Tuesday 6th January- Gosh what busy people we are

The sun, oh dear, was shining like crazy again this morning as we headed off to the beach. A few more people on the beach already at 0900 this morning than there have been for a few days.
There were two coaches of tourists at the Taipa Bay Resort this morning, a mixed bunch of nationalities no doubt all fighting for the use of the two ladies Loos inside the Hotel.
We arrived back at the house and got going cleaning anything that did not move. Noel did the bathrooms and helped on the floors whilst Jennifer did the laundry stuff, no ironing for her ladyship whilst on vacation though only washing. By the time we had completed the through kitchen and entrance hall tiles twice it was time for breakfast but now it was lunchtime. So we carried our food outside and for the benefit of anybody that might be interested said loudly that this was an early lunch.
Time for a shower and discuss tonight’s dinner and so we headed to our favourite butcher for some lamb chops that had been pre-marinated in honey and Soya sauce and just needed Noel’s velvet touch.
Noel was just getting ready for a brief check of the inside of the eyelids when Robin phoned and invited us over for tea and cake, we arrived at the same time as an unexpected Bed & Breakfast guest. The lady had been before and arrived without notice except that her mostly uncovered 40” DD’s arrived through the door before her. Even the muffins with cherries on the top now looked small.
Back home we started looking at our travel options for February. We have booked the car hire through a local company in Kaitaia at a very good price for a large car and also booked the ferry from Wellington to Picton which is a three hour sea crossing from North to South Island.
We plan to leave the house in Taipa on Saturday 31st January and head south and plan to stop near Hamilton which is about 300 miles from here and then the next day arrive late afternoon in Wellington, the capital city of New Zealand, for one night.
Our Interislander ferry is booked for 1030 am the next day and so 3.5 hours later we shall be on our way in South island and most likely heading for Christchurch for the night. This will leave us about 8 hours on the final days drive to Te Anau which is on the bottom left hand side of South island and close to Doubtful Sound and also Milford sound where we plan to spend six or seven days. So we discussed this and will pretty much do as planned but we will not book motels just yet as there is still plenty of time and by February the prices should be dropping as tourism is also down here. Afterwards we had a brief spell in the Spa to work away at the tired muscles and then cooked the lamb chops which were beautifully prepared by the husband of the house.
Whoops, another nice sunset passes by, boy we will miss these.
We watched the second half of the ‘Calendar Girls’ film and then headed for the sack. A pleasant day indeed and it was hot today at around 28 degrees centigrade we reckon.

Monday 5th January- Let’s get out’a here!

It was a beautiful morning again with the sun beaming down as we left the house for our morning walk. In front of the Taipa Resort Hotel a large tourist coach was disgorging people for their morning coffee and loo break prior to travelling farther up the coast to Cape Reinga, the most northern point in New Zealand. Most of the people seemed out of place in their semi winter clothes i.e. long trousers and coats considering the current warm weather.

The tourist season is now in ‘full steam ahead’ mode and we can see more coaches and mobile homes passing over the Taipa Bridge every day. Yesterday there was actually a queue of about 12 vehicles waiting to cross, very impressive.

Anyway, we returned from our walk and had breakfast and were thinking about going out somewhere, but not sure where, when Robin arrived to have a chat and a coffee. Robin left after about one hour and then we headed to Ahipara via Kaitaia where we placed our order for the camping equipment we need for the South Island. This is for collection towards the end of this month.

We had visited Ahipara once before when we first arrived but it was a grey day and we did not fully explore the area which we did today. We also visited Shipwreck Cove and looked at the holidaymakers on the beach and swimming whilst the Caravan Holiday Park looked quite full. On leaving Ahipara we headed south through hills well covered by forests and fields towards the bay of Herekino where the HMS Osprey foundered in 1846. If you want a quiet place to live I guess this could be it as we drove for about 20 kilometres and only saw three cyclists and one car and a few sheep and cows. There are no street lights and so if you wanted to look up at the stars, this is a great place to do it.

The beach at Ahipara is not great but it is the southern end of the famous ninety mile beach which is actually ninety kilometres long and good for use by 4x4 and those vehicles which can handle sand. There were a number of quad bikes, motor track bikes on the beach whizzing up and down. There was also a rented campervan filled with Germans who had completely ignored all the signs about not taking rented vehicles onto the beach and only going on the beach if you know what to do. They were stuck well into the sand but a friendly Maori couple in a 4x4 pulled them out. They did look a little embarrassed.

