Author: travurple

Monday (29th January) We planned to go to Fremantle, a suburb of Perth on the coast. We first had to navigate the Perth train system and buy a ticket. After a failed attempt on electronic ticket machine, we spoke to someone at the information desk who informed us we needed to buy a family saver ticket, which gave us all day travel (bus & trains) for up to 7 people for $10 (£5.50). so we managed to buy the correct ticket, the next train in 3 mins, we got that train, everybody else in our carriage asking if the train was going to Fremantle. After a round of “hopefully, that’s where we are trying to go”, it was announced that the train was going to Fremantle.

One of the reasons for visiting Fremantle was Nic wanted to go to a Kathmandu store, as she’d been unable to get the correct size of a new T-shirt in the Perth store. We ended up buying the T-shirt, a pair of shorts each and a rucksack for Nic, an expensive visit (update – we did manage to get a tax rebate at the airport).

We then had a wander around Fremantle, which appeared to be very free spirited. A nice town.

Back in Perth, we decided to celebrate our last night in Perth, by heading out for a couple of early drinks, after a couple of beers/cider/alcoholic ginger beer we ended up in “Neon Palms” a cocktail bar! So had a Margarita and a Vodka Martini respectively! Thankfully it was still early, had dinner at the hotel.

Tuesday, we arranged a late checkout at the hotel, so after breakfast we went for a short walk to get some supplies for our flights. Then we had to pack, managing to get our new purchases in, and ditching a few items (old clothes, a knackered rucksack etc). An Uber to the airport, to start our three flights back to London Heathrow, via Singapore and Munich – the long way but the cheaper way!

The first flight was with Singapore Airlines, which was OK, the second leg was with Lufthansa, a less comfortable flight.

Wednesday morning (UK time) we landed in Heathrow, went to collect our bags, despite the screens telling us that all bags had been delivered, there was no sign of ours, which given our short transfer times in both Singapore and Munich, it was no surprise really. So Rog went off to report it, however finally our bags were delivered, so all good!

Then a train back up to York, luckily not a strike day.

Thursday to Tuesday – we spent time getting over jet lag, visiting friends & family, including visit to York, watching local rugby, and the obvious eating and drinking.

Wednesday, a little bit random but we ended up buying a car, which we had wanted to do in a couple of months time when we return to the UK, but we couldn’t pass up the deal. Luckily the dealer has agreed to store the car until we get back.

Thursday, we’d been packing and repacking all week for our next trip, 11 weeks in Central America, with hand luggage only!

Friday, a busy train back to London, checked into a Premier Inn, then met Nic’s cousin for Coffee and cake in Coal Drops Yard near Kings Cross station.

That morning we had managed to get last minute ‘rush’ tickets to see ‘Witness for the Prosecution’ (on TodayTix app – £25 for a £90 ticket). A classic Agatha Christie play, set in a courtroom and hosted in the old London Bough Council chamber in County Hall. Some great performances in an interesting venue.

Saturday, we wandered around London, managing to avoid the showers. We visited the National Portrait Gallery, which was very busy. After a quick walk around some of the famous Tudor Galleries, we found the ‘lunch room’, which as we discovered later is being newly trialled to give a space to sit and eat your own packed lunch. It was empty! We gave it a thumbs up when we were asked for feedback on our way out. Thanks to Nic’s mum for providing the makings of the picnic which lasted us 2 days !

Then a guided tour are the Palace of Westminster, a really interesting tour of the UK Parliament. All the interior is extremely ornate, and more spectacular close up.

We then met more family to watch the 2nd half of the England v Wales rugby. A lucky win for England.

Out for a couple of drinks and dinner, then collected our bags from the King’s Cross hotel then headed out to another Premier Inn at Heathrow Terminal 4.

Sunday, headed to Terminal 2 in good time as we couldn’t check in online, we couldn’t check in at the self check in either, so had to speak to someone. Despite AirCanada emailing a booking confirmation, we were informed that changes to the ‘ticket’, being different from a ‘booking’, had not been re-confirmed by the travel agent ??? Anyway after waiting for a call to be made to AirCanada head office, all was OK and we could check in.

