Palm Beach Lodge Waiheke Island

... lunched at Rocky Bay while some Chinese tourists, industrious to the core, battered oysters off rocks. <br><br>We turned off at a couple of other wineries en route but fortune did not favour us as we were met with closed gates. Moving on we took in the east coast passing Cowes Bay. Most bays are speckled with yachts/boats &amp; many properties have their own jetties. I would have liked to stop at ...

... päästiinkin jo 3 jälkeen aamuyöllä. Fidjin melkein kaikki maat ja saaret ovat kylien omistamia ja niitä on mahdollista ostaa tai vuokrata. Yleisin tyyli on et joku iso hotelliketju tekee kyläpäällikön kans 99 vuoden diilin jostain saaresta ja maksaa kuukausittain kylälle kohtuullisen hyvät rahat saaren käytöstä. Raha jaetaan kaikille kylässä asuville ja usein perheet käyttävät rahat lasten koulutukseen, ruokaan ja ...

... off your feet, and take the air temperature well below -10oC. At several points on the exposed crossing I ask Kim if we should turn back but our guide had told us that it is more difficult to turn around than to carry on. At several point along the scree path we have to kneel or sit to avoid being blown over and right on the top we find an elderly couple sheltering behind a rock unable to stand up. We start down the other side being extremely careful of our footing on the rim of a gaping red ...

... Hobbiton sign in the town centre. Once in Auckland, we checked into our hostel and then decided to go for a bit of a wander. Now, I'm not usually too bad at navigating around foreign places, but I have to say that Auckland was a bit of a labyrinth! We eventually found our way to Mt Eden, Auckland's highest volcano at 196m (one of 42 volcanoes that the city is built on. The ...

... guns. Neither of us were very good. We also played on of those inflatable games. It was a beautiful day sunny, but not too hot, so we walked to and from the festival, about an hour each way.  Lantern Festival: One night we decided to go to the Chinese Lantern Festival. We saw some demonstrations of some varieties of martial arts. The demonstrations that we saw were really cool, and interesting, and we learned some things about ...

...than 29 with a chance of showers all the time. That was for you Anna (and that was Ryan Montbleau Band, p.s.). And actually it's been 75 and sunny since I got here (or, um, carry the 2 - 24 degrees), but today is a bit rainy, so I'm chilling in a cafe. It's actually kind of nice to have the excuse. I feel like I've barely gotten off my feet since I arrived! Speaking of, it's only been a couple of days since I updated, but ...

... as well...chocolates on the pillows, not quite; · Fox Glacier and Franz Josef Glacier...visiting these glaciers, which by the way are both currently advancing (take that Al Gore!), was very enjoyable. We have always found glaciers to be visually appealing (and good fodder for poems), but what made these different was that we could approach both by hiking up the huge rocky stream beds that had been carved by earlier glacier incursions...very neat. As ...

... rented some dvds, picked up a bottle of vino or two and settled into a nice relaxing evening. Just as we were putting the first movie on and about to settle in I noticed a massive wasp a lurkin and a sneakin about on the curtain. So bravely I suggested that I might snuff him good before the movie began. But Lydia angelically reminded me that he was doing us no harm and that ...

... on the beach, but of course it rained. I was not happy about this until I spoke to some locals. They were in a huge drought so the water was good for them. SO.......... Instead I hopped on a little bus that drove me around the island to all of the vineyards. Waiheke is literally covered in them. I visited a few more of the beaches and hurried home to my warm bed!

... a foot away from where we'd started. A couple of pointers from Mike though, and we were soon grazing our uncharacteristically unfettered bits on the shore. Unfortunately, one of the usual sights to be seen at this beach was not present that day: a former member of Frankie Goes To Hollywood who now lives on Waiheke and regularly struts about the beach, naked but for a large tattoo across his back bearing the legend 'Butt Cowboy'. Next came the pie shop. Pies are an extremely popular ...