We headed back to our favourite ice cream shop in Awanui which gives you ‘more ice cream for your bucks than anywhere else’ which Noel then proceeded to drip down his clean t-shirt, much to Jennifer’s annoyance. His plan next time is to choose ice-cream which the same colour as his t-shirt is so he hopes that they have a variety which has red and white stripes.

When we finally arrived home it was a little late but sufficient time for Jennifer to cook a Chinese dinner of Chicken with mushroom and rice with bean sprouts, cabbage and of course a nice glass of Shiraz to wash it all down.

Again, the sunset was fantastic and this is now getting to be a bore reporting it and so will not be mentioned again, well at least not until tomorrow.

We watched the evening news which seemed to be full of problems in the Middle East, the economy going down, and even a famous New Zealand rugby player being caught in the rip tide of a bay near Auckland and dragged out to sea and not seen since. The Australian news reported that there are more sharks in their water now mainly do to the efforts to improve the cleanliness of the seas from effluent etc and the result has been there are more fish and as a result more sharks feeding closer to shore. So swimming off the coast of OZ is not to be recommended unless you are in a controlled bay. We think the same may also be true in NZ as well so will have to watch out. Rumour has it that there are as many sharks here as in the East End of London.

Sunday 4th January- What beautiful weather

What a gorgeous morning, the sun was shining down across the bay and so we went for our walk before breakfast. This sounds like we left early but actually we left at 0915 and took a banana to keep the energy levels high and got back about 1045 when we had a proper breakfast on the balcony before retiring to the Spa for 30 minutes. Gosh it is really hard work enjoying your self.
We had noticed on our walk that there was more stock car racing at Taipa Raceway and so we headed off there at around two pm but it was a much smaller event than last Sunday and so we only spent an hour and a half there as one race only had two cars and one was no match for the other.
Noel cooked the Red Snapper this evening in butter and wine, it was extremely good, much better than the shop fish that has been frozen for weeks, although this has been frozen. Noel brought so much fish home the other week that I had to freeze it so that it did not go to waste. Dinner again was on the balcony as we watched yet another superb sunset which should promise a nice day on Monday.

Saturday 3rd January- Even slower day today

We really took it easy today and spent most of the day enjoying the weather and reading etc. There was plenty of activity to watch across the inlet with the boats being launched and the children swimming amongst them in areas reserved for the boats. It’s a wonder somebody does not get hurt.

The evening brought us a really beautiful sunset; we did not take photos as there is a limit to the amount of photos you can take of a sunset.

Friday 2nd January 2009- A much quieter day

After a busy few days it was nice to have the time to sort out the house, clean the BBQ etc after the party and sort out leftover food for later use or dumping.

I must say in retrospect that the steaks were excellent and also the Lamb Roast which had been marinated and tasted really good.

It is quite warm again today and there are many people on the beach and also swimming in the sea whilst tents are springing up in places where you think they should not be allowed. I am not sure of the regulations surrounding this but it would appear that if there is open ground, even land waiting for sale, its fair game to put up your tent or park your RV or motor home.

We actually saw an English-made Bailey Ranger Caravan the other day in a petrol station, so I jokingly said “How long did it take you to drive the caravan from Bristol? (That’s where they are made). Unfortunately his sense of humour was lacking, perhaps the mother in law was there in the car with them, and he sort of smiled and said nothing.

Anyway, back to today and we did our usual walk along the beach and watched a Chinese couple trying to launch a small blow up boat with an outboard motor through the incoming waves without success. Perhaps they did not realise that about 700 yards down the beach is a proper boat ramp which would have made it easy for them, however we watched them for about 20 minutes and scoffed at the attempt and finally left them to it. Perhaps we should have mentioned the boat ramp.

Tonight we shall have for dinner the leftover steak and lamb, but that is where I started this blog.

We watched the first Daniel Craig James Bond film on TV called ‘Casino Royale’ and then hit the sack.

New Years Day 1 January 2009- A new year begins.

