Dairy Diary

So yesterday we had a pretty mammoth day on the farm, most are pretty uneventful, but yesterday was probably worth writing about...

We were up shortly after 5am, due to Ant and Suzi being away for a couple of days, for morning milking. Ant's cousin had come round to get the cows in and set up the shed, so we started just before 5:30. About halfway through the herd of 360-ish cows and a few bulls we normally swap positions in the shed, so one of us is cupping the cows and one is round the other side making sure they don't walk off still attached to the gear. While Robyn was cupping I nipped off to feed the calves and chucks (chickens), and round up any calves that had got out. After the herd has been through the shed I fetch the lameys (cows that are a bit gammy and what not), then lock everyone away until afternoon milking.
After a break for breakfast we popped into Hokitika to do our weekly food shop, then drove the 25KM back to the farm. Before lunch we just had time to clean lots of poop off the walls in the milking shed, have a wipe round in the dairy office, and drop the three fresh eggs on the floor we had collected that morning.
After lunch Robyn set up the shed for afternoon milking while I rode off on the quad bike to fetch the cows in, which takes about 25 mins as they don't walk very fast when the sun is out. Another 90 mins of milking later it was time to hose the yard down, and it seemed like every other cow had dropped its guts on the way to the milking platform.
Vat-wash done and it was time to lock away the herd again, but not before chasing one of the bulls back towards the paddock he'd escaped from. It looks like he'd just walked through the gate as it was hanging off its hinges. While chasing him back he decided the gate wasn't for him and ran through the elctric wire, snapping it in the process. A second bag of feed for the calves and another escaped one put back in its paddock and we were done, roughly 12 hours after we had started.
To be fair we are being rewarded today with fresh home made pizza for tea and possiblyy a trip to the local pub which services all of the valley, so not bad.

The West Coast

This year for James' birthday we camped at Lake Mahinapua a really nice DOC campiste on the lakefront near Hokitika. We did a few walks around the lake and then went to the beach. James was very excited to be at the beach on his birthday because back home who goes to the beach in November? We went to the pub for a few jugs of Monteiths original and had a yummy pizza for tea. A very different birthday than normal and great fun.

Since being back at the farm we have been taught how to run the milking shed on our own and we now milk every other afternoon. We are still feeding the calfs, although they are getting a bit old to still be fed milk and this will stop soon. Tomorrow we will be de-horning the calfs, which will require all 4 of us to hold them still while one person de-horns them. Sounds interesting, but should be fun.

We have been into Hokitika a couple of times now and its a very nice town on the beach. It's full of galleries, jade shops and cafes and also has a cinema where we saw the new Harry Potter film much to James' delight! This afternoon we are going to Lake Kaniere to have lunch and relax seen as its a lovely sunny day....again!

The Farm

We are currently living and working on dairy farm near Hokitika on the West Coast of the South Island. The farm has 370 Jersey X cows which get milked twice a day (although so far we haven’t had to do a morning milking)! The farm is also home to plenty of calves, 2 pigs, 5 sheep, chickens, 2 dogs, a cat and 4 kittens - one of which we have adopted!

Every morning we get up and fill up the calf feeder with the calf milk, then attach it to a quad bike and drive this through to the calf paddock. Then we feed the pigs and the chickens and pick up any eggs before going in for breakfast. After breakfast we drive the calf feeder to another paddock and then clean it out when they are finished. We are going to be milking every other afternoon and in between doing odd jobs like putting up fences or measuring grass growth in the paddocks.

So far the weather has been lovely so its been great to be outside all day in the sun, even if we are a little red from it. The town Hokitika is on the beach so plenty to do with our spare time. Although we were supposed to be at the farm for week and at Lake Paringa for the summer, there has been a slight change of plan and we are now spending all summer on the farm!

Ferry Trip

On Monday 25th October we left Ohakune to head for the South Island. After a shopping stop in Palmeston North we spent the night in Wellington before catching the ferry the next morning to Picton.
For me this was the first big ferry trip I had done so I was very excited! We queued up to drive on at 7am Tuesday morning with our car packed full. After parking underneath we headed upstairs to look around. There were 2 cinema screens, a cafe and a bar (which wasn’t open)! It was pretty windy outside but we managed to get prime seats which were sheltered and still had a good view.
The trip itself is only 90km but it took 3 hours to complete! We spent most of it sat outside looking at the gorgeous scenery, but did go inside for a drink and some breakfast.
We drove off at Picton at 11am and started our journey down the West Coast, with an overnight stay in Westport. The next day we had a coffee stop at the Punakaiki Rocks (Pancake rocks) which are layers of limestone and no one really knows why they have formed that way. Then we continued driving to Hokitika where we arrived at the farm.....

