Bennett Blog

WOF Holidays - the final story.

2008-04-11T09:00:00.000-07:00

Well this is the end of the most amazing time that the four of us spent over 83 days TOGETHER.

30th March - Dave and Carole's 40th wedding anniversary.
The not so palefaces return to Wisbech having survived the experience of Heathrow terminal 5!

30th March - Dave and Carole celebrate with family and friends.
40 years of marriage and a safe return to normality with a Chinese take-away.

Before I go I must say thank you to several people who made this trip possible and so enjoyable: Keith & Sheena for looking after our bungalow and family when they visited; my boys for looking after Grandad; Debbie and Jean for looking after Dad; Trea, Grant and girls for giving us a home and making us so welcome on three occasions in Auckland; Kelvin & Karen for giving us such a special last night out in Hollywood; Affordable Holidays.com for arranging all our international flights which went quite smoothly; all the people who talked to us, offering help and directions, especially the ones who commented on our yellow and pink shoes; all the Top 10 receptionists who looked after us, especially Queenstown with our Milford Sound flight and post and Brigitte at Christchurch for spending so long with our swimming with dolphins and whale watching bookings; all the guides, bus drivers and light aircraft pilots who made the trips so interesting; everyone involved in Tribal Lights Rotarua for a special night introducing us to Maori culture; The Imperial Queens Park Hotel Bangkok for their excellent service which got us of to a great start; Marcus and Sally for recommending this fantastic hotel in Bangkok; Michel and Ludeemon for the apartment Patong Beach; Arron for the apartment Sydney; Apollo NZ for an experience we will never forget; Mark and Mandy for recommending Zion Wildlife Gardens Whangarei; Cynthia and Ed McCreedy for our Cottage in Kailua; Aroa and Michael at Boardriders Kailua for the best hospitality anywhere; Mayfair Hotel LA well it was a clean bed for the night and good location for Hollywood and finally our travelling companions DAVE & CAROLE with out whom this trip would not have been possible or so enjoyable, we love you both.

I hope you have all enjoyed sharing some of our experiences.

We will never forget what we got up to!

Watch this space for the next adventure.

WOF phot update part 1 - 11th April 2008

2008-04-11T08:34:00.001-07:00

Hi to you all, these are the last photo's and diary logs for the LA
leg of our fantastic holiday.

25th March - Arrive at the Mayfair Hotel Down Town LA.

Told by our Peruvian taxi driver don't turn left out of the hotel at night, dodgy area!

The next day they were filming scenes for the new Will Smith movie on the street and building next door on the right.

26th March - VIP Tour of Hollywood and Rodeo Drive.

We were the stars.

27th March - Universal Studios Hollywood

Paul and Trudy trying out as extras for the new Terminator film!

28th March - The Ranch House, Sunset Boulevard.

Paul riding the bull, not very successful, didn't stay on long.

28th March - Karen Langford riding the bull and managed to stay on until the end.

28th March - Kelvin and Karen, Grants brother and sister in law.

My 2nd birthday party, kindly organised by Karen.

Thanks to both of you we had a brilliant last night of our WOF adventure.

WOF photo update part 2 - 11th April 2008

2008-04-11T07:59:00.000-07:00

Hi just updating blog with a few memorable photo's from Hawaii.

13th March - Sun rise some where between Australia and Hawaii.
Most unusual thing was because we crossed the International Date Line we had
two days Thursday 13th March!

17th March - Graces birthday and St Patricks Day.
Celebrations in an Irish bar in Waikiki. Someone had too much and it was not Carole.

24th March - My 61st birthday party at Boardriders bar and grill Kailua.
This was the best restaurant and bar in Kailua with Aria barmaid and Michael Chef.

WOF photo update part 3 - 6th April 2008

2008-04-06T11:06:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone more photo's from NZ and Hawaii.

NZ North Island - Kerikeri
8th March - Stone Store 1836 and Mission House 1822, oldest stone and wooden buildings in NZ.

NZ North Island - Kawakawa
8th March - Hunderrtwassers world famous public toilet designed and built in 1997.
Hughie our Maori driver on the trip to 90 mile beach came from this town.