Whilst waiting at the AirCanada desk, Nic was the saviour for someone who had left their phone in the car which had just dropped them off. Lending her phone so contact could be made and the car turned around to return the phone!

Got to the departure gate and our seats were changed.

Our flight was to Cancun via Toronto, we had a boarding cards for Toronto to Cancun, but they did not show seat numbers, so had to wait until Toronto to confirm seats.

So all in all an interesting process!

Arriving in Cancun we were met by a raft of taxi operatives. We had been trying to book an airport transfer with the hotel, unsuccessfully as it turned out! Which then led us to have to negotiate with the taxi operatives ( it is now about 2am in our body clocks!!). After a lot of discussion we got a 10 minute taxi ride for $50 (US). We leave you to imagine how impressed we were with this outcome !!!

Ok, so we missed another weekly blog, no excuse really other than been busy enjoying Australia, so this one covers two weeks

Monday (15 January) checked out of our hotel and spend most of the day wandering around Launceston, Tasmania we re-visited the city park and saw the macaque monkeys being fed.

We had a flight to Perth, thankfully a direct flight, Australia is such a massive country we have flown for 4hrs 40mins and not left the country, and Perth is 3 hrs behind Melbourne/Tasmania time.

Got an Uber from the airport to the Great Southern Hotel in central Perth, pleasantly surprised by the hotel, it was the cheapest ‘ok looking’ accommodation in Perth by a long way, however it is a good clean hotel.

Tuesday, after a good breakfast in the hotel, we walked to the Bell Tower at Elizabeth Quay, a very hot day at 40 c, so we headed back to the hotel over the hottest part the day!

Wednesday, walked around King’s Park, but by the time we had found the Botanical Garden section it was hot, and we’d had enough so headed back to the hotel.

Thursday, we went back to the Botanical Gardens, which includes a skywalk, a DNA tower which Rog climbed while Nic watched from the ground.

For dinner we went to the Western Australian Italian social club, which was just that, there was a large family party and a darts league match, which Rog ended up being the photographer for, also pool tables, it was all going on ! And good pizza too.

Friday, we had booked a group tour up the western Australian coast to Exmouth. Western Australia is vast, Exmouth is 1,250km north of Perth, so an early start as we had to walk to the collection point for the tour. We met our first fellow traveller at the pick up point, thankfully she had an Australian mobile and was able to receive the text letting us know the pick up was delayed slightly.

Our transport arrived, a 24 seater minibus with a trailer. Our first main stop was at the ‘Pinnacles’ strange stone ‘pinnacles’, then journeyed up the Indian Ocean Drive, stopping in Geraldton, the Pink lake (which was not actually that pink) and our accommodation (a hostel) in Kalbarri.

Saturday, an early start to drive into the Kalbarri National Park. An early start to get to Nature’s window as the sun was coming up. Then onto the Z bend trail, where some of our group abseiled down a cliff face, we watched and took photos for the group photo app. It was a bit of a scramble down, then back up the Murchison Gorge in very hot conditions, but well worth it! We were all glad to get back on the air conditioned bus to head to Monkey Mia. After we checked in we headed for a dip in the sea. The local dolphins came to see what we were doing, causing us great excitement.

Sunday, we went back to the beach to watch the official dolphin experience with the team of marine biologists, 2 of the ‘crooked fin’ family of dolphins are hand fed from the beach. The family consisted of the matriarch, her two daughters, one of which was pregnant and their young.

Then back on the bus to visit Eagle Bluff to see sharks from a distance, then Shell Beach, we were told it is one of only two beaches in the world made of only shells. Specifically the fragum cockle.

We then visited stromatolites, one of the oldest living organisms on earth (thousands of years old), but not very interesting to look at, they just look like rocks.

Back in the bus we crossed the Tropic of Capricorn.

Our accommodation was at Coral Bay, a very strange hostel, a nice place if a little rigid about its rules on what and where you could drink alcohol.

Monday (22 January), we had planned to snorkel with manta rays, unfortunately the wind was too strong for the boats to go out, so the snorkelling was cancelled. Instead we went to the Shark nursery, closer to the shore, saw sharks and rays.

