Apologies to all of our followers for our leave of absence – this was caused by a week off in Blenheim and then problems with wifi access at our hotel in Sydney. We will follow this blog shortly with our first Australian experiences.
The week’s R&R with Debbie, Mark & family in Blenheim seemed to fly by and we are now back in Auckland preparing for the flight to Oz. We had a lovely time relaxing, but we still seemed to do a lot. We packed in the Marlborough wine festival where we met their friends Liz and Chris. The next day, we had breakfast at the Farmer’s Market and met another neighbour Ann and her husband Steve. We drove all the way across the top of South Island to Nelson to visit a pub with real draught beer part owned by a golfing buddy, Bill Dover and run by his brother Mic (see picture). We also had a lovely lunch at the Slip Inn in Havelock (the Green Mussel capital of the world) with Debbie and her mother-in-law Carol and the four of us also had a most enjoyable time visiting wineries and lunching. On Saturday, we played golf with Mark and his eldest son James (see picture), who appears naturally gifted at golf and playing heavy metal rock guitar. The dogs, Flecka and Harley, kept us amused all week and we really enjoyed the fresh produce from Debbie’s garden. The only slight downside, again, was the weather. It was such a shame that it rained on Debbie’s birthday, although it didn’t spoil the visit to LochMare, on the Charlotte Sound, which is absolutely beautiful. Now that we have moved on we are sure that Mark’s 50th birthday on March 12th will be blessed by gloriously hot weather. The only one of Debbie’s family that we did not really get to see much of was Will, who went off for a three day camp with his school - a sort of bonding exercise - and on his return he was dog tired, only staying up until the chocolate cake was ready.
Our return to North Island across the Cook Strait was relatively calm even though the wind was very strong and the next day, we took a spectacular 12 hour rail journey on the Overlander (see picture), from Wellington to Auckland. We saw amazing scenery (see picture) that would not have been possible to view were we driving. The gorges, the rivers, the volcanoes (still active) and the bridges with amazing spiral climbing rail track were certainly worth the trip. Coming back to both Wellington and Auckland, two cities that we had only recently visited for the first time, reinforced the pleasing memories we had of them and although we only had a few hours in each, we still had time for a walk around the harbours in both places and enjoyed the leisure time so evidently treasured by the Kiwis and their many visitors.
Impressions of New Zealand: beautiful country with fascinating things to see and do; wonderful food and most of all friendly people. Whether Kiwi bred or immigrant, generally they are so proud of their country and eager to share their experience with the visitor. We can only speak of the Northland (North Island) but the lasting impression is the winding and steeply climbing roads, stunning trees & Maori art whether in wood carving, weaving or tattoos! Oh yes – and the wine was quite good too! (see picture)
The week’s R&R with Debbie, Mark & family in Blenheim seemed to fly by and we are now back in Auckland preparing for the flight to Oz. We had a lovely time relaxing, but we still seemed to do a lot. We packed in the Marlborough wine festival where we met their friends Liz and Chris. The next day, we had breakfast at the Farmer’s Market and met another neighbour Ann and her husband Steve. We drove all the way across the top of South Island to Nelson to visit a pub with real draught beer part owned by a golfing buddy, Bill Dover and run by his brother Mic (see picture). We also had a lovely lunch at the Slip Inn in Havelock (the Green Mussel capital of the world) with Debbie and her mother-in-law Carol and the four of us also had a most enjoyable time visiting wineries and lunching. On Saturday, we played golf with Mark and his eldest son James (see picture), who appears naturally gifted at golf and playing heavy metal rock guitar. The dogs, Flecka and Harley, kept us amused all week and we really enjoyed the fresh produce from Debbie’s garden. The only slight downside, again, was the weather. It was such a shame that it rained on Debbie’s birthday, although it didn’t spoil the visit to LochMare, on the Charlotte Sound, which is absolutely beautiful. Now that we have moved on we are sure that Mark’s 50th birthday on March 12th will be blessed by gloriously hot weather. The only one of Debbie’s family that we did not really get to see much of was Will, who went off for a three day camp with his school - a sort of bonding exercise - and on his return he was dog tired, only staying up until the chocolate cake was ready.
Our return to North Island across the Cook Strait was relatively calm even though the wind was very strong and the next day, we took a spectacular 12 hour rail journey on the Overlander (see picture), from Wellington to Auckland. We saw amazing scenery (see picture) that would not have been possible to view were we driving. The gorges, the rivers, the volcanoes (still active) and the bridges with amazing spiral climbing rail track were certainly worth the trip. Coming back to both Wellington and Auckland, two cities that we had only recently visited for the first time, reinforced the pleasing memories we had of them and although we only had a few hours in each, we still had time for a walk around the harbours in both places and enjoyed the leisure time so evidently treasured by the Kiwis and their many visitors.
Impressions of New Zealand: beautiful country with fascinating things to see and do; wonderful food and most of all friendly people. Whether Kiwi bred or immigrant, generally they are so proud of their country and eager to share their experience with the visitor. We can only speak of the Northland (North Island) but the lasting impression is the winding and steeply climbing roads, stunning trees & Maori art whether in wood carving, weaving or tattoos! Oh yes – and the wine was quite good too! (see picture)
Was wondering whether we had to send out search parties. Nice to see you enjoying the golf and scenery.
ReplyDeleteGlad you enjoyed your stay with Debbie, Mark and family in Blenheim,and that your impressions of New Zealand are the same as ours. Apparently the weather has now improved there since you left, so we hope that the Oz weather is kinder to you! We would be interested in seeing pics of Broken Hill when you get there - we flew over that area when we went to New Zealand (and experienced quite a bit of turbulence!) Keep enjoying your travels and we are looking forward to the next instalment.
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