The Duke Of Marlborough Hotel Russell

... and drove out of town to the three wineries for extensive tasting (Tim was DD and spat after the first few) Trouble is I can't help but buy a bottle in each place. The frothy sparkling Rose tasted at Cotter Hill was too ogood for 1 bottle - I got two but we will probably finish one off tonight! We called in to meet up with two university friends of mine now living in Scotland but following us roundNZ by coincidence. Liz ...

... Zwei-Mann_Kajak!Ist echt ne super Sache. Hatten zwar nict so Glueck mit dem Sonnenuntergang,war n bisl bewoelkt. Dafuer gabs no ne lecker Weinprobe auf ner Insel mit Weingut. Die beiden Simons verschmaeten jedoch diesen Gaumenschmauss aufgrund ihrer 1 monatigen Absinents von Alkohol. Dies sorgte fuer allgemeines Erstaunen wurde aber so hingenommen, weil jeder weiss dass sie danach umso mehr trinken werden ...

... of getting the base boards down from the roof compartment before realising that we were actually looking at the 'spare room' (although four in the van would be unbearable!) Just as we were about to turn in, we were asked to move on by a golf course employee, but were told that the top of the course was out of his patrol route for the evening and so relocated there instead; falling asleep with a wonderful panorama onto the moonlit bay.

The caves took more out of me than I had realised and I ended up in bed (in a delightfully otherwise unprecedently empty dorm room) by 8pm, sleeping right through until nearly 9am the following morning. The Friday bus journey to Auckland took in Hobbiton, which is now just a farm where you can pay to have mounds where the set for Lord of the Rings used to be pointed out. No thanks. I instead settled for a couple of cheesy pictures by the "Hobbiton" sign and a terrible statue of the ...

... just like being back at home), we got up and started to make plans of what we wanted to do over the next few days. The weather wasn´t at its best unfortunatly, however it didnt put us off and we made our way out to start the time we had in the north with a bit if sight seeing. The first stop was the Waitangi Treaty Grounds, New Zealand's birth place and pre-eminent historic site which over looked the Bay of Islands. It is seen as a place of belonging and enjoyment that is central to ...

... pole with an immense carving of the explorer Kupe at the apex of the gable. On either side of the building is large carved figures (similar in concept to our totem poles), but these represent welcoming arms. When we enter the building we will be entering the belly of their ancestors. I had seen pictures of the interior of this building but nothing prepared me for what I saw as I entered the meeting hall. As I took off my shoes and stepped ...

... collection at the jetty. <br><br>When we arrived in Russell, every parking spot in town was taken, so we went from being early to late.<br><br>Katie drove off to park in the museum car park while I went to the boat to grovel and ask them to wait for her!<br><br>The skipper of our boat was a Canadian guy called Mike and ...

... car and sped back to our hostel before it got cold.<br><br>When we got there we grabbed a nice bottle of red that we'd bought in Wanaka and walked down to the bay where we'd clocked a picnic table earlier in their front garden.<br><br>We then enjoyed a very nice dinner down by the river, it was so peaceful: warm with a nice cool breeze, and the view wasn't bad either! <br><br><br><br ...