Xmas Greetings from Norfolk

Have a great xmas and new year. Keep the stories coming we are loving it here. Jane Sam and me are so inspired we are thinking of setting off on our own road trip in the new year. Watch out for the blog 'the Hudsons do Great Yarmouth & Cromer'.

Sending hugs across the miles

Grahame & Jane

Wellibob and other places!

Next destination was Wellington, the capital, although we took a bit of a detour to see the longest place name in the world (yes, longer than that place in Wales, but easier to pronounce). It's not a village or anything it's just a hill and it's called.... Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatatu
...and it means "the brow of a hill where Tamatea, the man with the big knees who slid, climbed and swallowed mountians, known as 'Land Eater', played his flute to his lover".

Because of this detour we weren't going to arrive in Wellibob till late so we decided to stop over at a place called Greytown, which apparantly has the oldest pub in New Zealand, which of course we had to go to....cos we're like that. It proved to be quite fruitful as there was some scratchcard type promotion on the beer we were drinking (Speight's) and we won not one but two paddling pools!! We gave one away to a local, but now we have a luxury van with pool :-)

Arrived in Wellington the next day and had a nightmare trying to find somewhere to stay so then we couldn't wait to leave! City's aren't cut out for campervans, we had to stay on the outskirts and pay a fortune for the privilidge. We were planning on doing loads of stuff, diving and sightseeing and the like, but it was costing us too much in accommodation costs and parking. So we only stayed for 2 nights. We booked up the ferry to the South Island for Monday 12th (yes I know I'm a lot behind with this but I've got a busy schedule!), exactly 2 months after we arrived in Auckland!

The only thing we did in Wellington was our Christmas shopping! We got a bus into town and started with a pint (as you do) then went our separate ways buying practical, travelworthy and cheap gifts for each other. That was fun seeing as we had no idea what shops we where! But after a few hours of trawling round 2nd hand book shops and the $2 shops we met again at the pub for lunch. Rich had the biggest burger in the world and he couldn't finish it, or move after he'd tried so we went to the pictures. Saw Narnia, which was rubbish the acting was shite and it was all very wishy washy!

Now, Wellington is a bizarre place. It's a lot nicer than Auckland, it has character and style but for a capital city it's dead. We couldn't get over the lack of people! Granted it was a Sunday when we did our Christmas shopping but even so, it was 2 weeks before Christmas in a capital city and there was nobody about....Newbury on a Sunday after Christmas would be busier!!

Wellington done, and indeed the North Island....at last.

Yay a new place.....Napier!

It would seem that each time we leave Taupo we have a minor 'setback', last time it was the speeding ticket, and this time, Rich had left the lights on on the van, result.....flat battery, again!! We were saved by a couple of Northern lads that Rich collared to push it though!

Napier is a very pretty city....all Art Deco as there was an earthquake in 1931 and everywhere had to be rebuilt and Art Deco was all the rage then! We stayed there for 3 nights. Rich was in his element as we did an 'Art Deco tour of the city', he turned into a Japanese tourist taking about a million pictures of all the buildings, until the camera battery went flat (hee hee!)

Also in Napier we played crazy golf (which Rich won), visited the New Zealand aquarium and saw various NZ marine life, crocodile, sharks, turtles and things, and spent an afternoon chilling out at a spa, swimming, lounging around in hot tubs and steam rooms and stuff.....oh it's a hard life! Rich also made us walk round the city again taking pictures of the buildings he missed out on the other day!

Taupo....again!

After stopping briefly in Auckland we headed back to Taupo. A Canadian couple we met on our 2nd visit to Auckland (Mark and Krista) were in Taupo for a few weeks staying in their friends aunties cottage and invited us to join them, so we did as we also wanted to do the Tongariro crossing which was nearby. We spent a couple of nights at the cottage catching up with Mark and Krista, on one of the evenings we took a short drive to a place where a natural hot stream runs into a river, and we all sat in that for an hour or so. That was so nice, but a bit bizarre cos the stream was really hot and the river really cold and whilst sat in a hot bit there'd be a bubble of really cold water from the river....oddness, but very nice :-)

We left Mark and Krista to stay at a campsite closer to the Tongariro crossing as it was a very early start. When we arrived the weather was pretty shite, but we stayed the night with the intention of doing the walk the next day. Next day came and the weather was even worse, raining like hell and gale force winds on the mountains. So we sat round all day playing cards and stuff with the hope that the weather will clear the following day, but it didn't!! We couldn't hang around for days waiting for a clear day, so we gave up on it!!

