Kailua - day 75

Well this has been a busy week continuing on from my last entry:

• 18th March - quiet day on the beach but became very windy so had to quit.
• 19th March - Took a bus to the Polynesian Cultural Centre at 09.20 and returned via Kanonoe in a taxi as buses do not run to Kailua after the show had finished at 21.00. It was a fantastic experience with our guide Veti from Samoa who escorted us around the different islands and displays making sure that we always had front row seats. At 17.00 we went for an Hawaiian meal with ground oven roast pork, very tasty and plenty of it. At 19.00 we then went to the evening show which presented dancing and singing again from around the islands. Most of the people involved in presenting the show and cultural areas are students at the Brigham Young Hawaiian University and they use the money to support their education. Veti was studying IT.
• 20th March - Again took the bus which only costs $2 each with one change to anywhere on the island and went to Pearl Harbour and visited USS Arizona with lost a crew of 1,177 on 7th December 1941. A very moving experience. We then also did a tour of the submarine Bowfin which was launched exactly a year after Pearl Harbour and nicknamed the "Pearl Harbour Avenger". Amazing to think that 38 crew lived in such a small area for weeks on end. To out amazement we managed to get back to Kailua with the help of a little Chinese lady when to change bus and had a group hug when we got back.
• 21st March - Beach day started out very warm but again became windy so retreated to the cottage. For the evening meal we decided to try Formaggio an up-market grill which is always packed. A very tasty meal but double the price we have been paying at BOARDRIDERS and that also includes the beer. Anyway had to end the evening there to have a couple of Guinness, Dave refrained as diving the next day, must be a first!
• Boardriders has become our local with a great selection of UK beers, Guinness, Bass and Newcastle Brown on draught, good well priced food, local bands and a friendly clientele who thing of us as the "English Folk". If every you are in Kailua visit this bar and say Hi to Aroa the best Barmaid in town and Michael the Chef.
• 22nd March - Dave diving with Arron's Dive Shop so Trudy and I have been to a local historical spot "Ulupo" which is a platform of rocks and boulders built over 1,500 years ago and has a great view over the marsh at Kawai Nui. It was a great walk although we did have one of the many small showers on the way.

We signing off now as Trudy has returned from window shopping and have to now go and spend.

Kailua - Hawaii - day 70

Well we left Auckland on Thursday 13th and returned our "snail" to Apollo which had been home for the previous 6 weeks. Thanks Trea for the three occasions we dumped on you to stay, we had a great time with the Langford's and meeting your family.

• 13th March - flew to Sydney and caught the flight to Hawaii, where because we crossed the International Date Line we arrived a 07.00am before we left at 06.00pm, weired? We had two Thursdays in one week. Stopping at 156 Kailua Road in a cottage owned by Ed and Cynthia and only 5 minutes from the beach. Visited Kailua and did some shopping for groceries and had a sandwich at the cottage as we were too knackered to go out.


• 14th March - Spent the day on Kailua beach which is a 5 minute walk from our "Cottage" and all got scorched. Had dinner at a local top restaurant BUZZ'S, great steak and apparently Bill Clinton also ate here!


• 15th March - Because Dave was badly toasted on previous day we left them at the Cottage and explored Kailua and did some shopping, you should see my new Hawaiian shirt!


• 16th March - Day on the beach but the sun hardly came out and the wind was a bit chilly.


• 17th March - St Patricks Day and too the bus around the coast to Waikiki and had a great time and several Guinness both in Waikiki and when we returned. We have found a great bar and restaurant "Boardriders" and have made a new Hawaiian friend Aroa. They serve BASS and Guinness in 4 pint pitchers which saves time, food is pretty good to and a reasonable price to the Pound.

Before I sign off we must sent some birthday wishes to Louise and Tess on 17th, Grace on 21st and Candice on 25th, have a great time we miss you all.

Auckland - day 65 part 1

Hi to you all, hope you enjoy these top experience pictures for NZ as much as we did.
Part 2 to follow of pictures and part 3 of all our daily activities.



Swimming with Hector dolphins in Akaroa - these wet suits make you look slim.



Whale watching at Kaikoura, we sighted 4 sperm whales, Kiato, Saddleback, Little Nick and Kiato for a second time, so graceful.



The Rutland Arms Wanganui - our first and only English pub with a selection of beers better than most in UK. London Pride which we're drinking, Green King Abbot, Specked Hen, Tettleys and Boddingtons.



Kawakawa public toilets designed and built by the Austrian architect Friedrich Hundertwasser in 1997 and described as in the top 10 loo's in the world.



