Week 45 New Zealand Tour Winter 2008/9

Monday 3^rd November We head North

We packed our bags and waited from Brian and Shelia to arrive and take us back to Mangonui which is about a five hour drive from Auckland. We took the Motorway 1 as far as it went then up through the hills past The Bay of Islands and got to Mangonui after some shopping in Kerikeri at about 5pm. We had stopped a couple of times en route for coffees and lunch. At Kawakawa there is the ‘Hundred Wasser’ public toilet which is most unusual, see photos.

We had a mixture of sun and rain in our travels but there was very little traffic on our journey. Just North of Auckland there is springing up a new town mostly for the Chinese immigrants. It’s a very large area that is likely to expand as the immigration is still quite high.

A friend of Brian and Shelia was celebrating her birthday and so we were invited along and we had some ‘bubbly’ at Valda’s house before dinner at The Galley restaurant where we enjoyed a nice evening with excellent food.

So a tired couple of Groves went to bed as soon as we got back to the house.

Tuesday 4^th November- It’s shopping day

We walked around Mangonui for a while this morning whilst Shelia worked in the Library and we had coffee before heading off for Kaitaia for some shopping.

This seems like quite a busy little town and we had a brief lunch and went in to Pak’n’Save Supermarket. It’s a bit cheap and cheerful and very much like Quicksave we had in the UK with most of the products left in cartons and it looks a bit messy. We have used this chain of supermarkets before but prefer New World Supermarket chain which is very much like a Waitrose quality supermarket. Mangonui has only a few shops and so for main shopping you go to Kaitaia which is about 30 minutes away and/or Kerikeri which is about one hour away.

Our visit to both these towns was brief and so over the next week or so we shall re visit these towns. We headed back to Mangonui and visited the local butcher and also the fish man.

Tonight we shall have dinner in the house.

Wednesday 5th of November, Gunpowder, treason and plot

Well its Guy Fawkes day in UK and also here in New Zealand it is celebrated by some. However we decided to have an easy day and try to get over the thirteen hour time change so most of the day we lazed about and did very little. Joanne, our daughter, has told us the new Sofa's have been delivered to Piplin House and one of them has not been assembled correctly, why oh why do people not care about their workmanship?

The weather today was very blowy with quite a bit of rain interspersed with sunny patches but quite relaxing really.

It was Sheila's turn to cook tonight and so after a bottle or two of wine we enjoyed a very pleasant dinner. Tomorrow we are planning a walk and I hope my knee improves as I have been suffering quite a bit with the affects of arthritis and the muscles behind my knee and so I will try to see a Physiotherapist whilst I am here. Lets hope it better tomorrow. Also we are expecting a guest, somebody we met in the Wagamama restaurant over the weekend. She is in the area doing conservation work and by surprise tracked us down and is visiting us tomorrow.

Thursday 6th November- A quiet day

We decided to take it easy again today as Brian and Sheila needed the car to carry out the jobs they needed to do before leaving for their long South American trip. We also watched the US elections on the TV which was good to do and now hopefully the Yanks will stop their infringing on other countries.

It was quite a landslide victory for the Democrats and will teach George Bush a huge lesson we hope. We had dinner together and a nice evening was had by all.

Friday- 7th November- A trip to Kaitaia

The weather was great today and quite warm, We needed some shopping and headed off to Kaitaia to the big supermarket. On the way we stopped at a lovely 'Top 10 Camping site'. Talk about well equipped, if you have only a tent there is a full kitchen which you can use apart from the usual ablutions and if this is an example of how all the sites are that will be great when we go camping in the South island next year.

Kaitaia is a small town but not really attractive to look at and so I did not take any photos, perhaps next time when we have more time to walk around a bit more. Tonight our host's are having a farewell party with some of their friends and so the shopping needed to be back early so that all food preparations could be made.

It was a very nice evening and we met some nice couples, one couple Robin and Lorraine we have met before, he used to be a production controller in Thames TV and a very interesting guy to talk to.

A latish night and perhaps too much of the New Zealand wine was consumed but they had a good send off.

The house is now ours for the next three months and we can now start travelling around a bit. We have to take Brian and Shelia to a friend tomorrow who will drive them to Auckland Airport for their flight.

