Kia Ora

Nothing to report much since my dressing down at the doctors so we shall pick it up on Saturday.....

Saturday 22nd November 2008

We awoke this morning expecting rain,but again the weather gods were shining on us,I thought that UK meteorologists were bad... Today we took a drive South to Onehunga for a look around now I don't want to do it an injustice but it had a lovely park. We did try our luck in a second hand bookshop but on entering were asked to leave our packs behind the counter,Mel thought this was a bit weird and told the lady who didn't agree so on that note Mel refused to buy her books even though there was one she wanted!!!

By now we had a better feel for Auckland and its suburbs so we stopped for lunch in Parnell,this is the oldest suburn in Auckland and full of cafes and bars with a few nice shops thrown in to the mix.After lunch we headed into town to try and bag some tickets for Billy Conolly,now he doesn't tour here till March but that didn't stop us getting excited.The lady at the ticket office was extremely helpful and tried to find us a couple of seats,the Saturday show had sold out but we managed to get a coule of seats for the Sunday which pleased us no end.There was still no sign of rain as we headed back to the North Shore.

Sunday 23rd November 2008

It took us a while to load up the car with shoes,coats,raincoats and jeans to cover off all weather eventualities,to look at the boot you would have thought it was a family of 4 going on a day out.Every trip South involves a ride over the bridge on SH1 so off we set for the 2 hour drive to the little town of Raglan on the west coast.Once off the main highway we wound our way through dense forest listening to Dire Straits for the tenth time because the radio stations are so poor.

We pulled up in town ready for a late lunch and the biggest decision was which one of the plethora of cafes to choose from.Raglan is a typical surf town with people adorning the cafes and bars drinking coffee and enjoying the lazy Sunday afternoon.Mel dubbed it the NZ Newquay on a smaller scale. Bow Street is the main shopping street and we wondered from shop to shop seeing what they had to offer before heading to the beach where we watched people with buckets bending over and collecting something from the water.

Two ladies were climbing the stairs from the beach so we stopped and asked them what they had been collecting as they had a very heavy bucket.The reply was "pipi" which I suppose is similar to our cockles at home,she then proceeded to tell us how to cook them and how good they tasted.Anyone can go hunting for pipi but you cannot take more than 150 per person each day,it seemed like a popular past time and everybodies buckets looked really full.

Half an hour later we were walking through the dense forest to Bridal Veil Falls,the path snaked its way through the forest past big spiders webs and giant mushrooms growing on dead trees until you heard the distinct sound of cascading water and then the trees ended and there was the waterfall.From the viewing platform you got a great view of the 55 metre drop to the base of the falls and the pool,but the real view was from the bottom of the falls which involved a few hundred steps to reach it.It was from here that you could see the water dropping over the edge and all the moss and plants clinging to the rockface.Unfortunately the splash pool was not safe enough to swim in but looked really inviting.

The sun made the climb back up the trail a hot and sweaty affair,so we were glad for the aircon in the car.Back on the motorway we had a scare when our petrol seemed to disappear quickly and we wondered where the next garage would be and luckily the green logo of BP appeared on the horizon and we filled up on petrol and we had a celbratory lemon soda ourselves.Finally as we passed the sky tower in the city the rain that had been forecast started to come down and a thick haze descended on the city for the evening.

Lots of love

M & M

xx