Last Day in Ohakune

Today is our last day in Ohakune until next season. Although we are sad to leave we are excited for the next part of our trip. Its Labour Weekend here in NZ and the sun is out in force! The weather has been gorgeous all weekend, and last night we enjoyed our first bbq of the summer!
Tomorrow we head to Wellington where we are spending the night before catching the ferry Tuesday morning to the South Island. We have heard that the ferry ride is beautiful so we are really looking forward to it. From there we are driving 4hours to Westport where we are camping for the night. After a bit of sight-seeing the next day down the West Coast we will arrive at a farm in a place called Ross. The farm should be good fun and different from what we have done before. Although spending some time on our friend's farm, James feels pretty handy with a gun and is looking forward to some hunting. We are spending 5 days on the farm before heading off to Lake Paringa Lodge for the rest of the Summer.
Lake Paringa looks amazing and hopefully the nice weather will continue (although it looks like rain next week!). At the Lake there will be plenty of kayaking, fishing, walking and enjoying the scenery - sounds great!
We don't know when we will have the internet over the next week but we will keep in touch when we can!

Our 3 Day 90km Canoe/Kayak Trip

Yesterday afternoon we got back from our Canoe Safari down the Wanganui River. We put in at Whakahoro on Wednesday morning at about 10am, and were picked up at 2pm on Friday at Pipiriki.
On the first day we had a little tutorial from Simon about how to steer the canoe, jumped in and had lots of little arguments about who's fault it was we ended up pointing up river quite often. We stopped for lunch at Mangapapa and after carrying the chilly bins (cool box) up a rather steep track, made some lovely sandwiches. We were on the trip with a father and daughter from Wellington, an American lady with her two young girls, a German backpacker called Linus and a Canadian 'guide', although the American lady thought Robyn and I were the guides, due to our workload during the trip. After a quick lunch it was back in our canoe for a trip to John Coull Hut, which is sort of like a really basic hostel with a small kitchen and Maori bunks (lots of matresses lined up on one bunk). Robyn and I slept in a tent outside to avoid the noise/children!
Day two started with Robyn and I preparing breakfast for the trip, and Linus and I traded places so he was steering the canoe with Robyn and I took the kayak. This worked out really well for all involved, he didn't get wet-bum, Robyn didn't get blamed for spinning the canoe, and I was much more comfortable in my little yellow sea kayak. I think we had more of a chat going down the river when I was cruising next to the boat. Lunch was at Mangapurua, which is also the start of a 40min walk up to the Bridge to Nowhere. The bridge was built after WW1 when the land around the Wanganui River was assigned to discharged servicemen. This was the last land assignment of it's kind in NZ, as it was a total failure, resulting in all the men being removed from their land by 1942. Back in the boats, we paddled down to Tieke to stay at Bridge to Nowhere lodge, where we shared a dorm room with Linus, and Joe the owner kept a variety of animals, we saw an Emu, minature horses, a peacock, a rabbit, a cat and a few dogs. We cooked up some steak, salad and pasta and collapsed into bed.
On day three we had roughly 22km to paddle down to Pipiriki to meet Simon for our pickup. There were a few rapids, although not very big, but good fun all the same. I got a good soaking being in a kayak, which Robyn found very funny. We arrived at Pipiriki 5 minutes before Simon, meaning no lunch, and he and I loaded the boats onto the trailer and we set off for Ohakune, about 40 mins away. On hearing I had missed lunch, Simon's partner Tracie made me a lovely toasty!
Yesterday evening we cooked up all the leftovers from the trip and had a good old chat with Simon and Tracie about what it was all like. Overall it was a fantastic trip, a highlight of our time in NZ so far.

Canoe Safari

So tomorrow we're off on a 3 day canoe safari down the Whanganui River which should be good. The ski lodge we've been looking after over the winter is actually the lodge for the canoe trips over spring/summer, so we've not got far to go to meet for the trip. Most of the course is inaccessible by land, and for a couple of nights we'll be staying at a hut and a lodge, meaning no mobile phones or internet or anything really!
The trips have a great reputation, and Simon has worked hard over a long period of time to make it so, and Robyn and I are really looking forward to going on one. We've been cooking up a couple of trip meals in the lodge over the past few days to let the new guide from Canada see how it's done, and the food is as good as most restaurants serve up. It also means that next winter when we're back at Canoe Safaris Lodge we can tell guests that the trips are fantastic and actually have been on one, rather than taking Simon's word for it. There's much more to read on the website, www.canoesafaris.co.nz.
The picture at the top is of Rangataua, a few K's away from Ohakune, where we had a bike ride to on Sunday. The weather has really cheered up, and we've gone from cold and rainy to hot and sunny in a matter of days, meaning going from wearing wooly hats to sunburn!
Any important news and what-not from home will have to wait until Friday evening now, when we're back in the civilised world!

Long weekend in Patea

We had a great time at Pauls, here's what we did.....