Zion the lion in Craig Busch Wildlife Gardens Whangarei, 43 endangered rare big cats, Barbary and White lions, black leopard, cheetahs, Royal White and Bengal tigers. This was a fantastic experience especially when they all started roaring!!! Thanks for telling us about this Mark and Mandy, not to be missed.

Auckland - day 65 part 2

Hi all, I have added some of the top memories as a few photo's hope you enjoy them.



Auckland - the Langford family on Saturday 2nd February when we first arrived in NZ.



Sunset at Hokitika an old gold mining town where we collected green stone, jade.



The Barn restaurant Picton where we had several great meals with Jerry and the radiogram playing 60's 45 records.



Skippers Cannon Queenstown - jet boat ride, the ride down the 1880 cart track with a mad driver was more scary!



Milford Sound from a 6-seater light aircraft having flown from Queenstown, fantastic view over the mountains and glaciers and of the Sound from the cruiser later where we saw our first bottle nose dolphins.

Auckland - 12th March 08 - day 65 - part 3

Now with the Langfords in Auckland for the last time before we leave for Hawaii tomorrow.

Since the last visit to Auckland on 2nd March we moved North and had the following amazing experience's which have rounded off our fantastic visit to NZ.

• Whangarei - 198k drive to the Top 10 campsite and then visited the Zion Wildlife Gardens run by Craig Busch from the TV programme on Discovery channel and saw a collection of 43 rare big cats and a baboon. In the collection were Barbary and White lions, Royal White and Bengal tigers, various lion cubs, two Serval cats, Cheetahs, a black Leopard and ZION who the park is named after a very large Barbary Lion who has featured in several TV adverts and was in "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe". Thanks Mark for suggesting this place. The four of us were taken round by Lesley from Armah who was working as a volunteer whilst on a working holiday following Uni.
• Russell - 193k drive and ferry to this little town which was once described as "The Hell Hole of the Pacific" and is now a quiet sleepy little town which relies on tourists. Stopped a couple of days and took a Fullers boat trip around the Bay of Islands to the "Hole in the Rock" but due to the heavy swell we were unable to sail through. On the return journey instead of getting off at Russell we continued to Paihia to have a look and took the passenger ferry back. At the Russell Top 10 we met Alan and Jenny the "ukgreynomads" who have sold up from Litchfield and are having a year our touring before returning to the UK to buy a camper van to live in and tour UK and Europe. Thought we were doing well with 3 months! Had a great steak & eggs meal in Russell RSA thanks to Polly's Kitchen.
• Kerikeri - 75k drive but on the way we stopped of at Waitangi to visit the treaty house and grounds, very interesting to see where the modern New Zealand was born on 6th February 1840, now a public holiday "Waitangi Day". Even found a brand on BENNETTS chocolate here and had to try the blueberry and lemon flavours. The next day Friday 7th we took a Fullers bus, they control most to the transport and ferries, to 90 mile beach and Cape Reinga driven by Huey Smith a Maori who had a great sence of humour, could tell a good story and sing Maori songs. We left Kerikeri driving past the Stone Store 1836 and Kemp's mission house 1822 and went to the giant Kauri forest at Puketi and walked on the board walk made for the Queens visit. We then moved to the "Ancient Kauri Kingdom" were they process the giant Kauri trees which fell down between 45 & 50,000 years ago into furniture and are buried in the peat swamps around the area. The largest one ever recovered weighed an estimated 110 tons. A one third section of this tree has been carved into a spiral stair case to link the ground and mezzanine floor. The next stop was a BBQ lunch at Houhora game fishing club where I was attached by a seagull! We then continued on un-sealed roads, no tarmac, to Cape Reinga, where the Pacific Ocean and Tasmin Sea meet and then walked to the lighthouse which marks the Northern most point of NZ, London some 18,500 miles away. We then stopped at the giant sand dunes by the Te Paki quick sand stream where we used boogy boards to surf down to the stream below. We only managed 2 rides as it was a killer to walk up the steep soft sand, however one young Danish lad did manage 3. We then drove on down the stream on to 90 mile beach and drove for 52 miles of the actual length which was so called because it took a horse and cart 3 days to travel and they covered 30 miles a day, the length is a bit exaggerated. The sand can be very soft and if you stop in the wrong place for too long the vehicles can sink into the sand and then can't be recovered, several private cars are still buried. We did stop however to dig for Peri clams which tasted great raw. The driver kept two buckets full, perk of the job! We left the beach and then stopped at "Ancient Kauri Kingdom" for coffee and for the sand and salt water to be washed off the coach. On the way back we drove through Doubtless Bay named by Captain Cook in 1769, Mangonui and Whangaroa Harbours before returning to Kerikeri where we had another good meal at the Black Olive restaurant.
• We left Kerikeri on Saturday for the 258k drive to Auckland but first stopped off and explored the Stone Store and Kemp's mission house before we stopped for lunch at Kawakawa where Huey Smith lived, the train runs down the full length of the main street and public toilets designed and built by the Austrian architect Friedrich Hundertwasser in 1997. Everyone who enters has a camera or video to record the sights inside and out which are in the top 10 of public loo's in the world.
• Auckland Saturday at the Langfords we had a celebration dinner with Grants dad Jack and had a great evening of stories and plenty of good wine and beer.
• Sunday we visited Mount Eden garden which was built in an old quary on the side of an extinct volcano in 1964. We met Judith and her sisters Wendy and Dene and her husband Colin for lunch. There are many exotic plants and great view over Auckland. We then drove to the summit of Mount Eden where we had a full 360 degree panoramic view of Auckland and the surrounding area which includes some 50 islands and 48 extinct volcano's including the latest one only 600 years old Rangitoto.
• Monday we took the local bus from Belmont to Devonport and then the ferry to Auckland city where we went to the 328m SKY TOWER and had even better views than Mount Eden. We also watched people doing the skyjump of 192m and the skywalk around the 1.2m wide ring with no hand rails where the jumping platform is, they are connected to a safety cable from above. After lunch we did some shopping and then took the explorer bus which shows you the sights of Auckland with a commentary before returning by ferry to Devonport.
• Tuesday we had a lazy day with Grace at pre-school we all collected her and then went for lunch in Devonport, Grant also joined us for the afternoon. We then took Trea back to Creamer St for a rest and we all went to Cheltenham beach for a swim. I thought Hunstanton had a long beach when the tide is out but we walked for ages before it reached our waists. It was a bit cold for a start but great when you were used to it. We then all dressed for dinner and went to a Greek restaurant in Devonport for the evening and had a great time.
• Wednesday, today we packed ready for tomorrow, Grace and Tess have gone for their weekly swim and I have stayed behind to let you all know what a wonderful time we are having and checking my emails. Had one from the Australian immigration inviting me to apply for immigration, still considering?