We are staying in their house, see details as per following link

http://www.professionals.co.nz/MGI10538/

Since we wrote our Hong Kong visit report The Hong Kong Club has opened its new website. For those of you interested please see following link
http://www.thehongkongclub.hk/index.html

Saturday 8^th November- Brian & Sheila leave for Latin America

An early start as Brian & Shelia were leaving today and so we drove them to meet their friend who would take them to Auckland Airport for the start of their journey to

Los Angeles.

There were a few bottles left over from last night and also general rubbish which needed to go to the dump, no rubbish collection here in the sticks you know. It’s a small site about five minutes away and very organised even to the point that you sort the different sorts of plastics.

We made a quick shopping trip to the Butchers and purchased two lovely steaks for tomorrow nights dinner. Lunch was the left-over from the party of pizza and desert which was just right.

Following a brief rest we took a walk down to Cable Bay named because there used to be a Cable Station here connecting New Zealand with Queensland in Australia but now they have a new one from Auckland to Sydney and so the old station is gone.

It was a little windy but there were only a few people on the beach and we had an ice cream and walked home.

Dinner tonight was the ‘Snapper’ we had purchased from the local fish man and it was absolutely great, not too cheap, but good.

We ate most of our dinner on the balcony until a small rain shower came in and it cooled a little but not very cold like London.

We have decided to go to Kerikeri tomorrow to see the town and also the farmers market which is understood to be very good.

It's voting day today in New Zealand and the butcher asked us if we had voted yet, we of course told him we could not as we are just visiting but he was not too interested and was unsure what time it closed or where to go to vote. It's missing some of the American razzamatazz.

Week 44 New Zealand Winter 2008/9

Monday 27th we are off on our travels again

We finished our packing and cleaned the house, emptied the fridge and drank all the booze (not quite) and we are off again on our travels, this time back to New Zealand to see out the cold English winter months.
The Air New Zealand flight was quite full but we had booked seats in the nose end of the aircraft and the seats (read beds) were great and we both slept very well on our first leg to Hong Kong.
After almost twelve hours we arrived in Hong Kong on Tuesday evening about 45 minutes early which meant that we reached our Hotel in plenty of time to go for dinner. We decided to go to the ‘Milano’ which has been one of our favourite restaurants from previous visits. The food and wine were up to the usual good standard and afterwards we went to a busy little bar called ‘From Dusk till Dawn’ where we listened to the live band for about an hour before heading back to the Renaissance New World Hotel for bed.

Wednesday 29th An easy day

A late small breakfast and Noel went off to meet some old business colleagues whilst Jen sat by the swimming pool for a few hours.
Noel got back about 3.30 pm and also enjoyed the poolside for a while. We were both looking forward to our dinner at the Hong Kong Club with some more of Noel’s business colleges.
We had a great evening at the Club with Peter G, Wolfgang & Gigi S and Phil B. names are withheld for good reasons. It was a most enjoyable evening and the food and company were great.
There was still some life in us after the dinner and so we went to the Mandarin Oriental Hotel for a couple of quick ones for the road. We returned to the Hotel around 12.30 am feeling a bit tired but it was a lovely evening.
The discussions over dinner ranged from the current financial challenges to how a mutual friend ‘Archie D’ and his horse were doing? Anyway we solved the financial crisis within one hour after committing all the rich Nations ie China, India and Taiwan to bail out the rest of the world. This was a very good plan we agreed after a considerable amount of booze had been consumed..

Thursday 30th October Got a hangover

We had a late breakfast after a late night and then packed our bags and checked out at midday and went for a walk, including a visit to an electronics arcade. This is two floors of about a hundred small companies all selling cameras to notebooks to bits of computers etc. I needed to purchase a new battery for my mobile phone.
Lunch was taken in an Irish Pub called Delaney’s from where we watched the world walk by. There are a lot of Australian and New Zealanders in Hong Kong at this time getting ready for the Rugby match to be held in the Hong Kong Stadium.
The sun was emerging from the Smog and highlighted the amount of China Smog that swirls around Hong Kong almost every day. When the Olympics were on and the polluting factories were closed we understand that the weather in Hong Kong was really clear and bright, "just like the old days". The train from downtown to the airport was as efficient as ever and we reached the Airport Terminal in ample time to relax for a while. It will be another 11 hour flight to Auckland where we are due to arrive around 1100 in the morning.
The stock markets around the world continue to fluctuate badly and we noticed at one time today that one of the Hong Kong stock exchanges was closed for a while, strange we thought.

