NZ to Oz

NZ to Oz

At time of last writing we were expecting Vicky’s mums arrival in NZ. Shirley had a good journey out and we met her at Christchurch airport where it was hard to keep Charlie contained. He was so excited to see her and we spent the next couple of days relaxing in Hanmer Springs. Predominantly in hot springs but with a walk or two thrown in and the odd round of mini golf. We had planned to spend a few days in and around Christchurch but due to the earthquake we were not able to do this. We went for a walk to try and show Shirley the Christchurch that we had seen just a few weeks earlier but the whole centre was simply cordoned off due to damaged buildings and it looks like it will be at least 3 -6 months before the city is up and running.

We then went back to the campervan and headed north on the ferry to the North island. Shirley headed off south on her ‘backpacker’ tour that I think she thoroughly enjoyed. It was funny hearing about her staying in the hostels where she had to spend a night or two in the top bunk of bunk beds and even encountering three tier bunk beds !

For our part we headed north on the north island taking in Wellington, Hastings, Napier and then spending a few days in the centre at Lake Taupo and Rotorua that were great fun. One of the highlights being a large, bouncy cushion at one of the camps. Approximately 20 metres long and 5 metres wide this is simply a large bouncy pillow (like a bouncy castle but better) that Charlie and I spent hours jumping on. I say hours, but after a while my calf muscles had tightened somewhat and I had also grazed both knees (as if on astroturf) by overjumping ! It really is the adults that you have to watch ! This area of NZ is very volcanic with lots of natural hot springs – literally boiling water pouring out of the ground and we saw some real great scenery.

We headed north still onto the north coast where we had a great couple of days on the beach and then we went to Auckland to meet up again with Shirley. We then spent 3 days on the Coromandel which is a scenic peninsula a couple of hours from Auckland and again we spent a great couple of days here. We dug a hole on hot water beach and experienced more boiling water pouring up from the beach. We also had the fallout from Typhoon Yoshi in Australia that led to some very feisty waves. What is it with all the weather extremes ?  Earthquakes, Tsunami’s, Floods and Typhoons – not sure if it is always like this or this is just a feisty year. Almost makes you miss the monotony of UK’s weather (only almost!)

We then headed through Auckland up to the top of the north island for the last few days and we had some real highlights. We stayed in KeriKeri and the Fudge and Chocolate shops were simply magnificent ! On top of this we had a boat trip in the Bay of Islands and we saw multitudes of Dolphins jumping in our boats wake and Vix and I went in to try and swim with them but they were too quick for us. We also saw Penguins, fluorescent blue fish and some further great scenery. The next day we went on a bus tour to the northernmost tip of the north island and also drove down 90 mile beach (approx. 64 miles long !?!). We also went Sand boarding that is basically walking up a large sand dune and then tobogganing down. Charlie was very brave and did it as did Nana ! Following her Boom netting the previous day we were certainly with the leading ‘adrenaline Nana’ on the islands. Boom netting was jumping off the boat into a net that the boat pulled along whilst you enjoyed the swell (fought for your life). Nana queued up behind Vicky and thought to mention as it was their turn that she had never even jumped into a swimming pool ! I have the wholethin in photo and video so some great memories there.

We popped in to see some long standing family friends of ours – Roy and Marie Bills in Dargeville and had a lovely afternoon catching up after many years. Leaving New Zealand was very sad as we had spent a great couple of months there. Shirley flew off to UK and we boarded the plane to Oz – Melbourne here we come.

We arrived in Melbourne to a very sunny autumnal Melbourne. They are all wearing coats as they think it is cold but the initial 24-26 degrees felt lovely to us ! We are spending approx. 10 days in St Kilda south of Melbourne and we are taking in the sights of Melbourne. The trams / trains / buses are fantastic and we have been up the Sky Tower, done the Museum and spent time on the beach. We have also met up with Chris James from Gladstone days and had a nice afternoon and her fiancée (yes, fiancée) Jeff is going to take me to an aussie rules game at the MCG next Saturday (80,000 crowd).

I have also popped in and seen the Melbourne Crown casino that is basically a Vegas type resort and we also took Charlie to see the new kids film RIO (3d) which was fun.  After these 10 days we will be taking in the Great Ocean road for a few days before moving on the Brisbane and the East coast.

We also had an interesting experience applying for our Chinese visa’s. I took in all the relevant info but once I mentioned that my brother worked for the British Council (government organisation) it was like we were MI6 and things got a little tricky – anyway hopefully all should be ok.

Today Vix is getting a pass to do some shopping in the Docklands area whilst Charlie and I take on the indoor glow in the dark mini golf ! Melbourne literally is sports mad and having gone 2 months in NZ away from any real news, sport or TV, the last couple of days here has been aussie rules, The Masters golf (Rory has done a Rupert for my golfing friends), the grand National (I managed to back Ballabriggs from here after seeing Nancy had backed it on facebook !), cricket and all the premier league football – I saw the gooners game last night vs Blackpool.

Charlie is still having a ball – he seems to be growing before our eyes – taller, more cheeky and the other night he started reading off the page from a book we had not shown him before !?! How does that happen ? Vix is also really enjoying the trip – we are starting to cast our minds to July and our return – well I am and Vix is trying not to !!

That’s all for now – we do think of UK often and whilst we miss family and friends etc we are trying to enjoy the moment and make the most of this great opportunity. More soon from the East coast…