Wellington

As we drove south the traffic has got progressively heavier. We had to pay to park the car today - in Wellington, and we had to deal with things like traffic lights, which have not been very evident so far. We've done Te Papa, and the next decision is where to eat. It's an early start tomorrow, to get an early ferry over to south island.

The nice man at the motel had a no vacancy sign up- the first one we've seen. But he thought we had booked 4 rooms.....

Sandcastle Motel

We've holed up for a couple of days north of Wellington, on the Tasman sea. A dramatic coast, sweeping sand beaches, lots of sea and, of course, spectacular sunsets. The beaches are deserted, apart from the odd 4x4
the sandcastle motel was built by the present owner about 30 years ago. It's almost on the beach, and looks like a sandcastle, or Luke Skywalker's house if you follow the genre.

We arrived in a rainstorm. But today has been increasingly lovely and we are about to eat dinner, listening to the waves crash on the beach.

Some very odd birds around, too.

Lake Wairarapa

More stunning scenery. Now in a motel in the dunes on the west coast, watching the rain fall over the Tasman sea.

Wildlife and south

The Mount Bruce Wildlife Centre is the Department of Conservation's effort at preserving a viable popuation of Kiwis (The furry bird) and other endangered wildlife, so we thought it was worth a pop on the way down. We arrived about 1PM,and the nice lady behind the till said that their white Kiwi - the only one inthe world - was about to go to sleep so would we like to run in and see it and yes, we could pay later. So we did. How often would that happen in the UK?!

We were introduced to native eels, Kakas,and a lot of other stuff- all being readied for release into what little remains of the native bush on North Island. Kakas - large, odd looking parrots - are especially delightful birds

And the n on to Masterton. We've spent the early evening reading in the sunshine, eaten a salad. The Motel rooms are adequate - decent double bed, sturdy chair, good bathroom and cooking facilities, only this one doesn't have any cooking.

We stopped off in a tiny little two-bit town on the way  - with a goreous example of Kiwi thouhtfulness at one end of the main street - a large red sign

WRONG WAY

it proclaimed.

And it was right.The shenanigens needed to get back onto the state highway were protracted.

State Highways are lovely two lane roads. One lane in each direction. They are lovely because you need about one car per 10 minutes. In the rush hour...

I'd pt a picture up, but the computer isn't recognising the SD card.....

Gannets (revisited)

Cape Kidnappers, jus down from Napier, is the biggest Gannet colony in world accessible by land fro human habitation.. And the only way to get there is 9 km along a beach, squeezed between low and high tide by tractor, and then km back. Great fun, very rough and lots of gannet pictures. Was able to stand right next to the birds, and they didn't bat a beak at me.

 Then off to Te Mata; a huge hill with stunning views across most of Hawkes Bay

The local chip shop provided the evening meal. I had garlic king prawns (and chips!), with a perfectly respectable salad. washed down with a local Hawke's Bay red. The place is crawling with vineyards.

I am falling around wih the kiwi sense of humour.

Card in a shop: "Old age is in the mind, The trip is to stop it seeping down into your body"

But we are still jet lagged, and need to sleep early!

Good news- got my phone working, so can post some pictures to the blog easily :-)

Down under where the swans are black...

..and men walk on the ceiling.

Been busy in Napier  - Art Deco Trail, some fantastic buildings and lots of pictures. Managed to sunburn myself slightly - can't get my head around the christmas decorations in the shops and the heat. Hawkes Bay has its own microclimate which is hotter than most of th rest of NZ.

Also managed to find and record our own first anticlockwise sundial, which is quite a thing for Mark- I've been wanting to spot one of those for years. Pure geek.

We went shopping for supper tonight, intending to eat it, but discovered that the local "chippy", which is actually a fresh fish outlet for the Hawke's Bay fishery, offers real fresh fish and chips for less than foe wet fish cost. Ideas for what to do with several bunches of asparagus on a postcard, please.

Road sign of the day: "Merge like a Zip". How are you supposed to drive after reading that?

