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Update 6 - New Zealand
Well we had imagined from nthe start that after finishing my job we would head off travelling around Australia. However, all the places we wanted to go (NT,Uluru...) were going to be hotter than hell, and the distances vast. That and the general apathy of Australians to anyone requiring a service (even when fully willing to pay) meant we were getting a bit sick of Australians in general. Oh and the slight matter of them whipping us in the Ashes and reminding us of the fact every 2 seconds. b******s. Led us to escape and book flights to kiwiland.
So the long journey began, leaving Scone at 6am several trains to Sydney airport and a long wait for the plane and off we flew to Wellington (2 hours time difference ahead of Sydney) where we arrived, my luggage got completely turned over by customs for biosecurity reasons and was found to be clean, result! They couldn't quite believe how I could have so many of the boxes ticked until they saw that I was a vet! Then we managed to get ourselves to our lovely hire vehicle (the name of the company is Rent a Dent!). So at 12.30am on New Years eve we started our mamouth trek from the most southern trip of north island to the most northern tip. Hairbrained?
And so we finally arrived at our destination a full 12 hours later, having taken it in turns to drive and sleep. 900km covered and we were in Paihia, in the bay of islands an idealic spot with stunning scenery, beautiful beaches and clustered with islands. We spent the afternoon mainly asleep and then woke up enough to go get some dinner, which again tired us out so we had another little kip and miraculously woke up at 11.55pm. So we got up, opened up the champers and sat on the balcony and watched the firework display that was happening on the beach, and there we were into 2007 a full 13 hours before the UK! Wicked.
New years day, bright eyed and bushy tailed we set off up the coast to a little town called KeriKeri where we had a long walk through spectacular rain forest to look at some beautiful waterfalls, then back to a pub on the river for lunch, so while you were welcoming in the new year in the UK we were sipping beer and munching in the warm sunshine, sweet as.
The next day was back to Paihia and a days sailing trip on the Gungha II, a 65 foot sailing boat, where with a gentle breeze we meandered around the islands, anchoring at a very pretty one where we went ashore and climbed to the sumit of the island, where we discovered the most stunning view and also the joys of bouncing on some extremely springy grass. Ali was then persuaded by a small 7 year old friend that the best thing ever was to roll down the hill in the springy grass, very very very funny.
Before moving on we had a lazy day and went over on the ferry to another little seaside town where we ate huge icecreams, however on the way beck we somehow got on the same ferry as a troop of bloody morris dancers on tour, absolutely horrific, insisted on dancing with bells on, distracting our captain who very nearly hit a large gin palace....
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