Blogs from Auckland, North Island, New Zealand, Oceania

Here is a snippet of our New Zealand trip... New Zealand 2013 from Charles Green on Vimeo. Or go to this link: http://vimeo.com/65503658... read more

So I've decided to start my own travel blog! I went to Hong Kong and London last year (2012) and as soon as I got back to NZ I wanted to hop back on a plane and go travelling again. It was my first time travelling as an adult last year and I absolutely loved it. My Uncle is a pilot so I followed him to Hong Kong and London on one of his trips. Last year I decided that I would go to Italy and the Greek Islands and in less than 2 weeks time I will be getting on a plane to go and visit these places! I'm doing two contiki's one called the Simply Italy tour and another called the Aegean Classic (greece). Here is a link to both contikis: http://www.contiki.com/destinations/europe/tours/152-simply-italy and http ... read more

Woke to a message from Singapore Airlines saying my flight's been delayed by nearly four hours so a morning of relaxing and watching the England batsmen exhibit admirable patience as they try to bore New Zealand to a stalemate. I've avoided the temptation to dash in to town and catch an hour or two of the match. If the new flight time proves real, then it'll chop my transfer time in Singapore from 4.5 hours to 1 hour, which is probably about as close as one would like to cut it. Here's hoping it all works out. Update from Changi Airport, Singapore: Made it here in good time for onward flight to London so it's all worked out rather well. And well done to our Sussex man Matt Prior for rescuing the final test :)... read more

Long drive to Christchurch to return the van (it's a relief to be free of it) and then to the airport for the flight to Auckland. Cloudy day down below but a few snatched sights of Marlborough Sounds and Taranaki hiding under a cloud. Typing from the plush, relaxing bar of my overnight hotel near the airport. Lazy start tomorrow to catch lunchtime flight to Singapore and from there on to the frozen UK. If someone could organise for a bit of a thaw before I land early Wednesday morning, that would be much appreciated...... read more

Today after breakfast, we were picked up promptly at 9:00 by our Coast to Coast Tour bus driver. We were the first couple to be picked up. After picking up 2 more couples in the city (also from the US), we were on our way. It wasn't long before we realized that we were on an exceptional tour. Our host, Stu, was knowledgeable about New Zealand and gave us a wealth of information as well as anecdotes with some humor thrown in for good measure. Our first stop was to the Arataki Visitor Center and Rain Forest. We learned about many of the trees and plants in the area and the opposum which is one of the biggest pests that New Zealand has. They are trying to find a way to get rid of them because ... read more

Another beautiful day in Auckland. Blue skies, temperatures in the high 70s. We had a nice continental breakfast of croisssants, cheese, ham, muesli and fruit. We left Ponsonby House at 8:30 to give us plenty of time to get to the pier to catch our ferry to Waiheke Island. The cruise took about 35 minutes and then we boarded a bus for a tour of the island which has a population of 8000 but in the summer it is about 30,000. We stopped to view some of the island's beaches, Oneroa, Little Oneroa, Palm Beach and Onetangi Beach. All are great for swimming and other water sport activities. Our bus driver suggested we get out at Onetangi Beach (which means weeping sand because of a battle waged there). We had lunch at the Beach Front Restaurant ... read more