As we got to our next accommodation in Exmouth early, we headed out in the evening looking for turtles at Mauritius Beach. We sat on the beach and waited, then slowly 12 turtles came out of the water and headed up the beach towards us to nest. The turtles got so close to us that we had to move out of their way. It was an amazing evening, even our guide said he had not seen that many turtles nesting. We also saw some baby turtles coming out of their nests and heading for the water, running the risk of being a meal for the local sea birds.

Tuesday We headed out to do a hike in Yardie creek to look for black faced rock wallabies. Fantastic views again.

This evening we headed to the Vlamingh head lighthouse for sunset, then back to the beach for another hour of turtle spotting. As we needed to get an early night we spent less time there, but still saw half a dozen turtles arrive to start digging their nests.

Wednesday we said goodbye to some of our group, who had opted to take a different onward journey. We then started the long drive back south, our driver/ guide did a great job at the wheel for 900km. Stopped in Geraldton tonight, and went out for a meal together for our last night.

Thursday Another long day in the bus, a couple of comfort stops for short walks and refreshments at 3 Bays and again in Lancelin.

Finishing our tour back in Perth! (3,000km /1,900 mile in a week) A really enjoyable week with a new group of friends.

Friday, was Australia Day, but we began the day with the glamour of the local laundrette, as we waited for the washing, one of our tour mates walked past, so we had a chat.

Heading out later in the day to soak up some of the atmosphere, we met up with another one of our friends from the tour. We started in the park with the Aboriginal/ indigenous stage with some modern and traditional performances. Then we moved on to Langley park to get a spot for the fireworks and drone show. An amazing show, it was the first time we have seen a drone show in person.

Saturday, we headed for some retail therapy, as it is still summer here, and we needed some summer gear for our next trip (watch this space), and the chances of getting summer gear in the UK in February are slim.

Despite googling ‘what’s on’ in Perth we did not find out that the World Rugby 7’s was on 10mins walk from our hotel, we turned up and managed to get some tickets. It was a very Aussie festival atmosphere, no body appear to be sitting in their ticketed seat, everyone just moved around ( mainly to dodge the full sun!). We enjoyed an afternoon of 8 games of rubgy 7s.

Sunday, an early start, we booked a ferry to Rottnest Island, an 1 1/2 hr cruise down the Swan river then out into the Indian Ocean to the island, a beautiful place with no cars, we got the hop on hop off bus around the island, we walked to the World War II gun emplacements, saw dolphins and Osprey, snorkelled at Little Parakeet Bay, saw a Quokka, had an ice cream, then caught the ferry back! A lovely day!

Monday (8th January) we arrived in Launceston, Tasmania, collected a hire car from the airport, ‘our friends’ at Bargain Car Rentals again, cheap and an easy pick up process. We had a short drive to Deloraine and stayed at the Empire Hotel in the Platypus room. We enjoyed a meal in the hotel bar while chatting with a couple of fellas from Colorado, who were planning a hike to Cradle Mountain the next day, and compared travel stories.

Tuesday, we headed towards Liffey falls for a walk, we ended up at the campsite end of the falls walk, rather than the car park closer to the falls, so we had a longer walk than originally planned. It was a great walk through the shady forest, with very few people until we got closer to the falls, similarly the return journey walk just as peaceful.

That night, after a scenic drive, we stayed at Great Lakes Hotel in Miena, we had a fisherman’s cabin which was nicely appointed in a camping style. We had shared bathroom facilities, and the cabin was equipped with a kettle, toaster and supplies for a light breakfast.

Wednesday, we visited ‘The Wall in the Wilderness” a long wooden carved wall, which we visited on our last time in Tasmania, it is now 100 metres long, it depicts the history of Tasmania and is very realistic, it looks like you could lift items off the wall, the people and animals are amazingly lifelike. Sections of the wall are left as carving in progress, from the drawing of the image to the chisel work and final sanded image. This makes it more impressive when you see the amount of work that goes into each section.

We then had a long drive, with spectacular views, around the Cradle Mountain national park to Ulverstone on the north coast. Where we stayed for 2 nights.

That evening we had a walk around the town, followed by a takeaway a pizza from Herby’s, then a ride on the swings at the local park on the way back to the hotel! It did say adults and kids allowed!