NZ North Island - Mount Eden
9th March - At the summit of the extinct volcano which overlooks Auckland.

NZ North Island - Auckland
13th March - farewell to our snail which has been home for the past 6 weeks, Apollo DPQ 912 and covered 5326k with Dave and Paul at the wheel.

WOF photo update part 4 - 6th April 2008

2008-04-06T10:27:00.000-07:00

Hi to everyone these pages will be the last of the WOF blog.

NZ North Island - Waitomo caves
27th February where we saw our 1st "glow worms" and I tried to imitate the local carvings.

NZ North Island - Coromandel
2nd March where we saw these beautiful Monarch butterflies.

NZ North Island - Zion Wildlife Gardens Whangarei
3rd March where we saw 43 big cats and heard them roar, thanks to Mark & Mandy

NZ North Island - Bay of Islands Russell
5th March boat trip with Fullers to the "hole in the rock".
Dave and Carole in the yellow submarine watching the wildlife on the reef.

NZ North Island - Houhora Harbour Game Fishing Club.
8th March BBQ lunch on the way to 90 mile beach.

Kailua - day 75

2008-03-22T14:51:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-18T15:05:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-11T17:22:00.001-07:00

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

2008-03-11T16:52:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-11T14:15:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-01T22:17:00.000-08:00

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.

Picton NZ - day 46 - 21st February

2008-02-20T20:13:00.000-08:00

The first thing I must do is wish my mate Keith a very Happy Birthday today in Wisbech and the lovely "Wonder Woman" Emma a belated birthday on the 20th.

Hope you have a good one and we will have a beer for you tonight.

Still having a good time and been very busy since the last update with the following activities:

Hung around in Queenstown for 3 days waiting for good weather to allow us to fly into Milford Sound and take a cruise. Have some early mornings and false starts with bad visibility and high wind but eventually flew on Sunday 17th and had great view of the mountains, glaciers and the sound before landing at this very small airfield. The cruise was breathtaking with dark waters, waterfalls, high sheer cliff faces and eventually a pod of Bottle Nose dolphins. The return flight took us to Glenorchy where we dropped of two people on an even smaller grass airstrip before returning to Queenstown and then starting our journey to Oamaru.
During our wait at Queenstown we took a jet boat ride on the Shotover river at Skippers Cannon which was fantastic and we have the pictures to show you. But this was only half of the experience, in order to get there we had a 20 minute drive in a 24 seater mini-bus along this winding dirt road which was built in 1880 to support the gold mining activities in the area. The views were stunning and nobody wore their seat belts, would not have been any good with the drop beside us.
We also had a visit to the Skyline gondola cable car above Queenstown, again for stunning views and all had a luge ride on a concrete course. Again have pictures to prove it.
We also had a boat ride aboard the steamer TSS Earnslaw along Lake Wakatipu to Walter High Peak Country Farm and back and a few beers. During our stay we found a couple of good restaurants but if in the area avoid the WORLD BAR very poor service but we did get all our drinks for free which was OK.
Spieghts Ale House Queenstown - excellent food and our waiter was a guy from HUNSTANTON called Pete. He trained at CITB as an electrical engineer and had worked in mining in Malaya. He was waiting for his work visa for Australia in NZ with his girlfriend before working in an iron ore mine.
Oamaru, we had a great meal at Fat Sallys and visited two colonies of penguins, the yellow eyed, saw only 8 don't know what happened to the rest. Then moved onto see the small blue penguins which come ashore each evening to roost around the old town. Again only saw a few they were all standing on the far side of the harbour wall waiting for us to leave.
Moved on towards Christchurch via Geraldine (just for you Gel) and visited this vintage car and tractor museum and met the local WI who were spinning wool in one of the buildings and having their lunch.
At Christchurch on Monday 18th spent time with Bridgitte a Receptionist at Top 10 Holiday Park making arrangements for the next 6 days.
Moving from Christchurch to Akaroa we stopped off at Chistchuch and had a tram ride around the city. The road to Akaroa was another fantastic drive with this wonderful small fishing port at the end for swimming with Hector Dolphins on Wednesday.
Hector Dolphin swim was brilliant and we were in the water about 3/4 hour with a pod of up to 8 dolphins at a time. There was quite a swell on the sea but this was the first time they had been out for 3 days because of the storms. We then moved on to Kaikoura.
Thursday today we were up at 5am, but received a text at 4am from Sheena so had an even earlier call, to go on a whale watching trip aboard the "Te Ao Marama" from Kaikoura. This was a fantastic experience to be so close to these magnificent creatures. We had 4 Great Sperm Whale sightings in just over an hour with first Tiato, then Saddleback, Little Nick and finally again Tiato. All identified by the fin or tail shape and named. We also saw a large pod of over 100 Dusky Dolphins before we returned to port exhausted.
We have now moved on to Picton with Dave having a dive tomorrow and we hope to go fishing Saturday when the girls have a "Girly Day". We then catch the ferry to Wellington on Sunday.