We arrived on Saturday at about 3/4pm ish and Paul showed us round his big massive new farmhouse and then we had a little drive around the farm. His Dad Nick has recently sold a lot of the land which is how they built the super duper house. We had a little drive into Patea which isnt very big and there isnt much to do. We drove to Patea beach and then back to his house. We watched a bit of rugby and played a couple of games of pool and had a nice big roast for tea. Belts was supposed to come but the road from Palmerston North was closed due to a landslide because of the weather.
On Sunday we drove down to the farm's petrol pump to top up his car and got stuck in the mud, we were there for about 45 mins trying to push it out and bump it out with the quad bike but had to call Nick to tow us out with his ute. We had a drive to a dairy (corner shop) that sells good pies for lunch, and then on to New Plymouth which was pretty nice. The pic is of us at the Wind Wand. On the way back we stopped at a little museum about the first settlers into Taranaki (the region where Patea is) and out back was a guy's collection of tractors. Not being sure if they real, we jumped on to find out, while Robyn was busy making friends with the dummys. We were going to go out on a possum hunt Sunday night but the weather was rubbish so we just stayed in and chilled out really.
Monday morning we had a little drive round the farm on the quad and had a drive to another little local beach. After lunch we togged up and drove the truck out onto the farm and found some goats and did a bit of shooting. The goats were pretty big and reasonably nippy for such whoppers, so we had a little run after them. We swapped some rugby stuff when we got back, so ive got no Cas stuff anymore, but a few t-shirts and a jumper from the local rugby club which is good. The drive back took about 2 hours and the road was full of mud from all the slips because of the weather.

Our friend the frequent flyer

So this weekend we're off down to Patea to stay with our mate Paul for the weekend. We met Paul when we was travelling the UK and we played at the same rugby club, along with Belts and Jobby. We've had a weekend with Belts so now its time for Paul to play host. He shouldn't really be here though, he'd planned to go back to the UK on a visitor visa but was for some reason refused entry, maybe because of his little ginger beard?
The weather has been pretty stinky for about a week now, and loads of snow has been washed off the mountain which isn't good.
Booked our ferry crossing today for our trip down to the south island, sailing 26 October from Wellington which should be good.
Picked up the car from the garage yesterday so now we're $460 worse off. We'd budgeted about $200 for this little service so needless to say we were a bit shocked when the guy told us how much we owed.
Beeen dog-sitting this week for Heidi who has gone down to Christchurch for some pre-deployment training before she goes to Antarctica. He's pretty mellow, but seems more concerned with having an intimate physical relationship with Simon's dog Flint than anything else at the moment, even though they're both boy dogs.

Whakapapa

After we had finished cleaning on Sunday we headed up the mountain for a snowboarding session. Unfortunately the rest of the population had also decided to do the same thing and it was super busy! We queued for ages to get onto the lifts and then tried not to hit the hundreds of people that were on the slopes. I fell over when we got off one of the lifts, took James out with me and cried like a baby when I twisted my ankle!
Today though we headed round to the Whakapapa side of the mountain and snowboarded there much more successfully! It was much quieter and a different slopes made it interesting and a nice change. Almost a pro now............
By now I'm sure everyone has heard about the earthquake in Christchurch, thankfully for us we live no where near, although people swear they felt the shakes here!

Our new bikes

On Monday we drove back to Taupo and got our medicals all signed off, so all we need now is to go to immigration and tell them we're healthy and we should be able to extend our visas for a second year.

While we were there we paid our usual visit to The Warehouse and Pak'n'Save, two massive shops which we don't have in our tiny town of Ohakune, and ended up buying a mountain bike each! We'd sort of planned to buy one, but maybe thought we'd have a look and price some up, but The Warehouse were having a sale and they were half price so we bought some, loaded up the Suby (which we found out today is in the top10 most nick-able cars in NZ) and bombed back to Ohakune.

The bikes were supposed to be '90% complete, needing only an average of 25 minutes construction'. This was obviously rubbish as a couple of hours later I haad both built up and we took them out for a spin!

Yesterday we took them for a real ride. We'd been keen to get up the mountain but the weather was pretty poor and everything was closed up the hill. We rode the Old Coach Road(our last blog) and it was super muddy and much more uphill than we remembered. Coming down was easy and fun though, splashing through all the muddy puddles.

The car should be going in for a service this week, so fingers crossed it'll be in good enough shape to make the 1000km trip down to Lake Paringa, if not it'll be a super long bike ride.

Old Coach Road

After I finished work today we went out for a really nice lunch at the Fat Pigeon Cafe and then we walked the Ohakune Old Coach Road, a walk that goes from Ohakune to Horopito passing the old viaduct on the way. After a momentary stop under the shelter of the trees to avoid the rain/hail the sun was back out and we were on our way. Its a 7km trip there and back to the viaduct along a very muddy track! Great fun and the old viaduct was brilliant, apparently people used to bungy jump from it!

