Don't like Mondays

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The first thing we have to get our head round is how we lost a whole day getting here! We left Rarotonga at about 8am on Monday, and arrived, after a four hour flight, in Aukland at 11am on Tuesday. Who robbed us of our Monday? We spent some time last night with an avocado and a light bulb trying to figure out exactly how this happens, but it's a bit too mind bending, so we decided to go to bed instead and see what day it was when we woke up, and we discovered it was Wednesday. Answers on a post card please!

Aukland greeted us with yet another tropical storm. Is it following us around? Anyway, it soon cleared and we had a brief chance to look around downtown under pleasant warm sunshine. We saw the harbour area and the impressive sky tower. Then we caught the bus for the journey up to Whangarai, towards the top of North Island. The scenery on the journey is beautiful, with lush rolling hills, views of the coastline, and distant mountains. We rounded this eventful two-day day offI with a lovely meal with our friends Martin and Damian.

Today we set off with Martin to tour the Bay of Islands area. We drove through some beautiful countryside and arrived in Piahia where we caught the foot ferry boat ( that seems to be a new enterprise run by one of our friends back in london) across to Russel an old Whaling port dating back to the 1700's. We had a very good gourmet lunch in a pub called the Duke of Marlborough and then set off to see the Treaty house, where the first English settlers came to NZ and where the treaty establishing British rule was signed by the Maori chiefs.

Learnt lots of history about the first missionaries that made the journey and settled here. We then went a little further north to Kerikeri to see where those settlers first landed and then returned and discovered a steam railway ( not what we were expecting) and some very famous public toilets that were designed by Friedensreich Hundertwasser and are very much like the Gaudi style that you would find in Barcelona.

This evening another good meal with friends and made contact with James' relatives in Napier and made arrangements to meet them later on our trip. Goodness it has been a very full few days.

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Comments

[Paul Hutton]

Huttons
Look out for any millionaires called Hutton, the family were deported in the early 1800, either for poaching or attending a labour meeting in a wood above ewelme, but bizzare but true...i think, are you going near Christchurch? remember Jonathon Russell Andrew? he use to drink with us in the JF, now lives there....bye the way give any huttons my regards, telephone and bank account number!!!LOL

[John Walker]

Costa Deliziosa
Whatever you do don't take the Costa Deliziosa - too many rocks around North Island - if you want to wave to your friends take a rowing boat!!

[Martin]

Hello NZ
Glad you are both having a great time, I am not at all jealous. So I guess that means your holiday will be a day shorter than you thought. Lol. Take care and enjoy the rest of your trip.