Friday 31 October- We arrive in Auckland

The flight was pretty much on time at about 11.00 hrs and we were off the aircraft and through immigration and customs within about 35 minutes which we thought was pretty good.
The car from the Langham Hotel was waiting. They have just purchased three Lexus 600 hydrid models and it was fantastic to be in, I even asked if I could drive. The weather was mild, but not warm, and there had been some rain earlier in the day. It would appear that the weather in New Zealand over the winter months May-September had been pretty bad with considerable amounts of rain and high winds and perhaps the worst winter for some years.
The Hotel seemed fairly quiet which is just what we wanted and it was slightly out of the Central Business District. We needed a rest and so hit the sack for a couple of hours and then went for a walk down town and had dinner at a great Italian Restaurant called Vivace where we had eaten before on past trips to Auckland.
We walked back up Queen Street to the Hotel, most of it was uphill and so a good exercise after dinner. And so to bed.

Saturday 1 November- The weather is better today

We left the Hotel fairly late and had breakfast in a small bakery. Auckland town was very quiet compared to our last visit. We went to a sport store to look at tents and to find out prices for all the equipment we will need to purchase for when we start our tour of the South Island in the early part of next year.
The shop only had one make of tents set up and we asked about the Coleman range and they said that they do sell this brand and would put up the one we wanted so that we could see what it looked like. We were told to come back in half and hour and it would be ready. We found a café and had a well earned cup of coffee and then went back forty minutes later to peruse the tent. It looks just right and so perhaps we may well go ahead after we have made some more enquires about other equipment etc.
We walked partly through an area called Ponsonby and then took the bus down to Victoria Park where the Auckland marathon was due to start on the following day and we saw all the preparations for the day.
As the sun was shining we walked along by the Marina and back in to the town centre for an excellent ice cream and then booked tickets for the cinema to see a Coen brothers film called, "Burn after reading".
We took dinner at Wagamama’s and of all things sat next to a family who had lived in Winchester and the mother was going on Sunday to a house less than a mile from where we would be staying.
The film was excellent and a really good example of black humour. It’s really worth watching.

Sunday 2nd November and the sun came out

The last Formula One race of the season from Brazil was on and we were able to see a certain Mr Hamilton win by one point after scraping home yards in front of a Toyota. Well done and its nice to have a BRITISH Formula one champion again when you consider that most of the F1 teams are either based in the UK or use mostly UK engineers.
We only saw part of Ponsonby yesterday and as we had partly got over our tiredness I decided to take the camera along and make it a photographic trip. To me I have to be feeling good and not tired to enjoy taking photographs and that is why we had not taken any during the last couple of days. So we walked around Ponsonby which is a nice part of Auckland town and being a Sunday morning couples and families were enjoying their breakfast. We had our big breakfast in a small café in a very old arcade. After enjoying this area we took the bus to Parnell which has a great tourist attraction and there were many foreigners??? there. We prefer Ponsonby as it’s got a much better feel to it.
During our walk we saw a number of signs for the forthcoming Government Elections,see photo.
On the walk back to town we checked some car hire pricing for our travels next year.
A very large cruise liner from Celebrity Cruises has arrived in town and discharged a couple of thousand people and therefore downtown was very busy indeed.
We took the Shuttle back to the Hotel for a ‘freshen up’ before meeting our friends Brian and Shelia for dinner. It is their house that we will occupy for three months just outside Taipa whilst they are away on their travels to South America and the Antarctic.
We tested a few beers at an Irish Pub, yep another one, and then went for dinner. We decided to have an early night.

A week in the West Country 6-12 October 2008

Sunday 5^th October

A bit hard to get out of bed this morning but we met up for breakfast with our friends John & Lyn who also stayed at the hotel. The rain was pouring down and it was grey and miserable and the thought of collecting the caravan in the wet and getting it ready for our travels was challenging. In the early afternoon the rain eased and so we said ‘bugger it’ lets do it and so we headed over to the Walton site to collect the van and brought it back to the house. By this time jet lag or late night had kicked in and so we left most of the arrangements for the next morning. An early night was called for.

