Hananui Lodge Motel Russell

... this time at the daylight. The country looks so different from Australia. It's so lush. In terms of grass it resembles Ireland a bit. There are many cows and sheep on pastures. <br>Although I was stopping occasionally hunting for camera shots, I made only two proper stops on the way to Tutukaka. One was a winery on Karikari peninsula and the other one was a town of Mangonui. For the night I stayed in ...

... Kiwi and learned the difference between the false and the real Southern Cross constellations and saw both along with the only constellation common to both hemispeneres - Orion. Later as we looked up at the sky from our terrace, the Milky Way was as plain as day to see - quite awesome. So we will be celebrating Tim's birthday tonight and tomorrow as well at the Sky Tower in Auckland with some Kiwi friends More soon Andrea

... take so much concentration because I keep trying to peak at the view to my left and right and the beautiful hill sides but it could be deadly, so Jenn has been keeping me focused. Also, keeping to the left was really tricky at first, now it just makes sense. I've even started to cross the street looking first left then right. First day we spent on the beach. We tanned and I slept. The beach is stunning, we are in an area called the Bay of ...

... aboard an impressive 'tall ship', the J Tucker Thompson, for a fabulous day sailing around some of the islands, landing on one for a short walk to a view point and then returning to the boat for lunch. For a large point of the journey John Boddy was recruited as helmsman (help!)!! We thought we'd had enough treats for the day. We were wrong. After we disembarked we drove up to Flagstaff Hill, a historic viewpoint above Russell and were ...

... I ambled up the coast in the sunshine, I walked back down the coast in the rain - Crazy Weather! Some interesting women: As the YHA has a really small common room, me and the 3 ladies I'm sharing a dorm with were all sitting in the room, we started chatting, as you do. Between us we were quite a spectrum of travelers; A 72 year old doctor (anesthetist) from the UK but living for most of ...

... firends, about six drinks to the good already (my night has also been improved by being given a free Domino's pizza by the bar man). The riddle therefore is how, when one has had free dinner and numerous free drinks, one manages to part company with the best part of 200 dollars? The answer was provided yesterday morning by one of the fearsomely hungover girls, who explained that I had been a model of generosity, throwing glasses of wine and shots of sambuca in the direction of ...

... Whangarei for 11.30am where we had booked ourselves in for a Skydive. When we arrived, there were a group of people all sky diving taking part in competitions based on their skill on landing. Whether that was on a specific marker or how far they could slide when they touched the ground etc. This made fantastic viewing as they were going up and down so frequently because they didn´t jump from very high as it wasn´t necessary to freefall. Finally the low cloud which had prevented us ...

... as I am overcome by the beauty of the room. All to soon we must leave to reach our destination before dark. It is not a long way away but on these winding roads travel is slow. We are heading to Kerikeri, an artisan community a little off the beaten track. Approaching Kerikeri we encounter our first traffic circle. We enter it the wrong way, causing confusion for the locals, but they are forgiving of us nongs and wait for us to find ...

... water out there, so no-one minded too much! <br><br>As soon as we got out of the Russell bay, Mike switched off the engine and we hoisted the main sail. Avast me hearties! <br><br><br><br>It was so much better to be sailing under wind power rather than diesel power, it was so relaxing...<br><br><br><br>We sailed for about ...