It was a really beautiful morning and the sun was shining as we set about preparing for the BBQ later in the day. Friends of ours in Reading, Roger and Sue had suggested we get in contact with a couple who have lived here for many years and worked with Roger for a while.
So early afternoon, and an hour earlier than they planned, Chris & Jan arrived and it was good to chew the cud over the past and we knew many of the same people but we ourselves had not met. Jan works in a senior position in the Kerikeri Makana Chocolate Shop and Chris works for the local council. Chris and Jan when they first arrived in New Zealand opened a restaurant in Pahia called Tides and with no experience in the restaurant world it was a bit challenging but it lasted twenty years and then it was time for a change.
Later in the day Robin and Lorraine arrived and also Steve and Mary and then Noel set about doing a BBQ on a Gas BBQ which he has not used before but the result was fine thank heavens. The meat from the local butchers is really outstanding and the steaks, leg of lamb (boned, flattened out and marinated) and pork sausages were great. We also bought some pork spare ribs in New World in Kerikeri so it was a good spread and enjoyed by all. The wine flowed and so did the beer as we sat on the balcony watching the boats float past and people cooked food on the beach.
The conversation covered many things from travel to golf and Mary and Jan are planning to meet up for a game sometime. As the dishwasher has broken down it was nice that help was at hand with washing the dishes, see photo.
Everybody left about nine pm with Chris and Jan facing a journey of at least an hour back to where they live.
It was still a warm night and tomorrow the weather forecast is also positive whilst we have plenty of salads to finish up and also a bit of meat as well, no shopping for us for a while then
And so to bed and now the Christmas and New Year events are over we go back to a much quieter life and perhaps it’s now getting warm enough for some sea swimming, but it has to be very warm for Jennifer to venture into the sea.
Today started the New Year very well and let’s hope we can see an improvement in the coming year over the finance disaster of 2008

31st December 2008- New Years Eve and tomorrow is another year

A nice walk along the beach followed a good breakfast and the rest of the day we took it quite easy and watched the boats and people on the beach.

We had planned to have dinner alone this evening at the Galley Restaurant down town but Robin phoned and when discussing plans for the next few days indicated could they join us which we accepted of course.

We arranged to meet at the restaurant and Robin had informed them of table numbers on our booking but when we arrived the waitress said yes the table for nine was ready. What I said I think there must be some mistake as there are only four of us to which she was very confused.

Anyway Robin and Lorraine turned up with some friends of theirs and we immediately went in to the Champagne or the NZ equivalent. But it was a good evening and then later on the rains came and so Jennifer took the others home and I waited at the restaurant for her to pick me up.

So we got home about ten pm as we did not want to have a late night as there were three couples joining us for a New Years day BBQ and we needed to be fit to handle that. Robin and Lorraine and guests stayed up till three thirty am, we understand, too late for us this year.

Tuesday 30th December- Its open season in North Lands

A couple of days after Christmas and the tourists and the Aucklanders arrive en masse for their holidays. The roads are getting busier and at the boat ramp yesterday we counted about 40 trailers compared to a usual eight or ten.

There are more cars parked on the grass overlooking the beachfront and some people are swimming, it’s still a bit cold for us though.

We were going to Kerikeri for some shopping and combined it with a visit to the Manginangina Scenic Reserve where the Puketi Forest is located and a number of Kauri Trees are looked after by the Department of Conservation.

These trees are magnificent and grow to a huge width and some of the walkways to the trees have been completed to the same width as the trees trunk so that you can fully appreciate the size of the Kauri Tree. They have had to protect them from loggers, one of New Zealands main exports is wood, and one large tree is known to have had sufficient wood to build twelve houses.

Anyway we wandered around this area for a while and then continued our drive through the forest on un-metalled roads and then came across Kerikeri Airport which Noel had to look at. However it seemed pretty much closed as it would appear that it only opens for business just before the two flights per day arrive and leave. Gosh life is hectic here.

We had a great lunch in a little café called “Posh Nosh” that we have been to before and then went to the bank where we changed some Hong Kong Dollars into New Zealand Dollars, we won’t be needing them now as we are not stopping in Hong Kong on the way back, but the rate is not good.

We did some food shopping at New World Supermarket for the BBQ we are planning for New Years Day and then headed back to Taipa. Our lunch was so good and filling our need for an evening dinner of fish (minus chips I may add) was deemed not to be necessary.

We spent about thirty minutes in the Spa overlooking the bay with the sun beating down and it was a pleasant way to relax.

We are expecting the estate agents to visit tomorrow with perhaps somebody who is interested in the house but we shall see if they come. We have decided to eat out on New Years Eve at the Galley Restaurant in Mangonui and we think that Robin and Lorraine will join us.

There was an old English film on TV called Mrs Brown which was quite interesting and we watched most of that before retiring to bed.

Monday 29th December-Little known facts about New Zealand

Well, today was a very quiet day and we did not do too much, not even a walk which is pretty poor really, but sometimes you need a day off work or vacation. However we though we would regail you with the following little known facts about New Zealand life. We hope you find it interesting.

• >>24% of New Zealand families have only one parent.
  >> Over 40% of Maori children live in one-parent families.
  >> 17% of NZ European children live in one-parent families.
  >> 26% of children in both the US and UK live in one-parent families.
  >> 14% of children in Germany live in one-parent families.

