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.

Whangaparoa

So, settling in to NZ life. We're staying with SJ's parents in a place called Whangaparoa. Its on the North Island of NZ, about 50 km's north of Auckland. The actual suburb is called Army Bay. We've spent that last few days chilling out, doing family stuff...SJ's sister lives 2 doors away so we've also been spending a fair amount of time round there. We've been to the local shopping centre to get some clothes (our cases were so heavy with Xmas presents we had to forgo a fair amount of "normal" packing). Everything is really cheap here, you can pick up some real bargains, particularly on the "surfwear" type stuff.

I also went on a little walk around Shakespear National Park. This is literally two minutes from Army Bay and is a protected Nature Reserve. You can get a really good viewpoint from the top...

Muriwai was another stop on our travels. This is on the Western side of the North Island and houses a gannet colony and another Nature reserve. That's one thing about NZ, they're very particular about protection of their island...something to be applauded I think...

The long trip down under...

On the 18th December SJ and I started our long trip to New Zealand and Australia. We caught an Emirates flight from Birmingham airport to Dubai (7 hours), then Dubai to Melbourne (13.5 hours) then on to Auckland (4 hours). The plane journey itself wasn't too bad. I guess after 8 or so hours on the plane you can't actually get any more uncomfortable...

Dubai airport is in a state of flux at the moment - they're building a dedicated Emirates terminal which basically means that our (Emirates) flight taxies to a stand around 5 miles from the airport terminal. We then have to catch a bus (along with every other flight) to the transfer terminal (along with every other flight) - needless to say, its rather busy...

I was quite disappointed with the Dubai duty-free...everyone raves about it but to be honest, I didn't see many bargains. A quick coffee and we're back on the plane...

The Melbourne stop was unanticipated as it was never mentioned on our ticket. As its not a plane change as such, they don't need to mention the stop. Not really a problem but it does add a few more hours onto the overall trip.

From Melbourne, its then straight onto Auckland...finally! We touch down after a bit of a bumpy landing and head out into the New Zealand sunshine!!