Heidi has gone on a ski touring trip for a week, leaving us with the dog for a week much to James's delight! James is thrilled that he gets to walk him twice a day and he gets to sleep in our room. Me too.....

Tomorrow we are going to Taupo to have a medical so we can extend our visa and stay in New Zealand for another year! My appointment is at 10am and James's is at 3pm so plenty of time for lunch and shopping!

Another week....

This week we got up the mountain for our usual Monday snowboarding session and we tried some blue runs. We thought they might have been a bit difficult for us, but they weren't actually much harder than green runs, maybe a little bit steeper, so we were pretty chuffed with that. I had to buy some new bindings last week, as I found out through a little bit of Google-ing that mine were designed for women, no wonder my feet were sticking out much further than they should have. If anyone is in the market for some 2005 Flow step-in bindings with a screw missing and a few scratches give us a shout.

We got our car back from the garage last Friday, we had a new radiator pipe fitted and paid for a few hours labour, so now our account is $180 lighter, but it could have been worse. There's now steam coming from under the bonnet when we drive for a while, although there is enough coolant, and no leaks from underneath. It seems to be coming from the back of the engine, near the transmission, so if anyone has any ideas please let us know! Could be something like a little bit of fluid leaking onto a hot part and making steam?? I aso had to sort of break into it today, the keys were in the ignition and the door decided to lock. Good job our flatmate Heidi knew what to do!

We've arranged another Help-X for when the ski season finishes, we're off to Lake Paringa, which is 50km from the nearest town. It sounds way different from living in Ohakune, but should be great fun for a few months. I hope our car makes the 1000km trip ok, or we'll be making our way back up north in something else!

Next week Heidi is off on a trip down south to Christchurch, so we're dog sitting for the whole week. She usually takes him for a run before she goes to work at 7am, so we could have some early mornings in store. He's no bother though and Robyn actually likes him which is a positive as she's not a massive dog person, but she's converted now!

Taupo

Last week we drove to Taupo and had a stop over for Robyn's birthday which was very nice. We stayed at a motel on the lakefront, and Simon very kindly paid for us a meal at a nice restaurant. We had a wander round town when we arrived although the weather was pretty poor. Our motel was ok, nothing flash, but it did have a jacussi bath which was pretty cool. I think Robyn thought that was much more exciting than I did.

At tea time I had another big steak and Robyn had some salmon, all of which was lovely. The place was an old English themed pub and had pictures of Winston Churchill on the wall, so made us feel very at home. Next morning Robyn spent the last of her birthday money and bought some boots for tramping (hiking/walking) and some nice big surfer sunnies.

We made it up the mountain yesterday but the weather wasn't very good. It was about -4c on the lower mountain and there was hardly anyone there, which is always a positive. Unfortunately our car has a leak, and is currently at the garage, so hopefully that wont sting us hundreds of dollars which we don't really have!

Happy Birthday to Me!

A year ago today we were all in sunny Southwold having an epic 21st celebration, while this will forever remain a day impossible to beat - I've given it a good go! After an absolutely atrocious day yesterday weather wise we woke up this morning to be greeted by the sun! Clear blue skies and little wind made perfect conditions for heading up the mountain for some snowboarding. For those, who like my mum, need proof of my ability to safely manoeuvre myself down the mountain I have attached a video, enjoy and feel free to congratulate my skills at anytime. This years presents consisted of a new Burton ski jacket, snowboard boots and gloves from James and some bindings from Mum and Dad. The phrase ‘all the gear and no idea’ springs to mind, but at least now when I fall over I do it looking good! When we had finished up the mountain we went for a walk up to the giant carrot, which is there to tell people that Ohakune is the ‘carrot capital of the world!’ Point well made. Then a trip to the supermarket to buy the supplies for my Mexican Birthday Feast! Home made salsa and bbq sauce courtesy of James. Delicious. Coupled with a case of beer and a bottle of wine, life is good!

P.S. Thanks to everyone for the cards and emails, its lovely to hear from you all!

Our big news!

Last Saturday Robyn and I had been together for 4 years, and when she'd finished work we went for a walk around a small local lake. About halfway round is the spot in the picture, and like an old romantic fool I dropped down on one knee and popped the question. Robyn of course said yes (we knew she would ay Bob ;)!) and we toodled off round the rest of the walk.
We had a lovely spot of lunch in town when we got back, and a couple of quiet drinks in on Saturday night. We're off out for a proper sit down meal tonight to celebrate at a restaurant called The Bearing Point (thanks Mum and Dad) which should be nice!
Robyn likes to have a joke and say that I only proposed on Saturday because we'd been together for 4 years and it's one less date to remember, but that never occured to me.......

End of July.....

