What we did in New Zealand (by Peter)

Hello everyone, this is about the things we liked and didn’t like in New Zealand, where we are having a great time.

The best museum in the world was Te Papa, it was soooo good!!!  My favourite things at Te Papa were the Giant Squid, the customs display (where we had to look for things being smuggled into New Zealand) and a computer game where you had to build a robot to clean your room!

When we visited my half cousins, Edward and Spencer, we had a great time.  We rode on their quad bike on the beach and I went really fast and got to ride on my own after some practising.

In Rotorua there were go-karts (or luge), it was cool as!  I got to go down the track on my own, my brothers had to sit on Dad’s knee.

Everyone likes Brumbys the bakers (except Dad because it was lent when we went there :-( ).  

There is a thing called Zorbing in New Zealand, where you roll down a hill in a ball, in water, so you slide in the ball…it is a thing called fun!

My friend Jack lives ten minutes away from Cromwell and lives at a restaurant (aka a field) and I like to play with him.  The best game we played was when we pretended we were stopping the Japanese whalers.

When Sarah (you might not know her, she is my aunty) came to stay we did bowling and my final score was 95 and I was second.

Luke thought Te Papa was good, just like me, there was a giant squid and ever since he talks about giant squids!  Luke liked the go-karting as well.  Luke loved bowling, although he was mainly interested in the balls!

When Mum went to the Pancake Rocks she was very disappointed.  Mum said she really liked her skydive!!!  In Rotorua, up at the go-karts there is a big sky swing where you swing over a cliff, cool as!  Mum and Uncle Dan went on this and it was great.  There is a place called Puzzling World, it is sooo good and Mum loved the puzzles there.

Dad loved the trapeze that he tried out at Action World, he thought it was great!  We went sailing on a pirate ship, Dad liked it because there was free cups of tea and scones.  Dad really hated Greymouth, it was rainy and grey.  Dad liked the Taupo Ironman and I was a bit bored as the race started at 6am and lasted till past my bedtime!  Dad thinks one of the best parts of his holiday was watching my Weet-Bix triathlon, I was first in the swim and Dad was really proud.

Joe absolutely loved the bowling we did with Sarah.  He also loved the luge in Rotorua.  There was a place called the Antarctic Centre where you can see real snow, wow!  Joe got a toy Kiwi in Te Anau, which he called Keo and this is now his favourite toy (apart from Dogger).

Bye, bye.  I hope that you have enjoyed reading about New Zealand.  We have enjoyed out visit!

Peter 

Goodbye Johnny 5

Last night was our last sleeping in the campervan (Johnny 5).  Once the boys were asleep we pulled out the luggage and started packing.  It is amazing how much stuff was concealed in the storage lockers in the van - but we somehow managed to squeeze it all into our bags (including the new fourth holdall).  However, despite the trial pack last week we once again managed to forget about the shoe cupboard so the shoes arrived at the hotel in a carrier bag - we have some reorganising to do if we want to keep everything we've still got.

Over the last couple of days we have managed to clear out most of the major items which we needed to get rid of (bikes, car seat, printer etc) and yesterday and this morning the van had a final wash and clean.  Annoyingly the weather this morning was wet for the first time in a while which meant we couldn't let the boys out of the van after breakfast (camping + rain = muddy footprints) and the van arrived at its new home looking considerably less shiny than it did last night.

The people who bought the van (Annie and Rick) live just outside Christchurch, so Joseph and I drove out there this afternoon to drop off the van.  The new owners are really nice people (I'm not just saying that because they'll read this blog!) and also have kids, so Johnny 5 still has plenty of action to look forward to once they get back from their eight week campervan tour around mainland Europe this summer.  After a quick trip to the bank to pay over the money for the van Annie and Rick drove us back to the hotel (while their four year old son kept us entertained in the back).

We are staying at a hotel within walking distance of Christchurch Airport for the next two nights before we fly over to Sydney on Friday.  The boys have adapted to hotel life again already and don't seem to be missing our old home yet - mainly because the hotel room has a TV!

Dave

Getting ready to move on

Over the last week we have been getting ready to move on to Australia.  We sold the campervan on Trade Me and we deliver it on Wednesday, we are leaving a few things in the van for the buyers (like plates, hoover, cooking pots etc) so that has made it a bit easier as we will have the essentials until the end.  We have left the Sally Car with the garage for them to sell on once it is repaired (see earlier blog!).  

In order to check how much stuff we had accumulated while we were in NZ we had a 'trial pack', where we packed up all our bags with everything we were taking with us.  We have one bag less now as we sold the tent, which had lots of extra space for squeezing in a car seat and sleeping bags.  It was all going brilliantly, we had everything packed into three bags and we were feeling rather smug....until David opened the shoe cupboard and was buried in an avalanche of shoes!!!   We had to buy a fourth bag.