Monday 6^th October

And still it rained but we got the van organised and left home at around 10 am and headed off on the M3/A303 in the direction of Exeter and Ivybridge. The journey down was fine without to much traffic and we arrived at the main A38 exit for the site and went down these small country lanes to the caravan site. We did meet some opposition coming the opposite way in the shape of Lorries and large vehicles and at one time I thought we would not get through the gap as the left hand side of the caravan was up against the trees growing alongside the road. But we made it and due to a misunderstanding we missed the entrance of the site. This required a turn around which is not easy with a 26 foot van and a 16 foot car but we made it at the entrance to a farmers field, thank god the traffic was light.

The site is not that big and there was only about 8 or 9 caravans and so we pretty much had a choice where to park. We decided that evening to go to the pub across the road for dinner which was very good and by the time we left it was beginning to rain again and the wind was getting stronger.

Overnight the rain increased significantly and the wind at times reached about 40 plus miles per hours and the caravan was moving in the night because of the strong winds.

Tuesday 7^th October

It was a little brighter this morning as we headed of to Salcombe to meet my sister Annette. We spent a short while at the house and then went to the cafe in Salcombe for a light lunch followed by a local ice cream. Later in the day we visited several other caravan sites in the area and decided that the Camping and Caravan Club site near Slapton Sands was the best and we shall try to get there sometime next year.

From there we went on to Dartmouth which although is a pretty town by the sea the shops are mostly for tourists. We a had a Devon cream tea and then headed back to the caravan site where we spent a quiet evening watching the TV . The wind has now stopped and so has the rain and it is supposed to be nice over the next few days.

Wednesday 8^th October

The sun was shining and it was warm although it had been much colder overnight.

Peter and Annette came and collected us and we headed off to Totnes for some shopping and also a mid morning coffee.

Following a walk around town and some time for photos we headed off to Dartington Hall where we had a nice lunch and a walk around the pleasant gardens. This campus is quite large and they hold many conferences there during the year and there is also a Theatre and so this is a popular destination. We have been there before but it is certainly a nice place to visit.

We got back to the site mid afternoon and Jennifer read her book in the sun and Noel did his blogging thing. Tonight we have decided to have a steak for dinner and no doubt spend the evening watching TV or reading and try to forget the current economic challenges which have seen some of our shares drop alarmingly.

We watched the ‘The Big Cat Live’ which was very interesting. But I must comment as follows. During the programme they said at least a dozen times that the programme was coming LIVE …but then it was filled with video that they did earlier? Work that one out.

Thursday 9^th October

We have decided to extend our stay for a further three nights as the weather is fine and the site is very nice. Not as nice as Slapton but we have agreed that it is to much trouble to move.

Anyway, Peter and Annette collected us from the site and we headed of to Dartmoor National Park . The weather was mostly sunny and we stopped in Princeton for a cup of tea and a bacon sarnie. The cafe was full of ‘old folks’ and it just a short distance from the famous prison. I thought they did day trips around the prison but it would appear that they only have accommodation for minimum of six months provided you have committed some offence or other and so we gave this trip a miss.

We then headed in to deepest moor lands and stopped at Badger Creek for some shopping and looked at the turkeys being readied for the Christmas lunch table. There were also rabbits, ducks and a multitude of animals to look at. We had lunch in a pub which was very nice and then we headed back to the caravan site.

Later in the day we drove in to Totnes and found a shop where we could use the internet and check email as our caravan site does not have any Wifi and I don’t have a 3G dongle (that’s what my wife says anyway). We decided to have a Devon cream tea to round of the day and then returned to the site but first stopping to look at another site along the road. This site is called Moor View park and is open all year round and you can see many of the vans are fully winterised and all sites have direct drinking water, waste water outlets and electric hook ups. Some of the sites also have a nice view over the hills.

Back in the caravan I caught up with my Blogging and also getting some photos loaded. As I don’t have easy access to a internet connection I will load all photos etc when I get home this Sunday.

Friday 10^th October

It was a bit grey as we left California Cross to visit Plymouth. We had a pleasant drive through the countryside and arrived at Plymouth around 1100 hrs. We parked and walked to the Barbican and there we took a one hour boat trip around the harbour.

