Blogs from Napier, East Coast, North Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 3

So Robs arrival today which im sure hell tell you about including losing to me at pool - first blood! Long way to go though. Unfortunately have lost my partner in crime and fellow blogee Gem who is now Lamb sitting at her parents. Hopefully though she'll share her experience of kawaka?? bush trek which was pretty awesome if you like heights and hot pools etc and an update on returning to normal life yyyuuuuckkkk. Anyway ill end on the competition winner of the kleidoscope ...................................................... Big Bro and his girls - yes cillit bang, well close enough, so the star prize will be winging its way across the world with Gem soon- congrats! pictures will be updated and ill finish with Rob and his colourful report! managed to meet up with gypsy wiseman who was ... read more

On the advice of a local resident who was visiting Westport, they recommended that we should visit Hawkes Bay and the East Cost of the North Island rather than the West - and I think it's safe to say that we're glad that we did! Spent the day visiting the National Aquarium of New Zealand which was a really lovely place, sharks, rays and even a huge turtle! We were lucky enough to get there for feeding time and see the diver hand feeding the fish in the Oceanic Tank. We then went to Marine Land which was a whole different story, really sad and depressing although they rescue and help to mend poorly sea creatures - seals, penguins etc; the whole place had an air of sadness with lovely dolphins swimming around their tank and ... read more

We went away for the long weekend (Queen's Birthday - one week later than the UK) a couple of weeks ago and it was a great weekend. We hired a car and drove up straight from work on the Friday through to Martinborough Wine Region up to Napier in Hawke's Bay on the east coast of the North Island. The weather forecast was a bit ropey and it's generally very difficult to forecast the weather accurately down here but it turned out to be pretty good. In fact, we were able to sit outside and have breakfast in our t-shirts on the Saturday. We arrived about 9:30pm on the Friday and checked into our Motel just after the All Blacks trial had finished at the nearby stadium. Just as well we didn't arrive in time to ... read more

Hello again! Well this being on the road sure beats working... We've had the most glorious week weather-wise and driving around NZ has been a real pleasure. One of the nice things about NZ is that the scenery is gorgeous (and we know that it gets better on the South Island), and outside of Auckland the roads are reasonably quiet, so we are able to meander about the country looking at nice views, enjoying the weather and generally taking our time about getting places. We left the Coromandel on Thursday and had a long day's driving to Rotorua. This was just a stop-over as we were aiming for Napier but it was too far for a day's drive. The drive from the Coromandel was typically stunning, along the coast for most of the way and through ... read more

Hello again Left Wellington Sunday am and drove to Napier. Weather was good and had a BBQ with Joy Trevor Sarah Lisa and 2 friends Went into Napier Mon am and did the art deco walking tour - highly recommended. Back to Joy's and out for a tour of vineyards and lunch then on to Taupo. As we arrived we saw a house coming down the road a more literal meaning to someone moving home - see photo Tuesday did a tour around Taupo in the am and saw first of our geothermal sites Took a sailing boat trip on the lake after lunch to see ancient Maori carvings - actually carved in 1979 but in the ancient style. Enjoyed the sail though with full sails up. Joan not sure about sliding around as boat tilted ... read more