Not been much to blog about lately really, we've sort of been getting into a routine up here in Ohakune. Robyn's working pretty much 5 days a week at Kings, and I'm haning out here at Canoe Safaris checking people in and then cleaning up the rooms after they've gone. School holidays were pretty busy, I think over the course of a week we cleaned the 6 rooms we have 21 times!
When we get a nice bit of weather or when our work allows, we're away up the mountain for some snowboarding. We've not been doing too bad really, progressing from sliding down the nicely groomed beginners meadow to getting on the lift and coming down a proper run. Both of us have managed to make it all the way down without falling off once, which we were pretty chuffed about. Robyn wasn't very keen first time we got on the lift, I think she thought she was going to fall out somehow, but so far nothing like that has happened.
The pictures show our snowboards from both sides. Robyn's is the shiny new looking black one, and mine is the battered scratched sky blue one. I think if we come back to Ohakune next year I might be investing in a better board, or at least one in better condition.
Week after next we're off to Taupo for Robyn's birthday which should be good, its about a 2hr drive from here. We called in when we had our lovely flowery campervan and it was a pretty cool place, hope the weather isn't too bad!

Our new Subaru

Yesterday after work we caught the 1pm Overlander train to Auckland, the train is incredibly scenic with a glass wall at the back of the train giving you incredible views. We arrived at the Britomart station 6 hours later at 7pm and met with a guy called Clement le Clem (yes really).
We travelled all this way to buy the best car ever! Its a Subaru Legacy, 2.2l engine, 4 wheel drive - we would never be able to afford this in England! However, its a very standard car here and here you insure the car not the driver so its pretty cheap! The car cost $2000 and came with a free snowboard, bindings, tent, airbed, gas stove and a bunch of CDs. All in all it was a bit of a bargain!
Unfortunately it was a 4 1/2hour drive back to Ohakune on the unlit windy New Zealand roads, so overall it was a 10 1/2 hour round trip, but for a brilliant car!

Snowboarding

This morning we had our first snowboard lesson at the Turoa skifields up Mt Ruapehu with a nice American guy called Jacob, who has worked the past 12 ski seasons, so hasn't seen summer in 6 years. Poor guy.

We started pretty slow, jumping on the board and cruising along the flat, and then moved onto a really steady downslope. After about an hour or so we moved to the Alpine Meadow, which is the beginners slope, and tried to go down sideways, with the board at a right angle to the slope working on our balance. We both picked it up pretty quick, with Robyn zooming off and leaving me on my bum a few times! We rode the magic moving carpet back to the top and had a pep talk from our new snowboarding dude and we weren't too bad second time. I nearly ko'd someone having a private lesson but managed to jump out of the way just in time.

Robyn's gone off to work at King's this afternoon. I'm not working there anymore, certain 'personality and moral differences' being the reason for the decision. On the positive side it gives me time to look after Canoe Safari Lodge and the guests who stay here, which is actually the reason we came to Ohakune. I'll keep my eyes open for some work, but in the meantime I'm on check-in guests and dog walking duty.

Mardi Gras

This week it's Mardi Gras weekend in Ohakune. All the accommodation is booked out, and we're full both at Canoe Safaris where we live, and Kings where we work. Around 8000 people come to town for a massive street party on Saturday night, so we're expecting a busy weekend!

This week we've been working more at Kings. On the first 'Big Wednesday' there was a snowboard up for grabs, and a couple of customers and a couple of off duty staff members bought drinks and got raffle tickets to try and win. Robyn turned up at 10pm to pick me up, I bought a drink after work and gave her the ticket, and she won! So before we've had any lessons or even set foot on the mountain, Robyn now owns a brand new snowboard. We think the plan will be to see if we take to it, then get some boots and bindings so she can ride it, lucky devil.

Fun in Ohakune

We have been in Ohakune around 10days now and we are loving it! We have started work at Kings, lots of hard work trying to get ready for the season. We have been painting, carrying beds around, cleaning and generally doing all the hard jobs. The season opens on Friday though so we will be working properly then - real shifts and everything!

We went to a charity fashion show the other night to raise money for St Johns Ambulance, which is very important here because the nearest hospital is 1hour away! It was a great show, all the fashion was from local stores and the models worked there, live music and a raffle. We won $100 voucher for the local supermarket - brilliant prize (James was worried we would win a free Brazilian).

A girl called Heidi has moved into the staff quarters of the lodge with us. Luckily she is really nice and has a black Labrador, which James loves to take for a walk. All in all things are going well.

Back to Ohakune

After a great trip to Ohakune we left and headed up to Waitomo. We stopped for one night and went to see the Waitamo glow worm caves. The tour was great, a woman showed us around the caves, told us about the history and then took us on a boat where all you could see was hundreds and hundreds of glow worms! A really great thing to see.

