Blogs from Wellington, North Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 3

Wed 27th February we left the beach bach and headed north in a slight drizzle - for only the second time in two weeks. The road twists and turns between two mountain ranges through the Buller Gorge with the river on our left. There were beautiful views and rivers all the way along running off the mountains into the sea. East of Nelson on the northern coast, we stopped at Pelorus Bridge which was advertised as a good spot to swim. We didn't, it was too cold, but I did have a paddle. We drove on to Havelock at the bottom of Pelorus Sound to our Airbnb and went to the Mussel Pot restaurant, renowned worldwide for green - lipped mussels. We shared a selection cooked in different ways, and were then surprised by another pair ... read more

What a magic Christmas we have had and the New Year was great. With only a couple of days left before we head to Sydney with Chris, Hege and the girls, I thought I would get this update out. Chris and family arrived safe, sound and not looking at all jet lagged on the 17th of December and what a great reunion for the 4 girls, as Holly and Ella had flown down the day before so they could all meet up at the airport. The pleasure I get from watching these 4 just take up from when they were last together, which was in Norway, Christmas 2016, is emense. So so nice! We had 3 days doing things around Wellington and surrounds so the girls could really get together, renew their friendships and enjoy the ... read more

(Cj writes) We’re coming to the end of our stay in Wellington. We went to the very excellent Peter ‘Lord of the Rings’ Jackson’s exhibition on WW1, with particular reference to the Kiwi experience in Gallipoli, yesterday. Now in its last cuple oweeks) Very well done, as you can imagine - a very imaginative approach to describing the horrors of that war, with an impressive array of special effects. Well worth doing. One exhibit that particularly struck me was the timetable of events from the assassination in Sarajevo to the declaration of war. I’m quite sure that if women had been running the show the war could have been avoided: I hadn’t realised just how footling the various disagreements and fallings -out were. SC adds:and one that struck me was the recreation of an artilliary implacent ... read more

"Dry Cleaning - Drop your pants here". "Levin East Electrical - Let us remove your shorts". A humour that, wherever you are is with you, the professionals to all of the the people you meet. Couple this with their horizontal approach and endless desire to help, you have the basis on which these folk go about life. Taking that then and projecting it further, the Kiwi way is to care for their surroundings, the environment and our planet as a whole. Not a scrap of litter, not even a cigarette butt, can be found anywhere. No graffiti, no vandalism - nothing. It drives a great respect and instils care into your own behaviours too, to the point that throwing an apple into the hedge seems rude, discourteous and unnecessary. Having left Taranaki NP later in the ... read more

Culture. A morning visit to Te Papa museum and a quiet afternoon at the beach front (in the city centre!).... read more