Kahikatea Country Retreat Akaroa

Having had a look at one of the Banks peninsula harbours, our next stop was the twisty and hilly road to the other, Akaroa ('long harbour'). We stayed at Onuku Farm, high above the harbour with splendid views, a warm fireplace and character-building outdoor showers. We weren't too lucky with the weather, but did manage to start off our walking programme with a trip to the Nikau Palm reserve (the southernmost examples of these trees), and a ...

... first day of motorhoming Have had 2 chilled glasses of NZ wine which is very reasonable,used the launderette and met some people from Guildford! Tomorrow we head off towards Mt Cook. Will let you know how comfy the bed is asap Love to you all. Still waiting for e mails or blog comments from some of you-any news is better than no news. Photos will follow on next blog

... Dolly asks Herr Laurie.  The womenfolk arrive in Prius Taxi style, jumping out and growling at the suntanned, golly-gosh driver. "Deaf as a board, ignorant & didn't know where he was going." they exclaim. My opinion of cab DRIVERS remains unchanged. Some good'uns but I wouldn't feed the majority with a slingshot.  Mary, Queen of Shops beamed radiantly as she made her way to her wagon, tightly clutching the most valued possessions in her kingdom - Shopping Bags!!  We sniffed out ...

... the one we went to was a bit out of my price range. So we kept wandering the side streets until we stumbled across a Mexican restaurant (the first one I've seen since coming to Australia!) And oddly enough, our waitress was from Texas. The food was pretty good, but considering it was the only Mexican that I've in the past 6 months that I haven't made for myself, so I may have been a little biased. After our leisurely dinner we headed back to hostel ...

... s creek, and stopped at the aileron roadhouse, home to a giant sculpture of an aboriginal warrior. here, at the roadhouse, were swarms of aboriginal men, women and children huddled under trees. i didn't think much of the scenario at the time, but a little further down the road, we passed signs at the entrances of several aboriginal communities, acknowledging the prohibition of alcohol and pornography. sean understood that perhaps all these aboriginal folk were hanging ...

... our layover in Auckland, we were so appreciative to find lots of grass to nap, where no one had spit beetle nut or ******. In Christchurch, no one was sleeping in the streets, the air quality is superb, the toilets flush and have paper. We celebrated with gin and tonics, beers, and western music in a bar the first night. The weather is ...

... am. I sat next to a fellow on the flight who is from Hamilton on the North Island of New Zealand. It is a few kilometers south of Aukland. We had a nice conversation over lunch on the two and a half hour flight across the Tazman Sea to Aukland. Going through customs and biosecurity in Aukland was not quick. It was actually almost as much hassel as going through customs in Cairns when I arrived in Australia. No visa is required ...

... to the wall (look for "Steve & Jayne met Trish and Dave 13/2/09" above the sliding door to the toilet"). While the company was good, the service was poor albeit friendly when we finally did get served. Steve got the wrong order (Pork instead of chicken but ate this and thought it was fantastic. Jayne, eating steak, found the food horrible (too much cheese on both the steak and potatoes, and no vegetables). The desert menu never arrived!

Months ago, Jackie met Silke in Laos, and they traveled around together for a bit and kept in touch. Silke also planned to travel to NZ and bought a camper van for her 6 month journey and invited Jackie to travel with her. Jackie told Silke about me, and asked if I could tag along. Silke said sure. It sounded perfect, and for the last month, that was our very undefined plan. But the last few days before Silke arrived in NZ, I started to worry that we would not get along ...

... et ils sont si gracieux ! Pour les attirer nous devons chanter des chansons dans notre tuba, ils semblaient etre tres attires par Yellow submarine des Beatles !!! Nous devons aussi essayer de nous comporter en dauphins ce qui etait en soit tres drole ! Nous nageons avec des Dusky dolphins, les plus accrobatiques au monde ! ils sautaient tellement haut et faisaient des back-flips etc. Lorsque nous croisions leur regards ils faisaient des toupies autour de nous comme pour jouer, c ...