We had accumulated a few bits and pieces that we wanted to keep, but we didn't need on the rest of the trip, so these were packed up into a box and posed back over to Scotland.  This box was mainly filled with the boys treasures, such as train set, triathlon medal, DVDs and a couple of books.

The other thing we had to get rid of was the bikes.  David sold his bike to Andy, so this had to be dismantled and packed up then couriered up to the North Island (where it arrived safely today).  

The kids bikes proved a bit harder to get rid of.  Dean and Diana bought Joe's bike for Jack, leaving us with two still to sell.  We tried a secondhand shop in Dunedin, but they were not interested.  We tried a Cash Converters 

in Christchurch, where the worlds most grumpy shop assistant offered us $70 for Peter's bike and $35 for Luke's (which cost $460 and $170 respectively).  Offended by this poor offer we went to ask in the bike shop if they would be interested and the super-friendly guy (who remembered us buying the bikes) has agreed to sell them for us then send us the money.  Sorted!

We also had other assorted possessions to sell, most of which went to Cash Converters...due to Mr Grumpy we had to visit a couple of shops before we were rid of most of our stuff.  We still have a bag for the Charity Shop, which we will drop off in the morning and then we will be packing for real!  Where have the last six months gone???

Some photos from the last few days in Central Otago here.

Nic

xx

A few days in Dunedin

After Easter we headed off for one final trip away from the restaurant and went to Dunedin for a few days. Dunedin is the 'Edinburgh' of the Southern Hemisphere and we felt quite at home on streets such George Street and Hanover Street, while staying at a campsite by the Water of Leith.

On our first day we wandered around the city. We found it to be bustling and cosmopolitan with the impact of a large student poplation evident even though it was the Easter break. It did feel a bit like Edinburgh, especially the icy wind we had on our last day. We saw the statue of Robert Burns (which made us feel quite at home as he was born and lived near Dumfries) and the Cadbury chocolate factory (which the boys were impressed with!). We also took a drive along the port and out the peninsula.

Over the next couple of days we visited the world's steepest street, Baldwin Street, and climbed to the top. We also visited the botanic gardens, where the autum colours were very impressive, but the star attraction was a talking parrot whose phrases included “have a cup of tea”!

We also caught up with Barbara (Diana's mum) who we knew from Guernsey, where she spent a year with Dean and Diana. Barbara had a lovely house and we really enjoyed having a bit of space and sleeping in a bed, we also spent an afternoon sheltering from the wind watching DVD's...David and I finally got to see Short Circuit after listening to it many times in the car on our US road trip.

We could probably have spent more time in Dunedin, but were sadly running out of days, so it was a quick but enjoyable visit.

Photos here.

Nic

xx

The adventures of Sally Car

Sally-Car is the 1989 Fiat Uno which we bought last December to use as a runaround when we are at the Lazy Dog.  

Last Wednesday I took Sally-Car into Cromwell for masters swim training.  On the way home I realised (once I was out of the well-lit town centre) that my headlights were not working.  By the faint light provided by the side-lights I managed to find a spot to pull over to investigate.  After much prodding and poking around in the electrics box I somehow managed to get the full lights on, so I quickly jumped into the drivers seat and raced home.  This somewhat dented our hopes that we could sell the car the following week.  Plan B: Sell Sally-Car back to the mechanic who sold it to us?

Peter's asthma had been deteriorating for a few days and to avoid the inevitable late night hospital visit we decided to make an emergency doctor's appointment yesterday afternoon.  I ran him into town in Sally-Car because it would be much quicker than taking the campervan (and, obviously, it wasn't dark).  About 5km from Cromwell Sally suddently lost power and my mind quickly started scrambling for solutions to the impending combination of sick child and sick car.  However, we managed to limp on to Cromwell.  As we turned into the street where the surgery was it looked like this was as far as Sally-Car was going to take us - ironically on the corner at the garage where we bought her, but she came alive one more time and we just made it into the surgery car park before she finally conked out.  With Peter steering and me pushing we parked Sally up in the only space available: the disabled parking space (appropriate for a disabled car).

After the doctor had sorted Peter (she sadly couldn't help Sally), we manouvered the car into an empty non-disabled space (Peter steering again) and caught a lift home.  This morning I went into the garage and made a deal with the mechanic to take her back and sell her on.  He gave us a tow along from the surgery and we last saw Sally back in the place where we first saw her five months ago.  When Luke said goodbye to her I'm sure she looked sad.

Some photos from recent days can be seen here.

Dave

PS Peter is well on the road to recovery and feeling much better. 

Wanaka Toy and Transport Museum

On Thursday we decided to go to the Wanaka Toy and Transport Museum, which we have driven past many times but have never actually managed to make time to visit.  What an experience!  This has to be the most bizarre museum I have ever been to, it was an absolute Aladdins Cave which was jam packed with pretty much anything toy or transport related that you could think of!  