Card ot the day: Good friends are like thighs. They stick together most of the time.

I like the kiwi humour.

North Island

We now  have internet properly - we've moved to Napier, on the east coast, in a motel. Wet morning, but it's now HOT and SUNNY and I can't get my head around it being nearly Deceber. I'm sitting in the motel room in short sleeves - the door is open, and Sarah is dozing on the bed. 

We spent wednesday doing geothermal stuff - absolutely fascinating geysers, and ponds of all different colours - particularly memorable was a large and smelly lime green one

Really weird vegetation - We did Huka Falls near taupo today and went for a walk, We came across a bird making a noise like a squeaky gate, and the tree ferms (all the native species are evergreen) are really weird

The scenery on the drive  from Rotorua to Napier is stunning. Just endless miles of fantastic vistas. We did volcanic stuff yesteray with John and Rob, and met up with our old friends Dave and Denise from Loughborough for  a natter before they went off for a Hangi in some Maori village. We were all in Rotorua last night

Tomorrow we stay in Napier, and do the art deco trails.The centre of Napier wasflattened in a earthquake in the 1930s, and was rebuilt inart deco style. Napier has its ownmicroclimate, and it's currently hot and sunny. The motel is clean and lovely, so we're al very happy.

The shops have christmas decs in,and sarah has set her heart on bringing back a sparkly kiwi to hang on ours.

Rotorua

Hairy Tropical Thunderstorm in Singapore delayed our arrival there, and the take off, but a 100mph tail wind across Australia got us to Auckland in record time. In half an hour early - which was good, because 22 hours of flight is enough, in my humble opinion. NZ is a LONG WAY!!

Sarah thought Singapore was hot and humid.I agreed!

Collected at the airport, efficiently, by John and Rob, collected the car - again efficient, a smart little Toyota Corolla, and a slow drive across gorgeous grassland  - dairy country  - to Rotorua. We stopped en route at a Garden Centre for coffee, which could have been Percy Thrower's in Shrewsbury, except for the exotic vegetation on sale. The Flat Whites are very reviving, and Sarah has had several today.

Slept like a log, and woke to some strange sounding bird noises.

Today, Tuesday, has been volcanic pools and Maori culture in Rotorua. All in balmy early summer climate. The roses are out, the skies are blue, it's warm: probably shorts weather.

We can get cheap deals on the Rugby World cup too - everyone is still wearng All Black shirts. Lovely thing to bind a nation together.

Ah well, off to a afe on top of a mountain shortly. Then it's early bed.

Monument to capitalism

We made terminal 3, and we rejoice in perfume

from my phone

The search for stuff to read

The never ending search for stuff to read on the flight(s). I've been putting this off (and so has Sarah).

Steve Jobs' Bio, by Walter Isaacson is, of course, for a geek, a must read. So I bought that. Then I got hold of "Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know", Ranulph Fiennes' Autobio.

But what next? A bit of serendipitous browsing led me to Captain Cooke's Journals (we're walking from Ship Cove via Furneaux something to somewhere else - Queen Charlotte Sound was clearly used a fair bit during the early explorations - Furneaux commanded HMS Adventure, which accompanied Cooke in 1773) so Project Gutenberg delivered those for not very much and bits of them will be well worth reading.

Don't feel I'm quite there though....

Suitcases

There's a suitcase on the floor of our bedroom. It's got a little friend- a daysac. And in the suitcase is an ever increasing pile of clothing. Living for 5 weeks out of 20kg + 5kg is going to be "interesting", especially since the 20kg includes a netbook and camera gear and so on.

I've also just realised that 24 hours + 4 hours on the plane involves 4 consecutive in-flight meals. I might well be pining for a Satsuma (or should it be a Kiwifruit) when we land. But, allegedly, Singapore Air are very very good.

The nice Car Hire people dropped me an email reminding me I was paying them lotsa wonga for a nice car, which was, actually, rather good of them.

Getting slightly excited.. I also realised that I have never crossed the equator before (I suspect Sarah hasn't either)