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Published: November 16th 2008
Auckland
Yes he really went to the top!A quick flight and we are in Auckland. This feels like a different country, so much more like England.
Christchurch is a pretty town, Auckland is a city! As near to being like Sydney as it gets. It is on a massive natural harbour, is built around the central quay and has ferries to all different points in the harbour. It even has a harbour bridge and a revolving Sky Tower (the tallest in the Southern Hemisphere). Michelle wanted to go to the top of the Sky Tower but Terry, being scared of heights was reluctant. However, he agreed. He found the girl he had been waiting for, the girl of his dreams. She was about 30 with long, brown hair. He did not notice her at first and said, "one adult and one senior citizen please". Dream girl says, "you are not old enough, you need to be 60" and asked for proof of Terry's age. He had to produce his driving licence and has been on a high ever since.
Thursday we went to the recommended Waiheke Island by hire car. It was pretty, but after 4 hours we had seen enough and caught the ferry back.
Hot Water Beach
Washing her feet at last! Friday we set off for Cooks Beach and Hot Water Beach, which we went to first. You can hire a spade and for 3 hours at low tide can dig a hole in the sand which fills with hot volcanic water. Skinflint Terry refused to hire a spade as he claimed people would be leaving after already digging a hole and he was right. Unfortunately, the empty holes had either cold water or water that was too hot, and after sampling the latter we both had to run into the sea and cool our feet off. We did eventually find more temperate holes and sat around with the tourist Kiwis and Japanese until we, too, got bored and left the holes for the next tourists.
As it was Friday we could find no local accommodation so we started driving on and found a homestay at Tairua. Our landlords recommended the Tairua County Club across the road for a meal, drinks and friendly company. They took us across and signed us at about 7.30 pm. Friendly? We managed to stop them buying us drinks at 1.00 am. We had a great night, full of laughter. What great people at
Tairua Country Club
Our great night with the members this club.
Saturday we moved on and saw an agricultural show at Waihi, so we went in. There were cowherding, show jumping, etc and even Scottish Dancing. However, the highlight was stroking the Alpacas, one of which Michelle wanted to adopt. We finally stopped at Papamoa and a delightful campsite. We took a fabulous apartment with its own hot spa, so we decided to indulge ourselves and stay 2 nights.
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addie russ marine frank and geoff
non-member comment
tairua country club
Hi Guys Glad you enjoyed your night. It was great meeting you both. Hope you are enjoying the trip after meeting us lot. DID YOU GO UP TO PAKU!!! Doubt it-we heard from Craig you were a tad seedy MICHELLE. If you are leaving via Auckland do it via Tairua-no booking required-beds aplenty at no cost-don't tell Craig that tho. Cheers and happy travelling. From the Tirua mob