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Published: August 7th 2010
Thurs 22nd
It was weird landing Thursay even know we flew Wed and only on a 4 and a half hour flight. It was fantastic seeing Arnie and Claire at the airport! They haven't changed one bit.
Fri 23rd
Today Arnie and Claire took us to the local shops so we could buy some warm cothes as it's freezing here. For some reason Nathan got his jumper free that he 'bought'. Lucky bugger!!
That night we played pool in their Rumpus room and their friends came over, Karen, Gary and Ross. A rumpus room is a games room with a bar. We had such a great night and Claire and I didn't get to bed until 3.30am.
Sat 24th
Althought we were all really hungover we still made the most of the afternoon and we went to Devonport. This is a naval base, thsi is where they would keep look out on top of the hill with a massive cannon to make sure the Japs did not get in.
We had a BBQ that night and yes it was freezing. We went to bed at 8.30 that night although Arnie and Claire had friends around, we were just so
tired and I was sneezing all day so thought I had a cold coming and didnt want to ruin the next day so off to bed we trotted.
Sun 25th
Today we saw where Rob works, which was a hugh place. We then went to Mount Eden - a dormant volcano, thank god!! Then moved onto Hunua Falls which was beautiful.
For tea Rob cooked home made pasties and I think he was trying to fill us up for a whole week - they were massive and over filled on the plate.
Mon 26th
Today i felt a little rough with a head cold so we went into town to get some medicine, posted a post card and then got some pies from the local bakery, who have won for the passed several years an award for the best pies in town.
We then went onto Piha and Bethals beach. The sand was black as it was volcanic.
It took us about 45 mins to get there and that is stillin Aukland. In Aukland there are 1.3 million poeple.
We came home and I decided to put a load of washing on, after a while I went down
to the laundry room and was astonished to find the floor was flooded!! Shit...... I stupidly put some other washing in the sink next to the washing machine and covered up the plug hole. OMG I felt once again so silly and felt awful! So I told Arnie and Claire to pick us up at the airport a day before we actually arrived and then flooded their laundry room. Oops.
Oh also I got stuck in the public toilets today and Arnie had to push the door open.
Mon 26th
Today I felt a little rough with a cold so we went into town to get some medicine, post a post card and then to get some pies from the local bakery - he has won several awards for the best pies.
We went to Piha and Bethals beach and the sand was black due to th evolcano's.
I ended up floading downstairs as I put the washing on but put the existing washing in the sink where the outlet is for the washing machine!!Oos I went downstairs to check if the washing had finished and OMG the whole of the laundry room was flooed. I felt so bad!!!!
Sorry Arnie and Claire love you guys xxxx
Oh and I only got stuck in the public toilet today and Arnie had to push the toilet door open.
Tues 27th
Today we had a look around the town and went into the sky tower . We also watched the cannon being fired- this is to mark 12pm everyday. Not to sure on the reason why but this has been done for years.
I wanted to cook for Arnie and Claire as Arnie has been doing all of the cooking for us. So I made spag bowl . Half way through cooking the spaghetti Arnie stolled over and asks if I am going to add marg in it so it doesnt stick?! He thought if I didn't the spaghetti would stick! I didn't but half way thorugh eating our meal Scott said' this doesn't taste any different to dads and Arnie' regretably turned around and said under his breath ' this is actually good' and that I have converted him not to use marg in his cooking for pasta any more.
Wed 28th
We thought that we would have a chilled day so we went for a walk around
Browns Bay and along the beach. We stopped off at tides where Scott works and had some chips and coffee.
Thurs 29th
Today we were up early and went to Coromandle. On the way through we went to Whaktete Bay but this is pronounced fuckatiti. It took us around 3.5 hours to get to hot water beach but omg it was amazing!! We dug a hole and then to find 60c water, infact some of the spots you couldn't even put your feet in the water or put your feet on the ground as it was so hot.
The sites were so amazing and driving through the Coromandle by the time we got home it was 7.30 and after driving 300 miles. We were all shattered!!!
oh and also we stopped into 'The Warehouse' so i could pick out thermols. Well I got the top free as they forgot to scan the top. We now love that shop. Thanks to the warehouse for our freebies.
