An NZ Christmas, much warmer than the UK

Having completed the rabbit hutch, we had time to enjoy the run up to Christmas Day so we fitted in a joint family trip to wander round a private arboretum created over the last fifty years and containing some rare specimens as well as a trip to Te Mata peak by car and Duart House gardens in HN.
Christmas Day saw us at Mass in HN with all the family and we had a lovely dinner of cooked ham and salads on a neighbour's deck with magnificent views towards Napier. The kids loved the rabbit hutch and really enjoyed the day after a walk in Te Mata park to some magnificent redwood trees. It was a loit warmer than UK t about 24C.

Beach Safari to Gannet Colony, Cape Kidnappers

We drove to Clifton to the start of the Beach Safari to Cape Kidnappers to see the gannet colony. What a fabulous trip! You ride on a farm trailer pulled by a 1946 Minneapolis Molin Tractor, petrol not diesel, along the shore for 9Km dodging the tide and rocks and stopping every so often to learn more about the strata or the wonderful birds. At the end of the ride ther is a stiff climb up to the plateau where these graceful and faithful birds nest. We were able to get really close and see their affectionate greetings when they return to the nest as well as hovering against the very stiff breeze. The kids all enjoyed it and it was worth every cent. It should also be noted that although over 60 years old, the tractors started promptly and ran strongly, never missing a beat.

Keirunga Park Miniature Railway

Sunday saw us at Keirunga Park, a short walk from Rachel and Bill's house. This is the location for a superb miniature railway capable of running three scales and having a most imaginative layout with tunnels, and both concrete and wooden viaducts with a total distance of over 800yds. It is truly a wonder to behold and maybe the fifth in the world of such railways able to carry the public. The image shows the founder's diesel-electric loco which looks fabulous and has a "Mars" swivelling red light which exactly models the full scale loco's lamp's motion.

Wellington, A windy city with cable cars and modern trolleybuses

We spent Monday at Woodford House helping Rachel to clear out her stock room and Tuesday in Hastings Christmas shopping.
The first final assembly at the kid's school was cancelled 3 minutes after it started due to heavy rain,(it was outside!) so we attended the second on Tuesday evening in the hall and watched Jack collect his leaving certificate.
Wednesday at 1pm saw us collect the children in two cars to drive to Wellington. The trip was OK after a slight directional error was corrected and we arrived at the highly rated YHA hostel about 6.30pm. The next day saw us at Te Papa the remarkable National Museum after which we took the famous cable car to the Botanical Gardens with remarkable views and an excellent free cable car museum. Wellington is well known for it's public cable car but also for a number of private ones ascending from Oriental Parade and it's modern trolleybuses all being less than two years old. The weather was quite windy in the evenings so we had to wrap up a bit for a stroll.
We left the YHA in good time to visit the Weta Cave which displays the special effestc from Peter Jackson's films such as Lord of the Rings and then travel home via Paraparoumu where we met Bill's remarkable 90 year old Aunty Ruth in her retirement village. It was an easy trip back from there.
Saturday saw us doing project work before taking the kids to a free performance of Amahl and the Night Visitors at Hastings Opera House in the evening.

Cricket, Lovely Cricket

Saturday saw us watching Lucy and her team playing at Guthrie Park. They lost but the two Lucys, R&K, both won player of the day and I took some photos of the team for school. Later we were on gardening duty and I repaired Aldo's wheelbarrow after Bill repaired the puncture, in true NZ No 8 wire fashion, the wire having come from the UK in Bill's toolbox.
Sunday saw us at Maclean Park, Napier to watch the Black Caps play Pakistan in the Test Match, third day. It was a one ticket price with open access to all stands so we were in the shade and comfortable as well as being very relaxed. You could park almost next door and it was a very enjoyable experience.

A Caterpillar experience in a video and a lake walk

We wanted to revisit Rotorua without the Mauri and tacky tourist stuff so we visited the Caterpillar experience. This shows old Caterpillar equipment in very lifelike settings as well as official NZ videos of the fifties which were very interesting on their own being bound up with the countries agricultural and timber history. Better still we were offered a discount and asked to be in a promo video as well as a free lunch. Later we walked round the lake marvelling at the thermal sulphurous pools before coming back through the rose gardens.

