23rd - 27th February

Sunday 27th February
Today I am enjoying my first day in Terry's company at her lovely bungalow in Waikanae. Carolyn left on the train for home this morning (2 days on a train, good on you Carolyn) and Terry and I have been re-planning part of our South Island tour vis-a-vis the Christchurch earthquake. We were due to spend 3 nights in ChCh but as it is now a disaster zone we have to give it a miss. We tried to rebook our flight to Queenstown instead of ChCh but the Air New Zealand phone lines were continually engaged, so we have decided to stick with the flight to ChCh, hire a car at the airport and head straight out of town to a small town called Geraldine, about 2 hours south, where we have booked a motel for the night. The following day we will drive 4-5 hours to Queenstown where we will hopefully meet up with Clare, Dave and Georgie.

The remainder of the day is being spent quietly with a visit by Lynne, Terry's niece. Lynne stayed with me in Woking for a few days in early January when she was doing her 'European Tour'.


Saturday 26th February
Today Carolyn and I travelled by the Tranz Scenic 'Overlander' train to the Kapiti Coast situated on the south west of the North Island, just north of Wellington. http://www.tranzscenic.co.nz/services/overlander.aspx
We had an early start, leaving the house at 7am in order to be in good time for the train which was due to depart at 8.15am. The train runs daily during the summer months from Auckland to Wellington and vice versa. We boarded it just south of Auckland at Papakura and travelled to Paraparaumu, just short of Wellington where Terry met us. It was a very long train journey, 10 hours, but time passed quite quickly as there was so much to see on the way.

After leaving the industrial, built up Auckland suburbs the scenery changed to gentle farmland then up onto the mountainous Central Plateau. Much of the gentler scenery reminds me of 'tellytubby land, - lots of small gentle rounded hillocks. There were several stops on the way, both to drop off and pick up passengers and change engines (from diesel to electric and vice versa) and crew. The final few hours changed to gentle farmland again but there were always mountains in the distance. I just love the New Zealand landscapes. In many ŵays similar to England but also, in many ways, so different.

I have to say the train was not all that comfortable. Although I wasn't exactly expecting luxury, I did expect better than we had. It was a very bumpy ride - I would think hardly any springs in the undercarriage. It was quite a challenge carrying coffee, tea etc from the buffet car! The carriages were old, it was like travelling by train in the 60's.

Here are a few photos I took along the way - camera pointed out through a somewhat dirty window.





Friday 25th February
Today Carolyn and I visited Waiheke Island, an offshore island in the Hauraki Gulf off Auckland. We drove to Half Moon Bay at Howick, an Auckland suburb, and took the 45 minute ferry ride across to Kennedy Point Wharf. We had intended taking Carolyn's car on the ferry but the cost was prohibitive - $NZ200 (about £100) and it worked out far cheaper to leave the car on the mainland and travel as foot passengers and hire a car on the island.

The island and it's bays were beautiful:


My reason for wanting to go to the island was to visit a lady called Wanda Cowley, a cousin of the late Desmond Harper. Even though I have been to NZ twice before, this is the first time I have met her. And what a savvy old lady she is! In her late 80's and is a well known children's author, although she told us she has just completed a historical novel which I presume is for the adult market - not sure. She is very 'into' her computer and is well into emails, the internet etc. She lives in a beautiful house, old, not very big but with views to die for.

View through Wanda's window

We took her out to lunch but didn't stay afterwards as we wanted to get the 3pm return ferry. We arrived back on the mainland around 4pm and drove back to Pokeno. Unfortunately we got caught in the rush hour Auckland traffic, and the southbound State Highway 1 was somewhat congested for a few kilometres but it soon eased. We arrived home around 5.30 and it was time for me to gather my belongings and pack ready for an early start tomorrow.


Thursday 24th February
There is nothing really to blog today. Carolyn is having a really busy week at work so I had my usual slow start to the day and we just vegged out in the afternoon and evening. The continuous TV coverage of the Christchurch earthquake is practically compulsive viewing.

In have come to have the greatest respect and admiration for Bob Parker, the Mayor of ChCh. He seems to be continually on the TV giving the latest updates. He is very articulate and has all the facts and figures readily available when asked questions by the journalists. I can't imagine when he gets time to see his family or sleep. A great guy.

Wednesday 23rd February
After Carolyn came home and had a short rest, we headed off to the Botany area, just outside Auckland, to visit "Geneva's" (the brothel) and to browse a nearby shopping mall.

The brothel visit was a bit of a non-event as Julie (Carolyn's daughter and the owner) had a business appointment elsewhere and could not be with us, and we felt slightly awkward with the 'girls'. We were only there for 5 minutes or so when a client arrived so we beat a hasty retreat! So I sadly didn't get to see much of the place, although my imagination was working overtime!!

From there we went to a huge shopping mall. Julie met us there a bit later and I took them both out for an early dinner. I had a meal I had never had before - my raw lamb filet came served on a very hot stone, called a 'Stonegrill', and I cooked it to my liking on the table in front of me. Delicious!


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