The museum consisted of three large warehouses, a huge hangar, a lean-to and acres of outside space where there were rows and rows of vehicles and machinery.  We started off looking at the toys, where my favourites were the barbies while the boys were all drawn to the Star Wars and Lego displays.  Interspersed among the toy displays were old cars, some of which were filled with old dolls, teddies or trolls.  Most of the toys were displayed in cases, but we were particularly impressed with the collection of toy planes displayed on top of a row of old cars.  

The other warehouses were crammed with cars, planes, motorbikes and any other forms of transport you could imagine.  There were endless cars, some of which were tucked under the wings of planes!  A lot of the cars were dusty and there were some sitting outside with grass growing up through them.  The museum hires out cars for props and we saw the car used in the film 'World's Fasted Indian'.  David and I both saw cars the same as those we learned to drive in...although it has been pointed out that seeing the car first car you drove in a museum is a sign of old age!!

We all really enjoyed looking around such an eclectic collection and when we left we still felt there was lots that we hadn't managed to see.  

Photos are here (there are a couple of snaps and then loads of the toy museum I thought this place was great, so be warned you might get bored of them!)

Nic

x

 

Milford Sound and Te Anau

After Queenstown we headed South and over to Te Anau which sits on the large Lake Te Anau and is the gateway to Milford Sound.  The town of Milford Sound itself contains little more than a jetty from which the various boat cruises leave so we booked in for a few nights at a nice campground right in the town centre of Te Anau.  

On our first day in Te Anau we took a stroll down the main street and looked in some shops and then had a walk down to the lake-front.  In one of the tourist shops Joseph bought himself a little soft-toy egg which 

unzips to reveal a baby kiwi.  He has named his new kiwi friend Kio.  [In order to be strictly consistent with the naming convention for other soft toys on the trip; his toy dog (Dogger) and Luke's toy cat (Cattie) it should really be Kiwio.]  In the same shop Luke also bought a kiwi souvenir - a nice warm kiwi hat.

On our second morning we took a day trip to Milford Sound.

We were picked up by the bus at 9.30 in Te Anau.  The drive to Milford Sound took about 2.5 hours, including a couple of stops along the way.  The bus driver gave a detailed commentary on the way including history, geography and environmental information about the areas along the way and about Milford Sound itself.  (Did you know that there are three types of avalanche in the mountains - snow, rocks and trees?)  This made the drive rather more interesting than the vast amount of touring we have done in the campervan.  The best part of the road to Milford Sound was the Homer tunnel, a 1.2km hole through mountain rock (the tunnel is not lined so you can see the blasted rock right through on the walls and roof).  Luke spent the whole drive either eating crisps or asking for more crisps.

After arriving at Milford Sound we boarded our boat for a two hour cruise in the sound itself.  The boat was custom built for these cruises and had plenty of viewing windows and lots of space outside on the front, back and top of the boat.  

However, the main important feature was the free supplies of tea throughout the tour.  The kids enjoyed parts of the cruise (for Peter: seeing seams of copper and gold in the rock, for Joseph: getting up close to the Seals and Dolphins and for Luke: seeing "Niagara Falls" several times and eating crisps).  Nicola and I could have enjoyed it a little more if we weren't mainly keeping an eye on the kids and handing out snacks, but we each had a turn of sitting outside with a cup of tea and enjoying the tranquility and beauty of the surroundings.

The bus trip home was a quicker journey with no stops and no commentary and a general feeling of tiredness all round.  Nicola, Peter and Luke all had a well earned sleep on the way home. We did, after all, have to stand up to get on and off the boat and also to get another cup of tea).  Overall we really enjoyed doing the day trip to Milford Sound and for me it was nice for someone else to do the driving for a change!  Milford Sound is certainly beautiful (although, to be honest it looks even better in the tourist postcards than it does when you're there).

We hung around in Te Anau for a couple more nights because

 it was a lovely place and the campsite was really nice.  We also had a really nice neighbour in a camping bus (actually, the bus was quite smashed up - he told us that he finds reversing it quite tricky because he is blind in one eye)  and the boys picked up 12 balloons from other neighbours who had celebrated a birthday the day before.

On the drive back to Cromwell we were lucky to pass the Kingston Flyer waiting to depart for the journey back to Kingston.  We had time to get a few photos before the fireman built up steam and we watched the train pulling away.  We then spent the next five minutes chasing the train down the road before we eventually caught and overtook it.  

Since arriving back at the Lazy Dog we have had good news on the van.  We had to go down to Alexandra yesterday to get the van tested for its COF certificate - which was successful.  Later that evening the online auction for the campervan ended with a successful sale.  The price was slightly disappointing, but the good news is that the sellers live near Christchurch and we have arranged to trade just before we fly out (so we avoid the cost of having to stay in hotels and have a hire car for a couple of weeks) - on balance a good result.