Queenstown - day 40 - 15th February 2008

2008-02-14T15:03:00.000-08:00

We are now at Queenstown waiting for the weather to improve so that we can have a flight down to Milford Sound. The flight has already been bounced twice at 8am and 10am and now waiting for confirmation for a 2pm slot.

Since the ferry crossing to the South Island on Monday 11th Feb have visited the following:

# Picton - lovely little port and marina, had a good walk around and meal in The Barn restaurant which is full of memorabilia from 1920 to 1970, most of which we could remember! This included a great collection of 60 & 70 45's which we played all night. Dave unable to dive due to poor weather prediction so we moved on and will be back later.

# Lake Rotoiti - on the way to stop at Greymouth we had a stop and spoke to this woman who was feeding the ducks, swans and long fin eels (enormous fresh water ones)and she suggested that we stop at Hokitika, 30k down the road as there was a site right next to the beach.

# Hokitika - Shining Star Beachfront, super location next to the Tasam Sea where we looked for jade. Had a meal in the van and then went on beach to see the sunset, fantastic.

# Franz Josef - stopped at the Top Ten site and had a great hot tub. Booked a helicopter flight over the glacier for the Thursday morning but it rained all night and they said it would not clear until Sunday! So we cut our losses and moved on in the rain towards Queenstown.

# Lake Hawea - on the journey to Queenstown the weather improved to glorious sunshine and we again saw the convoy of old Vauxhall cars we first saw in Picton.

# Queenstown - arrived to overcast evening and booked the Milford flight and had our first Indian meal.

Sorry to all but I have some great pictures to add but system is so slow will add at a later date.

Stop Press News - received a text message and email today with a photo of the "ROCK" Tammy and Mark have got engaged. Congratulations to you both. XXX

Wellington - Sunday 10th February 08

2008-02-09T21:19:00.000-08:00

Cape Kidnapper - Gannets

Napier Duck trip.

Our campervan!!!

Unfortunately the only one I could photograph was stuffed!

Currently in Hutt Park Top 10 Campsite waiting for the 2.15pm Monday to take us to Picton on the South Island.

Activities completed since the last update include:

Visited Cape Kidnapper to see the Gannets - very smelly.

Walked round Napier which was rebuilt art-deco style following a major earthquake in 1931 and found the Bennetts which was on of the few left standing because of its design.

Toured the area in a DUCK - great way to see the town and port.

Visited the Pukaha Mountain Bruce reserve and saw a breading programme for Kiwi's.

Napier - NZ day 32

2008-02-06T21:53:00.000-08:00

Have now been in NZ a week :

Stayed at the Kiwi Internation Hotel Auckland first night and had a meal with Grant, Trea, Grace and Tess.
Collected the VW campervan DPQ912 and moved to the Langfords for 2 nights visiting various areas of Belmont and Devonport where they live.
Sunday moved out and drove 311k to Lake Taupo and spent 2 nights there, looking at the Huka Falls, a dam, a animal petting farm and saw an alpaca being born. The WOFSHT team then took to the skies in a seaplane over the lake and surrounding area for a 20 minute flight with Grace.
Grant then took us to the outback, going bush, to Lake Waikaremoana down the roue 38 which included 30k of mud and shale road, not easy and covered the van in mud and rained nearly all the time.
Dave, Carole and Paul then went down with a bug which we caught from the Langfords, Trudy OK and we are still trying to recover. Trudy and I did have a white knuckle TAXI ride across the lake with the Langfords which was as good as any white water raft.
Today have moved on to Napier 188k and the weather is now sunny and warm again. Hope to stay here a few days to recover our strength and explore.

