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

We had booked an appartment trough Airbnb to shake off the jet lag. Rather than staying down town Auckland, we headed to the North Shore where the pace is slow, beaches are nice and everything was chill. Devonport was the perfect place for that. We had o two bedroom apportment 150 m. away from the beach in a scenic surburb with beautiful houses, water surrounding us and the most amazing views everytwhere you look. The most important thing was trying to turn night into day and day into night. 2nd day we more or less got up at 3am. Yikes! Apart from that one night, both Ollie and Alba were awesome. The good thing about travelling with children is that your own discomfort by sitting down for 24 hours on a fligt, or being tired at ... read more

We were fortunate to have fairly smooth seas on our six day voyage to Samoa. That’s lots of sea time to catch up on shipboard activities like gym workouts, water aerobics, star gazing, reading, playing Hand & Foot (a lively version of Canasta), listening to Dr. Mark Elovitz's excellent current events lectures and contemplating the state of the world while transiting this vast ocean. We crossed the Equator and the International Dateline skipping January 21 in the process and arrived in Samoa on a sunny, hot Sunday morning. Many of the South Pacific islands became very Christianized over the last century and thus adhere to some strict rules regarding allowable activities on the Lord’s Day. In essence Samoa is closed on Sunday with the exception of church services. The Silver Whisper’s tour director Clive did an ... read more

Hi everyone, Today we were heading back to Auckland; we had to get up early as our bus back was at 0810. We woke to the chorus of the Asian girls drying their hair!!! They were heading to the Waimoto Forest we had gone to yesterday, so we gave the guy some tips on where to stop and everything. We left the keys of our rental car at the reception and headed off to the bus. It was only a 5 min walk from the hostel so we got there early and had a relaxing sit around. Our bus turned up a bit late, we had the chattiest bus driver ever!!! He would not shut up!!! About 10 minutes into the bus journey a girl at the back piped up and said our luggage has all ... read more

Tuesday 25th An early start as we drive to the other side of Wellington to the VW garage to get some special fluid put in the van. The warning light’s been on for 5 days. We then set off on a long days drive to Hastings, about 190 mile away. The scenery’s mainly rolling hills covered by sheep ! there’s 1000’s of them. Also a few 100 cows. In the back ground are dark menacing looking mountains but they’re miles away. We stop for lunch in Dannevirke, a Danish and Swedish settlement. The park’s quite nice with an aviary and lots of wild chickens with furry feet, they look like they’re wearing Ugg Boots. We soon set off again and I’m glad when we reach Hastings, it’s been a long drive. At tourist info we get ... read more

Managed to source a bike at the eleventh hour from Natural High. A well kitted out business with friendly, knowledgable staff. One of the lads there is ex 7Para RHA who came out to NZ 8 years ago with a Kiwi girlfriend and hasn't looked back. Set of first thing Monday and met Scottie (one of the lads from the curry night) on East Coast Road who was out training as he is yet another Triathelete! He gave me the heads up on the route I'd planned. As the day wore on I was glad to have heeded his advice, as what he doesn't know about cycling here isn't worth knowing. After a while I left the East Coast Road and found some minor roads to Long Bay Regional Park. I scooted about behind the dunes ... read more