We have only one more new place to visit before we go.  Tomorrow we head down to Dunedin for a few days (and, sadly, we have to sell the kids' bikes).  By the time we get back we will have only a couple more nights with Dean and Diana before we make our way up to Christchurch to fly out.

Photos are here.

Dave

Queenstown (again)

We are back down in Queenstown again for a few days as this was the next stop on Sarahs' bus route.  We drove down on Sunday morning while Sarahs and Sven got the bus around lunchtime (stopping off for a quick bungee-jump en route).  

After a morning of constant nagging we relented in the afternoon and took the boys up the Gondola to the top of the hill in Queenstown (it all helps make the annual pass good value for money).  After raining all morning we were lucky that the weather cleared and we had a good view looking back towards the town and lake.  

Sunday night was Formula One night again - this week we were not in a motel so I headed into town and found a bar showing the race live and was joined during the race by Sarahs and Sven.  The F1 organisers had the bright idea this year of making the Far East Grand Prix(<- plural) later in the day so that European fans don't have to get out of bed so early - so for this race I was kept up late (getting home just after midnight!).  No doubt they will revert to the original race timings for next year!

The rest of the week has been largely a washout.  Monday (rain) we drove out of town with Sarah H for ten-pin bowling.  Tuesday (rain) we went to the leisure pool at Frankton with Sarahs and Sven.  

Today we took a drive out to the shops at Frankton so that Nic could pick up some warm socks and we also picked up a small electric heater to help keep the van warm and dry in the rubbish weather.  Good move - it snowed this afternoon!!  We had a brief wander in town and then rode the Gondola to the top of the hill where we met up with Sarahs and Sven who had their first taste of the Luge track.  We didn't stay long because the boys found the snow a bit too cold and we didn't think hurtling down the luge track would help (actually Peter did).

We have said goodbye to Sarahs several times now (not knowing whether we will see them again before Australia) but tomorrow we are heading even further South to Te Anau because we have booked a trip to Milford Sound for Good Friday.

We need to get back to Dean and Diana's by next Wednesday so we can get the Campervan through its 'Certificate of Fitness' (heavy vehicle version of NZ equivalent of MOT).  The van is now listed for sale on Trade Me (NZ's version of Ebay) and has had a huge amount of interest so we are hoping that bids and a sale will follow.

We've now added photos of our recent exploits at Mount Cook and with Sarahs (we had to hold off on uploading for a while because we were over our monthly internet limit and it could have been very expensive).

Dave

Skydive Lake Wanaka

On Friday Sarah, Sarah and I did a skydive from 15,000 feet (Sven didn’t join us as he has done 98 skydives already and David couldn’t join us as he was on babysitting duty).  We arrived at the Skydive hangar at 10am and after signing the most lengthy disclaimer I have ever read (which basically seemed to say ‘you might die and if you do then tough luck you are not allowed to sue anyone,’) we donned attractive jumpsuits and got into our harnesses.

We then headed out to the plane where we were packed in like sardines…it made the Aurigny

 flights to Jersey seem spacious!!  We took off and started circling to climb up to 15,000 feet.  The views as we gained height were spectacular, we could see Lake Wanaka, Lake Hawea, Mount Cook, Mount Aspiring and the Clutha River.  

When we got to height it was time to jump, Sarah L was first, then Sarah H and then me.  To jump out I had to sit on the edge of the plane and tuck my feet under the plane then put my head back on the instructors shoulder, once we were in the correct position we jumped.  

From 15,000ft it is a 60 second freefall before the parachute is deployed.  The views were

 stunning and it was an amazing feeling to be falling so quickly towards the ground.  The 60 seconds passed quickly and before I knew it the parachute was open.  As soon as the parachute opened it was suddenly silent and we gently cruised back down to the landing zone.  

We all agreed it was absolutely brilliant and that it had all been over too quickly…maybe we will have to do another one!!  

Nic

Sarah and Sarah … and Sven

After a great weekend at Mount Cook we had an exciting week as David’s sister Sarah (Holmes) and her friend Sarah (Lawrie) arrived in Wanaka.  They are spending 6 months travelling and are spending 6 weeks in New Zealand, travelling around on the ‘Stray’ bus.  

They arrived on Tuesday and we all went out to the Lazy Dog for lunch and an afternoon of catching up and exchanging travel stories.  Dean and Diana had a customer arriving by helicopter from Queenstown to do a wine tasting, so that added a bit of excitement to the afternoon and Sarah L hopped aboard for a quick spin with Dian

a and Jack!

Wednesday was our long awaited

 visit to do the maze and illusion rooms at Puzzling World.  We picked up Sarah and Sarah from their hostel and one of their friends from their bus, Sven, came along too.  We started off with the mind-bending illusion rooms, which were fantastic.  I think they were one of the best attractions we have seen in New Zealand.  After a quick lunch in the van we did the maze, we split up and gave Sarah, Sarah and Sven a race to the finish…which they won easily!  We then spent a good hour trying out all the puzzles before heading outside to 

take some photos with the ’Leaning Tower of Wanaka’.

