Kaikoura

13th October 05.32 am uk time 17.32 NZ Time

We took the ferry from Wellingtom over to Picton, the ferry journey was excellent and the scenery was very impressive. There were some weird and wonderful people on the ferry so we had a great laugh speculating on who they were and what they were doing.

The scenery as we approached Picton was out of this world, so much better than the North Island and we made the decision to come back here soon and spend more time on the south island. Picton was a lovely wee town, full of backpackers and vey friendly. We collected the car with no probs and were on our way. We took Highway 1 south towards Christchurch and stopped for lunch en route.

We landed here in Kaikoura, a fter a brief stop to look at some seals that were lying on the rocks by the roadside, some of them were not happy about being photographed but others posed happily.

We found the tourist info office and the very helpfull girl sorted out a great hotel for us, it's costing around £35 per room and is very nice, almost brand new and spotless. Susan and I have booked to swim with Dolphins tomorrow and T&J are joining the boat but not swimming - cowards.

The scenery is stunning round here, like a mixture of the West coast of Canada & Scotland, we really must return another time. Campervans seem to be the order of the day, the country is so geared up for campers.

Wellington

Not a lot to report today, we tidied the house and left fairly early. We drove down to Wellington through mist and rain, it was very like Scotland green and mountainous with mist and rain. Tom and I split the driving.
We arrived into Wellington by the port which was pretty dodgy looking but we found the ferry terminal and a very helpful young man that got us booked onto a ferry for tomorrow and agreed to look after our car until we found a hotel.
We walked round Wellington and found a Holiday Inn, typically I haggled for a better price, they started at 150 dollars, I offered 120 dollars and they suggested 135 dollars, I said we'll leave it so we ended up in the Hotel IBIS at 120 dollars, I have since realised that I was haggling over around £6 – not really worth it.
We had a really nice Indian meal and a wander round Wellington before settling back in the hotel as we have a really early start tomorrow morning.

Napier - Again!

As this is our last day in the house we had a morning cleaning the house.It was very exciting! Tom did really well on the ironing and I did - well nothing really!

After that we popped up to Napier as I really wanted a new pair of walking shoes, we had lunch then split up for a wander round. I got the shoes I wanted and then wandered round taking photographs of the art deco buildings. It was a lovely hot day so we sat in the park and watched the world go by.

We came back and I cooked tea then we packed the bags - not very exciting really!

I dont think we'll have inernet access for a while so this may be the last blog entry for a few days - sorry !!!

Havelock North Village

This is where we are staying

Rotarua

We went to Rotarua, the centre of Mauri culture. It was a long drive but well worth the journey. We started off in Te Puia with a demonstration of Mauri dances and fighting, it was short and interesting - just the way these things should be. When that finished we took a guided tour in the rain, thankfully we had been given huge white plastic jackets cos it was chucking down and despite these jackets we got absolutely soaked. The guide was a really funny guy and the talk and tour was interesting. We learned that people from NZ are called Kiwis, not after the bird but after the Shoe Polish. Soldiers from NZ were sent to fight in Europe in the 2nd world war, part of their kit was KIWI polish and other soldiers wanted this polish so they traded goods with them for the polish. After that people from NZ were called Kiwis.

The polish was invented by a Scotsman called Ramsay who moved to Australia and married a woman from NZ, he then called the polish after his wife. A bit of useless information for you all!

Maori culture is very interesting and they still follow many of the traditions today, it's weird seeing 2 completely different races in one country, it is so obvious who is of Maori decent and who is european, I know that seems an obvious statement but it is quite weird and I cant help but wonder if they are really hacked off with the Brits for colonising their land. I've never had the courage to ask as they are pretty scary people!

In Rotorua they have a hot spring where the water comes out of the ground at 90 degrees c and many commercial pools and spas have sprung up along side the town. After getting so wet we decided to have a soak in the pool and even tried to get a massage but they were fully booked. We sat and bathed outside in 40 degrees c with the rain falling down, it was really relaxing.