Auckland - day 56 - 2nd March

Now in Auckland with Trea, Grant and girls, sorry for the delay in updating the blog, computers and internet have been hard to find.

• At Picton the dive by Dave on the Lermatov went well and I looked after the girls whilst they had their hair done and arranged a fishing trip for the next day.
• Dave and I went fishing in Charlotte Sound on the TOA TAI (Sea Warrior) with Captain Colin and withing 10 minutes of dropping the line into 37 metres of water I was into what turned out to be a 6 foot conger eel. Whilst I was landing this Dave caught the first blue cod of the day, 2 up to the "Brits". The fishing was steady but never of any size and we moved twice to try and catch larger fish. Colin filleted all the keeper fish including the conger and we all took a number of pieces away. After 6 hours at sea we were thirsty and we called into Seumas's bar and as we had been there several times before they pan fried the fish and served with salad and chips - very tasty washed down with Guinness.
• Caught the ferry from Picton to Wellington, very smooth crossing and chatted to a couple of Canadians who we bumped into in Rotorua 5 days later, what a coincidence!
• We left the ferry at Wellington and drove straight to Whanganui for the one night on the way to New Plymouth and found our first pub selling real English ale, Speckled Hen, Boddingtons, Greene King Abbot, Tetleys and London Pride which we tried with some great steaks.
• New Plymouth, walked along their award winning boardwalk to see the Len Lye "Wind Wand" and around Pukekura Park which is a 50 acre botanical garden which contains a rain forrest and a 2000 year old Puriri tree. Don't know who was around to date this!
• Moved on to Waitomo Caves to see the "glow worms" and the Billy Black country show about how they cleared the outback for farming.
• At Rotarua we went to the Kuirau Park which is a free geo-thermal area with mud pools, hot water, smells but no geysers which gave a flavour of what we were going to see at Te Puia the next day on a much larger scale. We also went to see "Tribal Lights" a cultural theatre evening with a Kiwiana buffet. Would you believe that they put on the show and evening just for the four of us and what a time we had. It was a priverlage to share this experiance with people so dedicated to preserving the Maori culture, thanks for the experiance.
• We then moved onto Coromandel Town in the rain, not much going on here but we did struggle to find a restaurant. However we ended up with the best fish, gunyard and garlic chips ever and had our first Pau fritter.
• This left us the 198k drive along the beautiful west coast of the Coromandel Peninsula to Thames and then on to Auckland.