There were not too many Navy vessels, perhaps three submarines and a couple of frigates. Still it was a nice ride and it was good to see Plymouth from the sea.

We found a very good fish and chip restaurant which had been recommended by Peter called ‘Platters’ and I was excellent. We then did a walk around the Barbican and then headed back to the car for a drive up to Plymouth Hoe and then a slow drive back through the countryside to our caravan.

We had a quick pint of beer across the road in the pub to cheer us up after the stock market going bananas and so to bed.

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Saturday 11^th October

The weather was great as we went to Salcombe and had coffee with Annette and Peter in town and then we went to the Yacht Club for lunch. We purchased some cream for a Devon cream tea and finally left for home around 4pm. We went the long way back as it was such a lovely day. A very nice day indeed particularly as we had a great view over Salcombe Harbour from the Yacht Club

Sunday 12^th October

We got up early and packed the caravan for our journey home. The weather was great with mostly sun on the way home and the temperature was showing 22 degrees centigrade in the car. We arrived home at around 1430 and then started some of the o unpacking but will leave most for tomorrow.

We have enjoyed our 6 nights in the West Country and look to go back there again next year at a similar time.

Saturday 4th October

We have booked to go to the West Country next week on a site called California Cross which is not far from where my sister lives in Salcombe however we are fist going to the 60^th Birthday party of friends who live in Reading. A late night is expected and so the next day will no doubt be slow. The party was great and a big surprise for Roger and well organised by mainly his kids. It was nice to see so many old collegues and friends

We stayed the night at the Madjeski Hotel Reading and this is near where the party is to be

We are finished

Finally, finally we are finished with the house development and delighted with the result,but not the cost.
We have had a number of visitors recently who are very impressed with the finished product and that can make you feel it was all worth while. The cinema room is up and running and has made a big difference to our film viewing habits as the sound is very impressive with the Mordon Short speakers and Onkyo Audio Visual amplifier.
We have also finally cleared out the garage which was the last place to be tidied up and now both cars can reside in their new home for the first time in 14 months.
We are still waiting for the remainder of our new furniture to arrive(two new settees) and hopefully that will be before the end of October before we head of to New Zealand again.
When we were in NZ earlier this year we met some friends and have agreed to take over their house for several months whilst they are on a grand tour of South America.
We are now planning a short trip to Devon to see my sister and husband for a few days and this time we are going to take our caravan. Lets hope the weather stays good and we have booked a 'Camping & Caravan Club Site' near Ivybridge and so we are planning to leave next Monday morning. We had originally though to take the van over to Norther France and explore that area including some of the war graves but time has gone by whilst recent trouble in the Channel Tunnel has caused major hold ups in travel and so we have decided to avoid that until next year.
Our son starts back with the London Ambulance again today which is great as he had to wait many months to get a placing which was a bit frustrating for him.
We shall probably update the blog a bit more often now as we head off to the West Country and also New Zealand via Hong Kong.

Almost there!

The last few weeks have been again quite busy with us working to bring the house back to a home.
The changes following the Councils approval have been made and the decorators here and should finish by the end of the week and that will be it.
The new cinema room, dubbed the 'Colluseam' has been a great success. To set it up looked easy only in practise it was not and so we called in outside help and now it all runs very well indeed. What a difference good equipment makes to a film, now in High Definition as well as surround 5.1 sound. The gunfire sounds almost real.
We can now start entertaining again having been unable for the past year. Having said that we are off the New Zealand at the end of October and will return early March. We will be staying in DoubtlessBay in the North Island about 5 hours from Auckland at a friend's house whilst they are touring South America.. We shall use part of February to tour some places in South island and will try to return to some of the most beautiful locations on earth.
Its perhaps a shame to leave the house but the weather in winter is not great and if the summer this year is anything to go by then winter will be a disaster. And so we planned the NZ trip. We will again go via Hong Kong but only stop off for one night to give us a break in this long journey. We have booked seats on Air New Zealand and so hope to have a comfortable flight.
We had a BBQ for some of the builders who helped on the house about one week ago and that was good and so know we come to the end of this house development and the outcome was great and we are more than satisfied. The costs however was more than we planned but I suppose this happens in building.
We may try a short weekend somewhere in the caravan before the end of October but lets see how the next couple of weeks go