We stopped for a meal in Taupo where we had been the other day, we found a nice steak restaurant where a pub quiz was being played, we ended up helping the guys at the next table, we managed the questions like "who is a famous Scottish poet whos birthday is in January" . I was a bit offended when they asked a question relating to the 80's and said c'mon it's your decade. It was my decade but I dont like to be reminded.

It was a really great and relaxing day

Wine Tasting

No photos to day - sorry. Te wine tasting didn't lend itself to photographs, the fact that it was right at the end of the season and all the grapes had been collected, the wine made and bottled - there was nothing to photograph.

We chose a specific winery which Susan and Jenny knew about, it was just up he road in Hastings and we chose it because it had a nice restaurant too. The plan was a nice relaxing lunch and a wine tour, great! The restaurant was one of these places where you pay more and get less, poor Tom thought that his main course was just an appetizer and finished it in seconds, mine was the most substantial of the lot and still wasn't a great deal. It took ages to get served and we almost missed the tour, had to ask that the start time be delayed.

The tour was quite interesting,even for a non drinker like me, it is a pity that there was not more happening but we now know all about wine production. This particular winery use their facilities to process Olive Oil in the off season so at least something was happening.

After the tour we had a walk round Hastings, not a lot happening there so we headed back to Havelock North for a coffee and more supermarket shopping - supermarkets are beginning to become the basis of this trip.

Tomorrow Rotarua, hopefully more photographs!

Taupo

We decided to head inland to Taupo, a lovely little town on a huge lake. It was the first day of bad weather, we drove through cloud and eventually landed in rain. Taupo is a popular spot with travellers and you can bungee jump and do various other high Adrenalin activities, not that we did. The Tourist office suggested that we do a boat trip to see some Mauri drawings which we agreed was a good idea.

The boat didn't leave for a couple of hours so we drove up to look at some waterfalls, had a bite to eat (I wont say what we had 'cos somebody doesn't want to know what we eat!) then headed back to the boat.

The rain and wind started as soon as we left dock so we got decked out in bright yellow waterproofs and all felt a bit stupid. The Captain was a fine lad, quite informative and interesting, we sailed out to the rock drawings that some people say have been there for years but he said they had been etched 26 years ago - who knows! Tom managed to offend most of the other people on the boat, first he said "Ching Ching" pretending to drink a glass of champagne, not realising that a Chinese Man was behind him, he then said "look no Hans" when a German couple were within Earshot, Jenny was none too pleased!

After we left the boat we had a wander round the town then drove home, stopping once again at the supermarket. The people here are so nice, even the wee lassies that pack the bags in the shop were asking where we came from, when I said Scotland, one said "Oh I love Scotland", have you been there I said, "no" was the reply!

Tom is cooking Tea !!

Cape Kidnapper

Wtoe set off for a day at Cape Kidnapper, a nice stretch of beach where we were told it is possible to go and see thousands of Gannets at close range. We were looking forward to a walk along the beach and some interesting photographs. The beach was closed as the Gannets were still breeding so that put that idea in the bin. We had a cup of coffee and mulled over the options. We decided to have a walk as far as we could, not really far - just about a mile or so then we turned back. The walk took us through a caravan site which had some interesting street names; Coronation Street and Ramsay Street to name a couple.

The weather was fantastic, clear blue skies, very warm with a sea breeze to help with the temperature. After our walk we had Lunch.

After lunch we set off for Te Mata Peak a national Park with a huge hill. We chose to drive up most of the way then walk to the summit, we might return later for a longer walk when we are more prepared for the day out. The views were stunning from the top as you can see.

I was persuaded to go for a Thai Curry for dinner, it was actually not too bad, very spicy and I couldn't finish it but quite tasty then we went to the cinema to see the Bourne Ultimatum, a great film but Susan fell asleep, she blamed it on the fact that the guy next to her had removed his shoes! The cinema was tiny, only 4 rows of seats and a total of 12 people there. I was fascinated by the toilets, you had a choice of Male, Female or Paraplegic - very PC!