Thursday, we drove west along the north coast towards Stanley, sticking as close to the coast as the roads would allow, ranging from the National Highway 1 to unmade tracks, a scenic drive. Stanley is an old town and has featured in a couple of films, including “the Light Between Oceans”. We shared a seafood lunch in the park, as recommended by friends, watched by a crowd of gulls! They watched in vain!

On the drive back we stopped at Boat Harbour Beach, had a walk along the beach and a dip in the sea, beautiful blue clear waters. we also stopped off in Penguin. Obviously named after the visiting penguins, but we didn’t see any as they come ashore at dusk.

Friday, we headed back towards Launceston, via Frankford, Exeter and the Tamar Valley conservation area. We had to return the hire car back to the airport by 4.30pm, however we were making good time, so we actually drove past Launceston to the Woolmar Estate, a world heritage site for its connection with ‘transported convicts’. The house had been lived in by 6 generations of Thomas Archers, until the death of the 6th one, with no heir, in 1994, when the Estate passed into a trust.

Rog then dropped Nic, and all the luggage, at the ‘Balmoral on York’ hotel, before returning the car to the airport and getting the bus back to town.

We started the birthday celebrations early, Nic had booked a table at Pachinko, a Japanese fusion restaurant. On the menu they had an item called “Feed Me” which was a selection of things on the menu, and a couple of specials, a lovely way to try lots of different dishes, we also had Sake ! All very yummy.

Saturday, we walked into Cataract Gorge on the edge of Launceston up the ‘zig zag’ path, an enjoyable walk, with a bit of wildlife, birds, lizards and a wallaby, who sat on the path just ahead of us. At the end of the Gorge there is a suspension bridge, a swimming pool, a cafe and the longest single span chair lift in the world (we didn’t use it). Unfortunately one of the paths was closed due to a landslide, so after a circular walk around the gorge, and seeing one of the resident Peacocks, we retraced our steps along the zig zag path.

In the evening we had drinks at Bar Two, then dinner at Bistro on Brisbane, a French inspired Australian restaurant, we had a lovely meal to celebrate Rog’s birthday.

Sunday, after a slow start, we walked around the port area and the River Esk, had lunch and sampled the beers at Du Cane brewery.

Finished the day off with a burger at ‘Burger got Soul’ Rog had a chicken and peanut butter burger, very interesting.

Monday, we welcomed the new year in, on the balcony of our friend’s flat, watching the Melbourne fireworks! Then walked back to our motel.

Tuesday, Nic returned to the art gallery, to see the aboriginal artwork, Rog went for a wander around the New Year sales!

Wednesday, we did some washing at our friend’s flat, then headed to the Museum of Moving Image in Federal Square and interesting museum despite us not knowing some of the Australian film and TV references.

At dinner that evening, we manage a small tribute to the annual “cold table”, but with vodka rather than traditional schnapps, to go with some herring in mustard sauce.

Thursday, we collected a hire car from near the airport for the weekend, we managed to get a good deal on a large 4×4, as 4 of us were going to the high country for the weekend, it was massive! As we had the car we drove west of Melbourne to Melton, had a walk around the Park and the Botanical Gardens, did some shopping for provisions for the weekend!

Friday, we checked out of our motel, collected our friends and drove to Mount Beauty. We decided to avoid the main highway and drive cross country, we stopped at the Yarck hotel in Yarck for lunch. Then continued the drive, following a Google maps route, which included about 20kms on unmade dirty roads, glad we had the 4×4.

Our accommodation in Mount Beauty was lovely and it had a hot tub, so spent some time in there before dinner.

Saturday, we decided it was a little hot for a walk, so instead went for a drive into the hills, before returning to Mt Beauty for lunch at the Annaperna estate vineyard. A really good meal and some wine! Starting the celebrations for Rog’s ‘big’ birthday. Back to the accommodation for some more hot tub action. We were given a complimentary half bottle of late harvest Pinot Gris by the winery, it went very nicely with some cheese and charcuterie!

Sunday, we checked out of our accommodation and headed to Seymour, via road to Bright, and lunch at a Chinese in Benalla, a really good freshly cooked Chinese meal! Some of the best prawn toast we’ve ever had.