One day in Wanaka we came across a travelling TV studio in which you could record a YouTube video to send back home (link here).

The rest of the week was spent with Sarah, Sarah and Sven in Wanaka where we enjoyed chilling out in the sunshine, taking in the views over the lake, visiting the park and we also enjoyed another afternoon at the Lazy Dog.

Nic

Mount Cook

On Thursday we left the Lazy Dog and headed to Mount Cook for the weekend.  We have passed by the national park on both our journeys south from Christchurch, but we decided to save it for a weekend away from our Lazy base.

It was a fairly long drive and we broke the journey  with a lunch stop overlooking the spectacular Lindis Pass.  As temperatures have been low we headed to a campsite about  20km south of Mount Cook for the first night (so we could have a power hook up and therefore run our heaters if required).  We had a really good view up the valley towards Mount Cook and went a walk down to the Northern edge of Lake Pukaki (which is a lovely blue colour due to the dissolved minerals in the water).  

Our campsite had its own airfield and we decided that a helicopter trip up to see the snow sounded like a great idea…but unfortunately when we phoned to book  it was not possible as there was bad weather up on the mountain…and the bad news was it was heading our way!

The next morning we awoke to an overcast, grey day.  Mount Cook had disappeared behind cloud and we were feeling a bit more despondent as we drove the last 20km up the valley (memories of the Wet West Coast were resurfacing).  As the clouds couldn’t decide whether to rain or not, we decided to take advantage of the dryish weather and head for a walk.  

We drove 8km of unpaved roads (I will be happy never to see another unpaved road ever again once this trip is over) so we could walk a short climb up for a view of the Tasman Glacier.  Peter has developed a love of walking and he bounded on ahead to the viewpoint.  When we got to the top he had a massive grin as not only could we see the glacier, but the river was dotted with spectacular icebergs (one of Peter’s favourite things!).  We stopped for a snack and a spot of drawing for the boys before heading back to the van for lunch.  After lunch we managed another walk down to the river before the weather really closed in.

As the heavens opened we headed to the hub of the Mount Cook village…the Hermitage Hotel.  Peter was again in his element as he discovered the ‘Edmund Hillary Centre’ (Peter and Joe regularly play ‘Everest’ which involves a dramatic re-creation of Hillary and Norgay’s ascent of Mt Everest - in this version the famous mountaineers tie jumpers round their heads and carry folding chairs to the summit).  We threw caution to the wind and bought a family ticket to the museum, 3D movie and Planetarium…and the rest of the afternoon passed in a blur of educational activity for the boys!

We had been distinctly unimpressed with the campsite the previous night and with the rain teeming down we knew that we would not be getting out the van  wherever we stayed.  As the weather had been warm during the day, the sky was cloudy and there was a wind…we decided to gamble on a warm night and wilderness camp.  Our gamble paid off, the overnight temperatures did not go below freezing and we were not too cold.  As an extra precaution we had pegged blankets over the window to keep drafts out…which caused much confusion to Luke in the morning…he couldn’t understand how blankets over the windows would keep giraffes out!!!

The next morning we peeked out the curtains as the sun rose to see the clouds had cleared and the view from our bed was a spectacular sunrise over Mount Sefton.  After quickly jumping out the van in my PJ’s to get a few photos we relaxed in bed and enjoyed the view.

On Saturday we went a two hour (round trip) hike up the Hooker Valley and got some fantastic views of Mount Cook.  Joe did some brilliant walking and we all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.  We went back to the Hermitage for a well deserved lunch and cake.  We were very impressed by the Hermitage, it was a modern, quite smart hotel, with stunning views but yet it had a quite laid back vibe.  As we were relaxing in the lounge pondering where David could watch the Grand Prix on Sunday…we suddenly had a brilliant idea…a quick browse of the hotel website later …we were booked in for Sunday night!

On Saturday night we dropped a quick text to the ‘Sarahs’ only to discover that they were at Franz Joseph…this is less than 60km (as the crow flies) from Mount Cook Village and it felt really good to know that they were so close!!  We are meeting up with them on Tuesday and we cannot wait!!

On Sunday we did another two walks, visited the Edmund Hillary Centre again, ate more cake in the restaurant and then got checked into our room in the early afternoon.  We had booked a ‘motel’ room with a small kitchen and our own bathroom (a major treat when you live on the road!!).  Peter and Joe couldn’t believe their luck as we let them watch two hours of cartoons this afternoon before the Grand Prix.  Luke had a ‘lovely shower’ and then had an early night (he loves taking his toys and bucket into the shower).  