Again photographs are difficult and I am having a problem with my SKY email connection.

Will try and catch up later.

Photographs of WOFSHT - up to 2nd February.

2008-02-01T22:13:00.000-08:00

Four Pom's in Coogee!

The Coogee Bay Hotel - just for Ian

At the top of the Pylon Lookout having just climbed the bridge.

WOFSHT in Castlereagh apartment.

WOFSHT with the Langfords in Belmont NZ.

Dave busking at Circular Quay, have got to pay for the trip somehow!

Australia Day celebrations!

Two Sheilas at the bridge.

King Paul with his Queen and Princess.

They get everywhere!

The three sisters rocks from Koomba in Blue Mountains.

Pina-coladas at Kam Poo - Patong Beach Thailand.

Ladies of the night - Patong Beach.

Lady-boys of the night at Simons Cabaret - Patong Beach.

WOFSHT at Sai Rougn Residence - Patong Beach.

WOFSHT with pale faces setting off on their expedition.

Creamer Road - New Zealand

2008-02-01T21:57:00.000-08:00

Moved on to Auckland on 31st Jan having completed the following activities in Sydney since the last update:

Australia Day 26th was a great day we should have a similar National Day in UK, everyone was out partying.
Billy Elliot musical at Capitol Theatre.
Day out to Coogee Bay for a dip in the sea and a beer at the Hotel where Ian had a few and lunch in FIVEO.
Climbed Sydney Harbour Bridge early in the morning and had fantastic views - 1437steps.
Walked the 200 steps up and down Pylon Lookout to photograph and video the views which we could not take from the top of the bridge.
Visited Sydney Wildlife World to see all the Aussy animals.
Visited Sydney Power House Museum of Science and design - including DIANA exhibition.

Now staying with Trea and family after picking up our Apollo 6 berth motor home and setting out to Lake Taupo on Sunday for 6 days with the Langfords.

Sydney - Castlereagh Street

2008-01-24T22:47:00.000-08:00

Have now made our way to Sydney after short delay due to accident at Heathrow last Saturday.

Arrived to drizzle but warm weather.

Spent most of our time in and around Sydney and Darling Harbour and being Seniors!
We can get discounts using our driving licences as evidence of our age. Great hay!

Water show and firework display and Chinese Garden in Darling Harbour.
Sydney mono-rail.
Sydney Aquarium and we still have a ticket for the Wild Life section.
Paddys Market and food halls.
Blue Mountains, including Jamison Valley, scenic railway ride, Kooba waterfalls, Luera, Olympic park and ferry ride return to Sydney.
City bus tour yesterday with 31 stops and managed to find the Lord Nelson pub, oldest in Sydney which brews its own beer.
Today have been to Bondi Beach had a swim in the rough waves and walk around the bay.

Generally enjoying all the sites and tastes around the city and harbour area.

Food very good choice but only Aussie beer which is full of GAS

Saturday is Australia Day and will have a busy day with all the free shows, rock concerts and firework displays all over the city.

Sunday we have booked to see Billy Elliot at the Capitol Theatre just round the corner from our apartment.

Taking loads of video and pictures but sorry to all having difficulty loading onto BLOG.

Will try and put some on when we get to see Trea in New Zealand.

Imperial Queens Park Hotel - Bangkok

2008-01-17T18:54:00.000-08:00

Last posting in Thailand before leaving for Sydney - day 13 of tour.

In Patong we visited the Phi Phi Islands on a high speed motor boat Phuket Sea Island, fantastic experience of sights and snorkeling over coral reefs with many types of fish. A great day out.

Again visited Patong Beach and chilled out Dave and Carole went parascending and on a jet ski and we had beach Thai massages.

Visited the Phuket FantaSea attraction, Thai Disney!
Side shows of animals and Thai culture, buffet meal and a show which gave a simple story of a Prince with his elephant rescuing the Princes and getting his girl. Over 30 elephants, chickens, goats, water buffalo and horses, fantastic.

