nzers

For this year's holiday we decided to stay relatively close and visit one of the Pacific Islands. Rarotonga seemed to be our best option even tho' we had reservations about the often dodgy weather and wondered if there would be enough to entertain us for nearly two weeks. We decided to stay in private accommodation booked via the internet rather than in a resort and even tho' we were booking more than six months out, we found that it wasn't possible to stay in one place for the entire 12 days. Rarotonga is apparently VERY popular for weddings and is booked out over a year in advance. We booked 6 nights at the Cooks Bay Villas followed by 5 nights at Makayla Palms just down the road. Both were great choices, but the Cooks Bay Villa ... read more

On Wednesday after we enjoyed another massive breakfast at the Park Royal, we packed our bags and chilled out by the pool for most of the morning as absolutely NOTHING happens in KL for tourists before 11am. Then it was a super quick trip across to Sengei Wang for some last minute shopping before catching a taxi out to Subang Airport for our Firefly flight to Koh Samui. Traffic was horrendous right near the hotel and we were stuck in a traffic jam for what seemed like an eternity. Funny tho', when I told the driver that we were probably going to be late for our flight at the rate we were going, he was suddenly able to change lanes and duck and dive thru the traffic and we were on our way. It took about ... read more

Day 1: Tauranga ->Wellington->Christchurch->Kuala Lumpur: Last December Air Asia announced that they would begin their new route, Christchurch to Kuala Lumpur. Their opening fares were unbelievably cheap and were also available during the school holidays. This was a deal too good to pass by, so despite many uncertainties we grabbed the deal of the century and started to make plans. We decided to spend a short time in KL at either end of our trip, but for the most part our holiday this year would be in Koh Samui, Thailand. Talk about going the long way tho'. When we checked in at ChCh we found that we had been extremely lucky and had scored an upgrade to Premium seats - flippen AMAZING! The 10.5 hr long haul flight was an absolute breeze. The kids slept practically ... read more

After enjoying 5 nights at pretty Clifton Beach we headed north along the Captain Cook Highway for about an hour to Port Douglas. Our home for the next 4 nights was called "At the Mango Tree Holiday Apartments" - not sure why it's not just called "Mango Tree" but anyway... Not the flashest of establishments and only selected because there wasn't a lot of other options available. Turned out to be quite good, with a tennis court, nice pool and across the road to the beach. It looked like half of Australia is in town for the school holidays - Port Douglas was just humming with people. The main Street, Macrossan St was very pretty and packed with lots of shops, tour offices, cafes and restaurants. The kids favourite was the bright green icecream shop selling ... read more

Ashleigh and I had a short stay in Sydney either side of a youth conference held for teenagers suffering from Crohn's, and we both absolutely loved it! I was last in Sydney 18 years ago and have to say I enjoyed it much more this time around - in fact I couldn't find fault. It was beautiful, easy to get around and there is lots for all ages to see and do. We arrived late afternoon from Hamilton on Pacific Blue, caught the train into Wynyard Station (very easy - follow the signs at the airport arrival hall and purchase a ticket from the booth by the escalators), walked across the street to our hotel, the Travelodge Wynyard on York St right in the CBD. We didn't bother to unpack, just dumped our bags and headed ... read more