As the Grand Prix started I headed into the bathroom for an hour of beautification (including re-dyeing my fast-fading red hair).  As I write Joe is a zombie almost asleep on the couch watching the F1 Press Conference, David is delighted with a Brawn 1-2 and looking forward to an interesting F1 season, while  Peter is sleepily grinning as he recovers from the shock of Hamilton finishing fourth from last on the grid.  

I am sipping my wine, typing and reflecting on a perfect end to a fantastic long-weekend at Mount Cook, one of the best places we have visited in New Zealand and somewhere we will all take home fond memories of.  

Nic

x

Cold and frosty morning

We are back at the Lazy Dog near Wanaka for a few days while we plan our last few weeks.  We had a lovely day yesterday sampling the new restaurant menu and undoing all the healthy eating of the last three months!

The greatest shock came when we looked out the window this morning to see that the ground was frosty!!!  We have not awoken to a frosty morning since we lived in Scotland and so it came as some thing of a shock.  The boys were a bit mystified and wanted to go outside and see it...until we opened the van door and they were hit by an icy blast!  Joe, Luke and I made a quick retreat under the covers, but David and Peter braved the cold for their two mile run, although Peter claimed to have frostbite on his face when he got back.

The days do warm up and we are currently sitting on the patio at the restaurant enjoying autumn sunshine.

Nic

x

A Day in Christchurch

After Hanmer Springs we headed to Christchurch with the plan of looking around the city center, which we missed last time round.  The day we arrived we got sidetracked by one of the many shopping malls where I got a haircut, did some shopping and we enjoyed an 'All you can eat' buffet at Pizza Hut.

The next day we headed into the city first thing and followed the very handy 'Parking Search

 Route' until we found a non-multistory car park for the van.  We spent the morning wandering round the streets, people-watching as we had snack stop at one of the many pavement cafes, watching out for the trams and browsing the many second hand bookshops (where Peter and I were in heaven).

In the afternoon we walked to the Botanic Gardens, where we 

wandered along the river watching the punts, looked at the 'art' in the park and had had a relaxing afternoon enjoying the sunshine.  

Next time we are in Christchurch we will be heading off to Australia and it is starting to feel like we don't have much time left in New Zealand.

Photos here.

Nic

x

Hanmer Springs

We spent the last couple  of days at a place called Hanmer Springs, just North of Christchurch.  We hadn't originally planned to include this on our trip down, but after reading about it on another travel blog (someone doing a similar trip south about 2 weeks ahead of us) we decided to make a slight detour.

We arrived on Tuesday and headed straight for a campsite just outside of the centre for lunch.  The weather has really picked up again and we had a lovely afternoon of sunshine.  We went to a nearby playpark for a while and then headed into town with the boys riding ahead on their bikes. 

On Wednesday we walked into town around 10am and spent most of the day in the Springs pools.   The pools included a childrens area with slides, waterfalls

 and a water gun which entertained the kids for a while.  We then took a dip in the hot pools working our w

ay gradually up from the 33C pool to the hottest 40C pool (and then back down again so that the kids pool didn't feel too cold when we got back).  We had a nice picnic lunch in the sun before some grey clouds started to loom on the horizon.  We decided mid-afternoon to head back to the campsite before any rain arrived (it didn't rain in the end, but it did cloud over and cool down).  

Once the boys were in bed I headed back up to the pools for another hour and enjoyed the pools as they are meant to be enjoyed - in peace! 

Hanmer springs is a lovelly little town nestled amongst between several mountain ranges making for beautiful views in all directions - a really good find which was a surprise because it didn't feature at all in our Rough Guide to New Zealand!

Update on the kids

Peter has started reading some new books which he picked up in a second hand book shop in Kaikoura (where we also traded in some of our well-read books).  The books are childrens fiction based around the SAS - Peter has now decided that he either wants to be in the SAS or be an anthropologist.  If only his mum and dad had their future jobs as sorted - we still don't want to know what to do when we grow up (and we've only got 6 months to finish growing up).

Since his last triathlon Peter and I have been going out for a run every morning - normally about 2 miles in about 21 minutes.  This morning Peter ran a timed mile in 9:21.

When Nicola and I were talking the other day Luke announced loudly that "you talk rubbish mum".  Both his speech and perception are amazing for a two year old.

Joseph has decided that New Zealand isn't very new and should therefore be referred to as just "Zealand" or even "Old Zealand".  This afternoon he finally mastered getting started on his bike (previously he needed a push start from mum or dad every five minutes) much to his, and our, delight.

Photos here (I only just discovered that Facebook photo links expire after a few months, so if you want to look at photos linked from old blog posts you need to either get on Facebook or email and I can refresh the link).

