15th - 17th Feb - Abel Tasman Adventure

After arriving in the South Island we headed round to the North West tip where the Abel Tasman National Park occupies some of the most beautiful coast line and bush land. We stopped in a town called Motueka - one of the first colonised towns in NZ - where Polly's ancestors were some of the key pioneers.

Our Abel Tasman adventure was a day of freedom sea kayaking followed by two days of hiking with all our camping gear - our first major trek of the holiday. It was totally lush and awesome (dude) as we paddled in perfect unison - we were spotted for the UK rowing team but declined in favour of lounging on the white sand beaches in the blazing sun. We didn't see any exciting sea wildlife but the scenery more than compensated.

We were fully self sufficient for 3 days complete with cooking gear, food, water etc (unfortunately we forgot the wine!) and felt supremely satisified at the end. We have, however, decided that there must be a fortune to be made in producing dehydrated wine that can be rehydrated on demand at the end of a long days hike - so if anybody knows of any or how to make it then let us know...would be the perfect addition to the camper who has everything.

From the Abel Tasman we headed down the West Coast towards the Franz Josef and Fox Glaciers and the Southern Alps.

12th - 14th Feb - Wedding Party & Leaving the North Island

Many of Erika and Clayton's Antipodean family and friends will unfortunately be unable to make it over the UK for the wedding in May so they had a bash in New Zealand.

We all got dressed up (very strange for us since I had been going commando in one pair of shorts for the last 1 and a half months - nice) and headed to the World's End bar for the celebrations. We supped champers, ate fine nibbles and hob nobbed with loads of people we despearately tried to remember the names of. There were traditional speeches which were great and got us in the mood for the big day in May.

Starting festivities at 5pm was possibly a mistake when inviting pikey traveller relatives who have regressed back to uni style - 'it's free so I'll get as much down as possible in the shortest possible time' - attitude! We all had a great time, got lots of team phots and even gave Chris (little bro) a call on Andrew's (Clayton's well 'ard mate who owns a large security firm so don't mess) mobile.

We all headed into town afterwards to the Bahama Hut for more booze and bum wiggling. It was with tired feet and heads that we went to bed some time early in the morning.

We had originally planned to leave for the South Island at about lunch time but this plan was made difficult by the fact that we didn't get up until about 2! After preparing Little Tinker and bidding our farewells we set off on the 7 hour trip to Wellington to catch our 3am ferry.

7th - 12th Feb - Bay of Islands and The Coromandel

The second big exploration of the North Island was with four up in Little Tinker - with the oldies in the back!

We headed up north to the Bay of Islands through the glorious rain and cloud of the New Zealand summer!! When we arrived James questioned whether his 7 hours driving had been worthwhile - but I did ask him where he'd rather be! He agreed Brent Cross or the Northern Line on a sweaty Monday night was definitely not preferable!!

The area was beautiful and the clouds soon parted - although we did keep our wetware handy just in case! Our first full day there was spent on fantastic cruise all around the islands. We saw many idyllic bays, some of which had been bagged by the rich and famous to create their own James Bond style pads - complete with helicopter pads and hangers, golf cart tunnels trough mountains and rotating jetties. Not that we were jealous - good luck to them - sure they're not really happy!!!

The best bit was the unexpected arrival of a pod of dolphins who chiose to entertain us for a while with their synchro swimming and acrobatics. we tried to get pictures but usually ended up with rippling water or the edge of the boat!

The next couple of days we lounged around in the sun - working on the tan! We got the chance tot play with our new snorkel gear in what appeared to be a stunning place for a first dip. However, within a minute of a first head under experience we were clambering back onto the rocks with pooh in our swimmers! No we weren't swimming in a sewer outlet - we had just realised that the moving sand two feet beneath us was in fact a massive sting ray (at least 50 feet in diameter - and that was just one of it's eyeballs!) Think it's the fastest swim we've ever done but I got to the rocks first after pushing James out the way!

The next day, in an attempt to recover from our shock we went snorkling a marine reserve at Goat Island. Here we fortunatley saw things we wanted to see at close encounters including big fat snappers, bright blue things and lots of brown striped bottom feeders (this time we were lucky not to be providing food for them!).

After the Bay of Islands we headed down to the Coromandel Peninsula. We had a spectacular drive along the Pacific Coast Highway while the sun was setting. We arrived at our destination - Carrie and Martin's bach (trns: holiday home) sitting on the sea front in a weeny hamlet called Kuaotunu. We stayed here for 2 nights where Erika and Clayton came to meet us for Clayton's birthday celebrations. It was an amazing place to stay - right on the beach which was lush for swimming and wave jumping. Baby cotterills were scampering across the beach - I tried to get pics but again like my dolphin attempts I got more landscape than anything else!

We feasted on all sorts of fresh seafood, swam and generally chilled out. It was wonderful!

