Day 1: Tauranga ->Wellington->Christchurch->Kuala Lumpur: Last December Air Asia announced that they would begin their new route, Christchurch to Kuala Lumpur. Their opening fares were unbelievably cheap and were also available during the school holidays. This was a deal too good to pass by, so despite many uncertainties we grabbed the deal of the century and started to make plans. We decided to spend a short time in KL at either end of our trip, but for the most part our holiday this year would be in Koh Samui, Thailand. Talk about going the long way tho'. When we checked in at ChCh we found that we had been extremely lucky and had scored an upgrade to Premium seats - flippen AMAZING! The 10.5 hr long haul flight was an absolute breeze. The kids slept practically ... read more

After enjoying 5 nights at pretty Clifton Beach we headed north along the Captain Cook Highway for about an hour to Port Douglas. Our home for the next 4 nights was called "At the Mango Tree Holiday Apartments" - not sure why it's not just called "Mango Tree" but anyway... Not the flashest of establishments and only selected because there wasn't a lot of other options available. Turned out to be quite good, with a tennis court, nice pool and across the road to the beach. It looked like half of Australia is in town for the school holidays - Port Douglas was just humming with people. The main Street, Macrossan St was very pretty and packed with lots of shops, tour offices, cafes and restaurants. The kids favourite was the bright green icecream shop selling ... read more

Ashleigh and I had a short stay in Sydney either side of a youth conference held for teenagers suffering from Crohn's, and we both absolutely loved it! I was last in Sydney 18 years ago and have to say I enjoyed it much more this time around - in fact I couldn't find fault. It was beautiful, easy to get around and there is lots for all ages to see and do. We arrived late afternoon from Hamilton on Pacific Blue, caught the train into Wynyard Station (very easy - follow the signs at the airport arrival hall and purchase a ticket from the booth by the escalators), walked across the street to our hotel, the Travelodge Wynyard on York St right in the CBD. We didn't bother to unpack, just dumped our bags and headed ... read more

After a quick pit stop at Countdown supermarket to stock up on supplies for the next few days and of course, "THE WALK", we headed out of Nelson to our next stop - Marahau: Gateway to the Abel Tasman National Park. We detoured slightly to take some photo's from the hills of Princess Road, the view of the beautiful blue Tasman Bay below was just fantastic as the weather had come right and the day was just superb. We could even see the golden beaches of the Abel Tasman from this viewpoint! Arrangements were made to meet up with the rest of the crew at Mapua for lunch. As we drove out to Mapua along the Applyby Straights we couldn't help but notice all the changes that have taken place. Grape vines and kiwifruit seem to ... read more

Every year for the past 7 years or so we have taken a summer holiday with a group of our closest friends and their children. This year we decided to visit some of the places on our bucket list - The Marlborough Sounds, Nelson and to walk the Abel Tasman track. Our friends thought that this was a grand idea! "Organize it, and we will come", they said. And so, on December 28th, the Ross', the Moores and the Byroms - 6 adults & 7 kids crossed the Cook Strait and headed up the Kenepuru Sounds to Waitaria Bay... Two hours and 2000 bends after leaving Picton we arrived at our Waitaria Bay farmhouse which is to be our home for the next five days. Having organised this over the telephone and not knowing what to ... read more