We checked in to the New Crossing Motel in Seymour, a two bedroom apartment, the only problem when we got to the room was it only had one single bed in the second bedroom and there are four of us, then the manager turned up at the room and he’d worked out he had given us the wrong room, however instead of moving us, he just gave us a second room!

Overnight was an amazing storm, lots and lots of rain, so much so that in the middle of the night our friend received an amber alert via text, so they monitored the situation but the alert level was not raised.

We usually finish our blogs on Sunday evenings, however this week we need to complete the weather story, so Monday morning we rose to even more heavy rains, we left Seymour to drive back to Melbourne, a horrible drive, heavy rain, lots of standing water, lanes closed on the freeway. We managed to get back to Melbourne in time to drop the hire car back at the airport, we then heard that a full civilian evacuation of Seymour had been ordered, due to the risk to life from increasing flood waters, a lucky escape for us!

Happy New Year everyone.

We had a quiet Christmas, it rained most of Christmas Day here in Melbourne, and as the UK was experiencing it’s warmest Christmas ever, the temperatures were more similar than you’d expect.

No, we didn’t do the traditional UK, Turkey and all the trimmings for lunch, we had coronation chicken and salads.

We can’t believe another year is ending ! Technically our year will have been 10 hours shorter than normal, as we started the year in Geneva, Switzerland (GMT + 1hr) and finishing the year in Melbourne (GMT + 11hrs)

We thought we’d do the cheesy round up of the year with a photo for each month, but trying to pick a single photo for each month is really difficult, but here goes!

Monday (11 December), we went to the National Gallery of Victoria to an exhibition ‘watercolour country, a 100 works from Hermannsburg’. An inspiring collection of paintings by Albert Namatjira, his family and those of his Art school.

Tuesday, walked through the Alexander Gardens and the Kings Domain to the Shrine of Remembrance, which includes a very well done exhibition on wars, obviously from a Australian point of view, a sombre and respectful commemoration of the victims of war.

We moved on to the Royal Botanical Gardens, it’s a large site, so we only managed to stroll around half of it before we’d had enough and headed back home.

Wednesday, we managed to get ‘rush’ cheap tickets for the matinee performance of Miss Saigon by Australia Opera. A really good performance, but Miss Saigon is not cheery!

Thursday, walk locally to the supermarket, very boring detail, but we don’t spend all our time enjoying ourselves, having said that Nic does like a supermarket.

Friday, another local walk, this time to the local wine retailer ‘Dan Murphy’s’ a much more interesting shopping experience, luckily we walked there so couldn’t carry that much back. The bargain buy was a bottle of white wine for $5, about £2.60, Update – we opened this wine on Saturday night and it was very drinkable.

In the evening we got the tram in to central Melbourne to soak up some Christmas spirit, there was a choir in federal square, which turned out to be a traditional Serbian choir signing a programme of Serbian folk music, who were then joined by the choir from the Serbian Orthodox Church. An interesting hour! They had clearly worked hard on their performance, so it was interesting to see a larger crowd being attracted to the dancing inflatable Christmas characters, just round the corner.

We then walked around the city to the town hall which was lit with a moving light show for Christmas, and then walked along the Yarra River to see some more festive lights.

It was all very busy with families and/or works Christmas do’s. The people watching was plentiful!

Thankfully we must have left early as the tram home was not too busy.

Saturday, back to the Botanical Gardens to cover the other half. It was great to see so many family groups meeting up with a picnic.

Sunday, a lazy day at the flat, Nic went to the local health food shop, Rog went for a very short run!

Another weekly blog missed, so this one covers two weeks again!

Monday (27 November) we drove out of Melbourne to Geelong on the south coast. We started by visiting the botanical Gardens, found a lovely spot for our coffee under a tree, unfortunately the recent rain had brought out the bugs and Nic got 5 bites in quick succession! We packed up an headed through the rest of the gardens, which were lovely, really well kept, and headed for the sea lido. It looked bug free ! So we found a place to sit and eat out butties. By now those bites were getting itchy, so on our walk through the town we found a pharmacy and bought antihistamines…. relief for Nic!

We then headed back to Melbourne to visit more friends, and their children, only one of whom we met before, aged 3 months! A great catch up and a super home cooked dinner.

