbour Bridge. It was a nice experience and we had great views over Sydney and the harbour. Unfortunately you are not allowed to bring your camera so we don’t have any photos. Anyway after the climb we went out to Kirawee where Per’s mum’s cousin live and we had a lovely dinner. It was so nice to meet the whole family and George (Per’s granddads brother). Nino and Glen – thank you for a great dinner. Now just to point out we had two bonus days Sunday and Monday it was warm (27 degrees C) and sunny. So on Monday ... read more

As we got two extra days in Australia we decided to go down to Canberra and visit Tim and Alison and their son Toby. We met Mr and Mrs Aust in London through ice-hockey, and we haven’t seen them for 6 years. We started our stay in Australia by losing Per’s wallet… and it is still lost . Anyway we drove straight down from Sydney to Canberra and arrived just after lunch time and had a great lunch. After a shower and washing some cloths we went out for dinner at a sailing club. We had dinner looking out over one of Canberra’s man-made lakes. I have always wondered why Canberra is the capital of Australia and not Sydney or Melbourne. Alison explained that in the 1920s Canberra became Australia’s capital city and the reason for ... read more