It's a fact: at 41.2^o South, Wellington is the most southerly capital city on the planet. Cities on similar latitudes in the Northern hemisphere are Barcelona, Istanbul and Chicago.

• >> Since 1990, total tobacco consumption in NZ has fallen by over one-third.
  
  >> One in five deaths in New Zealand is caused by tobacco smoking.
  
  According to the 2006 census:
  
  >> 18% of New Zealand's adult population classed themselves as regular smokers.
  
  Older surveys had found that:
  
  >> 50% of Maori, 30% of Pacific Islander and 20% of European people smoke
• 
  
• The highest rainfall in a year in New Zealand was a drenching 18.4 metres (60 feet) in 1997-1998 at Cropp River on the west of the South Island. By contrast, the lowest rainfall was a miserly 167 mm (6.6 inches) in 1963-1964 at Alexandra, Central Otago.
• 
  
• > With 2.5 million cars for four million people, including children, New Zealand's car ownership rate is one of the world's highest.
• 
  
  • New Zealanders make only about 2% of their journeys by bus and fewer than 1% by rail.
  
  
• Where Have All The Sheep Gone?

From the early 1980s, when NZ was home to over 70 million sheep, the population has declined to around 39 million in 2008. This means the oft-quoted statistic, that NZ has 20 sheep for each human, is wrong! Nowadays it's only about 9 to 1. This decline hasn't stopped NZ from cornering 50% of all international trade in sheep meat.

Old Cars:

NZ roads don't need to be salted so cars rust very slowly.

• >> Around a fifth of cars are less than seven years old.
• >> Around two thirds of cars are between seven and 16 years old.
• >> Around a sixth of cars are more than 16 years old.

Born Overseas:

Little known amongst facts about New Zealand is that 22% of its residents were born overseas. This compares with 24% in Australia, 20% in Canada, 12% in the USA and 8% in the UK.

New Zealand Facts:

New Zealand is one of the top five dairy exporters in the world. The top five countries supply around 90 percent of dairy products on the international market. There are over nine million beef and dairy cattle in NZ.

God Save The Queen:

To become a New Zealand citizen, you must swear an oath of loyalty to Queen Elizabeth.

Happy Schools:

New Zealand's school students reported better relations with their teachers than the average for students in the OECD. New Zealand's students also reported more pressure to achieve good results is applied by their teachers than the OECD average.

More Happy Families:

For New Zealand families who have children;
41% have one child
36% have two children
23% have more than two children.

Prisoners:

96% of those in jail in NZ are males.
50% are Maori.
36% are European.
12% are Pacific People.

Compared with other countries, New Zealanders are not heavy drinkers. The average New Zealander drinks:
>> 5% less alcohol than the average Australian.
>> 12% less alcohol than the average Briton.
>> 30% less alcohol than the average German.
>> 40% less alcohol than the average Irish.

Continental Climate:

Due to the moderating effect of the ocean, summer and winter temperatures in most NZ locations differ by less than 10 ^oC.

The most continental climate is found in the South Island, in Central Otago, inland from Dunedin.

Here the temperature reaches 24 ^oC on an average day in summer while in winter it falls to -2 ^oC on an average night. Rainfall is a semi-arid 350 mm a year. In comparison, rainfall in other New Zealand locations is:

>> Christchurch 635 mm.
>> Wellington 1250 mm.
>> Auckland 1200 mm.

Many of New Zealand's stone fruit crops, such as peaches and apricots are grown in Central Otago.

Intelligence?

"New Zealanders who go to Australia raise the IQ of both countries." Former NZ Prime Minister Robert Muldoon, who made this superbly cutting comment, did not provide any numbers to back it up. Unfortunately, therefore, we cannot claim it as a true New Zealand fact.

Latest annual road deaths for every 100,000 of population show that New Zealand's roads are getting safer:

>> UK: 5 per 100,000
>> Canada: 9
>> Australia: 9
>> NZ: 10
>> United States: 14
>> Spain: 15

Not so many years ago, New Zealand had 13. The major reason for more deaths in NZ compared to the UK is fewer multi-lane highways in NZ.

Some local Northlands information for you.

There are NO Traffic Lights in this part of the world and only about two traffic islands hence no traffic jams.

The favourite New Zealand food seems to be Chips, or Fish and Chips or Burger and Chips, actually anything with chips really.

The ice cream is very good and a single scoop is three times what you get in England and also much cheaper.

Fishing is the most important sport and with boat ownership in Auckland per capita the highest in the world.

So when we get back to UK we will organise an evening of ‘Question time’ based on the above. Anyway we hope that you find this as interesting as we did.

