Oop North

Its been a week in New Zealand and we've been as far North as you can go, so now its time to turn south and go all the way down. We've seen some great scenery, swam with dolphins (again), kayaked, got held up by pigs (once) and cows (once) on the roads, driven along a beach and sledged down a giant sand dune. Mucho Funo.

Auckland and Exploring time

Auckland



If coming to NZ, don't waste too much time here.


It's got some nice cafes and bars. The harbour has some great pubs and restaurants, and there was much drinking enthusiasum with me and the boy there last night including many mojito's and pints, yes, english size pints, of beer, yes, real beer, stuff that's not yellow and runny. The museum's not bad either. Otherwise, it's not great and I'm glad that any moment now the boy will be turning up in yet antoher bed on wheels which will start our NZ exploring and be home for over 9 weeks.

I pray it's bigger than the Hogster, bracing oneself for the arrival of the Mini (motorhome) Monster.

The end is here

Bye bye Australia, its been three and a half m0nths, but now it's time to leave. Jules is now to pink to stay and Matt cannot cope with anymore of your "beer"

We've seen the big Rock

Trains, Hippy Tours and a big red rock

19 hours on a train, the Legendary Ghan train at that (by legendary I mean old and very slow) is obviously a marvellous way to get to a place named Alice Springs which is infested with flies and if it wasn't for the absolutely crazy adventure of going into the outback with a bearded bush man and 17 other nutters to sleep in swags and hike round massive rocks at 430am-we might have contemplated not doing it.

As it turns out, it was amazing and a great way to say farewell to Oz which we will be departing for cooler climes v soon. The Olgas, The Rock, Kings Canyon were very impressive and the tour group was a lot of fun. Sleepig in swags, getting scared to death by Dingos in the middle of the night and partying hard 'Alice' style was a bit of an experience I can say. Am still feling the 22 hour day of 430am hiking to go clubbing and drinking , then to bed at 230 am the next day.

Interesting.

As you can imagine, the desert doesn't have the best tech for uploading photies, so you've got that to look forward to, you lucky people.

Wine, wine, wine and a very sad day

The Barossa Valley. It has 60 wineries. We've just had a lot of fun. And wine. I even drank some white - well it seemed rude not to when they were giving it away.

On another note, this is a very sad day. Jules' hair straighteners (forgive the spelling I am not that familiar with these items) have died and been binned. Please all be in morning.

Some recent photos