29th - 30th Jan - Stag and Hen Dos

With Erika and Clayton's impending marriage we were invited on the stag and hen dos to celebrate and humilate in Kiwi style.

Suffice to say that lots of fun and sore heads were experienced! The Stag do was an outward bound adventure in sea kayaks full of cans of Lion Red and Speights (trns: Fosters and Stella) out to an island 6 nautical miles across the Pacific ocean. Luckily (oh, I mean unfortunately!) the weather was to rough to make it to the island so we paddled around the coastline, up rivers and through breakers along with the ritual dunkings, up turnings etc. Clayton got off incredibly lightly I thought - however, I think this was largely due to his policy of 'sock it to them hard before they get a chance to get me' - this started early in the day when he laid a fresh pooh on the front one of the lad's kayaks!! - nobody really wanted to get too close after this!

The dads put on a fine display too including being first to break the rules by going out into the treacherous breakers for some kayak surfing and then getting beached before lunch along with about three bottles of red wine (complete with wine glasses and all transported in the kayaks!).

The evening was pent rough camping in the middle of the Coromandel bush with roraing fires, barbecues, drinking and 60 swedish blondes...this is perhaps a slight exagerration - must have been the beer goggles!

The next day was very slow for me as I displayed my usual ability to deal with one and half pints of shandy - however, the more hardcore were already drinking again by 8am as we packed up and headed back home via a mini golf course and several tactical wee stops. A great weekend and a close up experience of Kiwi partying.

On to the Hen do...

Of course we were very lady like and gentile - a small glass of white wine spritzer and a manicure was perfect for us ladies!!!!!!!...... That's what the boys think anyway!!

Erika's mates had lined up a great boat for a harbour tour of the area they live - very rough like the boys trip - but it didn't stop us cos we're hard as bro! Her mates had prepared a lush tea full of asparagus sarnies, cheese, fruits etc and plenty of booze to get the party started!! All chilled and fizzy - just what you need for a evening in the sunshine on a boat! Erika was dutifully crowned with the obligatory bride to be crown of homemade veil with tasteful adornments of old condoms - she still looked beautiful - all until she began to reveal her thong in a glamorous attempt to pull the old fishermen oggling a boat full of chicks!!

After the sun had gone down we hit the town of Tauranga along with several typical bride to be challenges - which Erika easily met - although finding a condom (not attached to the veil) was a challenge! Full of ladylike drinks and pies we headed home - without our 60 swedish strippers!

Lots of fun had by all!

!!Comments Active!!

You'll be pleased to know that you can now leave us abusive comments by clicking 'comments' after each post - actually - nice comments would be better to receive!!

!STOP PRESS! - Phots are here

We've eventually got round to putting up a few phots on line - http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=2131172515

Unfortunately you'll need to sign up for an account with imagestation (free and easy to do). We'll be moving them somewhere else soon when we get time.

28th Jan to 6th Feb - Chilling in Papa Moa and some little excursions

We've spent this week or so doing the family things with the Beverleys and Mitchells whilst trying to ignore the fact that the sun seems to have dissappeared in place of wind and rain - this is despite Polly's midnight sun dance on the beach after a night on the beers! Barbie culture seems to continue regardless of the weather and we've had some great meals including scallops, crayfish and mussels. Toes have curled in glee and we have frequently turned in for the night with tummies like drums! The weather has also put paid to our plans to walk the Tongariro Crossing - one of the best one day hikes in NZ across active volcanoes just south of Taupo. The trip to Taupo was well worth it though and we strolled around the amazing geo thermal pools and geysers of Rotorua. The pools ranged in colour from bright blue, black, orange, yellow and ghostbuster slime green - lots of boiling and bubbling as if full of frogs on heat! The bubbling mud pools were one of Pol's fave things of the day - fascinated by the belching farty noises bursting through the sloppy surface!

14th to 27th Jan - First NZ Road Trip

Having scrubbed and polished our Little Tinker we bid farewell to Erika and Clayton to head off on our first road trip. We were fully stocked up for all emergencies - a box of Corona donated by Clayton, spare fuel and and lots of sun cream. Minor items such as a wheel brace in case of puncture were not deemed necessary at this time! Misson objective: to loose the excess baggage that we had accumulated caused by the feeding/drinking forced upon us by E & C. You know how much we must have objected - but what can you do?!

Our route took us round the remote and stunning nubbet of the North Island known as the East Cape or Eastland. The SH35 main road runs 330 kms around this rarely visited and sparsely populated area of steep mountains dipping down to beautiful bays of white sand and blue green water. Clayton and his friends had told us about the stunning scenery but warned us that we should be careful where we stopped if we wanted to ensure we got round in one piece with all wheels attached to the van (the East Coast is apparently harbours a number of the harder NZ gangs). So it was with some intrepidation that we set off on our first exploration. In the back of my mind I was confident we could avoid any potential hassle by paying people off with bottles of Corona!

