Aparima Motor Lodge Hastings

... on to create some scary story about a strange man wandering the campsite in search of them. Nevermind. Anyway, as it happened the rain ended it's pursuit of the ground and that night was dry.

The following morning we drove to the top of Te Mata Peak, visited a farmers market to taste the legendary fruits of the region before heading to lunch at the Mission Estate Winery (recommended to us by Ben). Tasty piece of fish! Next stop Gisborne. See you there ...

... were made to feel like a part of the family.

Our main reason for staying there was because Bel was a commentator for horse of the year and so on the first Friday that we were there (yes we were there for more than one!) we set off to the Horse of the Year show for a day of sunshine, stunning horses and world class competition. A hard days work there! A week of so passed and our idea of never staying anywhere longer than a week seemed like a distant memory ...

... to say goodbye to the car and put it up for sale - a sad moment for Jen! So now we were back on the buses from Christchurch to Wanaka, a beautiful lakeside town surrounded by mountains and from there to Franz Joseph. We stopped at many little lakes and beauty spots on the way with great names: Bruce Bay and Thunder Creek! Franz Joseph is a tiny township, but the hostel was nice as it had a sauna and the Lord of the Rings DVDs! The highlight ...

... isn't too terrible but he does talk too much ...   We stopped off at a bird sanctuary for breakfast or to go and have a look at some Kiwis (depending on how people were feeling.) I opted for Kiwis because I hadn't managed to see any so far on the trip. Funny little things. They're kept in Nocturnal kiwi houses and once my eyes got used to the dark I could see a couple of them snuffling around and eating lots of worms before having a ...

... scale. My word, it shook me around all over the place. I could really start to get an idea about how people felt being in one for real. Very scary indeed. I left the centre and could see in the distance what appeared to be a large column of smoke. On closer inspection, it turned out to be a geothermal power station. I drove in and took a look ;-) WOW! This place was wicked! There were large plumes of steam just rising out of vents all around me. I was in heaven ...

... Plus I have seem worse university accommodation than this squalor I have called home for the next month. Being befriended into a Maori family that were working on the orchard, helped passed the time and for the first time I got to really experience the culture and lifestyles of the locals. Very similar to the UK! With the youngsters binge drinking, smoking the green stuff and spending a lot of their time sat in front of a Television watching ...

well here we are at muzzars (murray)place my old work mate, he is honestly the bbq king. the only guy i know that can cook almost anything without fail on the bbq.its the first of a few farewell get togethers before i leave as they are also leaving for australia in november. of course its easter and just like me being lazy i decided that on saturday night i couldnt really be bothered going to the supermarket to get some supplies to take to the party.and to my ...

... I learned on my art deco tour has mostly sunk in and not been forgotten! I was also lucky to enjoy perfect weather for most of my time in the east cape - and when it rained I watched the LOTR trilogy. Having such great hosts I got the most from my visit, being taken to all the points of local interest and being handed a bike so that I could finally master the art of cycling - which I did, after 1wk of concerted effort and practise! There ...

... questions. Ms. Hellyer dropped us off in the Art Deco district so we could explore it on our own and do some shopping. Napier was destroyed by an earthquake in the 1930s and was rebuilt in the colorful Art Deco style. Then she took us for a drive down the Marine Parade and out to Clive where we saw a bunch of people participating in a Waitonga Day celebration. We were lucky to catch sight of a waka (Maori ...

I arrived in Napier, another fave spot for me in NZ. The town was rebuilt after a devastating earthquake into an Art Deco style community. This is a great spot to find fruit picking jobs and I highly recommend staying at the Stables Lodge, its small and well ...