After Waitamo we set off to Hamilton, New Zealands biggest inland city. Mainly dominated by a shopping centre, we had a look around and had some lunch. Next stop was back to Auckland to drop off Rosie (the campervan - named it ourselves in the end!) Sad to see her go we had become quite attached, but onwards and upwards!

Quite literally upwards, back to Ohakune (pic) where we will be living and working during the 4 month ski season. We will be staying at Canoe Safaris Lodge and working here and at Kings Bar. Free accommodation and paid work - result!

Wellington and Wanganui

We had two nights in Wellington and it was pretty cold and wet for the both of them. The city itself was quite nice, smaller than Auckland even though it's the capital!

We had a good look around Te Papa which is a huge museum on the waterfront, filled with lots of NZ history and what not. We also had a look in lots and lots of shops, and realised that on our modest traveller budget we can't afford much of what we want, and even if we could, we would have to carry everything we buy around for the rest of our time here. Had lunch outside 'The Beehive', NZ's parliament building (pic). The original design was done by the architect on a napkin, and you can tell when you see it.

From there it was around a two and a half hour journey back north to Wanganui, which was much warmer! We had one night at a campsite near the beach, and had a morning run along it the next day. Wanganui was pretty nice, and we stopped at the Warehouse to stock up on some cheap jogging bottoms and a pack of Anzac biscuits (the essentials).

Next stop is Ohakune on the southern slopes of Mt Ruhapehu.

A Weekend on the Farm

On friday we met with James's friend in Palmeston North and stopped over at his house that night with a portion of fish and chips and a game of rugby on the tv. Up bright and early the next morning we set off up to his dad's farm, which is near Wanganui (we think). Unfortunately it rained all day so we stayed in watched a film and got well fed with homemade soup, sandwiches and big roast dinner for tea along with plenty of wine and beer.

Thankfully on Sunday morning the weather was much better and we went off on the quad bike for a trip around the 8000acres of farm! Seen as hunting is encouraged in NZ we took a gun with us. Obviously me and James have never shot anything before so we had a practice on a tree, I missed by a mile but James was pretty accurate. He used this new found skill to kill a goat, a bird and a rabbit. All considered pests on the farm. After a couple of goes on the quad bike each we went back to 'Palmy' and spent another night there.

Set off monday morning to Wellington, NZ's capital. Weather is pretty cold down here. Going into the city tomorrow morning.

Hawke's Bay

Our next stop was Hawke's Bay, which is on the east coast and is full of wineries! First place we visited was Napier which calls itself the art deco capital of the world (pic), due to the town being crushed in an earthquake and pretty much totally rebuilt in the 1930's.

We went on a tour of Napier Prison (Robyn's idea) which only closed down in 1993. It was pretty interesting and a little bit creepy, seeing things like the hanging yard and death row (and a cat with a moustache called Basil).

Day after that we went to a winery (again Robyn's plans) and did a little bit of tasting followed by a hefty purchase of what I'm told is very nice wine. I also bought some beer that day, but this is far less interesting. We also tried to have a run on the beach again, but as it was a pebbled beach we nearly sank and looked like Phoebe from Friends running along, not much fun.

20km down the road was Hastings, where we stayed at a rival brand holiday park to where we normally stay, and it was alright. Not much to do in Hastings 'city centre' which was about as big as Otley - not as big as the H-U-D Tony ;)

Tomorrow we're catching up with a rugby mate of mine and staying at his parents farm, therefore we'll be riding pigs and chasing sheep or whatever they do out in the sticks!

First Week in the Campervan

Next stop was Waihi Beach. It was about 2 hours drive from Whitianga, but was well worth it when we got there and saw the beach! The beach itself was a 9km stretch of white sandy heaven, and hardly anyone else was on it. We spent most of the day basking in the glorious sunshine and dipping our toes in the Pacific Ocean (a first for both of us). Shorts and t-shirts weather all the way (sorry to rub it in)! After lunch we walked into the ‘town’ of Waihi Beach, had a mooch around some shops, and bought another magnum.
We stayed at Sea Air Motel and Holiday Park, which was everything we needed; showers, toilets, kitchen etc…

From Waihi Beach we drove for about an hour to Tauranga, the biggest town we’ve been to so far. Had another wander round some shops and got a brew, had to wait an age for them but we were compensated with some free drinks vouchers (and therefore will never complain about the service)!
About 7km from Tauranga is Mt Mangnanui where we are stopping the night. The centre has a few cool shops and cafes, and round the corner from the holiday park is a White Rose-style shopping centre, where we bought fish and chips. Post-feed we had another walk on the beach, this one is possibly even bigger than Waihi Beach, and even nicer. Life is good!

