Fernhill Motor Lodge Wellington

... stopped at the Pancake Rocks National Park, one of the newest in NZ. Although it's pronounced pan-cah-kay the rocks themselves did remind us of the stacks that you'd smother with syrup. It was a very cool geologic formation to see and even more fascinating was the exact process that formed the rocks is unknown. For the most part it is limestone, and it's easy to see the erosion effects of water and waves. What they're not sure of is how the layers ...

<br><br>Hello from our little house on wheels in beautiful New Zealand.<br><br>Our final day in Rarotonga was great, the sun shone and consequently the snorkelling was the best it had been all week - I swam with a shoal of enormous bluefin tuna. Better still, when we got the the airport, the plane due to take us to Auckland was arriving and contained the King of the Moaris, coming in on a visit to the Cook Islands. He was met by a guard of honour and carried, along ...

Just finished bottling my second batch of home brew. The first one was okay, started off well cracking some open at my work leaving do, dipped in the middle where I nearly poisoned friends who didn't really know what to say after tasting it, but seems to have got better again with age with the bottle I have just finished.<br><br>I'm ...

... everyone ate together at big tables. The class probably had about 20 people in it. I found the instructors very friendly and knowleagable. He even gave us some hints on how to avoid tears when cutting onions!<br><br>We tried making the Mee Goreng and Roti at home later in the week with reasonable results. Not quite as good as in the cooking class but we'll have to work on that.<br><br>I'm looking forward to another cooking lesson!<br>

... uns mit einem Mietwagen auf den Weg in die Bay of Islands gemacht, zum Cape Reinga, in den Waipoua Forest, nach Rotorua und dem Tongariro National Park. Dann trennten sich unsere Reisewege auch schon wieder (laenger waere es wohl auch nicht gut gegangen mit uns Drei in einem "Schlafsaal"... ein "Saegewerk" im Nebenbett ist selbst mit besten Oropax nicht zu ueberhoeren :-)). Ich selber habe danach die angeblich schoenste Tageswanderung in Neuseeland gemacht, den ...

... you're so clever Miss you learnt English in three days. "Similar to the Immigration museum in Melbourne the tough 32 day sea voyages are well described eating dry salted fish and drinking tepid water in between throwing up with sea sickness. Maybe 24 hours and a bit of jet lag isn't that bad afterall. There is also much on Maori culture and some beautiful carvings. We wander through the section on techtonic and volcanic activity. Coming from dormant ...

... I got was wait for a dry patch and then stick out your thumb! I didn't bother waiting I just started walking down the mountain the 16k to the station. Fortunately someone eventually took me up on my thumbing after a few km of walking. Just as well otherwise I would have missed the train. There is only one a day so it would have been a long wait. The kind people picking me ...

... circular quay and ate in one of my tried and trusted haunts - the Glenmore - where I had a kangaroo steak and watched even more tennis. The heat wave is continuing in Melbourne and even some of the tennis players were struggling with it. Friday 30th January Sydney Today Mike and Jackie (my brother and sister in law) arrive! Went on line and their plane has been delayed.... Caught the train to the airport, got a coffee and waited.. They actually came through quite quickly, both looking ...

Our next day of driving took us up to Picton on the South island to get the ferry over to the North island to the capital Wellington - yes Wellington is the capital not Auckland - save that one up there for a pub quiz! When Olly used to be young he came travelling to New ...

... br> <br> Nach kurzem Zwischenstop im Mt Bruce Wildlife Center (gab's ein paar ultrarare Vögel, die ich noch nicht gesehen hatte) ging's dann in den Tongariro National Park in eine Jugendherberge mit Kletterwand. Da also schön gekraxelt als Übung für das, was am nächsten Tag kommen sollte...<br> <br> Der Tongariro National Park beinhaltet im wesentlichen einen Haufen aktiver Vulkane, von denen 3 herausragen: Mt Tongariro, Mt Ngauruhoe und Mt Ruapehu. Das Tongariro ...