Boundary Court Motor Inn Hamilton

Today we went out to the local restaurant with Dad's work mates.

Everyone was staring at us. The restaurant had very ineteresting ceiling and a lot of people were there. Dad's work mates took us to the beacah walk. It was dark but we felt ...

... smiles back at me. Looks alright.... He says I can throw my pack in the back, but I say I prefer to keep it with me and he shrugs jovially. (I dunno if I'm paranoid or what, kinda new to this hitching thing, yano?). I'm a little on edge for the first few minutes, but I snap out of it when I realize "I could totally take this guy"... so I relax. And have a great time! I love this guy! He tells me all about his life in Raglan, about his daughter who races outriggers ...

The lodge were we were staying in Raglan was up a hillside with views over the ocean. It is in the middle of the bush with some very nice surrounding walks in the forest. I had opted to go surfing, and we got to the hostel about lunchtime, with our surf lesson was to be about an hour later. They gave a "stand-up" guarantee. The first instructor was a bloke - traditional surfing type ...

... so cute and my flowers are so pretty and I bruised my knee the other day and I saw the funniest thing crossing the street". No, it's not diving with sea turtles in Thailand or petting elephants but it makes me smile, laugh and keeps me in contact with people I love which is *interesting* and important. Especially when I'm somewhere foreign and unfamiliar, to get those little vignettes from home about regular stuff....helps on the bad days and adds to the good days ...

HAMILTON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !! Such a beautiful city! Loved the walking paths! Loved the gardens! Loved the Zoo! Loved the shopping! The walking paths proved to be quite useful for my morning jog and a reason to get up in the morning. The gardens were pretty interesting with plants and flowers from all over the world like Japan, India, America, and ...

... but Sinna. They get their crazy youth out of the way in London, come back, get dodgy highlights and a perm, marry their neighbour/cousin and suddenly disapprove of fun Sheep outnumber humans 320 to 1 They really hate possums here They talk excitedly about a Sheryl Crow concert every day for the preceding 4 months They must believe in vampires cos there's not a soul to be seen out and about after dark Dancing skills.. hmmmm It's basically ...

... getting lost or ending up on the wrong wrong side of the road! The roundabouts were tricky but are quite ingenious once you're used to them, it makes for very smooth sailing and it's rare there are traffic jams! I have managed to remember to stay on the left side and the only thing I do on a regular basis is reach down on my right side for the parking break. That and hitting the wipers when I want to signal which always leads to some giggling and minor confusion ...

... freaked out tonight as everyone has started to talk about bed bugs and having to wash all their gear after being in certain hostels. I will be wrapping up tightly in my sleeping bag tonight. Well I am off now to think about whether I will be going Sky Diving at Taupo , they may well be the next photos you see, I will put some on real soon. Love to everyone Jo and Andy

... that it was sunny as we started the ascent. I found the first bit really tricky (section called the Devil's staircase!) but with lots of stops to take in the view it wasn't too bad. Just as we reached the top, the clouds decided to descend on us and all we could see was grey! We decided to wait for a while to see if the weather improved and within 10 minutes the cloud had cleared and we had beautiful views of the blue and green lakes ...

... eat. She explained her pizza preferences and her rating system for pizza in Hamilton. Dominos is at the bottom, Pizza Hut in the middle, and Hell Pizza at the top, and the price and the quality match. She said the difference in quality between Dominos and Pizza Hut made buying Pizza Hut worth it, but that the difference in quality between Pizza Hut and Hell wasn't enough to justify paying the extra for pizza from Hell. So the verdict was Pizza Hut. I decided I'd have to try it since my ...