Petit Bacaye St. David

... fields we should be able to get our pasture into a pretty good state by next year for a horse or two! Merv was born and bred around here, his Grandparents worked with the miners up in Puponga years ago and so he is pretty clued up about land around here - we got onto the subject of swine flu ( like you do) and I asked him if he thought he'd have a problem with swine flu as he employs around 80 men...." Only on Mondays" he said !

On Friday Gail at Farewell trekss asked if I would come on a trek with her over The Old Mans Range as she had a group of 15 to ride. It was a fabulous day and after getting the horses ready and everyone mounted we set off around Midday to Puponga Farm where the ride really starts. I rode a lovely little lad called Lucky.The group of 15 had travelled over the hill from Richmond and the surrounding area on a school trip for ...

... so we sentence him to a "bar of soap wrapped in the towel" beating back at base. Upon arriving back at the farm, my feet are grumbling - badly and I am really not in the form. We are tired and weary and the rain is coming in.....again. Perhaps my weakness led me to be giddy - in an almost drunken kind of way. I decide to sing Old McDonald. He had a horse and I make a fairly good neigh impression. I used to believe I was a horse when I was young ...

... es wieder nach Auckland. Dort habe ich Mitte April noch einmal meine Eltern am Flughafen verabschiedet und bin dann wieder in die Bay of Islands gefahren. Dort wollte ich auf jeden Fall mit den Delphinen schwimmen. ...leider sind zu viele Dinge dazwischen gekommen...entweder haben wir keine Delphine gefunden oder sie haben sich nur kurz gezeigt oder es war ein junger Delphin dabei (dann duerfen die Tourgesellschaften niemanden ins Wasser lassen und das ist auch ...

26-03: Vroeg op gegaan, want er stond nog een redelijk aantal km's op de planning. Ik heb de scenic route genomen, meer tijd door slingerende weggetjes maar wel mooier. Ik was de eerste in de rij voor de veerpont en na een uurtje konden we erop rijden. Het ging allemaal 100x sneller dan de boot van Calais naar Dover en dat terwijl die rit maar 90 minuten duurt (deze 3 uur). Het weer was gelukkig perfect, weinig wind en veel zon. De uitzichten links en rechts ...

... the opportunity to go out in a kayak and have a look around the cove (greeted by the bloody flies whenever I got too close to the shore), Mike and Jackie preferring a drier ride in the tender. Back on board we showered and chatted to one of the crew over dinner before having a read. Monday 9th February Milford Sound to Wanaka Up at 6.30!! Showered, coffee and out to the open sea. Not too much of a swell. We saw some seals lazing on the rocks and crashed through a few waves, then it was ...

... have in a hostel so far, apart from my mind racing trying to decide what to do about the race I also have the noisiest roommates ive yet encountered. People trickle into the room at 2 hourly intervals and then proceed to have the audacity to start chatting at 4am. I am not pleased to say the least. My alarm finally sounds and despite only about an hours worth of sleep I manage to drag myself out of bed fairly sharpish. What I dont manage to do after a ...

... the penguins but higher, there was about 6 of us just waiting & watching it was getting darker when all of a sudden a seal came from nowhere, he lay behind a rock then slowly crawled forward across the rock & pounced on a baby penguin, there were shouts from one of the other people looking, I just happened to have my camera running on mini film & just hoped i had caught it, but it put me off seals that night as i could not stop thinking about it,

... have a bunk bed again! Sadly the lovely weather didn't last, but it did last just long enough to take in the amazing scenery of the Abel Tasman National Park beaches and shore lines which are just incredible. Us girls spent some money and hooked up on a catamaran boat for a scenic boat ride in the afternoon after a hike along the coastline, but just as we reached the beach that we were going to be picked up from, the biggest raincloud arrived and ...

... and then ambled back down through the well-laid out Botanical Gardens. We returned to our car, headed to our B & B to check in and then rounded off the day at an excellent Italian restaurant that provided us with one of the best pizzas we'd ever tasted (served to us this time by a South African waiter!!). The next morning we were up bright and early to drive the short distance to the Ferry Terminal to take our 3 hour ferry journey across to New Zealand's South Island.