What a fun day! After a look at Napier centre (and we also got Adam a shirt for the wedding) we met Trish at the Aquarium to see the divers feeding the sharks! Then back to Trish & Keith's for a BBQ dinner with their son Marshall, his wife Carly and their lovely kids Layla and Dillon and also Trish & Keith's other son Rich. Keith Rich and I sampled quite a lot of the local produce after dinner ! it's a major wine producing area!!!

We left Jesse & Ana's and hit the road to Napier. 250k and 3.5 hours of driving through some varied but always attractive scenery. We arrived at Trish & Keith's mid afternoon and after a most welcome coffee we had a dip in their pool - 29 degrees, heaven! Then off to see Aunty Betty & with her to meet Barb, Steve, George, Rosie & Tom. And a great BBQ thrown in! A busy and fantastic day.

We are having a chilled day in the sunshine here in Carterton. Fuelled by Ana's homemade pancakes, then a delicious lunch the four of us plus Tobin (Jesse & Ana's 18 month old black Labrador) went into a close by part of the national park for a walk in the bush. This involved walking near, over and in some cases in the water! Mud holes held a fascination for Adam and Tobin, so clean river water at the end of the walk was a godsend!! We are back in the garde...

After a return visit up the cable car & to the park, we flew back to Wellington this afternoon. Your intrepid correspondent collected a hire car & with the help of Jay & Graeme's sat nav we drove to Carterton to Jesse & Anas beautiful house. The road through the mountains involved more hairpin corners than the Tour De France alpine stages! But - as has become almost the norm in New Zealand - the scenery was stunning. I'm delighted to report th...

A quieter day today! A visit to the park, some souvenir shopping and a cruise on the lake took up most of our day. The park must have some of the best views enjoyed by playground users ever!!