Tuesday, we visited Williamstown, a suburb of Melbourne, had our coffee in another botanical garden before heading back to meet our friend for a gorgeous lunch at Old Man Drew’s Cafe. The Salmon Okonomiyaki was amazing, and huge!

Wednesday, a wet and windy day! We met our friend at her workplace, with our butties for lunch, and again for a quick drink after she finished for the day. It was our final catch up before she left for the UK, very kindly allowing us to use her flat until her return at the end of December.

However before moving to that flat, we are house and dog sitting in Sandringham, so we headed there for dinner, to get acquainted with our charge, and receive useful instructions.

Thursday, the dog owners left in the morning, so we were now responsible for a beautiful house and very cute dog!

Friday, three dog walks a day, we explored the local area, parks and coastal walk. The dog was no trouble, and thankfully left only small ‘presents’ that needed to be picked up, so that was are OK. The dog is used to being off the lead, but as she doesn’t know us well, and we did not want to risk her, we kept the lead on.

Saturday, is a terrible day for the weather, a downpour that lasted all morning, our doggie pal was not happy going out in the wet! Rog finally persuaded her to just go for it, and they had a trot round the block.

Sunday, we visited Rog cousin in Somerville, further down the Mornington peninsula, we can not remember the last time we met, but it must be at least 25 years. We had lovely homemade lime cheesecake. It was really nice to catch up after all that time.

Monday (4 December), the dog owners returned, and insisted on taking us out to a Thai restaurant for dinner, obviously we couldn’t refuse (thank you!) we then said our goodbyes to them, and the dog, and returned to our friend’s apartment in Melbourne.

Tuesday, Rog went for a run, more of a shuffle, the first time in ages, but ‘use it or lose it’ so tried to use it. As this was our last full day with the hire car, and our 20th Wedding Anniversary, we drove to Werribee to see the Victoria State Rose Garden. A lovely garden with over 5,000 roses. Amazing blooms and scents.

Wednesday, started with taking the hire car back to the airport for 9:30, and then headed to a cinema, which is near the tram terminus, back to the city. We watched Marvels, as it was 10am we were the only ones there, so a private screening. An enjoyable film.

We got the tram into central Melbourne, going to Movida for lunch, Spanish tapas to celebrate our wedding anniversary. The food and wine were delicious.

Thursday, we walked from the flat to Royal Park, a nice view of the Melbourne skyline, We were greeted by a very friendly puppy, who managed to knock Nic’s tea out of her hand! No harm done.

Friday, was a hot and very windy day, we attempted a walk but we didn’t get that far, it was not pleasant with all the dust being blown around.

Saturday, it rained over night, we got the tram to Victoria Street Market, a large busy market, well it is December! It had everything food related, fish, meal, deli, fruit & veggies. It also had clothes, homeware and the standard market stuff. All undercover, but as the rain continued we got the tram back to the flat.

Nic decided it must be Christmas, so put up our friend’s Christmas decorations, Christmas, dare we say in the heat (just not today) still feels a little wrong.

We considered going to a carol concert in the park, but the rain continued so we didn’t bother. We heard later that it had been cancelled anyway.

Sunday, walked up the Moonee Ponds Creek trail, to Queen’s Park for coffee. We sat and watched them take down the stage for the concert that was cancelled yesterday! Then walked back down Mt Alexander Road to the flat in Travancore. In the evening the local church of St George’s held a carol service, so in the spirit of getting even more Christmassy, we went along.

Another late blog, too busy enjoying ourselves to be writing blogs on time, but here goes….

Monday (20 November), we did a little bit more gardening, before heading out for lunch with friends. That night Nic went out with our friend on the milk delivery round, as this is New Zealand, the milk round took 7hr including driving to Dunedin an hour away, finishing back home at 3am.

Tuesday, we left our friends and drove to Lake Tekapo, via Lake Pukaki with a viewing point for Mt Cook / Aoraki. We stayed at Lake Edge resort on Lake Tekapo. We had a dinner picnic sitting on the side of the lake, a beautiful spot. As Lake Tekapo is a dark skies reserve, Rog got up in the middle of the night to go star gazing. It was a clear night and you could easily see the Milky Way, but as this is the southern hemisphere the only constellation Rog could recognise was Orion, all be it upside down.