When we saw our first coastal view from LT we stopped to take pics and wow at the sight. We did this several times until we realised that every bend we turned gave us something similar - 1000s of pics later - promise you don't have to see them all unless you want to!

Any concerns we may have had about Deliverance style piggy encounters with East Coast locals were wholly unfounded and we never once had to trade Corona for our safety. Everybody we met from pie selling shop owners in run down abandoned villages to drunken Kiwis returning from their OEs were extremely friendly. The only occassion of minor concern was in Ruatoria - a has-been trading town miles from anywhere now suffering from unemployment and derelict buildings - typical of the East Cape settlements that used to be prosperous trading towns for meat and wool in the late 19th/early 20th century before their remoteness made them uneconomical. Stopping in the town for a pie and loo stop I spotted a large tatooed Maori guy (it was difficult to make out his facial features against the intricate patterns) looking pretty unimpressed about our presence - In the absence of a lock, I made sure I held the toilet door tighly closed!

One thing we weren't expecting was the lack of road surface in many places. Bimbling along nicely was often rudely interupted by frantic window and air vent closing to avoid chewing dust for the rest of the day. A curious maintenance procedure in this part of NZ seems to involve ripping up perfectly good tarmac and replacing with loose gravel chippings, which are left for joe public to roll flat. I must write a letter of complaint detailing every last cranny that I have found encrusted with road dust - it gets places that even beach sand hadn't previously found!

Perhaps the highlight of the Eastland was watching the sun rise from the eastern most tip of NZ from the East Cape Lighthouse. Arriving in Te Araroa it was like stepping even further back in time than the rest of the places we had driven through. The town didn't really seem to have a purpose other than marking the eastern most point of the island. In search of some victuals for the evening we popped into the general store - it was like a village hall crammed full of everything you might ever need to buy - from nails to 2 year out of date baking flour and tins of mushrooms so rusty you couldn't even see the sell by date! After buying some chilled beers from the local bar where the bar maid was engrossed in a game of scrabble, we drove 20km along another gravel road and parked up on the beach near the lighthouse for the night.

We woke at 5am - questioned whether we could be bothered actually getting up but Pol uncharacteristically decided it would be rude not to! The walk up to the lighthouse was through thick steep bush so we donned head tourches, fleeces, jackets and for Pol a pashmia sweedie. Thank god I was wearing my bikini under all the gear as I was soon sweating and heaving my very unfit (but obviously beautifully silflike) body up the 700 steps up to the top. The lucky family who had beaten us up were treated to a bikini clad perspiring princess - with all sorts of clothing tied whereever it could be - hints of mad bag lady! They hadn't been warned of that in their Rough Guide! Shortly after settling down to watch the start of the day the wind chill hit us. I knew the pashmina was an essential part of my survival kit! A little while later we were rewarded with a golden glow that began to peep over the horizon.

Emerging from the remote and rugged beauty of the East Coast we arrived in Hawkes Bay at the Art Deco town of Napier that was
entirely rebuilt in the early 1930s after a devasting earthquake. A major contrast to the tin sheds and derelict freezing works of the previous few days. The main goal of the Hawkes Bay visit was two fold - sampling of the gastronomic delights and tracking down Pol's relatives in the area - a prominent family involved in the founding days of Havelock North near Hastings. The first goal was quickly underway as we immersed ourselves in the local farmers and village growers markets and visited wineries for tastings and lunch! Just as we thought we were going to miss the second goal of finding the relys we got a call from Carrie (Pol's Dad's counsin) and were soon driving up the track to their farm at Kahuraniki, just outside Havelock North.

The 3000+ acre sheep and cattle farm surrounds the highest mountain in the area and is breathtaking. They treated us to a barbecue of home grown lamb and yummy avos, and the following day we got a tour by quad bike up the mountain and around the steep tracks of the farm. Farming on this type of terrain makes West Country farms look easy! During the stay we were also lucky enough to meet Cynthia (Cobbers' sister) - it was amazing to see the similarities with Cobbers' - from the love of cats to the starfish hand wave. The family tour of Hawkes Bay was completed with a beer with Dad's other cousin Jennie and then a meal at the local English pub where we met Pol's cousins (second or removed or something like that) Jeremy and Richard.

Full of family trees and tales we headed over to Wanganui on the west coast where there are yet more Foster descendants!
Pete and Mary welcomed us into their home where we were treated to a great barbie and late night drinking with their daughter Rebecca. It was with sore heads the next day that we set off at 7am to walk around Mt Cook and head up the coast to the surf beaches of Raglan.

After a couple of weeks on the road LT had served us impeccably (and was even treated to a few new hand sewn curtains after the orginals had been shredded by the washing machine) and we cruised back into Papa Moa to meet the Beverly elders who had flown over for their hols. Our valiant and partially successful attempts to become tanned and toned travellers will once again be thwarted by more boozey nights at the Mt Mellick - after all, we are on holiday!