Day 47 Auckland Our first full day in Auckland and so much to see - Bill wanted to go to Western Springs Reserve this morning, one last chance to see some of this elusive bird life in New Zealand. To date this has been a rather unproductive search inspite of the reserve status of may of these places. This park is next to Auckland Zoo and was full with loads of families making the most of the Saturday sunshine to enjoy time around the lake. Loads of ducks, geese ...

Day 46 Russell to Auckland Early start this morning as we need to get the hire car delivered in Auckland by lunchtime and it is around a 4hr drive from Russell, well it should be less but you have to allow for roadworks of which there are loads and for the fact that there is only motorway about 20km out of Auckland. Nice day again today, much better than the drive up when it rained most of the way. Fairly uneventful drive which is just how we like them and w...

Day 45 Russell, Bay of Islands Our last day in Russell today and the day dawned bright and sunny; what a welcome sight after yesterday's cloudy day. Obviously a day for the beach, plenty to choose from but as it was rather windy choosing the right one was important; finally settled on Long Beach which was pretty much sheltered from the winds although the surf was up; Bill likes to body surf though so he was happy. We stayed there for most of the day just sun...

Day 44 Russell, Bay of Islands Quiet morning here in Russell with news of the earthquake in Christchurch dominating the news understandably, the terrestrial channels are showing nothing else as a National State of Emergency has been declared. There is a lot of talk in the streets too and even though we are hundreds of miles away there are many people who are on holiday here who either live in Christchurch or who have friends and relatives there which makes it ...

Day 43 Russell, Bay of Islands Well I was about to post about the wonderful day we have had and our close encounters with the dolphins but have just switched the TV on in our cottage and hear about the devastation in Christchurch after another earthquake. To think that only a few short weeks ago we were there and had we not decided to swap our trip here around and do the South Island first we would have be either in Christchurch now or certainly very close by...