A delightful sail on Lake Taupo and a trip to Smash Palace

After coffee in the famous MacDonalds Dakota DC3, we had a delightful sail on the Barbary, a ketch built in California in 1926 with a history including Errol Flynn. There were three other Aussie ladies one of whom had done a lot of travelling in the bush. The sail took us to see some amazing Mauri rock carvings done some 30 years ago in a very inaccessible place.
The next day we had a fantastic trip across the Rangiroro desert road to the Horopito vintage vehicle scrap yard, the largest and oldest in Australasia. They have got parts for seemingly every type of car and could well be useful for UK restorers. The place got its name from a film made there called Smash Palace.

A Santa Parade and NZ Aviation Pioneers at MOTAT

On Saturday, we spent a relaxed day with Chris and Emma following the coastal walkway to Mairangi with a nice lunch and a bus trip back and on Sunday watched the Santa parade in Brown's Bay. The parade,featured hot rods and custom cars, popular here; uniformed groups, cubs with long range water pistols; school groups and lots of Koreans so it took over an hour to pass and created a great buzz in the town. Santa himself arrived in a yellow Mini Moke decorated with tinsle but my photo was too poor to be shown here.
We said goodbye early on Monday morning and went to the transport museum in Auckland(MOTAT), a split site with an ex Melbourne tram connecting the two. I was fascinated with the section on two aviation pioneers. Richard Pearse was a reclusive farmer on South Island who developed a very advanced convertiplane and may have beaten the Wright Bros to first flight but is almost unknown outside NZ. Jean Batten broke many records in the thirties and led a colourful life but sadly also became a recluse. Later we had a pleasant drive in warm sunshine to Taupo.

Kaikohe, Opononi and Dargaville, Stationary engines and sand dunes

We left Paihia and went to Kaikohe and visited the heritage park. This is a collection of relocated old buildings filled with collectibles as well as lots of farm machinery and many stationary engines in various barns and in different states. It was nice to wander round and then make our way west to Opononi where we saw the huge sand dunes across the harbour. After a scenic walk we continued in hot weather to Waipoua forest famous for Kauri trees and stopped to walk to Tane Mahouta the largest tree which dwarfs the others and is about 1500 years old, a magnificent specimen. Later we drove down to Dargaville and went to the museum on a bluff overlooking a huge wide sweep of a river. It was excellent with a good gum diggers section, after which we had dinner at Joe's cafe aand continued through heavy rain to arrive with Chris and Emma at 8pm, another lovely day.

Cape Reinga, Gumdigger's Park and Ninety Mile Beach

We caught the Dune Rider trip to Cape Reinga and after morning tea we went to Gumdigger's Park where Kauri gum was obtained from ancient Kauri trees buried in swampland, the resin coming from a break or wound solidified and could be harvested in worthwhile quantities and used to make solvents. The term gumboots arises from the invention of Wellington boots in rubberized form being used in deep swamps for this job. After this we started the drive up to the Cape. The landscape is very impressive with quite high hills used for pasture, not the low flat area we had expected. The drive was quite exciting in the adapted Hino lorry with coach body that has excellent ground clearance and ramp angles.
Arriving at the car park we walked the half mile along a well made landscaped gravel path to the lighthouse in sunshine and mist so the views were, er, misty. We departed for the best bit of the trip so far, sand boarding at Te Paki sand dunes. We drove through grassy parkland and could see the enormous dunes in front of us so we drove down the narrow twisting tarmac road to come out at the bottom of the dunes, the vehicle following the edge of the dunes along a shallow wide fresh water stream until the sand widened out enough for us to get out and climb the dunes to sand board down. I got out but did not sand board but they are not that fast and I would have a go again. The better boarders sped down the dune and across the hard level base through the shallow water for about 20-30 yds. The distance down the stream to the 90 mile beach was 2 miles and at the sea we turned south to follow the beach out of the water for about 40 miles on hard sand simply following another similar vehicle. It was awesome and legal for buses, but not hire cars! After that we left the 90 mile beach and headed for the Kauri shop where a giant ancient tree section has been cut and formed into a solid staircase inside a shop, awesome again. The next and last item on this superb day trip was a visit to the best fish and chip shop in NZ, where we had the freshest blue nose at Mangonui before arriving back at The Anchorage just fater 6pm, a wonderful day.

