Taumatawhakatangitangakoauauotamateapokaiwhenuakitanatahu

New Zealand’s longest place name is just awesome. It deserves going to just because of that alone. However we didn’t and nor can we say it either, despite many attempts.
We are however sitting under an absolute carpet of stars in a town called Russell in the Bay of Islands. This place is quite beautiful. It used to be the capital city of New Zealand until Auckland and then Wellington took over that role. Cloaked in history, primarily the signing of the Waitangi Agreement in 1852, we are surrounded by an amazing landscape.
The past 7 days have once again spun by. Our target was meet up with Steve and Jo on Friday to spend a few days in their seaside ‘Bach.’ (batch as we Brits would pronounce). We could not refuse the offer to have a true Kiwi style weekend in a house by the beach on the Coromandel Peninsula.
To get there however required a few days drive, albeit through a countryside that has never ceased to amaze us. As we passed back through the centre of the North Island in Taupo we stopped at the Huka Falls, for which we had managed to miss the turn a few weeks before. The equivalent of two Olympic swimming pools of water passes through this gorge per second and when combined with a ten-metre drop, the result is pretty spectacular.


The Huka Falls



On from there and Bugs had a wish granted when we finally hit the Zorb.
The Zorb is a 11 foot tall plastic ball which you can ride inside. They then add a dash of hot water, throw you in and roll you down a hill. A cross between a water slide and a rollercoaster. Hilarious! Drew picked the short straw and decided to be the accompanying adult- luckily it was sunny. By the time of our third go together, she had picked the courage to ‘GO SOLO!’ We haven’t heard the end of it since, now she has graduated to the Go Girl Daredevil Club.........









Zorbing..........................................................................How cool am i dad?!

We arrived at Pauanui early Friday evening, just after Steve and Jo, to find a bottle of fine red already opened. What followed was an incredibly chilled weekend when we drank wine, went to the beach, had lunch, drank wine, played mini-golf, had wine, went rock fishing, drank beer, had dinner and drank more wine. That was just Saturday.

Is this the most chilled out pastime ever?

As we left on Sunday, we visited Cathedral Cove and had a fab time swimming in the ocean. After we had bade farewell to our hosts we spent the night in Miranda, another cool town name, before arriving in Pakiri Beach for some serious horse riding! Mads and Geo ‘had talked themselves up’ massively ahead of the trek and were not amused when they were downgraded to the ‘incompetents’ and ‘nervous’class which included Lu, myself and Bugs, despite them having not ridden a horse for years. Great horses, with absolutely no doubt whether the rider or the horse, were in total control. Since then we have been aching in parts that we haven’t used a lot this trip.

Maddie- 'I love the beach!'

With only a week to go before we start heading for home, we have come to the Bay of Islands praying for some fine weather to chill out in.
Take care
Drew and Lu. x

We’re on the road to Nowhere.....

3.2.1 Bungy- the evidence, 2 of our girls are nuts!

March 19. Taihape
Taihape markets itself as ‘on the road to everywhere.’ We renamed it after the Talking Heads as it somehow feels more appropriate. We are nowhere. However, it also claims itself to be the Gumboot Throwing capital of New Zealand, an excellent attempt at fame.

the giant Gumboot welcomes us.

We are also now within 50k of Mordor and Mount Doom of Lords of the Rings movie fame, so you can get a good idea of the scenery round here- pretty spectacular.
As we took the ferry from Picton this morning, we bade a fond farewell to the South Island. Our 2 and half weeks there have seen us experience weather of every extreme: swimming from golden beaches in Abel Tasman; floods in Hokitika; the glaciers; snow in Queenstown; and all capped off by a beautiful weekend spent with the Mances in Christchurch. It has left lasting impressions on us all.
We had not met with Chris, Ceci, Kira, Maia and Luam for several years so we were pretty excited at the prospect of meeting up. From our arrival on Friday afternoon to bidding farewell on Monday morning we had loads of fun and they showed us some parts of their beautiful city which we would never have come across from a ‘Lonely Planet.’ Whilst a visit to Fred and Myrtles ‘Paua’ shell house introduced us to Kiwi eccentricity at its finest, our forearms are all still burning from our exertions at the ‘Clip and Climb’ climbing centre last Saturday. In the Mance madhouse, Maddie, Geo and Bugs negotiated a bed for 3 nights, whilst Lu and I took over the driveway- despite the best efforts of myself, Chris and a passing tree to take the roof off Elli as we reversed in. Thank god I opted for the no-excess insurance policy!

Skipping on Taylors Mistake.

By Monday Lu was ready for one of the highlights of her trip- swimming with the dusky dolphins. We ventured to Kaikoura, just North of Christchurch. When Flipper turned up, with 300 of his best mates, the 4.45am alarm call and the freezing cold water was long forgotten for what is undoubtedly a life-long memory.

5.00 am, freezing but ready...

