Breakast at Bondi

Started off this morning badly...car wouldn't start, took us all day to realise that you needed to depress the clutch before you tried to turn the engine over...anyway, we used C's car to take us over to Bondi Beach where we met up with some more friends for brekkie. Eggs Benedict were the order of the day (again) and very nice it was too! We then had some free time before we met up with G & M in Balmoral. We drove over to Manly, Dee Why & Curl Curl where the surf was really high! Apparently, Sydney and New South Wales are experiencing some really freaky weather conditions with a typhoon being just off shore.

In Australiiiaaaaa....

Well, we touched down in OZ around 19:00 following our (delayed) flight from Auckland. Met up with SJ's friend C who guided us from the airport through the streets of Erskineville to her apartment where we were staying the night. We dropped off our stuff and headed for a tour around the city followed by a drink in Darling Harbour. One bottle of champagne later and back to C's for a a BBQ and bed. I was knackered and fell asleep by 22:00!

New Zealand memories...

Sun sets on New Zealand...

Tonight is our last night on NZ. We went into Silverdale to B.A.D. for our last meal. This is a new restaurant only recently opened. The food was fantastic, steaks were perfect. If you're in Silverdale - try this place!

On a separate note, I've been trying to get a decent sunset picture but this is as close as I could get...not bad but not brilliant either...oh well, Australia here we come!

Sky Tower

Headed into Auckland today...had a look round the shops, harbour (nice boats) and paid a visit to the top of the Sky Tower. This is the Southern Hemisphere's largest tower and you can (if you want) do a bungee from it...we didn't...! You get a great 360 degree view of Auckland and on a day like today with perfect visibility, you can see for miles...

Scotts Landing

Further up the island to the North today and a place called Scotts Landing. This is SJ's mother's favourite spot in NZ so it had to be worth a trip. We worked our way North through Orewa, up to Warkworth and then across to Scotts Landing. Its well tucked away, but worth the trip...

Pohutakawas

Everywhere in New Zealand are these fantastic trees called Pohutakawas. They are native to the North Island and give a bright red flower in December, hence they are often called New Zealand Christmas trees...

Kauri

Ever since I saw SJ's Kauri cabinet, I've had a bit of a fascination with these ancient trees. Basically they're native to NZ and were extensively milled to the point of near extinction. Now they are a protected species although you can still but Kauri furniture and crafts. This is either reclaimed Kauri or what's known as swamp Kauri- wood that's been lying in a swamp for a number of years.

Mount Victoria

Decided to have a trip to Devonport today...I really like it here...lots of nice cafe's etc and the atmosphere is pretty good. On the way we took a trip up to Mount Victoria where you can get some great views of the Auckland skyline. I tried out the "Stitch" feature on the camera again, it worked pretty well I think...

Its Chrisssstttmmmaaaaassssss!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(...As Slade once said...)

Still getting over the jetlag - waking up at 3:00 is now not pleasant, still it's not so bad on Xmas morning!

We headed over to Helen's to open our pressies with the kids and then wandered back to start the dinner (well, in my case, generally loll about). The dinner itself was fabulous - turkey and ham and a mountain of spuds and veggies...fantastic! I texted back home to say Happy Xmas, although it was weird texting that whilst knowing it was still Xmas Eve back at home...odd...

Of course, we had too much to drink and eat and so we generally faffed around all afternoon before finally succumbing to the jetlag (again) around 10:00...all in all a good day...

Xmas, New Zealand style...

Seems a little weird getting the Xmas turkey in 30 degree heat...still there's something very nice about that too...I think we have everything prepared although if truth be told, I've had very little to do so far!

We've had fish & chips at Orewa...now that is a nice beach, long and almost deserted...in fact most of NZ's beaches are pretty much deserted. Even when they're so-called busy, they're hardly pushed for space.