Clear View Whangaparaoa

... never ending, large and austere apartment blocks -taken from outside the Cathedral 6. The National Museum is here. (Republic Square) 7.On my way back to our Apartment I made a few small purchases, in case Marion was exhausted when she returned -after all -that is what friends are for I figured -even made ice cubes -no swizzle stick tho' we used a fork:):) 8..You can see I am very relaxed:):)

... of no c*r *nd * pretty rubbish public tr*nsport system. Couple this with * fl*t-m*te/best-m*te embroiled in * rel*tionship with * girl which usu*lly resulted in him ******* off *w*y *t the weekend in s*id girlfriends c*r *nd wh*t you h*d w*s * r*ther unh*ppy Rob. Admittedly my he*rt w*s still in Engl*nd *t this point *nd only time w*s going to ch*nge th*t. I guess the re*l turning point for me w*s th*nks to P*rty M*rty *nd his m*gic bus. A Kiwi Soci*lite in only ...

... decided to go for hair cuts. We then went for an early tea before meeting Doshi at 7pm for a night out on the town. We started in the Globe bar as it was free drinks until the tab run out, so we made the most of that. Daniel, Zoe and Doshi entered quick pool which was good fun but none of them won. We then went to the Quays for more drinks, Zoe and Laura called it a night at 1am whilst Dan and Doshi stayed out. After the girls ...

... it but instead i just said "good luck little buddy" as i rode off and left it. Quite a massive hill just before Rotorua allowing a nice coast down and across the last few kms into town. Went to the TIC for a map of all the backpackers hostels and met a yank outside there that was riding the other way. He'd had a great night camping somewhere in the Karangahake gorge, really recommend a walkway there and something about riding through an old railway tunnel. I can remember walking ...

... up to and around the glacier - made from all the snow piling up between two mountains faster than it can melt away at the river at the glaciers base. Pretty beaut. The following morning with the magicbus crew took us via Lake Wanaka down to Queenstown - adventure capital of the world & home of the bungee jump (no, I couldn't quite bring myself to jump of a bridge!). That evening we had a queenstown bar crawl where everyone on the bus got to know each other a little ...

... we decided to make our way back to the West coast. The next big town was Taumarunui; it was late in the afternoon and we could have stopped there but the Dad in us took along 'The Forgotten World Highway'. And the story begins ... Shortly into the 150km journey we realised there was no turning back. We ascended into the volcanic sculptured mountains with steam bursting from vents in the rocks. It was as if we were entering a prehistoric land. The roads were ...

An appropriate Bill Bryson excerpt: "Each time you fly from North America to Australia, and without anyone asking how you feel about it, a day is taken away from you when you cross the international dateline. I left Los Angeles on January 3 and arrived in Sydney fourteen hours later on January 5. For me there was no January 4. None at all. Where it went exactly I couldn't tell you. All I know is that for one twenty-four-hour period in the history ...

Land in NZ. Off the plane and have to go through customs etc. No sniffer dogs this time, Ciara. And our choice of food for brekkie on the plane was omelette or sandwich rather than "chicken or fish"!! Then we go through the foods etc to declare section. your man says "Have you any foods from another country?" and I was like "Em... we have some marshmallows"... (Idiots) thinking best to declare it all. I've seen that programme "Nothing to Declare"!! He ...

... direction. They're usually high-tailing it out of camera range, and I usually just get a photo of a white butt. http://www.tiritirimatangi.org.nz/Fauna /Pukeko.htm http://folksong.org.nz/nzchristmas/puke ko.html I call them 'blue chickens' - not because they are ...

... more old friends who have decided to swap Bedfordshire for a new life Down Under. To be honest, it didn't take long to see why! It was great to be reunited with Stuart & Queety after 4 years or so, who haven't changed a bit - well, apart from the fact that they've had another baby, and Leila now has a little brother Kyle. One ...