Dave

Having a whale of a time in Kaikoura

From Blenheim we headed down the east coast to Kaikoura. On the way we enjoyed some splendid coastal scenery. The latter part of the drive hugged the coastline and we had some fantastic views of the sea pounding on the black sand beaches. The beaches and the ocean on this side of the South Island were again very isolated, but seeing them on a sunny day made them feel a bit less bleak. Just before getting to Kaikoura we drove along a stretch of coastline which was remarkably reminiscent of the west coast of Guernsey, giving us a brief stab of homesickness (for an island that is no longer our home).

We got sorted with accommodation near the town and headed into look around. It is a small town with a cluster of shops on the main street which mostly cater for tourists. After a quick wander along the street we headed to the shore for a look at the sea.

The beach was stones rather than sand and was extremely windy. We had some fun building some pebble towers and seeing who could balance the most stones in a pile before the wind blew it down. We were glad to be wrapped up in our warm coats as it felt more like a winters day out to Ayr than a summers day in the southern hemisphere!

Kaikoura is famous for whale watching excursions but when we looked into the boat trips they do not allow kids under 3, so no good for us! Peter was very disappointed as he loves whales and had been really hoping he would see one, however he made a quick recovery when he realised there was a great play park at our campsite!

Tomorrow we are planning another look at the shops, a cup of tea in one of the numerous cafes and then a walk on the peninsula...and we will take our binoculars just in case!

Photos here.

Nic
xx

Heading south again

We have been back on the South Island since Wednesday evening, after an uneventful drive down to Wellington (with yet another visit to the museum) followed by an evening ferry over to Picton, where we spent a night before heading to Nelson. We had been planning to head into the Abel Tasman National Park, but after a couple of chilly nights we decided that wilderness camping might be too cold. After researching various buses and boat trips we decided on a trip from Nelson, only to discover that the trip we had chosen was no longer running so we decided to give the Abel Tasman a miss and just start heading south.

We stayed at a great campsite in Nelson (like a mini Eurosite) which had a couple of play areas and mini-golf. The boys had a great time on the mini-golf. As it was out of season David and I could relax, read our books and leave them to it while they played a version of golf that sometimes looked a bit more like hockey! There was a lot of space at the campsite, so the boys did some cycling and Peter and David did the "trim track" each morning.

There was a BMX track nearby that Peter enjoyed trying out. Joseph was not brave enough to try it on his bike and David and I were not brave enough to let Luke try it on his bike with no brakes!

After a relaxing few days in Nelson we are presently in Blenheim, which it has to be said is not the most exciting place...we went into town this afternoon and half the shops are closed...on a Saturday afternoon...makes Guernsey seem like a lively place!!

Onward to Kaikoura tomorrow, but we will not be whale watching as under threes are not allowed on the boats!

Some photos here.

Nic

xx

Leaving the North Island

Our planned four weeks in the North Island extended itself to become over two months as we enjoyed the warmth and sunshine found further north in New Zealand. We have been reflecting on our time in the North Island and trying to remember all of the highs and lows of this part of the trip.

The highlights of the North island include our day sailing on a tall ship in the Bay of Islands, seeing dolphins, David trying the trapeze, meeting up with Dan, Fiona and family, visiting Waiuku, chilling out in Mount Manganui, experiencing the buzz of city life in Wellington, watching the Ironman in Taupo and of course visiting Te Papa!

We had surprisingly few lows, we found some of the driving quite tedious and lengthy, particularly heading from Napier to Gisbourne then north to Mount Manganui. We also had one mechanical breakdown (and one self inflicted breakdown), but as each of these was quickly resolved with minimum fuss (thanks for the diesel Andy) they didn't even make it as a low point. We think our only true low was saying goodbye to the New Zealand branch of the Holmes family, we had such a great time visiting and we know if we are ever planning a return trip to NZ it will be primarily to see them!

We are hoping that our final seven weeks on the South Island are as good as the time we have had on the North Island.

Nic

Ironman New Zealand

It was a long day...

The Ironman racing started at 6.45am this morning. We are staying at a campsite about 10mins drive away and we wanted to make sure that we got into Taupo early enough to bag a decent parking space, so the alarm clock was set for 5.30am and at 5.45 we set off with the beds still made up in the back of the van - Peter and Joseph are able to lie in bed with seatbelts around them, Luke had to be moved into his car seat which was anchored onto the bed.

We managed to land a brilliant parking spot which gave Nicola and the boys a view of the triathlon swim from bed. I got kitted up and headed out on the bike to watch the race. I watched the swim start, in the dark, down on the beach. At 6.45 the small wave of elite professional athletes headed off behind a Maori wooden boat which was paddled by a group which had just performed a Haka on the beach (very loud and impressive). The main wave, around 1400, made a start at 7am and the noise and sight of such a large number of people in a mass start in the water was quite amazing.

The main field was soon strung out across the lake covering with a distance over a mile between first and last. The first elite male exited the water having completed the 2.4 mile swim in around 45mins with the bulk of the men (including Britain's Stephen Bayliss) and the leading ladies coming out around 50 minutes.

