Napier 6th October

Today we went up the road a few miles to a town called Napier to see the Art Deco architecture. Just after we arrived I realised that my camera battery was dead and I was so annoyed with myself. Anyway, we were faced with Kilted Bagpipe players who played various Scottish tunes like Flower of Scotland, Highland Cathedral etc - it was very bizarre.

We booked ourselves onto the tour of the Art Deco buildings at 2.00pm and then went for a walk round, found a Farmers Market which was rather lacking in farmers but we managed to buy a pot of Jam and a few fruit drinks - exciting ehhh!

We had a quick walk round town and found a nice cafe for Lunch, the gay waiter took a fancy to Tom - this happens very often.

The tour was really interesting; Napier was pretty much destroyed by an earthquake in 1931 and the whole town was rebuilt in 2 years, as Art Deco was the style of the time most of the buildings were built using this style. We are all now experts on Art Deco and easily spotted the typical design features such as Speed Lines, Zig Zags, Sun Bursts and Zigaretes. We were shown round by a very enthusiastic man called Leigh who dresses up in typical costume of the 1930s when they have revival weekends. There was a woman called Dorothy from Beverly in Yorkshire on the tour and she took quite a fancy to Leigh we think. It was quite strange to see pretty much a whole town that still looked like the 1930's.

After stopping at the supermarket for a few little bits we came home where Susan cooked a lovely salmon dish for us.

5th October

Havelock North 5th October 9.22pm local time

We've had a really relaxing day today, we had a stroll through the village of Havelock North, it is a very well off area with loads of coffee shops and delicatessens and other nice shops. Very relaxed and friendly, we even managed to find some nice dogs to talk to. Sat and had drinks outside a coffee shop, watched old women trying to park, wandered round a little and bought some food for dinner.

We came back to the house and as the weather was so good we sat on the deck eating lunch and then read our books for the rest of the afternoon.

I cooked dinner and then it was an early bed, we are off to Napier to see the Art Deco houses tomorrow, weather looks changeable for the week so we'll do it when it is dry.

The House

The house is stunning, Architect designed in a kind of Mediterranean style. Built in a horse shoe shape with the bottom end looking over the town to the mountains beyond. Each "leg" of the house has a bedroom so we are well apart from each other and the main living area is at the bottom of the U shape. The middle is a central courtyard laid out nicely. Our room has a huge master bathroom with massive shower, the only thing is that the outside wall is of glass bricks -Susan doesn't seem to think that anyone would be interested in watching me shower so not to worry.

Every gadget required is available including a well laid out kitchen with every appliance needed.

Susan has managed to fuse the lights already but it was easily fixed in the fuse box.

Auckland Sky City and Journey

We checked out of the hotel and headed to the sky city - the large needle shaped building in the middle of town. People jump off here tied to rubber bands, not us though. A couple of people jumped when we were watching and it did look quite good fun. After that we went back to the hotel and took a taxi to the car hire place.

It was a lovely drive down, very like Scotland, green and mountanous. Tom and I split the drive but he did more than me.

The house is lovely, we were shown round by the neigbours and settled in quickly. We then took a drive down to the villa and got a little shopping then found a nice restaurant for dinner. It seems a lovely place, very village like and friendly. We are going to have a walk round tomorrow.

This is a picture of the 4 of us on the Sky Tower.

Tirau

This lovely wee town of Tirau has public toilets in the shape of a sheep and a dog, this is the dog, some debate as to whether it is a pig or not. We stopped for Lunch

Sky Tower at night

Taken this evening on our way to get an Indian Meal

Auckland Wednesday night

Auckland, 4th October

Well, I was right, we did get up at 2am, Susan got back to Sleep but I didnt so I am flagging a little now but we are just off to eat now.

It's been an interesting day – we went on a tour of Auckland on a bus that you get on and off as you please. The rain started so we stayed on and did the whole city tour then went back to the things that wanted to see. It was a good way to see the city and kept us dry. We ended up at a museum where Susan was frog marched off the premises – ok I exaggerate for effect! She bought a bottle of water from a machine but after drinking half of it was told that she was not allowed to drink it in the museum. (seems they are happy to sell it but not allow you to drink it) a foreign woman in uniform escorted her to the exit where she was allowed to drink it, she chucked it in the bin anyway.
After that we walked through a district called Parnell which was really nice as the sun had appeared again, stopped for coffee and then got the bus to an old electric station converted to a shopping area. A bit arty and hippy, Tom even contemplated buying candles to stick in the lugs which are meant to be a cure for everything. He didnt!
I bought a new carry on case and 3 t-shirts.

