Dave and Kay at Castle Point
Old Pumphouse at Goldmine Waihi
"The Island" Gisborne
The offending bollard Tairua
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
2nd Week in NZ
Driving Creek Railway
Coromandel Drive
Swimmerama Auckland
Tane Mahuta in Northland
Kauri gum display at Matakohe
Monday, December 7, 2009
First Week in NZ over
Bay of Islands nr Opito bay
Opito Bay feast
Heather and Warren
George
George and Joy
I really stuffed up the last minute packing of my clothes back in Australia and ended up only bringing a black turtleneck and 2 tee shirts. I only had my boots to wear after chucking away my smelly slip ons so went to a Katmandu in Whangarei and lashed out on a good pair of sandals called Teva. Now I've got lots of blisters from trying to break them in, or is it, break my feet in!!!
There has been lots of hospitality up here in Northland. I've had my hire campervan a week and not even slept in it yet! I was doing the eastern beaches and called in on Joy and George at Parua Bay. Now these two are the ultimate in hospitality having all sorts visit, all the time and so happy to have them. So the next day there was a midday BBQ and I made another contact for America and had a few beers so stayed another night. I was able to give George a bit of help with his computer and had my own play up!!!! Well it was only the adapter giving up but that ground it to a halt. So had to go back to Whangarei and get a new one and then visited Mum Price at the hospital again before heading north to the Bay of Islands
Another cousin in law lives at Opito Bay, just past Keri Keri and I ended up staying with Heather and Warren for 2 nights as well. On the Sunday they were the hosts for the annual community 'get togeather for Xmas' and filled up their house with about 40 people. Lots of interesting people to talk to and amazing food and drink to enjoy
Yesterday I went for a swim in the bay that is full of yachts and launches and tried to headbutt one!!!! so I have a graze on my forehead from that !!! Did finish the swim right around the bay and checked out all these lovely craft so that was good. Then I drove across the island to Opononi and had a few hours break looking across the harbour to those massive sandhills across the other side. You can catch a boat across there and go sand surfing.There is a really nice walk at the southern headland where you can check out the waves breaking on both sides. I reckon the locals must have some good surf at these places. Then there was Tane Mahute, the massive kauri tree in the Waipoa Forest and the Kai Iwi lakes were last port of call before reaching Merv and Sue's place in Dargaville.Will stay a day and move on tomorrow back down to Auckland and beyond
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Few Days in NZ
COUPLE OF DAYS IN NZ
The 1st of Dec finally came and Liz drove me to the Gold Coast Airport and it was a bit of a shambles with a big flight going to Japan as well as mine to NZ. Airport security had 2 different checkpoints before customs and immigration. So it all took time and it felt like I had bricks in my 2 carry on cases. A laptop with all the accompanying cables added to the chargers for cameras,mp3 and binoculars is pretty heavy when you add a book or two—whew!!!!! It was hard leaving a very good friend but I will meet up with Liz again in Hawaii about this time next year so its all good.
I was the last one to board the plane about 5 mins late and then the cabin staff couldn’t get the headcount right for another 25 mins so we left half an hour late but made it all up with a strong tail wind to Auckland. Nice and mild there and pick up of my ‘mini’ Nissan campervan went smoothly. It was rush hour as I made my way into the city and then over the bridge to the north. Orewa is the last suburb to the north and I was pretty tired by then so stayed the night with one of my late wife’s cousins Jeanette. We made some calls from there and were given some good news about how this evenings surgery to my mum-in-law went.
Shirley is 90 the day after Boxing Day and her fall a couple of weeks ago was a worry with all the Xmas and birthday celebrations coming up. Anyway it all looked good when I reached the hospital at Whangarei the next morning and saw Mum in pretty good shape after the operation on her hip. The photo is of her and her son Mervyn and the amount of visitors she had while I was there is a great reflection on her standing in the community.
Now my trip will continue to the Bay of Islands and loop back through the west coast and down through Auckland to the south before coming back to Auckland on the 22nd and joining up with the rest of the family coming from Australia for X’mas and Mum’s birthday.
The 1st of Dec finally came and Liz drove me to the Gold Coast Airport and it was a bit of a shambles with a big flight going to Japan as well as mine to NZ. Airport security had 2 different checkpoints before customs and immigration. So it all took time and it felt like I had bricks in my 2 carry on cases. A laptop with all the accompanying cables added to the chargers for cameras,mp3 and binoculars is pretty heavy when you add a book or two—whew!!!!! It was hard leaving a very good friend but I will meet up with Liz again in Hawaii about this time next year so its all good.
I was the last one to board the plane about 5 mins late and then the cabin staff couldn’t get the headcount right for another 25 mins so we left half an hour late but made it all up with a strong tail wind to Auckland. Nice and mild there and pick up of my ‘mini’ Nissan campervan went smoothly. It was rush hour as I made my way into the city and then over the bridge to the north. Orewa is the last suburb to the north and I was pretty tired by then so stayed the night with one of my late wife’s cousins Jeanette. We made some calls from there and were given some good news about how this evenings surgery to my mum-in-law went.
Shirley is 90 the day after Boxing Day and her fall a couple of weeks ago was a worry with all the Xmas and birthday celebrations coming up. Anyway it all looked good when I reached the hospital at Whangarei the next morning and saw Mum in pretty good shape after the operation on her hip. The photo is of her and her son Mervyn and the amount of visitors she had while I was there is a great reflection on her standing in the community.
Now my trip will continue to the Bay of Islands and loop back through the west coast and down through Auckland to the south before coming back to Auckland on the 22nd and joining up with the rest of the family coming from Australia for X’mas and Mum’s birthday.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)