Cooks Gardens Motor Lodge Wanganui

... take my boots off before I even got to the start because it was so steep I was getting cramp in my Calf 's. And then it started. Relentless climbing up and up and ..... Fantastic views over new Plymouth and we could see Mt Tongarriro and Rephaue in the distance. We came to a stair case I do'nt know how high we were by then but they were really steep everyone was stopping every hundred feet of so to get your breath and give your leg's a ...

... of inspiration. Not only have they been to some pretty hairy countries, but their philosophy of life is to enjoy every moment, so they work for a year at home to save some cash and then head off for a year to see some more of the world. Not only that but they have also started a family and little Thom (now about 2) accompanies them wherever they go. With him getting to school age, and with thoughts turning to extending their brood (quite tricky in a ...

... and quite quaint with nice looking art nuveau buildings here and there. We simply wondered around the gift shops and then sat by the river for a few hours reading and so on, another gorgeous day too so we were very lucky. There is a National Park (Whanganui River) up the road but we didn't have time as we would have needed to get a bus there to be able to see it, maybe another time. But that's pretty much it, next stop Wellington!

... mostly cloudy with a chance of rain". <br><br>A more accurate prediction would be "don't get your £^%$*# hopes up!"<br><br>It started off cloudy, and didn't get any better.<br><br>Oh well, we were here now, so we just had to enjoy it!<br><br> <br><br>This is a map of our route, it's ...

... couple of days to see it all properly). We walked around the galleries on the first two floors but were kind of rushing and in the end decided to cut our losses and leave without seeing the rest. The journey up to Wanganui was nice and sunny but by the time we got there it was dark so we couldn't appreciate the town or the beach that the campsite was right next to and we had yet another evening of dinner in front of the tv.

On the 13th we drove to Wangunui. Thought it would be a really scenic drive as we drove through Tongario National Park, also the location on Mount Doom &amp; Mordol (Lord of the Rings). However due to bad weather the view wasn't great so didn't get any good pictures ...

Friday 26 January We were collected at 9.30am and taken to the Omega offices to collect our hire car. We had struck gold this time round as although we had asked for one of their cheapo cars, they needed to get a larger vehicle back up to Auckland so they gave it to us for the same price as a small car. Excellent. Before long we were cruising along heading out of the city. As we only had limited time on North Island we had drastically revised our plans and ...

... about the same time as if we had gone clubbing as we ended up staying for midnight mass - I was, however, waiting for someone to smell the communion wine and comment on its fullness etc! Christmas day was a slightly slow start before a quick swim in the sea and a hike up a hill or two. We had a huge bbq of the usual meat etc, and some trout simon had caught - and of course drank some of the wines we had bought the day before ...

... my way. Unfortunately there is no Doctor in National Park and it seemed crazy to go by ambulance to the hospital 40kms away so we called them and they suggested it was muscle damage and bruising, possibly a cracked rib and to rest, take ibuprofen and get in a hot tub. Luckily Howard's Lodge has an enclosed tub you can book out for yourself so that was great but I was in a lot of pain and couldn't do much. In the kitchen I chatted to some guys and it turned out they were ...

... the All Blacks tonight, so we went into town, to the local Irish pub to watch the game. It was awful, GB got trashed, literally. 34 - 4 I think the final score was. Not the best place to watch the Kiwi's trounce GB. Rotaroa is like Blackpool, it was full of Kiwi stag do's. We headed back to the hostel to drink some more beer intending to come back out but we got stuck into our darts again so stayed playing that with a few other people. We'd been hoping ...