After another early morning run on the beach we drove for about an hour to Roturua, on the banks of the lake of the same name. Town is pretty much like everywhere else we’ve been, and first stop was Starbucks, to use the vouchers we got yesterday! Two of the biggest hot chocolates ever, coming right up. Camp site is great, free hot thermal mineral pools they were amazing! Basically what Rotorua is all about, thermal pools and bubbling mud all over the place.

From Rotorua we drove to Taupo, but took a detour to Huka Prawn Park, the worlds only thermally heated prawn farm. We spent the morning filling our heads with knowledge about prawns, feeding baby prawns, feeding trout and then fishing for our own prawns. We caught 5 whoppers (James caught 4 of them) and had them cooked up for our lunch, from bucket to plate in around 5mins, delicious. Found the campsite, paid for 2 nights and got a 3rd free, nothing like a freebie to put a smile on a backpackers face! Usual facilities, no spa like pools like the Rotorua site never mind though! Going to a market Saturday morning and then for an explore around the town centre.

Yellow Lava

On Saturday we picked up our super cool Escape campervan, called yellow lava, but please leave a name suggestion in the comment section at the bottom each blog (winner announced next week…). Conversation with the woman at Escape went something like this: don’t chip the windscreen or we will charge you, don’t crash or we will charge you, don’t die or we will charge you. Drove off sufficiently terrified. James of course, successfully manoeuvred this automatic giant all the way to Thames.

Arrived in Thames and bought some necessities, beer, wine (food). Found the campsite, it was a case of pick your own site because not many people camp in the middle of autumn you must be mad! Set off on a bush walk that took so long it was almost time for tea when we get back (big, fat sausages for tea, delicious).

Got up early doors Sunday morning and went for a run along the beach. Drove around 50km along a coastal road to Coromandel. Coromandel town was just a street with a couple of shops, cafes and a bank so after taking in the views of the surrounding areas we hopped back in the van and headed across to Whitianga. The roads leading up to it were about as windy as they get and very high up in the hills, all making for a very picturesque (if not narrow and slightly scary) ride. Whitianga is a lot like Coromandel (i.e. small), realised that what NZ call towns are actually more like what we would call villages, nevertheless had a walk on the beach and another magnum - good times!

Campervan Tomorrow!

Yesterday we went on a big walk to Cox's Bay Reserve. We came accross it by accident, the path is next to the 'Countdown' supermarket we've been to a few times. The supermarket actually sells Woolworths brand stuff, which is odd seeing as they went bust last year!

Cox's Bay Reserve is one of the nicest places we've seen since we've been here, the weather is still lovely, shame to hear its so bad at home! We saw a funny little pug dog, and now Robyn wants one....for some reason.


Had some good feeds yesterday, started with a big fat Magnum (because it was so hot, although the locals looked at us like we were mad - it is autum here) followed by a bbq chicken pizza while watching Jurassic Park in HD. Not bad.

We're picking up our campervan tomorrow from these guys . We're both very excited, and can't wait to see more of the country. Not sure when we'll get on the web while we're in the van, but we'll put up a post whenever we can.

Ponsonby

After Auckland city centre we’ve moved on to one of its trendiest suburbs, Ponsonby. Ponsonby is about 15 minutes out of town on the bus, and the main street, imaginatively named Ponsonby Road, is lined with supper cool cafes, restaurants where you can eat outside even if its freezing, and bars which look like you need a fistful of cash to get in. Needless to say, on our frugal Yorkshire traveller budget, we’ve avoided the aforementioned establishments and found the café which serves the best pot of tea/black coffee combo.
Not that much to do around here really except chill out, which we’ve become very good at. There’s a couple of parks to wander in, and on one day we went on a massive walk to find a big fruit shop we spied earlier in the week.

Today we got a ferry from downtown Auckland across the water to a lovely little place called Devenport. Robyn was very excited, as it was her first trip on a ferry…ever! She liked it. When we got to Devenport we had a big walk up a big hill which used to be a volcano, and saw some tool trying to do some hand gliding (if that’s how you say/spell it). We politely asked if we could watch and take pictures, and then stood for at least 15 minutes while he stood still holding his parachute up in the wind, and eventually it just fell down, so we left him to it. Have a look at the picture, its probably as exciting to look at as a picture as it was stood there in real life.

On a brighter note, we’ve arranged our first Help Exchange, at a beef farm north of Auckland. Should be a massive change from anything we’ll have done on this trip so far, so we’re both looking forward to it!

Campervan time on Saturday!!! Look out drivers on the North Island!

More in Auckland......

Day two in Auckland Woke up pretty early, had some breakfast and got a phone call from home. Very nice to speak to everyone! Except they seem to have forgotten that there is a time difference and asked what we had been doing today - well mum so far I’ve had a shower and a slice of toast, its been good.

