Thursday morning we awoke to grey skies and showers. Our plan for the day was to visit Paihia and the Waitangi Treaty grounds. Having done British Pacific History at Uni (48 years ago) I remembered some of the history of this area. We drove to the ferry and had a safe, though, wet crossing. Then it was a short drive into Paihia and through the town to the Treaty grounds themselves. This is now managed by locals. It is $50 entry fee and no discount for Seniors, but there is plenty to do here .The pass gives two days to explore and also see a cultural show as well as have a guided tour, neither of which we bothered about. Our first stop was the excellent Museum. This is very modern with interactive displays and video ... read more

On Sunday morning, after a leisurely breakfast, Debbie drove us to Raglan, 40kms west of Hamilton on the rugged west coast. We had Oscar, the schnauser, with us and it was a beautiful, sunny day with a cool breeze. Perfect weather for a walk on the beach. The drive was very pretty with green hills and great views as we wound our way through the sometimes steep inclines and down into the valleys. Our first stop was at a scenic viewing spot overlooking one of the surf beaches here. Debbie told us it has the longest lefthand break in NZ. There were many surfers waiting for the waves, bobbing up and down and then suddenly taking off as the surf rolled in. We then parked at Oscar's favourite beach. The sand is black here, but this ... read more

Our first full day in NZ was a busy one. We left the hotel about 9-30 and stopped for breakfast at Pandoro's near the docks area. We then went to Te Papa. This is a wonderful museum which we had visited before. Today the main attraction was a special exhibition about Gallipoli and especially NZ's part in the landings and the subsequent fighting there in 1915. The first room immediately confronts the viewer as it contains a giant figure of a soldier firing his pistol. These amazing statues are peppered throughout the exhibition. There were also interactive dioramas of the terrain and demonstrations of the battles. Not a huge number of artefacts but the confronting nature of the large sculptures certainly made this memorable. We spent over an hour looking through this and reading the stories ... read more

On Wednesday, we took our time leaving the hotel as we had to pick up our car at 11am. We got a taxi to the Avis depot and there we acquired our black Astra . After programming the GPS we headed north for the coast. We had a few twists and turns following the Sat Nav’s lady’s instructions but eventually arrived at the seaside town of Howth which is still in the outer Dublin suburbs. This is a busy fishing port so we parked and walked along the Marina. It was very overcast and windy, more like our winter than a summer’s day. We did find Beshoff’s market restaurant where we had a delicious seafood platter for two. This was fresh and scrumptious and was quickly devoured. We headed along the coast, stopping briefly at Portmarnock ... read more

What an exciting and busy few days have we had!! With the athletics events on every night and catching up with people during each day we have hardly stopped. Again I will try and sum up what has happened in each sphere. Firstly the Athletics. These Championships have produced some outstanding results and unexpected happenings. Some highlights for me have been the Australian performances. Kurtis Marschall, at only 20 years of age, placed 7th in the Pole Vault final. This competition was fascinating with several athletes passing to gain advantage and the American Sam Hendricks eventually the winner. Brooke Stratton, in the women's long jump final, jumped very consistently and was 6th in the world! And the final high spot came last night when Sally Pearson, coming back from breaking her wrist very badly, won gold ... read more