Flight from Patong yesterday was postponed and we managed to get an earlier flight to the old Bangkok airport Don Muang and arrived at hotel around 5.30pm local time.

Another great meal in the Park View Restaurant last night and breakfast this morning.

This is the end of our oriental experience and now look forward to the start of the southern hemisphere section.

Patong - Phuket

2008-01-13T01:53:00.000-08:00

Its now day 8 of our tour and enjoying the sunshine and beaches at Patong since Wednesday 9th and unfortunately we have to move on this week to the next stage in Sydney.

Been to several bars, Thai restaurants, last night excellent meal at Lair Lay Tonge, seen Elvis for his 73rd birthday at Kam Po and been to Simon Cabaret.

Dave is diving today so will be tired when he returns so having a quite night in playing cards.

Bangkok - The Imperial Queens Hotel

2008-01-08T04:56:00.000-08:00

Well today is day 3 or our tour and what a start.

Thanks to Ray we arrive at Heathrow in very good time, 9 hours before we were due to fly.

The flight to Bangkok was very tiring and boring but we arrived safely and the it all started.

We picked up a limousine taxi and we then had the bonus of a half day temple tour of only 500 BHT ( 7.80 pounds) which was great.

We arrived at out hotel thanks to Marcus and it is TDB, fantastic. Stopped in the hotel for a oriental meal in the Park Garden Restaurant.

The next day with Nancy (local guide) and driver we went to 3 temples with, GOLDEN, RECLINING and MARBLE BUDDHA. Also China Town, flower market. What a great way to see the area in the comfort of our private taxi.

We then met Marcus & Sally and went to the famous Lemongrass Thai restaurant. Great.
Finished off with a couple of pints of Guinness.

Today we again went with Nancy to a coconut farm, floating market ( very commercial ) cobra snake farm (very cruel), elephant and crocodile zoo/show, Thai wood carving centre (very skilled).

Been for a couple of pints in The London Brewery Co. micro brewed beer was poor but Guinness was again good.

Dave and the Girls are now having a nap before we go for dinner.

We fly to Patong Beach Phuket tomorrow so will let you know how that goes.

Bye for now P

WOFSHT 2008 - Carole, Dave, Trudy & Paul

2008-01-04T08:08:00.000-08:00

Saturday 5th January 2008.
Well here we are at last after all the planning we are on the way to Heathrow for the first flight to Bangkok. Watch this space for future news C, D, T & P xxxxx

London Theatre Trip - 27th to 29th November 2007

2007-12-02T09:49:00.000-08:00

Visit to London with Dave and Carole.

27th - National Express bus Victoria Coach Station and walked to Norfolk Tower Hotel Paddington via Hide Park. Saw Mamma Mia at Prince of Wales Theatre.
28th - Underground to Greenwich, Cutty Sark, Greenwich Royal Observitory and O2 Bubble to
see Tutankhamun & Golden Age of Pharohs. A great day out.
Evening meal at Oriels Slone Square with Julia and Margaret.

29th - Returned to Peterborough via National Express from Victoria with Little John collecting us at
Peterborough.

Potters - Athena Beach Hotel Cyprus - 2007

2007-11-07T14:34:00.000-08:00

Visited Athena Beach Hotel with Potters for an educational tour and bowls tournament 28th October to 6th November 2008.

Celebrated 41st wedding anniversary on 29th October and met John & Pat Wagstaff from Colchester who were celebrating the 46th anniversary on the same day.

Competed in 4 games of bowls with Gwen, Doreen and Bernard, winning 3, loosing 1 by 3 shots and ending up with a +16 shots and 6 points for a 6th place finish out of 18 teams.

Renewed old friendships with EBF bowlers from Nott's, Derbyshire and Linc's and shared several KEO beers and cocktails and looking forward to returning in 2008 with a party from Wisbech.

Oliver James - born 08.50 2nd September 2007

2007-10-21T08:44:00.000-07:00

My first entry to record the birth of our Grandson Oliver James on 2nd September 2007 at Hull.