Blogs from East Coast, North Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 10

Fri. 13th. Jan. After Jim being refused entry into Australia, on our connecting flight to New Zealand, a nice man at Santiago airport organised a direct flight to Auckland for us. The BA promised visa was a porky. We arrived in Auckland at 5:00 a.m. after a very pleasant flight, arranged our hotel in the airport, and caught the shuttle bus to the door, effortless! Spent the day getting our bearings and sorting out an Oz visa at the embassy. Then to the top of Sky Tower for our evening meal, and to watch the city go from day to night. Sat. 14th. Walked around Auckland and are very impressed with the cleanliness, traffic discipline and the quietness of such a big city. The people are so friendly, and , Halleluah! we can understand them. Well, ... read more

Today is the Birthday of the worlds best Mum - well done you. lots of love. marc... read more

hey guys! am writing on borrowed time here as the internet cafe hasnt noticed we've run out of credit! Things are great in new zealand, today has been taken up with recovering from the huge walk we did which marc has told you about. it was really really beautiful (king kong style 'beautiful' for ay one that has seen it!). my favourite bit was waking up on the last day in our camp by the lake and jumping straight in for a very chilly swim with the mountains towering over, ducks swimming by and a hot chocolate waiting to be drunk. Recovering from the jaunt now, seemed to have picked a cold up from somewhere but planning to eat as much as i can to get over it! Going to get familiar with some history of ... read more

Greetings from the east coast - wine country. After hot footing it from Wellington after our return from the batch we headed out to the Taraua range of mountains where scenery is free and everything else coasts lots of cash - lot. Called the millionaires row of NZ. We were ucky enough to go to a wine tasting at a very snazzy wineyard where we decided is pretty near impossible to tell the difference between a $10 and a $60 bottle of wine - well almost. Anway the cheese platter and the wines were all very tasty. We then drove out into the mountains fo a spot of camping and were met with perhaps the most rain i've ever experienced in a tent - still with a very British stiff upper lip we braved the storn ... read more

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