Where is everyone?

New Zealand is beautiful - no doubt about it. Everywhere we go, even 2 minutes outside a "town", there are beautiful views. Perhaps that's why so little is built up - it would be a shame to spoil any of it...apparently only 1.4% of land is "urbanised".

There just doesn't seem to be anyone here! Even in Wellington and Auckland, it had the feel of a town the size of Watford...the population is apparently larger but we couldn't find any evidence of it!

We'll keep you updated on sitings of people...I'm hoping (Michelle isn't!) to go to a Super 14 game of rugby on 11th Feb at Christchurch - that will probably be the most people we will have seen...

Rain and more rain

It's still raining here. And our tent has a broken pole so now has a distinct sag at the entrance! Touch wood, it's not letting in rain yet though.

Undeterred by the weather we've booked in on a whale watching trip tomorrow. We're in Kaikora and apparently it's the place to do it - we've already seen lots of seals. We've bought Michelle some slippers(!) and a warm fleece jacket as she was getting so cold...hopefully the weather will pick up - this is definitely worse than the English summer so far!

Our previous stop was Nelson which was a nice place...it was the most comedy campsite to date - at 9:30am each day an announcement went over the loud speakers around the campsite announcing "Good morning campers!" We thought that only happened on Hi-de-hi...

Before getting the boat across to the south island we nearly had a bit of a disaster. We accidentally left Michelle's rucksack in the car park of where we were staying but fortunately some kind sole handed it in so it was at reception when we came back more than half an hour later...

Speeder

Michelle was stopped doing 114km per hour in a 100 limit the other day, but she fluttered her eyelids a bit and all was fine. The police seem quite sensible over here - he just told her to stay within 10km per hour over the limit!

Much better...

...2nd time round at the hole in one challenge. Hit the "green" about 10 times, including about 6 in a row at one point. But didn't go in any of the 3 holes so no prize once again - Michelle was hoping that we'd have a bit of extra cash to splash! Fortunately we've moved on to Wellington now as it would have been highly addictive and I would have lost lots of money...

Toilets

They don't just have loos in Taupo, NZ...they have "super loos"!

Mountains

Today we took a ski lift up some volcano or mountain or something (lacking in attention to detail I know) - I didn't realise Michelle had this planned so was in shirt, shorts and flip flops!

Then we had the picnic I had been expecting - a lot more the temperature I was expecting!

Lake Taupo

This place is beatiful...although maybe we are biased because the sun has finally come out! The view over the lake is amazing and we've seen Comet McNaught two nights running.

There's some motor racing event here tomorrow so the place is "packed" (but there still doesn't seem to be that many people about). The plus for us is that there is the occassional PR exercise carried out...like these Maories rowing across the lake...

They also have this hole in one challenge on the lake front. You get 5000 NZ dollars if you hole it (111 yards), and an extra ball for hitting the little green. I was pretty pleased with my efforts...in 25 balls I got them all aerial and "just" missed the green with about half of them. Unfortunately at least 5 all sliced wildly to the right but I haven't played golf for ages so I was happy...I did hit the green once but all you get for that is an extra ball...not much use when your as bad as me! going back for another go tomorrow before we leave...

Waterskiing...or being dragged along by a boat...

...and then having to let go! We nearly got to out feet - particularly Michelle - but not quite. Michelle decided to give up and have a go on the ring...I was determined to get to my feet but to no avail. Going to have another go somewhere else hopefully...

I'm sure you'll agree we look like supreme athletes in our wetsuits!!

Waterfalls..

We've seen loads...the lastest was Huka, but can't remember the others though...

Is my head really that much bigger than Michelle's?! I'm reassuring myself it's perspective as I'm closer to the camera...!

A bit of sun...

...and a lovely place that I can't remember the name of!

Great scenery...

Everywhere we go there are great views....

There is also almost no people and no development - we've seen a few people in the last few days in Taupo, but before that we thought that only Wellington or Auckland had any people living in it...everywhere else seems to have two men and their dogs...

The considerable plus side of that is that there is virtually no development around all the
great landscapes and views we've seen...in England there would quickly be multi-storey hotels etc all over the place...everywhere really does look stunning.

The NZ weather

These shots will give you an idea of the weather here lately...

Camping

A couple of nights might be OK, but over 4 weeks? Well we've comitted to it now so we're getting used to it...hopefully it will be dry over the next few weeks. We atleast managed to find a brief dry patch to put the tent up the first time...we've become quite good at putting it up in the dark or in the misty rain...

The river here was a trickle when we arrived and a raging torrent when we left!

(Our little hire car is in the background)

Last night in Auckland...

We went to a posh area for our last night...viaduct. We met a gril called Karen who routinely calls Chris "Pies" (for obvious reasons), so Pies it is from now on. A nice sunset that night ...followed the next day by Pies' horse winning for the first time...

Note the rediculous length my hair got to before I got it cut...

Devonport

As has been the case all the time in NZ except the last two days, it rained when we went to Devonport...you'll notice a distinct lack of sunshine in most of the photos...nice views all the same...

The emergency extra jumper and ski socks that I brought for Michelle have come in useful once again...expecially since we left Chris' flat as we're now camping and it can be pretty cold. Not to mention wet...camping in the rain for about a week was beginning to test my sense of humour!

Auckland

Sorry for the lack of posts...a combination of us having little time...internet places being shut when we've tried, and laziness.

Chris and Linda ("Mrs" O'Reilly) were great while we stayed with them...Chris is even threatening a Thames tour return in 2008!

We went up the Sky Tower in Auckland which to me was more impressive than Kuala Lumpur, although a lot less high, as it had far better views...Michelle walked over the glass bit on the floor, as did I, but not without frequent touchs of the side!!! The guy dropping down the side isn't me...it's some guy who came down while we were there...Michelle is still trying to pursuade me to skydive but with no success!

Oh dear...

Don't suppose the 20/20 result is exactly a surprise but it was a pity that Pietersen was run out as he was our only hope...why he would bat behind Flintoff I can't really get my head round..

It's pouring with rain in Auckland but we bought all our camping gear today...only hope it gets at least a bit better soon or we'll get flooded!

Next Stop...

Auckland, New Zealand. We have to be up about 4am tomorrow to catch the flight...

Bondi

We went to Bondi beach this morning to see Wilesy do a duathalon (I think!) - he started cycling at 5:30am and he completed his swim about 10:45 - we arrived just after that! Michelle particularly liked all the competitors' speedos, but Wilesy let her down as he had shorts on...

We also met Lou - Wilesy's partner - and their two children over brunch (and a few others who were there) - this is Harrison with his mum and dad.

"Aussie" Dave

On the way back from Kiama we met up with Aussie Dave who played cricket at OMTs a couple of years back, in Wollongong. Dave was 30 the day before so we got to see the video of his birthday parachute jump - I can guarantee that I won't be doing one ever!!! To get in to where he and his mates drank after cricket we had to borrow proper shoes as we only have flip flops...Dave's shoes were a bit big for Michelle! Fortunately Dave also had a mate called Christian with size 12 feet for me...