Our trip to Northland, First three days

We dropped the kids at school on Monday morning and drove via Taupo where we saw a Dakota aircraft outside MacDonalds, continuing to Tacapuna outside Auckland where we had booked into a holiday park.
Later we had dinner with Roger and Margaret after a walk round the bluff at Devenport. Next day we had a super breakfast at Browns Bay with R&M before continuing North to Whangerei where we stopped for a break and visited the excellent Clapham Clock Museum. We had a personal guided tour and admired the crane like object outside which was in fact a giant sun dial gnomon, see image. Accommodation was at Atlantic Lodge in Paihia, recommended by R&M not far from Russell in the Bay of Islands that we enjoyed so much in Feb.
The next day, Wednesday, we visited the Waitangi Treaty Grounds where the treaty of 1840 was signed with the Mauri leaders, putting in perspective the birth of the nation. We enjoyed this very much and after lunch went to nearby Kawakawa an old mining town famous for its Modern Art public loos designed by Austrian artist, Hundertwasser and restored steam railway which goes up the middle of the high street. Luckily we saw a diesel loco hauling a wagon of fire wood along this street, not a common sight these days! I was invited to wander round the workshops to see the renovation in hand. Gabriel, the steam loco was built in 1927 in Bristol by a company called Peckett, part of an order for 5 locos from Sarawak, later cancelled. We finished the day with a stroll along the sea front at Paihia and a look in the earliest church built in NZ, now shared with the catholics, a very interesting day.

Ruby's party

We attended Mass at Our Lady of Lourdes in Havelock North where we had been welcomed in February. Later we helped everybody get ready for Ruby's party which went very well, helped by Rachel's fantastic ice cream cake and other wonderful creations. Star of the show was Harry, a lovely chocolate labrador ,who collected one of the kids with his master. Later we had a bar b cue with Steff and family. Lucy's friend Ellie was also a star with the younger kids. We all had a super day in the lovely NZ sunshine.

Saturday Sport and Ocean Beach, a typical New Zealand weekend.

Saturday morning saw us at Windsor Park with Lucy attending her school cricket match which they won to the total joy of the lady coach. All the kids had a go with a slightly softer version of the normal ball and proper length wicket. Some of the kids had peculiar bowling action but even the little ones and some were very little indeed bowled overarm. Still it was great to see their enthusiasm and the half time strawberries were simply awesome, a popular word in these parts. Later we caught up with Rachel at Jack's softball match in another park while Bill was coaching Ruby's class in cricket at the school. As I said, it's all go here.
After lunch there was a little rain but went to Ocean Beach for a swim which turned into sand castle building with other kids, there being RIPS warning signs on the beach.

It's all go in Havelock North

Bill has now got a job with a local packaging company so I donned my chauffeur's cap to take Bill to work as well as taking the children to school and collecting them. In between, we went to Napier on Wednesday and Friday. Napier was destroyed in an earthquake in 1931 and was rebuilt in Art Decco style and has recently become a tourist destination. The Hawkes Bay area on the east coast of North Island enjoys a mediterranean climate and is a fruit,veg and wine growing area. It reminds us of the area near Nimes in South West France.
On Thursday we went to Cape Kidnappers to investigate a trip to the world famous gannet colony but because the tide was coming in we had to walk along the shingle having enjoyed coffee with a young Dutch couple on a round world trip. Later we visited the British Car Museum, which is a large collection of British cars in need of restoration but neatly stacked. It boasts of 36 Morris Minors, but why?

Around the world, again!!

Here we are,again, in New zealand. Followers of this blog will remember that I signed off in April 2009 after a wonderful trip which we will never forget.
Two days after we returned we were back at Heathrow but this time with two cars, 8 people and 10 cases to say goodbye to Rachel, Bill & family who were flying out to start their new life in Havelock North, North Island which we had visited in February on our trip. Followers will be pleased to know that they have settled in very well and the kids are enjoying their new school.
To cut a long story short we decided to visit them for Christmas and travelled out on November 21st to take advantage of cheaper fares at that time of the year. We actually enjoyed the trip and didn't feel too tired when we finally arrived.

