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Published: November 26th 2006
Hello everyone! We are sorry that we haven't written for a while! We will therefore spoil you with lots of lovely pictures. We would like to say thank you for everyone who entered the quiz. The winner this month is Andrew, so well done! However your guess was still quite far out from the answer which is currently 6147 hits!!!!!
Since writing last we went to Wanganui. We were met by our next host, Reg, and he was lovely. He kindly gave us a private tour of the area in his tour bus which was great as we didnt have to walk a lot. We went up a tower on Durie Hill but as the weather was pretty miserable, the view was not that superb. We also went to local parks and to a walk through bird avairy. We also went to the art gallery which had really good exhibits.
This was a very good homestay because we only had to work 2 hours a day instead of 4 or 5 hours. Our main task was to paint the fences in the front garden which was quite fun.
On our other days off, we went to a nearby black sand
beach and we often had a nice stroll to town along the river.
We then left for Rotorua and we were picked up by our next host Liz and her daughter Talia. The home is a good half an hour away from town, but it was so beautiful there. Liz had her mum, Shirley, and brother, Johnny, from Australia over, so it was nice and lively. Johnny was a great cook so we were very spoilt!
We pruned bushes most of the time which was fun. In our time off we did a nice walk along the lake which was about 2 minutes from the house. The next day we went to town with the family and we had a great lunch by another lake and we went to a geothermal park which had amazing hot pools and mud pools! It was like being in a sauna. It rained on the following days and so we played games with the family and have watched some good televison and films from their DVD colection.
We then left Rotorua and went to Lake Taupo (which is the largest lake in New Zealand). We were turned away from many hostels as
they were fully booked which was unusual/scary for us. We therefore had to settle for a dorm room but it wasnt too bad. We had a lovely walk around the lake and unfortunately the trek we planned for the next day fell through as the bus got cancelled there. We therefore decided to go to our next homestay a day early which was in Hamilton.
Our next home was a good half an hour away from Hamilton town and we were in the middle of nowhere. We were on a farm (the biggest we have been on) and they specialised in breeding horses. They also had the usual cows and sheep too. The hosts were not very nice and very nosy. The woman even read our diary and the horrible things we wrote about her which wasn't too good. No matter how hard we tried, it was never good enough for her! However the food was very good and as they ran a Bed and Breakfast too, the guests were nice! In our spare time we had walks around the area and we went to Hamilton Gardens which was wonderful.
We managed to escape from that homestay a
couple of days early and we then headed to Auckland. We got very lost on the way to our next homestay but found it eventually! We are now maids in a motel and we only work 3 hours a day. We are finding it quite enjoyable except for when we have to clean the mens toilets! We went to the Auckland museum yesterday which was massive and really good. Today we had a nice walk around the harbour and we saw a Christmas parade and Santa Claus.
In response to recent comments, cutting the blueberrys smelt wonderful! The more the trip goes on, the more we think about food! I miss cathedral cheese and Bobby misses wine gums. We also miss some British TV but we have managed to see some more good programmes such as the final of the latest American Apprentice!
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Dad
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Note from the land of Cathedral City & Wine Gums
I think you must be having an even more exciting time than I am - nast people readingd your diaries (about them!!) and nice people giving you short and easy jobs, getting lost in a strange country, sleeping in dorms and working as motel maids - wow, we know what side of the family you get that adventure bug from don't we. Lots of nice new pics - I wonder if you can get to the end of your jourmey without anyone else being seen in your beach photos? Lastly, I must say I was amazed at 6147 hits - how many 'comments' have you had? Must go now my Cathedral City on toast is ready-mmmmmm.