Tourist Court Motel Whakatane

Distance 85.9km, Speed 18.3km/hr<br><br>Well the show's over but the work continues, we signed up for anotehr 2 show one in Auckland and one in Whangarai. We get a week off in between so i'm off round the east cape. It's mid-winter and although frosty its really sunny, so i'm going to risk it. I figure if I as a scruffy, slightly dodgy hair and clearly not made up person can flog mascara, blusher and concealer by the box full then I can cycle, as at least I have 4 ...

... beautiful birds, and they remind me of the blue-footed boobies I saw in the Galapagos. They act similarly and I looked it up and they are in fact in the same family. When the juveniles' feathers have developed for flight, they fly to Australia for two or three years when they return to their colony site to mate. After saying farewell to the marae we headed on to Lake Taupo to visit the geothermal area. Here we went to a "Geothermal Wonderland ...

... a long way out. Surreal landscape with heaps of thermal venting and sulphur colours. We were issued with gas masks and used them at one point when we had a cloud of acidic steam blow in our direction. It immediately made everybody cough, although the boiled sweets that had been handed out helped a lot. We had a good 90 minutes ashore with a very informative guide. She pointed out that we should stick to the paths ...

... on an active volcano, never mind it was New Zealand's most active, gave a complete sensory buzz. After a relaxed lunch, in the sunshine back on the boat and we motored round the island to see the rock layers and formations formed over centuries. A small group of sea lions were basking on the rocks and I spotted a little blue penguin sat nearby. It was then just a steady run, in the afternoon sunshine, back to the quay. This had certainly been a memorable day.

... sheets, comforters, the who she-bang. I was so tired I didn't hear any snoring and actually slept really well. :) The next morning we were awaken by the sounds of ABBA being played by Uncle Boy in the kitchen. He had told us the night before that he would wake us up like that. I don't think anyone took him seriously. But yes, I awoke to the sounds of "Dancing Queen" drifting into the Marae from the kitchen. I couldn't help but just laugh. We then had breakfast and took a ...

... maken om de bus te reserveren en vroeg voorzichtig of dat kon, hoewel het tegen de regels was. Ja hoor, toe maar. De bus kwam om 10.20 en ik moest me een kwartier vantevoren melden: hoe laat zullen we dan vertrekken morgenochtend? Lachend keek hij me aan: "Dus jij denkt dat je mij kunt gaan vertellen hoe laat we hier morgenochtend weggaan?" Verbaasd keek ik terug "Euhm, nee, dat zei ik helemaal niet." "Nou, ik ben altijd nog baas over mijn eigen tijd..." en hij verviel in een ...

... It's a cool place though with some stunning beaches and plenty Maori Pa's kicking about all over the place. I'd been promised Maori on horses in the Lonely Planet and luckily after a long section without any sign we weren't disappointed and managed to see some knocking about. Unfortunately we ended up playing petrol Russian roulette again as it was 330kms all the way around and I wasn't sure if there was a ...

I drove from Napier to Whakatane - I collected my greenstone carvings today from Te Kaha; I stopped in Rotorua for my lunch and got to Te Kaha's just after 3pm. The Hei Tiki is just better than I could have imagined. My other carving is called ...

... 12 stacks or $300 a piece for a two-tank dive. Granted the money is a little less than our dollar, but it is still expensive as hell. When we go on walking tours, I wait in the car, while Ellen does her expensive walkabout. We've rented a camper van and eveyday it costs at least 2 1/2 stacks at the gas tank. Oh, and it's cold here too. You could live in Vietnam for half a year on what it costs in New Zealand for a ...

... reden, was Willem al de hele dag niet thuis en hebben we ook geen afscheid genomen... (waarom weet ik nog steeds niet.) Maar goed, Adam van het Backpackerboard kwam me ophalen bij de ferry. <br>Hij had een mededeling voor me; omdat hij en zijn vriend nog wilden leren surfen, konden we niet morgen naar Whakatane gaan, maar zondag pas. Nadat ik hier een tijdje over nagedacht had, heb ik hem gezegd dat ik dat niet oke vond. Wij hadden een andere afspraak ...