Blogs from North Shore, Auckland, North Island, New Zealand, Oceania

We jetted off from Auckland to Christchurch on Saturday 17th March (after Joe fully satisfied his craving for MacDonalds chicken nuggets). Picked up our rental car and then went to explore Christchurch. I'm not quite sure what I was expecting the earthquake damage in Christchurch to be like, I certainly had no idea of the scale of the destruction - the whole city center is blocked off. We went to see the beautiful cathedral which is, tragically, being pulled down in a couple of weeks. However, despite the damage, we loved Christchurch. The current city center is made up of shops that have been put into brightly coloured shipping containers and the whole place had a real festival feeling about it. We camped the whole time we were travelling around the South Island (albeit we were ... read more

We hadden een vreselijke nacht achter de rug en besloten rechtsreeks door Auckland te rijden en de stad niet te bezoeken. Waarom vreselijk? Wel, het viel deze keer niet ech mee om een goeie en rustige slaapplek te vinden. Daarbij waren we veel te laat vertrokken en probeerden we rond 19 uur een plekje te vinden rondom een meer. Jammer genoeg was dat meer een beetje moerasgebied en kon je er niet aan. Er waren ook geen wandelpaden en geen parkings dus zat er niets anders op dan door te rijden richting Auckland. Uiteindelijk begon het dan nog te stormen en keihard te regenen. Rond 21uur heb ik dan in het pikdonker de auto geparkeerd op een picknickplekje. Bleek dat we langs de snelweg stonden. Niet zo ideaal dus. Het getoeter van de trucks en alle ... read more

Didnt realise our last post was from Airlie Beach.. whoops. We had a great few weeks after that in Oz. Highlights included the Whitsundays (incredibly beautiful), walking in Port Douglas rain forest and scuba diving on the Great Barrier Reef off of Cairns (we stroked a sea cucumber - it felt like a tongue). Then we flew out of Cairns to Auckland. We've been living on the North Shore for about four months now which has been great although we've spent most of the time working to get some funds for the next part of our trip. We've met some wonderful people and really loved living about 3 minutes from the beach. Swimming in the sea on Christmas day was pretty damn cool. Looking back, we've spent most days at work (Joe working as a door ... read more

Hello folks! Me (Anton) again I'm afraid, so you'll have to forgive the spelling mistakes, shortness and dullness of this blog... ;) As it was p-ing down in Nelson (supposedly the sunniest region in New Zealand), and after Kate had finished the previous blog-writing marathon, we decided to go to the cinema to watch 'Moneyball' with Brad Pitt (woo-hoo)! It was a good film and good value at $12 each and as much popcorn and coke as we could manage for $10 - result! Afterwards, we ran through the rain to 'Bertie' our campervan and headed to Hugh's flat. As we got nearer, we thought we saw Hugh walking home from work in the rain but as we weren't sure it was him we drove past. We knocked on his door but no answer... About 5 ... read more

As 'Aussie' dropped us off at our hotel it suddenly dawned on me that we'd completed our last trip. It had been over 3 weeks since we'd left England but time seems to have flown by. We decided to just have a snack in Blenheim with a couple of jars of Speights. One night cap g&t back at the hotel and then early to bed. Friday morning dawned and we had the morning to ourselves before being taken to the airport for the shuttle flight to Wellington. Shopping was the order of the day and I picked up a couple of nice things to take home. We arrived on time and took off in a Sounds Air Cessna for the 30 minute flight to Wellington across the bay. We only climbed to 2,500 feet so had ... read more

Never in doubt was it? It was, in fairness, a very good match but the All Blacks always looked in control. I imagine they'll beat the French with ease on Sunday (but you never know!) We had a great evening on the quay watching live bands and aerobatic displays. The atmosphere at the match was electric. Didn't get back until 1 in the morning so now pretty knackered. This morning we're off to the Airport for the flight to Christchurch. Then it's a drive to Kaikoura for tomorrow we whale watch!... read more

Arrived back in Auckland from Christchurch on time (we are using Jet Star airlines an Easy Jet equivalent, so far so good and much, much cheaper than Air New Zealand) Our host once again kindly picked us up and we arrived back in Glenfield in time for lunch. Plenty of time until the first semi final (21:00 KO) so it's all the domestice chores i.e. laundry to be done. Lovely relaxed lunch at the house where we are staying and then preparations begin. I've decided to support Wales so it's on with the red shirt and we head off into Auckland. George has to meet up with a contact as he's due to hand over tickets to a welsh supporting aquaintance who decided on Monday to fly over for the semi final! We had dinner at ... read more

My word, they are a nervous lot these kiwis. Anybody would have thought it was an important game the way they're going on. Wall to wall coverage in newspapers, on TV and radio. Our generous kiwi host is climbing the walls and we've still got 7 hours before kick off. They've even had a psychologist on the radio advising the population on how to cope with the stress! We're just about to have lunch before preparations begin. This will involve face paints, temporary tattoos and the like. We're also having a traditional Kiwi dip before the match. This consists of the following: Nestle Reduced Cream (small tin of) it's a bit like evaporated milk. 1 small packet of powered onion soup (Maggi) Mix well and chill in fridge before serving with 'Chippies' (crisps) to dip in! ... read more