The competitor I had come to support was Bella Bayliss (until November Bella Comerford) from Aberdeen who I used to train/race with when we were Scotland's top junior triathletes. She, of course, has gone on to a succesful professional Ironman career (see her Wikipedia listing here) whilst I became an actuary and, so far, am unworthy of a listing in Wikipedia.

Bella came out of the water just behind a group of girls in about 55 minutes - she has always won her Ironman races coming from behind after the swim, she is a very strong cyclist and runner.

I headed out onto the bike course to shout encouragement at a spot close to town which the cyclists passed twice on the course of 112miles. Bella had moved up into third place but with a gap of six minutes to the leader. Stephen (Bella's husband) was riding well with a group covering second to fourth places.

At second transition Bella had fallen to thirteen minutes behind leader (and her team-mate) Lisbeth Kristensen and was in fourth place. Out on the run I had a tiring time myself cycling up and down the road getting split times for Bella and then feeding them back to her. Over the first 5km she was reeling in the girls ahead bringing the gap down to under 10 minutes. However, the effort on the bike started to tell and after a period of holding the gap steady she began to lose time. She really struggled just after halfway having to walk at times (I did my best to shout words of encouragement, I was worried this might be more annoying than encouraging, but Bella claims that if I hadn't been there she might have just stopped and hidden somewhere!)

She did get going again but lost a further place to an Australian girl. She came home in a creditable 5th place (meanwhile husband Stephen dropped to 6th by the finish of his race after struggling in the first half of his marathon) having struggled through the marathon in 3hours 20 minutes (a time the average male runner would find acceptable in a straight marathon without the swimming and cycling first!). Her overall time of 9:41 was about 15 minutes slower than last year so she was understandably disappointed (again, the average male athlete would be very happy with a time of under 10 hours - the pros are just in another league).

After watching Bella finish we all took a drive out along the run course to watch other runners, many of whom were still on the first half of their marathons as sunset approached. As I write this back at our campsite with the boys asleep in bed there are many athletes still out there, with the cut-off time for finishers midnight tonight.

Overall the atmosphere and level of organisation for this event was amazing (there are over 2,000 volunteers organising the event) and the atmosphere was really special with spectators two or three deep in places lining the parts of the course through the town. Maybe next time I'm at an Ironman I'll be on the start-line myself.

Dave

Triathlon swim video

Nicola, Joseph and Luke missed it because they were out waiting for Peter at the transition area, but fortunately I captured Peter's best event on video.

Click on the video below to play. Peter is closest to the right of the screen as they start (and then quickly gets into the lead).

Dave

Palmerston North Weet-bix Tryathlon

Today I did the Weet-bix Tryathlon in Palmerston North. It was a 100m swim, 4km bike and 1500m run. We had been in Palmerston North for a few days and our campsite was right beside the park where the triathlon would be. I had done some practice swimming, cycling and running with Dad.

On the morning of the race we went over to the park and I got my numbers and put my bike in transition. It was a very big race, there were over 1200 children taking part and transition was very big.

When I was practicing it was very windy and rainy, but today it was lovely and warm and sunny.

After I put my bike in transition we went to the "Weet-bix Breakfast Tent". I got a plain weet-bix, Joe and Luke got apricot weet-bix and Luke got a yogurt but he didn't like it and Joe got one that he liked but he didn't eat. I ate all my food and all the leftovers.

The 11-15 year olds went first, so we had a long wait till it was time for the 7-10 year olds to race. When it was time to start all the 7-10 year olds went to the pool. We had to wait for a bit but when we got into the pool I started off last in my heat, but I was first out of the pool. I was miles ahead!

When I got on the bike I was overtaken by someone at first, then I overtook them but they were gaining on me. I knew the course from my practices so I pushed on as I knew there was a steep downhill ahead where I could get away from him. The cycle was a bit easier than I thought as the course was shorter than I had practiced with Dad. When I got to the end of the bike I had a sip of my water (it was boiling hot...like BOILING HOT as it had been out in the sun).

On the run I was very tired and lots of people overtook me, as I am not very good at running. When I got to the end (about 100m away) I started to sprint for the finish. After I crossed the line I got a medal and I felt really good and proud that I had managed my second race.

After I got my medal I went out of the finishing area to look for Mum and Dad, but they weren't anywhere to be seen! I had a look around for them and saw Mum running over to the finish line to see if she could take a photo of me crossing the line, so I ran up behind her and said "Mum I am out here already" and she thought I had gone very fast!

When it was the Spot Prizes my number was 17419 and one of the prizes was a bike, the winner of the bike had a number very close to mine, but it wasn't me!

All of my family were very happy and proud of me. Joseph is looking forward to when he can do a triathlon with me. I am looking forward to my next race.


Photos here.

Peter