The End, A Fantastic Trip

We had a pleasant flight back to Heathrow and David very kindly collected us and took us back to Southborough. Many thanks to him. We had a fantastic trip and were fortunate to do so many different things, go to so many different places and meet so many interesting people, some of whom we visited at their own homes.

The top things were:

Spending time with Emily and Robbie
Visiting Havelock North where Rachel and Bill are going to live
Helming the Tucker Thompson in the Bay of Islands
Cruising on Doubtful Sound
Watching Jensen win the Australian GP and the whole GP meeting
Watching the sunrise and sunset at Ayers Rock and the whole red centre experience

Would we go back? You bet!

Singapore, another GP city circuit and cats that fish in the night

What a city Singapore is!. We arrived late on Tuesday night and spent the next day on a city tour which included the fabulous orchid section of the Botanical Gardens and a trip on the Flyer, the Singapore version of the London Eye from which you can see the start finsh straight and pits of the GP circuit directly underneath.

The next day we went to the Batttle Box on Fort Channing, an undergound WW2 bunker from where the decision was made to surrender to Japan in 1942, a very moving place with excellent animatronics. Last night we took the Night Safari tour a night time tour of jungle with wild animals visible in very low light conditions. We saw many different animals including rats the size of sheep and cats that fish, really.

Today we visited the National Museum of Singapore, a fabulous building witha new extension where we saw the history section and an excellent display of the french haute cuture and theatre costumier, Christian Lacroix. which was stunning. We are now getting ready to fly home after a superb trip.

Fed Square and Bugattis in the NGV

A quiet day after all the previous GP excitement. Went to Fed Square to see the advanced architecture, a very nice river cruise to the docklands and back where we saw a tram that thought it was a boat.
Highlight of the day was the Bugatti exhibition in the NGV showing three generations of the family's art, sculpture, furniture and cars, fabulous. We are saying goodbye to Robbie and Emily today to begin our journey home via Singapore, watch this space. We have had a wonderful time in OZ, the country's a true ripper!
Last but not least, many thanks to Em and Robbie for a super time, we will be back!

All Buttoned up. Brawn 1-2 at Albert Park

We got to the circuit at about 1pm arriving in time to watch the Super Gas V8s. There was a great buzz during the build up to the actual GP. Very moving was the parade of the fire vehicles and Firies the fire fighters who were involved in the recent terrible Victorian bush fires and which were used as parade vehicles for the F1 drivers. Please note that Jensen personally waved to Angela through the safety fence, not once but three times!
The race itself went exactly to plan for the Brits. Jensen leading from start to finish after a brilliant start and was not troubled by any other driver. The safety car came out when Nakajima went in the wall and Jensen went in to the pits to refuel. Lewis gradually worked his way up the order as other people fell out and finished fourth. Later he was promoted to third after Trulli was penalized for passing Lewis under the safety car regs. Rubens finished second after coming in late to the pits and benefitted from a stupid move by Kubica on Vetel which only succeeded in taking them both off, as my Dad would have said, Kubica to the headmaster’s office tomorrow morning. Later Vetel was penalized rather than Kubica. Massa also made a rare mistake and hit a wall while Heikki retired with a mechanical problem early on. Ferrari fared badly with Kimi also retiring three laps from the end.
All in all, a fantastic day for the Brits, a one-two for a new Brit team and Brit drivers in P1&4 but not so good for our friends in Woking who were obviously struggling in qualifying. Game On in Malaysia next weekend!!

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A fantastic day for British Motorsport, Button on Pole

Motor racing statisticians will enjoy this day! When was the last time that a new or as in this case, rejuvenated, team got two cars on the front row of a GP? Brawn GP is run by Ross Brawn who is one of the premier race engineers in the world and who worked at Ferrari during Michael Schumacher’s time as a driver. We went to the circuit a bit later then other days in order to conserve our energy and watched the GT cars, F1 practice and F1 qualifying. The Williams cars dropped down the order in qualifying and it was Jensen Button and Rubens Barichello who made a fantastic effort and ended up on the front row of the grid with Vettel and Kubica third and fourth. Kimi went off in practice and Lewis had a disastrous start to an already poor beginning to his season with a gearbox failure so he and both the Toyotas are starting from the back of the grid. Game on!

