Midway Motel Waiheke Island

... before heading back to his place. To my surprise, as we opened his door, a beautiful 6-month old West Highland Terrier stormed out to greet us! It made me miss my Lily girl back home. "Jes," as she is called, and I played around a bit before bed. Andy and I talked about his backpacking experiences, which lead him to relocate fulltime to Auckland. I had to admit, after a day like this, I was considering the same. My day, from sunup at 6am to sundown after 9pm was a blast!

... of my phobia you would be shocked that I'm actually saying there will be a next time, but we enjoyed it so much). Thanks again guys for more amazing memories.

So that's it!!! Boooo hooooo!! We leaving on a jet plane out of NZ. We have had an "awesome" time and would wholly recommended anyone to visit the south Island.

Strange things about NZ...well more a case of where we slept:
Hoons!!! Our equivalent to Joy Riders!! They are a nightmare to ...

... drinks due to it being good Friday and all the bars are closed so we just made our way back to the hostel. We have an early start tomorrow anyway with our bus picking us up at 7.30am. Out of the 3 big companies who do the hop-on hop-off tours around NZ we've decided to go with a company called Magic. We've heard good and bad stories about them but it seems to be the most balanced out of the 3. Kiwi Experience is apparently full of 18-20 year old rich kids on gap years payed ...

... and plenty more swimming. Our last waterfall was especially fun. There was no way around it. It was a 30 foot drop where you had to jump between to rock walls to land in a pool that no one knew how deep. Finally a brave volunteer stepped forward and jumped. It seems like everyone exhaled when we saw her head go underwater. Whew, we thought at least it was that deep. Popping up, the girl motioned to come, but jump just where she ...

... the airport. We spent a pleasant final day in Auckland. In the morning we enjoyed a Mount Eden coffee house with our friends Jessica and Matt, retrieved some possessions we had left with them and said our fond farewells. After and abortive attempt to shop for some presents, we spent a happier hour or two of the rainy afternoon in 'The Domain', the park that surrounds Auckland Museum, spending most time in the botanical ...

... of the riots. It was really sad to see the damage. Most of the time we were completely fine. As we walked through Athens there were big dogs everywhere and sometimes they would follow us around. It felt like having an escort. It was very strange. They didn't bite, snarl, growl, or bark. They just walked beside you. They were always very calm. One day we decided to go to the Parthenon. I kind of expected more from the Acropolis; I ...

Waiheke is an Island just north of Auckland. It's only about 40 minutes on a ferry so with the beautiful weather on our sides we went there for a day trip. There is almost 30 vineyads on the small island and it is simply beautiful. Instantly I felt it was a place I could live although the good weather made it deceiving. I later met a Scot who said even he found the winter too dismal to stick around. Nonetheless we had a great ...

... were OK, but nothing to write home about. We realise that writing home is exactly what we're doing, but allow us a little artistic licence, eh? You know how a cheese and onion pie isn't just cheese and onion, because that just wouldn't work? You need some potato to prevent it becoming a sticky greasy mass of cheesy napalm. Well, a steak and kidney pie would work without needing to be steak and kidney infused mashed potato. Tasty enough, but just not what a steak and kidney pie should ...

... Rick did donuts, keeping a careful eye on the draught beneath us, and, remarkably calmly, talked the guys through what they needed to do. Finally ropes were untangled, the genoa was reefed and we could continue back to Auckland. Rick had done very well at instructing an inexperienced crew, and we had all managed not to panic. It was quite a relief to get ashore, but it had been an adventure, and we all had exciting stories to tell at work on Monday!

... zijn eigen gang laten gaan. Ze hebben van die tingel-tangel mobiles aan het plafond hangen: je kunt eigenlijk niet meer zien dat ze dit zijn, omdat ze volledig ingepakt zijn in het nest van een spin. En die spin kan dan lekker kindertjes krijgen, die dan ook allemaal weer muggen opeten en meer nesten maken kunnen. En daar zijn ze hier dankbaar voor. Ik blijf het gewoon ranzig vinden. (Ik weiger trouwens dus ook om de woonkamer in te gaan, of ik moet even snel iets brengen of halen ...