New Britain Island

... brief account of my road-trip around the UK with Angie. Recently we bought an old VW Golf with the intention of driving around Britain. Angie has never been to the UK and my geography is admittedly a bit patchy so this trip really helped to join the dots. ...

... volcano on the island continuously erupting.  Having set the alarm for an early start we were lucky enough to see New Britain Island emerge out of the blackness of the night and then gradually Tavurvur volcano with its great gusts of smoke also came ...

... behind at the end of our trip. The Marina restaurant is quite formal and very British. Remember, the Bahamas were all part of Britain until they earned their indepence in 1973. This restaurant is a carry-over of the era. The food is fine and Sheena, ...

Yesterday, we spent the day in remote Rabaul, the capital of New Britain Island. It is the largest of Papua New Guinea Islands & the most primitive island in the world, a country of dense jungle covered mountains & rain forests. As we approached the ...

... , French, and yes, even pirates on the odd occasion.  Those 4 entities fought back and forth over the Bahamas, Britain finally winning for good in 1718. The Bahamas became a Commonwealth country with limited self-government in 1969, ...

... basket of engraved silver plate teaspoons and gave it to him.  It now lives in our tea caddy. Thatcher’s Britain brought drastic changes to the National Health Service and Phillip was offered redundancy or re-deployment.  He chose the ...

... , valleys and fjords cut by glaciers in the ice age, the list literally goes on. It's strange how similar it can look to Britain, it rains - a lot - and is therefore very green, but it just has a magic about it that makes it so different to Britain, ...

... week island hopping around Auckland as there's not that much to do or see in Auckland itself. First impressions of New Zealand? Very friendly, bit like Britain, weather is definitely like Britain - it was only 18 degrees when I got here (it was in the ...

... In 1840, the Maori (the people living in New Zealand when it was "discovered" by European explorers) and Great Britain signed a treaty placing New Zealand under the protection of the Queen and Great Britain.  It is the most important document in New ...

... our bodies, which is not the most comfortable or attractive thing to have! Still, Christchurch is very nice, New Zealand is really a viable alternative to living in Britain I think, but w'll see what I think after more than 2 days huh? There is ...

... think about it, it was before the Whalewatching, so Phil's was a bit of a waste of money! Next was Christchurch, which is Little Britain without John Pertwee. You can punt on the River Avon, drink beer in a mock tudor pub - The Bard of Avon, ride on ...

... Later' - some zombie apocalyptic (very strange) film about a virus that makes people kill each other and take over a small island (thats Britain). Worth watching if you'd like to see London without so many people, i.e. none. So a few hours sleep, then up ...

... time. Got luck with the weather in some places and unlucky in others. We say some great parts of the north island and would recommend it to anyone coming to New Zealand. Just be prepared for a bit of work since there always seemed to be a chore to do ...

... in the far south, so the smaller but more centrally located Wellington was chosen as the new administrative centre. Still based on the North Island but geographically the centre of this two-island nation. However, Auckland still flourished in it's own ...

... dramatic.   Exploring the North Island was fascinating. Clearly their standard of life is very good. The country is bigger than Britain with only 4.5 million people so roads, car parks, cafes, shops etc are a lot more spacious and the climate is ...

... Fenella’s, we watched a bit of TV - schedules are essentially made up of British drama, soaps and comedy (think Little Britain, Doctor Who and Coronation Street - the last of which, incidentally, is hugely popular), and American game shows (The ...

... in my suitcase.  There seemed to be a state of near panic about foot and mouth disease, and I wondered how much Britain and Europe's recent problems with the disease had been exaggerated by the Australian media.  Any foot and mouth bacteria that ...

... not too long we arrived in Victoria, provincial capital and home of the local government.  Victoria feels more British than Britain and therefore felt very homely.  We really liked Victoria, particularly around the harbour.  We stopped for ...

... further to the statue of the collie dog which the women of Tekapo had raised money to have made before sending it over to Britain to get bronzed. I can't really remember why the dog was so appreciated. I vaguely recall it being something to do with the ...

... , New Zealand had a larger percentage of its able bodied male population go to war, about 1 in 5, than even Great Britain herself (1 in 7)! She said it was more exciting than shearing sheep. They took incredible losses in proportion to their population, ...

... ago. In fact, this concentration of seismic activity is not just limited to Auckland and the north of the North Island. New Zealand sits on top of a major fault line that has caused massive earthquakes and volcano eruptions throughout its ...