Fri 30th
Just a chilled day, doing the washing, going to pak n save, sewing Naths where he has lost weight etc etc. Ready for us to leave Sat in our camper.
Sat 31st
Today we picked our camper. We couldn’t stop smiling from one ear to another!
Arnie and Claire gave us loads of extra food to take with us. I’m really going to miss them because they have looked after us so well and made us feel at home! Thanks to them!!
So off we headed down south to Waitomo. This took about 3.5 hours and after getting a little lost, we thought we would use our sat nav. Ha ha yes that’s funny because when we went to use it it didn’t bloomin work. So we used our trusty map and asked for directions. We found the campsite which cost $20 for the both of us and the van. It was luxury, there was a hot pool for us to sit in. Ok given the campsite was a little dear but we said we didn’t mind for one night - you know we had to treat ourselves once in a while. That night we had steak, egg and cheese sandwhich (steak by Arnie and Claire) done on the bbq for tea.
After tea we settled in the van for the night with the heater on.
Sun 1st
We
were on the move again. We went to Waitomo glow worm caves. This cost GBP36 entry and for a guided tour around the caves then at the end a little boat ride to see the glow worms. It was brilliant. The glow worms only live for 9 months.
It took us around 2.5 hours to get to smelly Rotorua and we knew it when we were as we could smell it through the heaters and the windows were shut. We stopped off in a information centre to find the cheapest campsite. These are so handy and they are scattered all over NZ. We booked our white water rafting , our village day and with the rafting we got free entry to the geo thermal pool and mud baths.
We booked ourselves into Kiwi paka’s for 2 nights - Again there was a hot pool, kitchen, laundry room, t.v room and hot showers.
Mon 2nd
We got up early today as we went to Hells Gate thermal pool, we didn’t go in the pools but we had a good look around and we couldn’t believe how hot the hottest pool was. It was 122c.
Then it was onto the white
water rafting- I have never felt so….. well my heart was pounding as we were getting in to the water. After 11 rapids we came to the 7metre rapid. This was massive- the instructor stopped the boat and went through the instructions again to make sure we were clear on what to do if the boat turned over and we were trapped. It was fab!!!! I would certainly again, we bought the cd that had 35 photos on as we couldn’t take our camera around the rapids for obvious reasons. Dad you would love it.
Tues 3rd
We went to Whakarewarewa Thermal village today. We saw the haka and a performance show from the Maori’s and that the lady that showed us around still lives in the village and was raised there. They cook their food in the thermal pool and bathe in pools as well, this is done communally twice a day.
After this we went into the van and had cheese on toast. Then we set off to Taupo and on the way into Taupo we saw Huka falls. This was crazy - it was such a big beautiful waterfall and with so much power. Respect, sweet
as bro!
After we looked around for the cheapest campsite we settled down and had beef noodles for tea - this was a shock to the system.
Wed 4th
Today we spent 6 hours driving to Wellington in the pouring rain.
Thurs 5th
Today was a real fun day. We caught a bus into town, it’s only 15 mins away. We went to the information centre and booked our ferry crossing to Picton, then we headed to see our friend Lynn who we met in the Cook Islands. Then we moved onto the cable car that takes you right to the top of Wellington and gives you such an amazing view! We sat there like two old people with our sandwiches, reading in the blazing sun. Then we found the flask had leaked in Nathan’s bag. Luckily it was so hot we were able to dry the bag inside out and nothing was damaged. We sat there for two hours - because we can. Ha ha love it. Time fly’s when you’re having fun.
So we carried on with our day @ Te Papa museum - this was free and worth seeing.
Our legs were hurting after all
of the walking we had done, oh forgot to mention we searched the town looking for a plastic wine glass as I really didn’t enjoy drinking from a short tumbler glass. Why is it that a drink has to be drunk out of the correct glass?!
We also then stopped off at Sweet Mothers Kitchen, where Lynn works. This was really nice food and she sorted it so we only had to pay for two main meals. Thanks to Lynn.
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Martyn Phipps
non-member comment
Apart from that its a lovely safe place for the kids to play.