Wednesday, another glorious day, so we hired kayaks on the lake for an hour, we were the only people on the lake to start with, it was lovely. In the afternoon we walked along the side of the lake.

Thursday, we checked out and called at The Church of the Good Shepherd, before leaving Lake Takepo behind. On the journey, we stopped in Geraldine for lunch, and some retail therapy, Nic bought a Possum wrap (the wearing kind rather than the edible kind). We stayed the night at The Ashburton Hotel in Ashburton, a hotel on a race course, but no racing today. We had drinks and dinner in the hotel sports bar, Rog discovered jugs of beer!

Friday, we drove back to the car hire depot to leave the car, yes we did go back to the correct one, got a transfer to Christchurch airport for our Jetstar flight to Melbourne, Australia. Before any airport announcements Revolut (our credit card company) pinged us with a lounge access pass, which meant that our flight must be a least 1hr delayed, sure enough 10 mins later the airport updated the screens with a 2 hour delay. So we spent time in the lounge partaking of the free food and drink, unfortunately we were picking up another hire car in Melbourne, so less drink! Checked in with the Hire Car company, discovered they close at 8pm, so we’d probably miss them, hooray, time for a beer!

Got to Melbourne a couple of hours late, then had to run the gauntlet of the airport passport and border control, which gets the prize for the most disorganised we have been to lately. Inconsistent signage as to whether we had to use the electronic passport gates or the staffed lanes? We were told to use the E Gates, but before then we had to queue up to get a ticket? After baggage collection it was on to Bio security section, which entailed back tracking the long way around the baggage hall, to join a queue, then as we had been on a dairy farm recently we had to talk to another member of staff, before being given the all clear to enter Australia. All this meant we had definitely missed collecting the hire car. So we got an Uber to our friend’s place, and would go back for the car the following day.

Saturday, we got an Uber to the car hire depot, they were happy to change our booking by one day, so nothing lost! Apart from the Uber fares.

We then headed off to visit friends of friends for whom we are dog sitting next week in Sandringham, a Melbourne suburb.

We then checked into our Airbnb, a little way out of the city, but it’s cheap and only half an hours drive from friends. Nic and a friend then went to another friend for afternoon tea, followed by dinner back at our friend’s flat.

Sunday, after a lovely home cooked brunch at our friends flat, and a short walk around the local area, we headed for an early pre theatre dinner at a Nepalese restaurant, then watched a performance of a Christmas Carol, with more friends joining in. It was a great way to get into the Christmas spirit, quite tricky for us in the warm weather! It was another really enjoyable evening.

Monday (13 November) we left our friends in Northern Auckland and drove back to the airport for a short flight down to Christchurch on the South Island. Got the bus transfer to collect a car hire, which turned out to be the wrong hire company, Rog had cancelled that company’s hire car and got a much cheaper deal (saving about £100), so after some confusion and apologies, Rog was just working out how to deal with it when the chap offered/insisted on giving us a lift to correct car hire company. A very kind gesture!

After collecting the correct car hire, we drove to the local supermarket for supplies for the week. We then set off on a 3 1/2 hr drive to the west coast, via Arthur’s pass, to a place called Hokitika, into a yellow weather warning for Heavy rain. Most of the drive was dry, with only the last half hour in the rain. We stayed at the 252 Beachside motel. Another place that the only real description is cheap and clean!

And it did rain heavily overnight.

Tuesday, more rain, we drove south along the coastal highway, via Franz Joseph glacier to Fox Glacier, the rain continued most of the day, so we didn’t stop very often for the views, just kept driving. Tonight we had booked a bunk house room (the cheapest option), at Top 10 holiday park in Fox Glacier. When we checked in we were informed that the bunk house was not open, so we got a free upgrade to a cabin!

We booked the hot tub for 30mins, which was lovely with a view of the cloud obscured mountains.

Wednesday, a much better day for the weather, we continued our drive south, managing a 5km walk to see the Fox Glacier, and stopped on the road side to see Bruce Bay, Knight’s Bay, Haast village to refuel, Thunder Creek falls, then Fantail falls. Our accommodation for the next two nights was at Wonderland Makarora lodge.