First FI practice and lunch with a black swan in The Park

We arrived at Albert Park in time to watch the Australian GT race, Porsches, Astons etc and later the Australian Cars, tiny replica saloons that scream round and then what we were waiting for, F1 first practice when we saw the new 09 F1 cars for the first time. They are so smooth and quick and it is difficult to tell who is really fast. Photos through the mesh barrier are a challenge. We enjoyed lunch by the lake with a very calm black swan but we didnt feed it. We left before second practice but Williams are very quick with Nico Rosberg being quickest so far with Brawn showing well. The rumour here is that Virgin will sponsor Brawn GP running plain at present but very quick, the diffuser issue being subject to a later appeal.

Australian GP, fun in Albert Park

The GP in Melbourne takes place over four days with a packed programme of races and events running from 10 am till late. There are no gaps in the programme and something is going on all the time. What a joy to go by tram, route 96, to Middle Park and to get off at Gate 1, the whole jouney taking only 40 mins from Emily and Robbies flat in Elwood including a longish walk. We watched Formula Ford and Mini practice as well as the historics demonstration which included the rare and gorgeous Brabham Alfa F1 car. Later we queued up in vain for the driver's autograph in the paddock, see later photos for a shot of Lewis and Heiki. The GP has a very pleasant vibe in a superb location, Albert Park, which is close to the city but self contained so it doesn't disrupt the city too much.
In the evening we drove to Doncaster, a Melbourne suburb to have dinner with some friends we met on the NZ leg of our trip.

The Otway Fly, Twelve apostles and Old Melbourne Gaol

We left the cottage at Lorne to drive along the very scenic Great Ocean Road to visit the Otway Fly which is a steel aerial structure allowing you to walk in the forest canopy. The structure is reason enough to visit and of course the views are fantastic. Along the way Angela excelled again by managing to throw a coin on to the sawn off top of a tree first time, the coin staying there while the rest of us tried several times with no success.
After that we carried on to visit the Twelve Apostles which are highly photogenic limestone sea stacks but the weather was chilly and drab but I hope you enjoy the photo.
Today we visited Melbourne by tram. The city has the biggest tram system in the world with 227km of double track, 27 routes and nearly 500 trams.
The Old Gaol was how to hang someone. The trick is to get the drop length correct so that the neck is broken swiftly and thisfascinating and we learnt the interesting and complex story of Ned Kelly as well as instructions on depends on the culprit’s weight including his clothes.

Great Ocean Road and a real Koala

We drove to Lorne along the Great Ocean Road, a project devised to find work for unemplyed soldiers after WW1. It has fantastic views as you will see from the next batch of photos when we visit the Twelve Apostles, the famous sea stacks, further along the coast from here. Highlight today was definitely the Koala bear we found wandering along the roadside on our way to the Erskine Falls. You will also see a picture of the Cockateels which screech around the site here. We return to Melbourne tomorrow to stay with Em & Robbie and look forward to seeing the GP at the weekend. It is still chilly today but it is sunny and only Robbie briefly swam, Em and I pleading the shallow water for not swimming but we did have our cossies on.

Ayer's Rock(Ularu), King's Canyon and Alice Springs

We left Sydney and flew to Ayers Rock or Uluaru in the middle of Australia in the Red Centre, so called because all the rocks are red. We watched the sunset at Uluru and the sunrise taking lots of photos with my mini tripod as well as doing the fantastic King's Canyon Rim walk where we saw some fantastic rock formations.

We stayed in a resort with posh tents, were taken along bush roads in a cattle station and even saw an aircraft taking off from a bush airstrip with a doctor on board. No snakes this time but we did have dinner under the stars twice in two days so we know about the Southern Cross now.

Emily and Robbie met us at Melbourne airport yesterday and we are now with them in Lorne along the Great Ocean Road. It was 34C yesterday but barely 20C now.