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

Auckland looks a lovely city through the rain showers which have been constant since we arrived. At least we arrived here before the cyclone. We have had high alert weather warning, set for 7pm tonight! Sadly all excursions were cancelled so no sailing for Roger. Yesterday we had a look around a few blocks near the wharf. Ship is docked very close to downtown. Today we tried to go to museum but closed due to weather so went to Sky City and up the Sky Tower. Some super views despite misty conditions. Hopefully Hop on hop off bus running tomorrow so can try museum again. It has natural history as well as discovery of island and war memorial. Bay if Islands cancelled too( apparently 12 m waves there yesterday!) We are due to stop in Tauranga ... read more

Day 4 :Thursday and a well deserved day off from competition, see's a slow and leisurely rise, walk and feed the horses, a long lunch at the Stampede in Papakura, a spot of shopping in South Auckland. Its nice to catch the breath, regroup, relax and rest up before the serious end of week begins. FINALS time. This is a good time to share our week with you via the photo gallery. Have they done enough??... read more

DAY 3 True to her word the Mongolian crew get the 4.30am call and by 5.30 the team are collecting the horses while Cody, Harry and I are mixing their breakfast by van light, another thing big flash truck has is a lighting system.! Needless to say there is nobody else around at that hour of the day, Harry's theory, get there early gets the best if not all the space, best water, Gazebo spot, etc, have everything done and well into the third cuppa by the time anybody else arrives. Up goes the good music as the horses are eating and the daily tack is organised, then a wash and groom. 8am Harry and I are at fuck off good coffee co-op getting the crew flat whites and cronuts, a dough nut mated with a ... read more

Wow - the trip is almost over. Can't believe it's gone by so fast and yet we are really looking forward to coming home. Even I'm getting tired of living out of suitcases. Our last day in the Alice was another great tour. In the morning we went to the West McDonnell Range and toured Simpson Gap and Standley Chasm. No one knows who Simpson was and Mrs. Standley was a teacher in the late 1800's who came out to teach the settler's children and saw the need for teaching half-caste Aborginals who weren't accepted by anyone and started teaching them too. When the gold rush happened, we was very concerned about lots of miners coming in and the effect on her Aborginal teen girls, so she moved them all out to this area about 30km ... read more

Today was a better day. It wasn't raining but it was cloudy. I woke up early this morning because I didn't know how long it would take me to find somewhere to eat. I got ready for the day, locked up the room and went out for a bite. I wore my favourite shirt today. As soon as I walked out the door this morning, I found a coffee shop right across the street, it was called Esquires Coffee. Everyone looked overly happy to be there and it kind of creeped me out. It was still cold this morning so I wore a long sleeve top and a jacket. I ordered waffles with ice cream and chocolate sause and a bottle of water. After my delicious breakfast, which was really cheap, I went back to the ... read more