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Hi everyone,
We were sad to leave NZ after 4 wonderful weeks. The last few days were great with us staying with Duncan and Jean (who Jane worked with at Benenden). They haven't changed a bit! Very busy, as ever, with very active family needing lots of ferrying around the City. Andrew and Matthew are very keen cyclists and all round sportsmen and Sara a keen dancer and learning Flute and Sax. We had a great meal and a few drinks to catch up on all the gossip at Benenden with Duncan being very well informed (close ties with Seniors association and visits from quite a few staff and old girls). After a tour of Devonport where D & J grew up we visited one of D's favourite art galleries and bought a rather large silk print which we are now carrying around in a big tube. Duncan send his regards to all.
We then got stuck in an Auckland traffic jam which was a shock after 4 weeks of driving around with no traffic on most roads in NZ. We just caught up with Jane's cousin Ian before he shot off to play football - poor organisation really only to get together for 45 minutes but it was worth the two hour traffic journey/jam.
We then stayed our last night with Julia and David and Olivia and Clemmie and had a stunning meal at the top of the sky tower in the revolving restaurant - fantastic views over the Auckland night sky and a fitting end to our NZ adventure.
Landed in Sydney on Sunday morning and we were met by David Matcham (Old Blue friend) who took us round some of the Sydney sights on offer before heading to the fish market for some BBQ food. Great tour up the coast to Palm Beach area with a short walk to and old lighthouse with suberb views all around. Both us us watching for spiders, snakes and any other things out to get us. Back for great fish BBQ and met up with Virginia Janet and Gwen for the first time for many years. Monday David took us to his farm near Stoud and Gloucester (a little westcoutry influence) and we stayed in the house he built - terrific place with no services but good use of solar panels and rain water meant all mod cons were in place. Jane had a hot shower in the morning and then saw our first Wallabies and Black Widdow spider (no snakes yet) on the tour of the farm counting some cattle. We also went to the famous Hunter Valley wine area and had an excellent meal at the Pepper Tree Vineyard.Â
Tuesday we went to Gloucester/Barrington Tops national park - loads of dirt track driving with David's car telling us he had a puncture and David insisting it wasn't a problem - we managed over 250 km like that so David was right.
Big country with massive distances to get from place to place - we're only just getting the hang of that.Â
More laterÂ
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