Oh and by the way

FULHAM 2 CHELSEA 2 What a load of old rubbish!!!

Sunday December 28th- What a busy day

Thank heavens another nice morning and so we did the walk and watched the kids in the sea but this beach is not really crowded.
We also stopped to watch some of the boat owners launch and put their boats back on trailers, some are good and others make a right ‘cock up’ of it.
In the afternoon we headed off to Taipa Stock Car racing circuit. This was really good to watch and only cost £ 2.00 each for an afternoon’s entertainment. The races were continuous, one immediately following the next with no let up except when one car went straight in to the banking and then the tractor, which is used to tow cars back onto the circuit, also broke down and left a huge slick across the circuit which then had to be covered by earth which was dug by two guys with spades. This caused about a 30 minute delay to the races and happened at the same time the public announcement system broke down. What do you expect for less than two quid?
Many cars were driven by different drivers from juniors to women only and then the really powerful stock cars which were very fast. The circuit is earth which is regularly sprayed with water to not only keep down the dust but also add some fun for the drivers.
The final event of the afternoon was a demolition derby where the last car standing was then chased around the track by the big stock cars. Quite a good afternoon and we shall no doubt go again.
We went back home for dinner and then headed off to the world famous ‘Swamp Palace Theatre’ to see the latest James Bond movie ‘Quantum of Solace’ whatever that means. The sound in the cinema is not brilliant and sometimes the dialogue was a bit difficult to understand but it made for an enjoyable evening. Needless to say James Bond lives to fight another day whilst all the baddies are dead.
Prior to the film starting, Richard came out to explain what other films are coming in the next week or so to the crowd of about 16 people. The film ‘Australia’ is on next week and this has good write ups and so we may go although the sound and picture quality is not up to a good standard.
You can also hear the birds chattering outside the cinema door in the quite periods and also when leaving the cinema the cows are mooing away, not like the Vue Cinema in Staines at all.
Then back home to bed after a great day.

Saturday December 27th- And the sun was shining

An easy morning and then we went for tea at Robin and Lorraine’s which then turned in to dinner with Turkey and all the trimmings (very unexpected) and an enjoyable evening was had by all.

During the evening Robin regaled us with stories of when he worked with Tommy Cooper and the like. It was quite a fascinating insight really.

We had done our usual walk along the beach and I must say that both of us recognise that this walk every day has been most enjoyable and we will miss it very much.

Friday December 26th- Boxing Day, Not so much a hangover as just a slow day

We were up quite late in view of the previous evenings late night and perhaps a reasonable amount of grape. No sore heads though but we were a little tired.
We spent most of the day relaxing, watching television and reading if we weren’t having a quick five minutes kip on the settee.
The day passed quite uneventfully except that we called our daughter to see how her Christmas food preparation was getting along. This is the first Christmas that we have not been at home and as the children (?) usually come to us it’s time for them to do it themselves. We understand it was a success.

Thursday 25th December- Christmas Day in Taipa Bay

Thank heavens the sun has returned and so the walk along the beach was really nice and warm and we stopped to look at the amount of boats that had gone fishing. There were tents in the back of a motel and also a home made motor home, the place was getting crowded.

We had the water of the Spa tested in Kerikeri on Monday and we had been advised what chemicals to add and when to add them so we followed the instructions and had the opportunity to use the spar pool later in the day.

There was joint preparation of the dinner with the official table laying routine and also preparing the many vegetables required. Robin and Lorraine arrived around four pm and by 4.45 pm as the sun shone down we all went in the spa with a glass of white wine apart from Lorraine who had to drive. The police are very hot at drinking and driving over Christmas time and so it is wise to be careful.

Prior to dinner we opened our presents, we had purchased some goodies at the two dollar store. For Robin we got a London Bobbies hat (in view of his ‘The Bill’ TV connections) and for Lorraine a Tiara and magic wand while Noel and Jennifer had sequined “Bunny ears”.

The starter crudities were accompanied with some Oyster Bay wine whilst sitting on the balcony watching the fishing boats come and go and the kids swimming in the sea. Our leg of pork was excellent and Lorraine had brought a nice strawberry and raspberry Pavlova and also some Christmas pudding ice cream and both were excellent.

Cheese followed though we were all rather full by then and then suddenly it was about 1130 and time of Robin and Lorraine to go home.

In order to relax a little before going to bed we switched on the TV. A ‘Fish called Wanda’ was part the way though and so we watched that and also called our daughter Joanne to wish her a merry Christmas.

A most enjoyable day indeed and let’s hope there are no hangovers in the morning.