As Luck Would Have It!

As luck would have it the photos are completely out of order - again!

Since our last post, we have moved on from Auckland and enjoyed Christmas and New Year. Hope you all had a great time.

This was from a boat trip, from Keri Keri, in the Bay of Islands, this is North East of the North Island. We stayed up here for a few days and in an effort to mix with the locals, we went to the pub. Met a bunch of strange kiwis on their Christmas do from the local laundrette. A very odd night that may have prompted us to move on!

On the boat trip the skipper took the boat through the above hole in the rock. A very tight squeeze and we were well impressed.

A beautiful beach on a private island, again in the Bay of Islands. We dropped off some post on the jetty and the boat crew left a biscuit for the dog.

This is Rainbow Falls in Keri Keri.

Allegedly the oldest stone house in New Zealand. Built circa 1832.

This was in Rotarua. Black swans are a common sight. Not to be approached as they nip! As luck would have it, they were quite friendly towards us.

As luck would have it, there were some free hot springs in the woods, just outside Rotarua. This is Garry, enjoying a magazine in the jacuzzi. It's difficult to stay in for long as it's very hot.

Back in Keri Keri, on the boat trip. As luck would have it, we found a huge pod of dolphins, including two babies. Unfortunately our photography skills were not good enough to catch the dolphins playing on the bow waves of the boat.

Back in Rotarua, at a traditional Mauri Haka.

This is the 30 foot geyser in Rotarua which spurts 10 times a day. As luck would have it, it never stopped whilst we were there. Everywhere you walk there is bubbling mud and steam coming out of the ground. Plus it smells of sulphur!

As luck would have it, our friends, Tim, Hazel, Henry and Alex were in Rotarua at the same time as us. We had a great couple of days with them and we will benefit from their tips whilst we travel around in the South Island.

More bubbling mud in a park in Rotarua.

This is a typical Mauri Chief's house in Ohinemutu, Rotarua. They are able to use the hot springs for heating and hot water.

Enjoying our Christmas dinner in Napier. We had a great Chritmas day starting with scrambled eggs, smoked salmon and champagne. Then a nice long walk, in the sunshine and a couple of beers in a local pub (no laundrette employees), then back to the campsite for Christmas dinner. As luck would have it, we had been ale to pick up a roasting dish on Christmas eve, so we were able to have roast potataoes, kumara, carrots, broccoli in cheese sauce, mash and green beans. All washed down with some beautiful local wine. In the evening, after watching typical day time Christmas tv, we had port and New Zealand Karangi, a lovely blue cheese. Santa was good to both of us, he gave us earrings, magazines, games and sadly an unwinning lottery ticket.

If you are into art deco, you should visit Hawkes Bay and particularly Napier. There are stacks of "art dico" buildings, including this wonderfully painted house. We spotted whilst out walking on Christmas day. The beach is in front of it and has a fab view.

Still on the trail of interesting number plates!

We haven't seen much wild life (except a few squashed possums). This was a very friendly cat in the camp site that wanted to join in our festivities.

Havelock North, on Te Mata hill. It is a well known wine growing area. The paragliders made great use of the thermals, swinging up and down and staying in the air for as long as they wanted. The views over the surrounding area are terrific!

Picking strawberries. There were not many large ones available, but as luck would have it, if you stretched across the barrier, there were loads of big juicy strawberries!!

Slight technical problem with our van! As luck would have it, when we broke down, it was outside New Zealand's second best pie shop!

A number of you have asked for photos of our van, so here it is. This the rear elevation, showing the bedroom. Look carefully and you will see that we decorated the van for Christmas! In front of the bedroom is the library, kitchen and dining room. Also known as the two front seats!

This is another picture of the rear elevation. This time you can see under the bedroom is Garry's wardrobe, Alison's wardrobe and the shower, also known as 2 cardboard boxes and a water carrier.

This is the Palmerston North library. It's in an old art "dico" building and was a great place to visit with a book shop, a music shop, internet access plus all the normal library stuff in a very contemporary architectural style.

As mentioned earlier, we had a slight technical problem with the van. As luck would have it, these two guys (Paul with Harriet and Patrick) were not too far away and are very skilled mechanics. They kindly repaired the van, put us up for a few days and sent us on our way. Thank you Paul and Patrick.

This is Lisa with Harriet. For those of you who know Mike and Trina in Beverley, this is Trina's sister. (small world!)

This is Margaret, Cathy and Michael. They kindly put up with us, whilst Paul and Patrick repaired the van. A big thank you to everybody.

Botannical gardens in Wellington. These are all succulents.

A view across Wellington from the top of the cable car.

We went to the Te Papa museum in Wellington on New Years Day, where they have a huge 480 kgs giant squid. We walked round the quayside and came acroos this chap facing the sea.

We parked overnight with all these other vans on New Year's Eve in Wellington. We went to the Mac's brewery and then onto an Irish pub with live music. For the first time ever, at 2am Alison had had enough and asked to go home!

Back to the van (sorry pictures are in the wrong order). Front elevation, note Christmas decorations and Max and Paddy style pig, that we picked up in a charity shop. We also had sign fitted on the front windscreen, try and read it if you can. The sign was made by Carol and Maynard Johnson in Palmerston - a really lovely couple who also made us a sign as a NZ memento. We will try to put a picture of this on the next blog, but it will definitely be put up when we settle down again. Thank you Carol and Maynard - we are dead chuffed with the van sign and memento.

Nelson Cathedral - no not Nelson in Lancashire but Nelson on the South Island.

The oldest street in NZ, allegedly. South Street Nelson where some of the properties are as old as 150 years old!

As luck would have it, we met the son of a bike racer on the ferry to the South Island who told us about some racing in Nelson. We made it to the racing and luckliy saw this speed trap in the right context.

Back at the Botannical Gardens in Wellington. This is a very large very beautiful rose garden.

Sorry about the lenght of this blog. I guess we just got carried away. Hope you have enjoyed it. Another shorter blog will follow soon. Keep on watching. And remember as luck would have it, you are probably reading this rather than working. Now get back to it.

Cheers.

Alison and Garry.