We slept in, no surprise there, leaving Wellington at 10.00. It was a cloudy day and we had a long drive ahead to Napier, passing by the Tararua and Ruahine Mountain Ranges, admiring the views, arriving in Napier to a blue sky and sunshine at around 3.00 pm. First stop tourist information to book accommodation for one night and the 'Art Deco Tour'. Napier is famous for the number of Art Deco buildings constructed due to a significant rebuilding programme follo...

Alarm went at 4.45 am, ignored again. While Henry and Mark milked, Julie and I packed the car (this was their old car, fully serviced ready for our trip) and Julie gave us useful things e.g. water bottles and sleeping bags. We set off in brilliant sunshine, first stop stunning Kaikoura, mountains in the background with the seashore in front of you. Stopped for coffee, Henry had a 15 minute nap in the car, I took photographs. Within a few minutes we could see ...

Henry set the alarm for 4.45 am and off he went to work with Mark. I heard the alarm, chose to ignore it, and promptly fell back to sleep. Nevertheless I was up at 7.30 to join Mary and Julie for breakfast and we set off for Ashburton, to take Mary to work (a local hairdresser) and I was her first customer. It was great to chat to my neice, read gossipy magazines and look so much better on leaving. Off to get a pedicure another extremely relaxing experience. Yo...

Saw our first sunrise in Sydney. Hailed a taxi and chatted to an impressive businessman. It turned out that he had sold 2 of his 5 taxis just before the Sydney Olympics for $40,000 more than the going rate and invested in property, an astute move. The family fortunes started with his grandfather who worked in the gold mines and developed a healthy skepticism of governments. "Don't tell them too much" was the advice given. His final piece of advice was to watch Ch...

Another holiday first, Henry cooked breakfast. Two boiled eggs each with toasted 'soldiers'. We arrived at the bus stop at 10.10 just missing the bus to Clovelly (according to the timetable), next one in half an hour. We were then informed by the bus driver we were at the wrong bus stop! So arriving at the right bus stop, once again just missing a bus. To cut a long story short we arrived at Clovelly at 11.30, an hour later than intended. A two minute walk to ...