Glass House Waiheke Island

... travelled up towards Kawakawa bay and we stopped on a beach for a bite to eat. Sky larks were singing their heads off all around, the bird life here is outstanding, a paradise for twitchers!! Morgan decided to go for a walk on the beach only to find they were mud flats – disappeared up to his ankles in thick green mud, yuck!! Continued driving through Clevedon and then turned off to a place called Beachlands ...

Hello! I last wrote while I was in Christchurch which unfortunately was a bit of a disappointment.....it is supposed to be an old city that should remind one of England, however this is not quite so..... Old in NZ is not quite the same as old in the UK and is rather boring even though it is now NZ's second largest city. So from there we went to Kaikoura in the hope to go whale watching but this was cancelled due to the bad weather (not ...

... are rickety and the speeds are dangerous but great fun. We finish off the track and get back to the top and head to the gondola briefly watching a 'swoop' swing, one that is tiny compared to the massive canyon swing we did in Queenstown though. Going down the Gondola we get back to the van and decide to start the long drive south to the Tongariro national park. Our intention for the following day being to do the infamous Tongariro crossing which is an alpine route that skirts the conical ...

... adorable to walk past. Despite all the exotic animals on display one of the cutest things we saw were some baby chickens with their mother just in the middle of the pathway. They seemed to be working out the pecking order and we think the black one might be slightly dominant ;) (OR very very hungry!). With all the animals available to enjoy and admire we ended up spending a good 4 hours in the zoo without even counting the 2 hours of the tour. We slept REALLY well that evening :D

... of 'The Mole who knew it was none of his business' with tabs to pull to get the full benefit of the action in the story. Yvonne suggested it was an unnecessary purchase and maybe some things are better left to the imagination! Having purchased sufficient sticker books for the journey, we headed off to our flight. We boarded the flight and Steven got stuck straight into Disney Playhouse channel and was settled ...

... the gracious Lisa "wonder woman" Avey and Dave, and entertained by Gareth, drummer for popular local band Chalk (formerly known by the tasteful name Hot Sex Dripping... hmmm) and Kim, Auckland as per usual proved to be a great stopover. Our normal visit to Star Karaoke was a sight to behold, having added new singers to this year's lineup, each with their own "unique" style and ...

... Hab da gemerkt, dass ich den Sonnebrand meines Lebens hatte, denn die Sonne ist trotz Wolken total intensiv! Das Hostel hat auch nen echt schoenen Steinpool, aber die Hunde sind auch immer reingehuepft, was ich etws eklig fand. Abends sassen wir noch lange draussen, aber es gab so viele Muecken und ich wurde total zerstochen. Dann wurde wieder mit alten Frauen Fluch der Karibik geguckt. Mussten dann in nem 8 Bettzimmer mit lauter wohl riechenden Jungs schlafen.

... We headed to Palm Beach on the bus and had the whole beach almost to ourselves! It's a shame it was so cloudy (perhaps why so few people, or maybe that's just how it is) because the beach was beautiful. The gulf islands are largely volcanic, so the sand was a bit coarser and darker than usual, but I think that just added to the effect - it was quite wild. Enjoyed a wee stroll and a paddle then bus back to Oneroa beach - it's closer to the ferry terminal so ...

... intention to comply with it. As we rode round the island, it became apparent that the driver was communicating with everyone in the same fashion. We had though that maybe our accents had marked us out as foreigners, and possibly therefore non-expert English speakers, and that was why the driver had been so unforthcoming in bothering to explain anything (ticket prices, that sort of thing) vocally. Nope. He was mute. Our only source of information regarding where to get off the bus ...

... weer gaan, wens jullie veel succes met de sneeuw. (Tot kerst moet ik hier ook nog steeds met alles, zelfs hagel, rekening houden hoor... ;-) O ja; voor diegenen die ik al mijn nummer heb gestuurd: zet je naam onder een sms, want ik heb jullie nummers niet, laat staan dat mijn NZ telefoonkaart ze herkent!! :-D O ja nr. 2; zeg huisgenoten, hoe staat het met mijn huisje na de zware sneeuwval??? Het dak is toch niet naar beneden komen zetten he??? ;-) Flinke chaos bij de vuilcontainer zeker weer??