Auckland

Auckland 4.51 pm
We are knackered, really tired. Had lunch and a walk round Auckland to try and keep awake, it's important to try and get back into the correct time zone so it was our intention to stay up until 9pm, that was brought back to 8pm and now at 5pm we are really considering going to bed. The problem is that we'll end up waking up at 5am tomorrow morning and then be tired by tomorrow afternoon.
Auckland is a really nice city, friendly, unhurried and full of interesting buildings. We'll be going on a tour tomorrow to get our bearings before we head out alone expolring.
Off to bed

Auckland

Tuesday 12.00 mid day – Auckland NZ
The flight was ok, shorter than we expected at only 10 hours and it seemed to pass quite quickly, I think the others are flagging but we seem to be quite awake for now. The flight did not fall out of the sky as suggested by the Air Hostess so that was a relief but it was very bumpy at times to the point that they delayed serving food and hot drinks in case they ended up over people.
Some famous Rugby team were on the flight with us and when we arrived at Auckland there was a huge welcome party for them, I thought it was for us! The people are so friendly, they offer free drinks as you wait for baggage and everyone is so friendly, not like the US. There was sniffer dogs running round the baggage carousel so that was interesting and they picked some poor bloke out – the dog fancied something in his pocket, the handler could hardly contain him.
The hotel is lovely, a typical business chain but good room and great shower. We are meeting T&J 1.00pm for a lunch and wander round.

The Flight

04.00 AM 10.6 kilometres above the earth between Manado and Koror (wherever they are), I think we are on a path to pass by the east coast of Australia. The seat back television keeps us in touch with the flight path, just noticed that the equator is not too far away, I've never been across the equator and apparently “equator virgins” get stripped and covered in goose fat, that should be fun!
After we got to the cruising altitude (or at least I think we were there), the seatbelt sign was still on and I was needing a pee, I asked this Chinese Air Hostess when the light would be switched off as I was needing to go to the toilet, she said it was ok just to go but to be careful. She followed me up the plane saying (say this in a Chinese accent) “it can be dangerous in toilet, sometimes on this rote airplane falls from sky due to air pockets and it possible to hit head on roof, you no want to be in toilet when that happens. “ I did point out that if that happened the best place might be the toilet 'cos I'd probably have an accident – dont think she got the joke.
We've been fed, watered and are now occupying ourselves with movies and books.6 hours 24 mins to go

HK Airport

4.00pm Local time Hong Kong Airport
We had a great sleep and as the hotel was so good we decided to book up again for our return trip. We had a few hours to kill so we wandered round HK. Well, actually I got the address wrong, we hopped in a taxi and ended up at a conference then had to take the underground back to within 5 mins of the hotel. We found a huge shopping centre and I went on my quest to find a Sony Bluetooth Watch, after around 10 shops that didn't have it I found that it has not been released in HK yet.
We walked back to the hotel then took a taxi to the airport. The guy drove at 140 kph all the way with his radar detector going mad, poor Tom almost wet himself!
HK is so hot and muggy and apparently this is quite cool. We are sweating buckets here.
Currently at the airport and waiting for our flight which is in 2 hours time. Another 12 hours in the air.

View from hotel window

A little hazy but incredibly warm and muggy

Food and sleep

Well we found a nice italian called Fat Angelos which was really good, I was worried about eating a fried cat or something but the pizza was great. The hotel is not in the real centre of town but a nice neighbourhood and everything is so cheap! We left a 6 pound tip and the waitress came back to say it was too much, she seemed stunned when we said no just keep it. HK is a really bizarre place, kind of like Britain but also a little like China - I am so well known for my profound statements. It is odd to se such a mixture of brits and chinese living so close.

The evening finished with Tom arriving at the door wearing just his white pants and free hotel slippers saying something about Tennis - he must have taken up the drink!

Going for a quick look round the area before we head back to the airport for the next 12 hour flight. Tomorrow we arrive in Auckland at 6am local time. Hopefully we can get into the hotel early at least for a shower. I am hoping that I can send some pics from somewhere. The hotel PC wont let me connect my camera and I cant get the laptop on to wifi.

Here at last

Well finally we landed at Hong Kong after a hell of a long time in the air. Air NZ were great though, the service and food were excellent but it was still a cramped economy class seat. Tom and Jenny managed quite a lot of sleep, Susan managed a few hours and I managed an hour or so.

HK Airport is great, very new and modern, we took the airport train to HK central then caught a cab for the 15 min journey. I was put in the front and I eventually managed to figure out that the cabs dont have brakes on the passenger side. However, the driver got us to the right place (almost - wrong hotel but just next door) for around 5 pounds including tip. Our luggage was hanging out the boot held down by rope - all very exciting. HK is a stunning city, full of sky scrapers but seems safe and friendly.

The hotel is modern and clean, we upgraded the room for an extra 10 pounds each to a "big" room, would hate to see the smaller ones! We seem to be having a second wind, on the plane I'd have given anything to lie down - now I probably wont sleep so we are going out for a meal then early to bed. We only have a few hours in HK tomorrow before we have to go back top the airport for our next 12 hours to NZ. We'll probably stay here again when we return in 3 weeks time. I am hoping for a little gadget shopping before we go and Susan has discovered tat she brought an empty sunglas case but no glasses so she'll look for them.

Sorry there is no photo here, I sent the last few from my mobile but I cant get the camera to connect to the hotel computer. I'll upload more later.