Happy Birthday Leanne

Happy birthday 'Oldie' 30 years old, gosh I bet that feels really old doesn't it? We both hope you have a wonderful day and feel free to have a grande (in a venti cup) hot chocolate with tons of whipped cream on us!

Lots of Love

Sarah & Dave

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PS we'll reimburse you when we get back..........

So long since we last made a post...... We forgot all about it!

OK so it's about 20 days since we last posted on the blog, no we haven't died or anything like that. As we left Wellington this time around I think we had seen more to appreciate in the city so on our way back we may spend another day there. We have however traveled across the water to the South Island on 23-9-15 it was uneventful, at least for anyone who doesn't get sea sick but for those that do like Sarah it was a bit bumpy. The Cook Strait was calmer than in the preceeding days but still had 4 metre high swells. 

 

The South Island had also been suffering from heavy rainfall just like Wellington but here the rivers had burst there banks and the area around Picton was in flood. Thankfully we were driving away from the area so it just made for interesting viewing as we passed through. Blenheim was our first stop with its vast wineries, museum and art gallery. We spent a couple of days in White Bay about 20km outside of Blenheim lulled to sleep each night by the sea and during the day traveling to and from Blenheim.

Next we headed south to Kaikoura on the islands east coast. Last time when we passed through this region on the bus it was so beautiful we knew we had to come back and see more of it. The beaches are naturally black due to volcanic stone being ground into black sand and there are large black shiny smooth pebbles all over the beach. There were some firsts for us in the area as well, we had one of those lovely fresh fruit ice creams, yes the weather had turned hot so ice cream was on the menu, then we spent time camping and hanging around with the grey fur seals who had a brood (not sure if that's the correct term) of cute pups, walked around the coast viewing exquisite deep blue Pacific Ocean surf on one side while on the other side our backdrop was the massive Kaikoura mountain range with its snow capped summits, on the last day in the area we camped at an Irish pub called Donegal House with the biggest log fire and our first roast dinner since November of last year (spuds, yorkshire's, gravy and even mint jelly) unfortunately everything closes so early here we were the last ones out at 8:30pm. Finally to top it off as we were leaving Kaikoura Sarah saw her first whale in fact within 90 mins we had seen four of them, happy, happy days. This was the one thing Sarah had been waiting to see for months.  

Grey fur seals taking there ease

Camping by sea and sky near Kaikoura

Then we headed inland to Hanmer Springs via Cheviot to spend a couple of days walking in the hills and mountains around Hanmer finishing off with a dip in the famous hot springs. Before heading back towards the coast and Christchurch. 

Happy Anniversary to Mum and Dad

Happy 56th wedding anniversary to you both. Have a great time while you are away. Hope you get good weather while you are there, I cannot recommend skinny dipping. It's probably to cold anyway although you are probably getting an Indian summer during September as normal these days.

All our love
Sarah & Dave
xxxxxxxxxxx

Wet once again in Welly

Once again made it down to Wellington and once again it's raining. It must be our visits that bring on the rain here. The locals are telling us it's 10° cooler than normal for this time of year Wellington. Anyway before we came to Wellington we spent some time in Napier Which is supposed to be the art deco capital of the world. Almost every building was built between 1933 and 1940 as early 1931 they had an earthquake which destroyed the entire city centre.

Just about to set out into the rain and onto the centre of Wellington after having breakfast.  We are going to go to one of the museum, it'll probably end up in an all day job as it tends to be when we go to a museum. When I have a chance I'll put some pictures on of Napier so you can see how classically chic it is. 

To Taupo and beyond.......

On route from rotorua to Lake Taupo we spent the day walking in the Redwoods after bathing in the therapeutic waters of the Blue Baths. The healing powers of the Rotorua Blue Baths overcame me unfortunately and as I stepped out of the 40 degree bath after a 30 min (only 15 mins really, but I need to egg it up) stint, Sarah got out first and I tried to follow but my legs went from under me and I landed on my backside scrapping my elbows and bruising my ego. The very hot hot hot water must have made my blood pressure drop as I stood up ( bath temperature, he's just nesh) so I got light headed and toppled over. Sarah got a shock as she thought I was right behind her. She told me to stay still for a while until I felt better. Left big bum mark on the poolside. I wear my cuts with pride, marks of my heroic fall! I'm not invincible as I thought, my super power let me down, Sarah wasn't affected by the heat that must be her super power. (Guess who wrote this section?) no spelling mistakes, beers or largers.

After spending the day walking in the Redwoods we headed to Lake Taupo, stopping en route to visit the Lave Glass showroom, lovely things but very expensive at over $200 for a vase. As you can guess we didn't buy anything. Then made our way to Lake Taupo checking free campsites on the way, decided on one 30 km south of Taupo on the south shore, very peaceful with lapping waves for company and snow capped peaks for a backdrop. So nice we stayed there for 3 nights and drove into Taupo each day. We found a lovely quiet campsite of the Thermal Highway and decided to stay for 2 nights. On the second day Dave decided to skinny dip in the river for a wash, unfortunately that is when we got some visitors, a lady in a van and a local farmer. Bad timing or what. He still doesn't know if there is photographic evidence! We've now made our way through the Kire-Kire Forest to Napier via a crazy detour on a forestry gravel track, we only found out we were on the wrong route from a logger who stopped us and guided us back onto the correct route, thankfully as we were running out of fuel!

Lake Taupo from our camp spot

View of the three volcanos at the Tongorario park near Lake Taupo, we will be climbing up one of these in two months. 

Night over the van

Still getting used to our Spaceship

We're starting to get used to the limited space in our Spaceship, sounds like there'd be lots of space but it needs a bit of daily organisation. Sarah's doing a grand job. Our first two days were in the rain after all it's early spring here. But following that it has been mild during the day but gets quickly cooler from dusk, around 6pm. 

We saw a few early rises in Piha going out surfing at 6am and some beautiful lilies by the seashore. Following a few days free camping near Cambridge we decided to free camp on the Hobbiton Movie Set   

(car park)

Sam thought this might make you jealous........... No sign of Bilbo though!

The last few days have been spent in Rotarua where we have spent way to much time in the museum and a visit to the therapeutic hot springs. Yesterday we were asked to leave the museum at 5pm as they were closing and today the lady in the hot springs pool was waiting for us to leave so she could go home. I think we had been her only customers all day. 

Arrived in New Zealand safe and Tired!

Arrived safely but mega tired. Thánks to Sam and Leanne for dropping us at the airport once again. We left Manchester at 8:25pm Tuesday and arrived in Auckland at 3pm Thursday. It's along way............ So we were happy to get to bed last night. 

Right now we're waiting in Spaceships office to pick up our "Spaceship camper" for the next 3 months. 

(It's still early spring over here)