Set off to find Auckland’s museum, had a general idea of what direction it was in and got there in fairly roundabout way. Conveniently passed a post office though so we gave in some forms and picked up some stamps. Filled our heads with lots of profound brain knowledge in the museum and had a walk round the grounds. Again another gorgeous sunny day!

Tony - Check out the video, its just for you.

Its WRC New Zealand this week, and guess what we saw....lots of real life Dirt 2 stuff!! It was like watching me and you play online, loads of screeching tires, and I even think I spotted that Belgian guy who rammed us off that time ; )

Ben - The Chinese entrant is called 'Dong'....... lol i know, Dong! Email me your email address too, or else.

Helen - I know you laughed at Dong too, I thought better of you, you're a grown up.

First day in Auckland

City Lodge

Our first hostel is about as basic as it comes, just a bed, shower, toilet and sink. But with the added bonus of fridge, kettle and a TV. A TV that bizarrely seems to document the UK election more than anything else that is happening in the world.

The first day we took ourselves off for a coffee and then for a wander into Auckland. Too tired to form an opinion about anything we had an early night and slept a good 12 hours!

Our first full day in Auckland

We woke up feeling 100% better than yesterday! After a quick breakfast we headed into town. The weather is lovely but its very strange that its so warm and yet the leaves are falling off the trees. We had a meeting at the bank at 11am and picked up our bank cards so we can now access money (bonus), and then found the place where we pick up our campervan and arranged a time for collection. We spent $5 on a sim card from a company called 2degrees (no never heard of them either), who don’t seem to have their own shop but operate solely out of tiny newsagents. Nevertheless calling and texting is now very cheap.

Grabbed a quick lunch and walked through a park to Auckland’s art gallery, only to discover its still charging full price despite half the gallery being closed for renovations - next time maybe. Instead we took a trip up the highest manmade structure in New Zealand, the sky tower. We took a lift up 186m and saw some amazing views, watched a woman jump from the top of tower, being suspended for a minute while she had her picture taken, then plummet to the ground, and we met a man from Baildon. It is most definitely a small world, we travel a million miles to a completely different country, stay in its most populated city and meet a man who lived a mile down the road from home. Unbelievable. He did however mention that he now lives in NZ and passed on his number in case we were ever in his area. After taking another trip up to the highest point (220m) we saw some even better views of the city, got a cold drink, and went all the way back down. All in all a good sight to see.

A very pleasant evening, quick tea and then went out to find a nice bar to have some local booze. Window shopped a few, bypassing them when realising that $9 for a glass of wine was equal to £4.50! Might be on the other side of the world but we’re still from Yorkshire, and therefore tight with money. In the end though we found a great bar where all drinks were $5 during happy hour (yay!) and sat on their balcony people watching.

Getting to NZ

Saying Our Goodbyes

Saying goodbye to everyone was really hard, we all cried lots! After we checked in James and I realised we had spent a lot of time planning our trip and being excited and not enough time preparing ourselves for all the tears!

Manchester to Dubai

After we checked in our luggage (both bags weighing a whopping 10kg each!), we went for a browse around duty free. There were only a few flights going out of the airport so shopping was very quiet. James treated us both to some new perfume/aftershave and then we ate at the Soho coffee bar, well recommended by Ros and Phil - thank you! We boarded the plane, a Boeing 777, and couldn’t believe how big it was! I exclaimed to James that the propellers on the plane were huge - although I’m well aware the planes do not have propellers they have engines, James hasn’t stopped laughing. since When we were seated the staff brought round hot towels, then drinks, then lots of food, which was quite nice as far as plane food goes. If we hadn’t of walked through business class we would have thought we had it good, however, business class looked amazing, and our cattle carriage was rubbish by comparison.

Dubai to Melbourne

We landed at Dubai airport in a terminal dedicated to Emirates flights, the Terminal was lovely, a huge waterfall, fish pond and lots more duty free shops. After a coffee and a croissant we boarded the plane to Melbourne, an airbus (with two propellers), which was even bigger than the Boeing, but frustratingly had less leg room. On the plus side there were only two seats on the aisles so we didn’t have to sit next to anyone. Again staff came round with hot towels, drinks and lots of food. Whilst I spent most of the flight sleeping uncomfortable, James made his way through the extensive film library on the in flight entertainment.

Melbourne to Auckland

The last leg of the journey was the hardest, we were both tired, our legs were sore, and I was sick. But then I slept the rest of the way and woke up as we were descending to Auckland. We finally landed at 12.45pm, after eating five plane meals, consuming endless amounts of free drinks, watching 6 films and about 10 TV programmes between us, our 28 hour flight was (thank God) over. Tired, sore but excited we went to collect our bags. After a minor panic that they weren’t on the plane the finally came crawling out of the carrousel. We were given our visa, without having to show any proof we had bought a visa, any evidence of funds, or that we could get ourselves back home if we needed to. A very trusting nation! Off we went to catch the bus into Auckland.