In our last week we visited drove up the East coast once again turning inland at Te Kaha for 16km along unmade up road. This was taking us into the wopwops (as kiwis call the outback, or the back of beyond as Brits might say). The road wound around the hillside and the driver required careful navigation of potholes as well as fording two rivers. We werent quite sure what to expect, but turning a corner revealed an oasis-like plateau of land in the midst of the impressive Raukumara Ranges of hills. We stayed the night in a cabin which felt [View Full Entry]

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In our last 24 hours or so we had a farewell picnic on the beach with some of our new friends, and then our lovely neighbour Liz offered to look after Catherine and Hugh while we walked round the headland. In fact, she said we were not allowed to leave the area until we had done this particular walk! And we were clambering over the rocks pretty briskly, with the plane leaving in a few hours, and the house still to be tidied... [View Full Entry]

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Nah, we're still into the kind of thing we've always done ... [View Full Entry]

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One of the main things we'll miss when we go home will be the beautiful Ohiwa Harbour. We look out across it from our house, high up a hill. We drive past bits of it wherever we go. we have kayaked on it, eaten oysters from it, fished in it, paddled in it, watched birds on it, and it generally feels like a part of our lives. It's not how I would imagin a harbour - high walls with boats tied up; it's a tidal inlet of the Pacific, with a narrow mouth that then opens out into several square miles [View Full Entry]

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Our last long journey was a round trip Tauranga - Auckland - Rotorua. While in Auckland Rosie visited a women's prison (not looking for work) so the rest of us went and played. It was Lucy's first time away from Rosie and her first time in a swing. [View Full Entry]

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You can only learn so much about a country in three months. But from what we've seen, New Zealanders seem to love their country in a much more uncomplicated way than the British. It is also a place where human settlement is comparatively recent, and so most of the history of people living here is known about, at least through verbal history. One of the crucial stages was the arrival of canoes ('waka') from Pacific islands to the North East, as part of a deliberate migration, bringing animals, seeds, etc. that would be needed. Genealogy is important in Maori culture and [View Full Entry]

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The 'Rotorua Tough Guy and Gal' is a 11km race, up and down hills, over obstacles such as rope bridges, under barbed wire, and through a waist deep SWAMP. Like I said, when the country's so beautiful, with so much to explore, why do some people have to run around doing silly things? [View Full Entry]

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We've had one wet and one dry day here in Auckland. Yesterday we went up the Sky Tower, the tallest building in the Southern hemishpere, which we can see from the window of the YHA. It's a great way to see the city if you don't have long to look around it. We watched people doing skydiving from the tower, Catherine thinks she'd like to do it, but the rest of us were happy to drink coffee and watch others. We got our moneys worth out of our visit to the Maritime museum, in fact we returned today to see more [View Full Entry]

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We overlook this beautiful harbour so we have finally got round to going out on the water with our neighbour Kenny. All five of us. We later discovered it is breastfeeding week so Rosie and Lucy ought to get a prize for breastfeeding on a kayak whilst wearing life-jackets. Three of us have been out again - Jon to the beautiful Whale Island, close enough to seals to splash them, and then J, C and H at Waihi. We love it. [View Full Entry]

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A hangi is a traditional Maori feast, usually for a special occasion. Waiotahi School, a lovely, laid back rural school, do it to show children how it happens, and we were lucky to meet a family who invited us to the school hangi last week. A circular pit is dug, a little over a metre across, and a log fire is lit next to it. Rocks are heated on the fire for an hour or two, and when hot enough they are put into the hole. Then large lumps of meat are lowered on in crates, followed by vegetables. These are [View Full Entry]

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