We headed back to Taupo and had an evening with Mark and Krista drinking wine and playing a card game called 'arsehole', Lesley had taught us this in Fiji but we didn't play it enough to get to grips with it. We have now though, it's a great game, with a great name!

Paihai....again

So, back to Paihai....not much of a hardship though as it's a really nice place. We ended up staying for 5 nights which gave us plenty of time to catch up with Lesley between her shifts. We did a nice walk to the waterfall there, spent a morning Kayaking (ended up both getting sunburnt faces!!) a night at a nice restaurant and even squeezed in a couple of dives....I'm now upto 10 dives :-)

On our last night we decided to treat ourselves to a bed for the night at the backpackers hostel where Lesley was working, we had a BBQ and a few bottles of wine and it was all good, nice to sleep in a bed again, even if it was a single and Rich was in a different room.

So, Paihai done, Lesley caught up with the plan now is to try and get to the South island as quickly as possible, there are still a couple more things we want to do and places to see in the North. Mainly Napier and Wellington. En route to Napier though we'll be stopping at Taupo (where we did the skydiving) to do a walk that we chickened out of last time as we didn't think we'd be fit enough for!!! While we're there we're hoping to catch up with Mark and Krista who we met on our 2nd visit to Auckland and who are currently in Taupo....so, next stop Taupo, via Auckland though, got a few bits to do there and to see Rob and Judith again.

We've been a bit slack in the old photo taking department mainly because we've not done much, but we'll try and be a bit more snap happy from now on!!

Auckland for the 3rd time!

Ah, Auckland again!!! Well, we spent almost 2 weeks back in Auckland and basically did stuff all!!! We crashed at Rob and Judiths which is the worlds tiniest apartment!!! But they let us have their livingroom / kitchen floor to sleep on which was fine with our thermorests and sleeping bags!! It was really good of them to put us up, especially for so long. They were both working a lot so didn't get to see quite as much of them as we'd planned, but we did manage a few nights out and a couple of days!!! One day out was a mammoth all dayer, we started at 8.30 am in a sports bar as Rich wanted to watch a Man Utd game, we had breakfast, lunch and dinner in the same bar and finally left at 10.30pm by which point I was in a mess!!!!

A short ferry journey to a place called Devonport and a 2 volcano walk there and an afternoon spent in Auckland Museum are about the only touristy things we did!! The rest of the time we were either drinking, shopping or going to the cinema. We did enjoy our stay in Auckland, but we perhaps spent a little bit too long there!!

But, while we were there, we heard from another girl we met in Fiji, same place we met Rob and Judith. Lesley had arrived in New Zealand and was working in a hostel up in Paihia (we'd already been there 4 weeks ago!!) But, we wanted to catch up with her too, so after about 10 or 11 days in Auckland we headed back up North to Paihia!!

Just in case anybody is wondering (as we're due to be flying out from Christchurch on 2nd Dec) we have changed our flight to 20th Jan now so will be spending Christmas and New Year here. However, the way we're zigzagging around the place we may have to extend that date again!! We'll just have to jig things around and make up the time elsewhere, no worries!!

Waitomo

We spent a few days in Waitomo, which is famous for it's glow worm caves and the only reason we visited! On the way out of Taupo however, Rich was pulled over by the police for speeding!! He was clocked doing 94 in a 70 (that's km's not miles!), I think he may've let Rich off if it wasn't for the fact that he drove past the 70 sign at 94!!! He was lenient though as he only booked Rich for 89 which meant a lesser fine, although it was still $120. Fortunately though, their points system has no effect on ours, otherwise Rich would've been in trouble!!!

So, about the only thing we did in Waitomo was a spot of caving. We went on a black water adventure or something like that!! It involved clambering through caves, over rocks and through tunnels, it was dark (we had lights on hard hats) and at some points we were waist deep in very chilly water (also had wetsuits and wellies!) and others we had to swim or had these black rubber rings to float on!! The caves ceiling was littered with glow worms which looked cool....when the lights were all off it was like looking up at a starry sky, except the little lights were blue!! It was all good fun :-)

While we were in Waitomo, we called Rob and Judith (guys who taught us to dive in Fiji) as they'd mailed and said they were in Auckland and were laying down some roots for a while. Waitomo is not too far from Auckland, and Rob and Judith had said we could crash at their flat for as long as we wanted, so we decided to go back there to catch up with them and spend a few days hanging out with them.....so off we went agian....to Auckland!