Blogs from Hawkes Bay, North Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 3

Well, here I am in Hastings with Holly and Ella for the school holidays. After arriving home into the cold, I, of course got sick and spent 4 days feeling sorry for myself and sleeping in bed. These long haul trips are getting harder to take every year. Once I came right, up to Amy and Jeremy's for a few days with the kids and then return to WN with them for the rest of the holidays. I of course couldn't wait to get out for a bit of trout fishing but the rains of last week have left the rivers dirty and high. So I have been patient but hope to get out today, Monday. The weather up here has been normal Hawkes Bay weather, sunny but with some wind. Yesterday we drove over to ... read more

Spent some time in this lovely Art Deco town pretty much rebuilt in the 1930s following a devastating earthquake. The art deco architecture and style is evident throughout this place. ... read more

Sunday 25/1/14Left Whakatane and headed for Napier.Stopped at wai-o-tapu to visit some thermal springs. It was amazing although very hot and smelly, for something so completely natural it looks anything but natural. Arrived at Napier and checked into our Art Deco hotel, very small room and a disappointing view of a roof, but the hotel was full so no chance of a move. The town looks interesting and there are self guided walking tours using a booklet so that's tomorrow sorted. Had a meal and drink in the Rose Irish bar attached to the hotel, normal pub grub but after the spices of the Indian in Whakatane it's all our stomachs would stand!... read more

Episode 4 (Saturday 24.01.15) Day 17 of our New Zealand trip and day 17 of sunshine ! From Rotorua we traveled South to Tongariro National Park, stopping first at Wai-O-Tapu geothermal area and Huka Falls. Of the various geothermal parks in the region, Brent and Shirl said that Wai-O-Tau was best, as it has everything – geysers, bubbling mud pools and steaming lakes of various colours. They were right. We also saw the mighty Waikato River, noisily thrusting its ice blue waters through a very narrow gorge at Huka Falls. And so on to Tongariro. This world heritage listed National Park features active volcanoes and fantastic lunar-like scenery. It is at its busiest during Winter, when everyone comes here to ski, but it is also popular in Summer, for its wonderful walking trails. The finest day ... read more

Hi again, This will be the last diary entry for this trip (That's what these blogs have been for me, instead of writing up a 'paper' diary as I did on our first big trip in 2008, I started writing the blogs on our 2011 trip and many people said they enjoyed reading them so I continued doing them on this trip. After our 2011 trip Joy found a site that published all the blogs in a hard covered book. She spent some weeks correcting spelling, grammar etc. and added a heap of new photos and the 210 page book is still read regularly by both of us just to remind us what a fantastic time we had on that 2011 8 week trip) We are back in Waipukurau, arriving home around 6pm after driving from ... read more