Heres Flipper

Unfortunately, Bugs, Mads and I elected for the lie-in option so only Geo was there to share it with her.
En route, an impromptu coffee shop stop saw us acquire a serious 9 foot high piece of modern Maori sculpture, which may beat us back to Tonbridge. We are not sure yet where it is going to live but it seemed right at the time. I guess they must have put something extra in the latte.....

the ropeswing to Nowhere

We now head north as the Coromandel and Bay of Islands beckons
Adios, until next time
Andy and Lu

3 2 1 Jump

12 March, Timaru

Skimming stones at Hakitiki

Brrrrrrr- So winter finally hit’s us. After looking forward with some relish to Queenstown and it’s multitude of cool things to do, we got here Monday and were greeted with the majestic scene of snow capped mountains surrounding a deep blue lake- much like Geneva in appearance.

The road to Queenstown

What we didn’t anticipate however were the snow caps progressing steadily closer towards the town as we experienced Queenstown’s lowest ‘high’ March temperature on record. That’s pretty low considering this is an alpine winter ski resort! So we finally got a dose of what Europeans have been experiencing this winter, although in a campervan with a tiny heater and absolutely the wrong sort of clothing. When we ventured outside we pretty much wore everything we possess and looked like a family of Weebles as we darted from one warming coffee shop to another trying to resist the temptation of sticking new sets of winter clothing on the credit card. Bang went the ideas of mountain biking down the Remarkables, white water rafting and Bungee jumping- almost......
As we left town today in a gloriously annoying autumn sun, we drove past Kawarau Bridge bungee jump centre and inquisitiveness got the better of us. Within half an hour Maddie and Georgia were strapped up, Lu watched nervously fully expecting something to go disastrously wrong whilst Olivia was trying to convince the officials she too was 13- just a wee bit small. As soon as we work out the technology, we’ll put the movie on the blog. I’ll let them tell the story when we are back but they are psyched.
Prior to Queenstown, we had spent a very wet couple of days journeying through amazing Lord of the Rings country to the tiny town of Franz Joseph, where rainforest meets the spectacular Fox and Franz Joseph glaciers. Fortunately the storm clouds parted for long enough for us to take a 40 minute helicopter ride up both glaciers even allowing us to land and spend 10 minutes at the top of one of the ice fields, leaving our footprint of a family of snow angels. Truly a once in a lifetime experience. It certainly took care of the girls’ geography lesson for that day.
Two nights followed in the town of Wanaka which proved equally memorable as we discovered the only 5 star campsite of our trip- the luxury of heated bathroom floors and a spa overlooking an amazing mountain view! On the ice on Franz Joseph Glacier

It's a Puzzling World- Wanaka

With only 4 weeks to go before we get home, conversation and thoughts have turned to getting back to life in Tonbridge. Soberingly, Maddie and Georgia have just submitted their GCSE choices- god we must be so old!
Until next time
Andy and Lu

Who discovered England?

Queen Charlotte Sound

Kaiteriteri. March 3rd 2009.
Captain James Cook was a pretty impressive guy. He was the first European to chart New Zealand, beginning in 1769, and did so with such a degree of accuracy that his maps were still being used in the early 20th century. He also made a lasting impression on the indigenous Maori population. Having inhabited this land for some 400 years prior to Cook’s arrival and had only a fleeting (and fleeing) sight of white men-a Dutchman named Abel Tasman- prior to that, they named more places in New Zealand after him than all other individuals put together.
‘Well who discovered England then?’ asked Lu in response to this impromptu history lesson earlier today. My font of new found knowledge, due entirely to reading Michael Kings ‘Penguin History of New Zealand,’ unfortunately does not extend to this.
The time seems to be going very slowly here. Thinking to last blog update just before we arrived in Napier seems an awfully long time ago. Perhaps the attitude of Greg, the former Glasweigian barman who gave us a vineyard tour around Hawkes Bay, rubbed off on us. This guy must have been the most relaxed individual ever. He drove us around, talked to us occasionally and then took us to some of the most memorable places. He gets top marks.

Amazing mnountain landscaped vineyards in Hawkes Bay

Having spent a week making our way down through the north island to Wellington, we then spent a rather rainy 2 days in the capital city. We had picked up on the way that the main museum, Te Papa, was not to be missed. We were not disappointed as it was filled with really cool, interactive displays ranging from New Zealand’s volcanic and earthquake activity, to Maori culture and the history of immigration down here. Better than any school lesson we could have given the girls that day!

We are not alone....

Since leaving Wellington it feels like the sun has barely set. We are now on the south island in a time zone directly opposite to Northern Europe and about the same longitude south as Lisbon is north. Hopefully this is the start of an Indian summer- Kiwi style. Once again we have no strict plans as to whether we turn right or left at each junction we come to, but we seem to have arrived at Kaiteriteri at the entrance to the Abel Tasman National Park and are now staying on the beach, listening to the waves about 20m away. The little town of Nelson stopped us overnight yesterday and saw us go sea-kayaking this morning. All new for all of us. We had south soon.

Sea kayaking in Marlborough Sound

After we managed to get the laptop back in Wellington, we are back with some pics so have added a couple of extras.

Lady Knox Geyser

The Haka and geothermal pools near Rotorua

The 'Swoop'











Love to all

Lu and Andy