Thursday, we walked towards the Blue Pools, but unfortunately the bridges of the river were closed, the sign said that they had “come to the end of it’s operational life”, so not sure we’d have wanted to walk over it anyway! A nice walk as far as the bridge.

We also walked the first part of the Mount Shrimpton track, the whole track is 3hrs, so we did about 1hr, another enjoyable forest walk, the path was more natural than some of the more touristy routes.

Friday, we drove, in the rain, to Wanaka. Had a wonderful brunch at the Federal Diner. Rog had kedgeree and Nic had amazing Eggs Benedict.

Did some shopping, whilst driving out of the car park, a guy stopped us to tell us that our back tire was looking a bit flat! Bugger! So we stopped at the garage put some more air in it and hoped! (Update – Sunday – car tire is still OK).

We continue our long drive in the rain to Otago, which is back in the east coast of the south island, to visit friends on their farm. We have not seen them in person for 24 years.

Saturday, friends had a stall on a local market in Kakanui, when we say local…. it’s New Zealand, so that is a 35 mins drive away. So went to see the market, then drove on to Oamaru, which was having a Victorian festival. Lots of people dressed in Victorian costumes, a nice place to wander around and soak up the atmosphere.

On the drive back to the farm, we stopped for fish & chips in Moeraki village, at the Fish Wife, really good fresh fish and chips, we shared a butter fish and sole, and obviously chips!

We visited the Moeraki Boulders, on the beach, strange balls of rock.

In the evening, we headed out for dinner and drinks at the Arc Brewery, nice beer but unfortunately the food truck had stopped serving food, so we only managed one beer and headed home for dinner. Lots of homegrown produce, so delicious and no complaints from us.

Sunday, we helped out with some gardening, then went with our friend to visit the gold mine where he works, he gave us a fascinating tour, but essentially it’s a big hole in the ground with lots of big toys!

Monday (6 November) we finally arrived in Auckland, 2pm local time (1am Monday UK time).

Through passport control and bio security, then the airport bus straight to our hotel, we managed to have an early dinner, and kill some time, before an ‘early’ night.

Tuesday, woke up early, got an Uber to pick up our hire car from “Bargain Car Rental”, the only issue we had was when the chap tried to find the hire car we’d just filled in the paper work for, he came back to the desk three times to check the registration number as he couldn’t find the car, he eventually gave us a different car, a small hybrid thing with 142,000 kms on the clock. All that can be said about it was that it goes, and stops, so all good.

We had a 3hr 30 min drive up to Kerikeri in the Bay of Islands. We stopped at the Omeru Reserve for coffee and a walk to the Waitangi waterfall. Checked into our AirBnB, an easy check in, the door was open and the key on the table. Our hosts turned out the best from the North East of England, they were very welcoming, and the accommodation was great.

Wednesday, we drove to the Waitangi treaty grounds, where a treaty was signed in 1840, so it is seen as the birthplace of the country of New Zealand. The experience was very well done, including a tour, a Māori cultural ‘show’ and a couple of museums.

Thursday, we walked along the river in Kerikeri to the Rainbow falls, a beautiful forest walk and an impressive waterfall. We then visited Kerikeri mission station, which is the first permanent western settlement in New Zealand.

Friday, we checked out of the AirBnB and drove back south towards Auckland, stopping for coffee in Cafler park, Whangārei, and lunch at One Tree Point. Where we watched a chap launch a boat from a slipway, then leave a 5 yr old holding it against the wind, whilst he dealt with and finally drove off with a 2yr old, all while the 5yr old held the boat, until he retuned 5mins later.

We stopped at Brick Bay Wines in Matakana to get supplies for friends we were visiting for the weekend in Auckland. We spent the evening eating, drinking and catching up, as we have not seen them for far too long.

Saturday, we walked from the house to Long Bay beach, with the family dog. In the late afternoon, early evening we headed in to Auckland for drinks and dinner. A lovely meal in “White & Wong” an Asian fusion restaurant

Sunday, we drove across the island to the west coast, Muriwai Beach, for another beach walk, a black sand beach, with lots of surfers. Followed by coffee and cake.